Panorama Bar (at Berghain)

A much-loved bar located upstairs within east Berlin's faultless dance-and-sex mecca Berghain [see entry], the never dull Panorama Bar casts its spell with an unusually convincing party atmosphere attributed to a high calibre of house and electro — the DJs specialise in less demanding music than found in the club's main techno-thumping space — and stylish and daring decor, including the works of Berlin/London photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and Berliner Marc Brandenburg. On sunny mornings the shutters are lifted (momentarily) to let the light in, triggering ecstatic cheers from the after-hours pleasure vampires. The crowd is mixed, with a definite gay thing going on (particularly Saturdays). And there's lovely wooden dance floor. Open Fridays via a separate external staircase, and Saturdays from within the Berghain. But like nearly everything about this otherworldly east Berlin enterprise, Panorama is tricky to describe with anything but a messy specificity. In short, the stylishly and artistically inclined are never offended here. S-Bahn: Ostbahnhof.