Berlin On My Bucket List Of Places To Party

German City Seems To Be Hip, Busy, Fun And Casual All At The Same Time

Rooftop lounges, 400 nightclubs and even beach bars.

Beach bars? In Berlin!?

Apparently, or so I was told by Berlin tourism, Visit Berlin, during a media luncheon it held for Southern California travel journalists at the SoHo restaurant, which is high over the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

If Berlin was not on my bucket list of cities to visit beforehand, it certainly is now.

There’s something compelling, adventurous and even romantic to me about Berlin. On the one hand, I imagine it to be huge and spread out, a busy, constantly moving environment of people going in all different directions with a clear purpose.

On the other hand, I also imagine it to be a place where the pace slows considerably at sidewalk cafes, in bars and even in the occasional bierhall, though Berlin is certainly not Bavaria. There seems to be a bit of sophistication to Berliners; on a previous luncheon event I learned about rooftop lounges being all the rage in the summertime, and that they stay open practically until the sun rises.

Because Berlin gets so many big-name concerts, I also picture it to be alive with tons of great live music venues, which is the heartbeat of all live music.

A travel writer colleague at this function also told me that Berlin has more parks than just about any place in Europe, and when the sun is out, the people go out to them, beers in hand. And while it’s not exactly Spring Break stuff, it certainly seems a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Considering I live in a country, the USA, where there’s only a few places where one can drink a beer outside of a bar or restaurant, this seems like an inviting situation indeed.

Since I live at the beach in California, the thought of beach bars in Berlin especially appeals to me.

After doing a little research, I discovered one of these is called Box at the Beach on the River Spree, and another one, also along the Spree, is called Capitol Beach. That one is right by central station and the government district, and so I see it as being a lively after-work place for drinks. Perhaps they even start at half past 12 and take the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” mentality on warm days.

So I’m looking for Air Berlin to save a seat for me, and for Tourism Berlin to point me in the right direction of where to go in the city. I believe that in two days that I could pretty much figure out where to go and when to go there, but would need an extra few days to explore all of those places.

At the luncheon, they told us the average hotel rate in Berlin is just 79 Euros, so it doesn’t break the bank to stay several days the way it would in, say, New York City.

After visiting Berlin, I would then deposit a few good German beers in my bucket along with my list, ready to move onto the next adventure.

Before I can get there to tell you all about it first-hand, here’s the Visit Berlin website: www.visitberlin.de/en.