Berlin unfolds its full splendor not only on its boulevards and streets, but also on its roofs: Fantastic panoramas and a breathtaking skyline in front of your eyes and the sheer size of the capital at your feet you can look up into the sky over Berlin. And what better time to do that than in the summer with a drink after work?
Majestic in Mitte: Beret on the City Palace
On the left the cathedral, on the right the TV tower, below the cars rush past Unter den Linden – you really can’t get more Berlin than that. Especially since you are in the baret on a real bone of contention in the city: the restaurant with the adjoining roof terrace was opened on the Berlin City Palace.
However, any debate about reconstruction is quickly forgotten up here – the view is simply too fantastic to discuss urban planning measures. Especially since the restaurant guests sit right next to the pretty dome of the City Palace, which gives an evening in a beret a truly majestic flair. And the restaurant’s menu moves with you!
Roland Justynowicz / Baret
Dining at the City Palace: Any debate about urban planning measures is quickly forgotten here.
Although the dishes are listed in a very down-to-earth manner: “Rabbit saddle, turnips, olives, limequatkosho” or “monkfish, horseradish, rocket, walnuts” – behind the restrained tonality of the menu there are finely staged, simply delicious dishes. Food and ambience can be enjoyed both during the day and in the evening, for a business lunch or a dinner date. Visiting in the evening offers a clear advantage: when the sun paints the sky pink over Museum Island, the Berlin idyll is perfect.
Beret on the roof of the City Palace, Schlossplatz 1, Wednesday to Monday 10 a.m. to midnight. www.baret.berlin
Urban gardening deluxe: Hotel Zoo Berlin and Grace
It was only a few days ago that the Hotel Zoo Berlin at Kurfürstendamm 25 celebrated the seasonal opening of its roof terrace. And the chic shop didn’t let itself be ragged: Two DJs played on the 120 square meter rooftop, there were oysters, later ice cream was distributed from vendor’s trays – a great evening. And you can always experience those wonderfully boisterous summer evenings on the hotel roof anyway: the terrace is used by the hotel’s own restaurant Grace, and excellent drinks are served in front of the green back wall of the open-air bar on the seventh floor.
Hotel Zoo Berlin
Here it tastes good: The roof terrace and its bar are used by the hotel’s own restaurant Grace.
With them you can wash down a beautiful view over Charlottenburg and its adjoining districts; the view sweeps over nearby Wilhelminian style magnificent buildings and distant skyscrapers. It can be eaten from the Grace menu or just drunk, with live cooking events and other events to follow throughout the summer. A new name was also given to the roof terrace: it is now called “Grace Garden” to match the many new decorative greenery all around.
Grace Garden on the roof of the Hotel Zoo Berlin, Kurfürstendamm 25, Wednesday to Saturday from 6 p.m. The roof terrace can be rented for private events at [email protected]. www.hotelzoo.de
View of the monkeys: Monkey Bar
The Monkey Bar on the tenth floor of the 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin has a good reason for its name: the Berlin Zoo and its animal enclosures are right next door. While sipping highballs, you can watch the monkeys climbing on their rocks, but of course you can also let your eyes wander to the Memorial Church and the surrounding hotel towers in City West.
After work it gets very crowded very quickly, you should be prepared for waiting times, because reservations are not possible. The principle “first come, first serve” applies. But once you’re inside, delicious drinks and snacks as well as friendly bar staff await you in addition to the spectacular location. Leafing through the menu, you realize that you are still in Berlin: drinks such as the Organic Spree Gin, Berliner Luft and Gilka Kaiserkümmel clearly locate the Monkey Bar in the capital.
Monkey Bar im 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin, Budapester Straße 40, Monday to Thursday from 6 p.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. www.monkeybarberlin.de
Beach and sand on the Schönhauser: Deck 5
It’s hard to believe that after a stroll through a typical Berlin shopping center with Blume 2000, Apollo Optik, Tchibo, dm and Edeka, a more surprising establishment awaits the visitor. But in the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden it is worth taking the elevator up to parking level 5.
There are no cars there, just sun loungers and a bar. Deck 5 describes itself as “Berlin’s highest beach bar”, and you really do feel a bit like being at the sea under palm trees in a beach chair with sand under your feet. Cocktails, long drinks and BBQ dishes are accompanied by the sunset with a view of Prenzlauer Berg’s old building roofs and the Gethsemane Church for free.
Deck 5, Schönhauser Allee 79, Monday to Saturday 2 p.m. to midnight, Sunday 3 p.m. to midnight. Access via the arcade elevator, from 10 p.m. via Greifenhagener Straße, right next to the parking garage entrance. www.deck-5.com
Swimming towards Alexanderplatz: Soho House
The crowd at Soho House is kind of peculiar. A mixture of the Berlin start-up scene, agency girls and influencer boys, a bit of celebrity, a bit of party people. In any case, almost all of them are members of Soho House – otherwise they wouldn’t be here at all.
Krethi and Plethi have no access to the premises and the rooftop of the private club chain. But we’re in Berlin, where you always know someone who knows someone. And if that someone has subscribed to a Soho House membership, you can casually join him or her as a guest. In any case, you should definitely do it once.
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Not for everyone: In order to be able to enjoy the pool, you need a club membership or good contacts.
The roof terrace of the hotel-club combo is really spectacular, which is partly due to the proximity to Alexanderplatz – the TV tower looks like you can touch it when viewed from the roof – and of course the small pool that was built on the eighth floor. That’s where the agency girls and influencer boys bask on hot days; there are cool drinks and good snacks – especially the mussels with fries are highly recommended. Unlike the entrance area or the club’s private cinema, which are designed relatively somberly, the roof terrace is bright and friendly, the interior corresponds to the classic American style.
Soho House, Torstrasse 1, Monday to Sunday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. www.sohohouse.com
Parking deck with music: Wattled Crane
For many years, rarely did anyone stray onto the upper parking level of the Neukölln Arcaden. That changed abruptly with the opening of the Klunkerkranich in the summer of 2013. The Neukölln cultural roof garden quickly became the hip address above the roofs of the city – a drink with quiet music while the sun sets picturesquely on the horizon, that promised urban idyll par excellence.
In the meantime, the founders fell out in public, but did you have to worry about the future of the scene shop, which never saw itself just as a bar, but always as a joint cultural project and even had its own documentary dedicated to it? Probably not, because disputes or not, the Wattled Crane still exists. You just know how to keep the conversation going – and what you have: a fine location for parties, DJ sets and cocktails, which is popular with Berliners and tourists alike.
Klunkerkranich on the roof of the Neukölln Arcaden, Karl-Marx-Straße 66, Monday to Wednesday from 6 p.m., Thursday to Sunday from 4 p.m. www.klunkerkranich.org
Luxury with a view: Hotel de Rome
Certainly one of the most exclusive addresses in the city, to look down on: The roof terrace of the Hotel de Rome offers breathtaking views over Bebelplatz to the Berlin Cathedral and the Old Museum.
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Spectacular, there is no other way to describe the view from the roof of the Hotel de Rome over the Bebelplatz.
There is also a cocktail menu and menu with everything you just like to nibble on while looking out over Berlin; from the seafood platter to the bento box. The prices are also quite breathtaking, but the view certainly makes up for a small hole in the stock market.
The Rooftop Terrace on the Rome’s Hotel, Behrenstrasse 37, 10117 Berlin. Monday to Friday 3pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 8pm. www.roccofortehotels.com
For Neukölln connoisseurs: Karstadt on Hermannplatz
Neukölln’s Hermannplatz, which, strictly speaking, is not a square at all, but just an intersection with an entrance to the subway, has completely wrongly fallen into disrepute. The flagship store of the Karstadt group is a well-stocked department store with a great food department in the basement, including a pub and delicatessen Lindner. But if you really want to know where long-established Neukölln residents meet to chat and drink coffee, you have to visit the in-house restaurant on the fourth floor.
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Right in the middle of the action: the Karstadt with its roof terrace right on Hermannplatz in Neukölln.
With 100 seats, the terrace is an ideal place to feel above and at the same time in the city. Despite the height, the restaurant has nothing aloof about it, and the terrace has nothing of an exclusive location that is floating above everything else. Those who come here are not looking for anything fashionable, but for a good outlook and overview. You can start the day with breakfast on the terrace in the morning and have a really great view over Berlin. Of course there is also a lunch offer and if you want, you can simply enjoy the hustle and bustle on Hermannplatz with a coffee from above.
Gallery restaurant and terrace at the Karstadt am Hermannplatz, Hermannplatz 5-10. Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.galeria-restaurant.de