Things to do on your visit to Berlin-Friedrichshain – Tours, Shopping, Insides, Must see

For many years Berlin-Friedrichshain has been reduced to the Bars in Simon-Dach-Straße and the famous Berghain Techno Club (and maybe the Matrix Club for people who never intended to enter Berghain or simply didn’t get in). But Friedrichshain always had and still has so much more to offer! So here it is: the ultimate guide to a perfect Saturday in Friedrichshain from dawn til dusk and dawn again:

10 am: Where to get breakfast?

The easiest way to get a delicious and healthy breakfast in a nice atmosphere on a Saturday in Friedrichshain is the Farmers Market at Boxhagener Platz. Catch a coffee from Blaue Bohne in Seumestraße and then chose between one of the numerous stalls of artisan food vendors at the nearby market who sell low fat curd cheese topped with delicious red berries, granola or nuts, freshly baked sourdough bread with Serrano Ham and Italian herbs, scrumptious breadrolls with freshly grilled salmon or sweet chocolate cake.

If you don’t feel like having a take away breakfast on one of the benches on Boxhagener Platz there are also more than plenty of cafés like the rustic Kurhaus Korsakow or the Spanish Macondo around where you can have a lovely breakfast at a table outside while watching the crowd browse the market.

1 pm: A little bit of shopping never hurt nobody!

There are already a few little shops around Boxhagener Platz where you can get lovely little deco-pieces, sustainable fashion and good music. Like Victoria met Albert, a little corner shop that offers beautiful lamps, rugs, plates and bowls as well as handpicked shirts, shoes and backpacks and a lot more stuff that can make your everyday life a little bit more colourful. Or Vinyl a Go Go where you can get the newest tunes on vinyl as well as good old vintage LP’s or audiobooks.

If you wander further south from Boxhagener Platz you will cross Wühlischstraße, a vivid street with loads of fashion and deco stores like Prachtmädchen, Stadtengel and UVR Connected where you could spend the entire afternoon window shopping and browsing for a complete new attire.

3 pm: afternoon snacks and a little bit of rock climbing or kayaking?

What!? Rock climbing? In the middle of Berlin? Yes! Well the „rock“ is either the outdoor water reservoir tower or the boulder hall of Kegel located in the middle of the famous RAW Gelände but that’s better than nothing in an area as flat as Berlin. You can borrow all gear needed there so this is the perfect way to do a little bit of sports and to legally get as high as you might get if you agreed on one of the illegal offers of the dealers outside of the RAW.

Feeling hungry yet? Grab a lovely Bagel from the tattooed girls at Wahrhaft Nahrhaft or enjoy one of the warm dishes they have on offer. If you’d rather do some water-related sports, you can also take away the yummy bagels and head to Ahoi Ostkreuz to rent out a Kayak and discover Rummelsburger Bucht and Spree in the sun while having a picnic on the water.

7pm: dinner and drinks

If you’re already at Rummelsburger Bucht after a heavy tour of kayaking, you might as well deserve to have some pizza or BBQ at Rummelsbucht while enjoying a laid back sundown with an amazing view over the water. But if you feel more like diving back into the vibrant streets of Friedrichshain, and as sharing is known as caring – what’s better to share with your friends than Asian tapas in one of Friedrichhain’s exquisite little Asian restaurants? In Friedrichshain you have plenty of choice regarding lovely little Asian places but no restaurant has mastered the art of Asian Tapas better than Transit in Sonntagstraße. You might need to wait a while to be seated or to pre-book a table.

If you forgot to pre-book or are very hungry and also prefer vegan Asian Tapas you could also head to li-ke thai vegan or 1990, both restaurants located at different corners of Boxhagener Platz, also using ingredients of highest quality and due to their sizes more likely to have some seats available.

After dinner head on to Goldfisch Bar in Gärtnerstraße, the small place is easy to miss but if you find the wooden goldfish in the window you are exactly where you will get the best drinks in town! Goldfisch Bar is a small bar with dimmed light, cosy seats in every little corner and exposed brickwork walls. The bartenders serve high class drinks, both standard or freestyle if you ask for something special suiting your taste or feeling of the day. The perfect bar to start the night but also entailing the risk of never leaving this place as you can easily forget about time over all the different yummy drinks.

2pm: dance til the sun comes out

Yes, of course you can queue up in front of Berghain and wait silently in line in order to be let in to the gorgeous, mystical world of the old thermal power station promising love, sex, drugs and happiness to everyone lucky enough to be let in. And no doubt watching the sunlight at dawn making it’s special appearance through the high windows of the main floor while you are moving your sweaty body to the ecstatic rhythm is purely magical and feels like something from another sphere – so very worth the thrill and time spent in line. Another sure shot but far less hard to get in is the ://about blank. Music is mostly techno, there’s a huge garden to hang out with another dancefloor and it’s right around the corner from the Ostkreuz-railway station.

For everyone preferring not to wait in line just to be rejected by the tough Berghain bouncers or who are just not in the mood for „Berghain again!?“ and who want to enter a completely different magical world of it’s own – the Salon zur wilden Renate is the place to be. Located in an old apartment building every apartment is a dancefloor and there is a swinging ship in the courtyard, fairy lights everywhere and great electronic music. This club really has the potential to turn your night into a fairy tale you wish would never end. The Salon zur wilden Renate is also located very close and in walking distance to the peninsula Stralau at the River Spree, where you can watch the most beautiful sunrises, maybe (and only if you are really quiet) even accompanied by one of the wild grey herons living here.