Berlin after work bars

Best After Work Bars in Berlin

Updated March 2024 • 14 bars across 7 neighbourhoods

What makes a great after-work bar in Berlin? The city operates on its own schedule, and after-work drinking follows the same rules: no pressure to arrive, no pressure to leave. The best after-work bars in Berlin understand this. They stay open late without becoming clubs. They serve food without becoming restaurants. They maintain their atmosphere from 6pm to midnight without losing the plot.

Berliners favour honesty over theatre. That means the sponsored spots at the top of this list earned their position by serving excellent drinks in well-designed rooms. Kreuzberg's after-work scene is louder and cheaper than Mitte's, but the cocktails are consistently excellent. Prenzlauer Berg's options skew towards natural wine and serious cocktails for the neighbourhood's growing professional population. You will not find a bad gin and tonic in Schöneberg. Charlottenburg's Schwarzes Café is technically always after-work because it never closes.

Ora wine bar

Ora

Kreuzberg $$

Compact wine bar on Oranienplatz with 140 natural wines by the glass and a wine list that changes with the seasons. The small plates change daily and are sourced from local producers. Go before 7pm to get a seat at the zinc bar.

Order: Orange wine from the feature selection—Ora specializes in amber wines that taste like neither white nor red
Best for: Post-work decompression for the creative crowd

Tue-Sun 5pm-11pm, Closed Mondays

Buck and Breck cocktail bar

Buck and Breck

Mitte $$$

14 seats, no sign on the door, reservations required. Berlin's most serious cocktail bar. Each drink is theatrically constructed by bartenders who have worked in Tokyo and New York. Expect precision and silence.

Order: Defer to the bartender and taste their take on a Sidecar
Best for: Those who want to drink well rather than drink fast

Wed-Sat 8pm-2am, Closed Sun-Tue

Mein Haus am See café bar

Mein Haus am See

Mitte $$

24-hour café and bar on Brunnenstrasse, perpetually full of tech workers and journalists. Somehow maintains its charm even at 3am. Great Aperol Spritz and acceptable coffee at all hours. The outdoor seating fills up at 5:30pm.

Order: Aperol Spritz with an orange slice and stay for the crowd-watching
Best for: The crowd that never quite leaves the office

Open 24 hours daily

Becketts Kopf cocktail bar

Becketts Kopf

Prenzlauer Berg $$$

Named after Samuel Beckett, this intimate cocktail bar seats 20 and feels like a library for drinkers. The bartenders talk you through every drink and every ingredient. No rushing. No shortcuts.

Order: The house cocktail and the conversation that comes with it
Best for: Small team drinks without the noise

Thu-Sat 8pm-2am, Closed Sun-Wed

Principe Bar

Principe Bar

Schöneberg $$

Italian-run aperitivo bar on Goltzstrasse where the spirit of Milan meets Berlin pragmatism. Free cicchetti from 6-8pm with any drink. The bartenders pour generously and remember your name.

Order: Negroni with free cicchetti—the best value happy hour in the city
Best for: The neighbourhood crowd and visitors wanting to feel like locals

Daily 6pm-1am

Bryk Bar

Bryk Bar

Prenzlauer Berg $$$

Ground floor of a former brewery, all exposed brick and warm candlelight. The gin list runs to 60 labels sourced from boutique producers across Europe. The space feels timeless and intimate.

Order: A gin and tonic with a gin you've never heard of
Best for: Dates that started as after-work drinks

Daily 6pm-2am

Klunkerkranich rooftop

Klunkerkranich

Neukölln $

Rooftop above a shopping centre in Neukölln with panoramic views over south Berlin. Cash only, cheap beer, unforgettable sunsets. The most democratic rooftop bar in the city—everyone sits next to everyone.

Order: Local Kreuzberg beer and a seat facing west for sunset
Best for: Summer Fridays when the entire city seems to pause

Daily 5pm-late (summer), Weekends only (winter)

Von Greifswald

Von Greifswald

Prenzlauer Berg $$

Natural wine bar with a serious cheese selection from across France and Italy. Opens at 5pm on weekdays, 11am on weekends. The owner's passion is visible in every pour.

Order: A glass of natural wine paired with cheese from the kitchen
Best for: The kind of after-work drink that turns into dinner

Tue-Sun 5pm-11pm, Closed Mondays

Neue Odessa Bar

Neue Odessa Bar

Mitte $$

Dark wood panelling and a jukebox that tells the history of Berlin clubs from the 1980s to now. One of the last bars in Mitte that hasn't been sanitised or made Instagram-friendly. Feels like another era.

Order: A beer and feed the jukebox
Best for: Regulars who value the old Berlin

Daily 6pm-late

Schwarzes Café

Schwarzes Café

Charlottenburg $

Legendary 24-hour institution that has been open since 1978. The breakfast at 3am is famous. The crowd shifts from professionals leaving work to night owls seeking coffee and cake. A Berlin institution.

Order: Coffee and cake at any hour
Best for: Nights that start after work and never end

Open 24 hours, 7 days a week

The West cocktail bar

The West

Charlottenburg $$

Neighbourhood cocktail bar on Kantstrasse with a loyal after-work following from the surrounding media companies. Cocktails are inventive without being pretentious. The bartenders remember faces.

Order: The bar manager's seasonal creation
Best for: West Berlin professionals and locals in the neighbourhood

Daily 5pm-1am

Hops & Barley craft beer pub

Hops & Barley

Friedrichshain $

The city's most beloved craft beer pub, a former butcher's shop with copper fermentation tanks visible from the bar. The beer list rotates quarterly. The crowd is serious about hops.

Order: The house IPA, brewed monthly
Best for: Beer drinkers who skip the cocktail bars entirely

Tue-Sun 5pm-11pm, Closed Mondays

Katerschmaus art collective bar

Katerschmaus

Friedrichshain $$

Art collective turned bar with rotating exhibitions from local Berlin artists. The wine list skews towards natural producers and small-batch makers. The space feels like a gallery you can drink in.

Order: A natural wine and take time to notice the current exhibition
Best for: Creative professionals who want to feel something

Wed-Sun 6pm-11pm, Closed Mon-Tue

Weekly editorial

The bars worth going to, weekly.

One email every week. The bars our editors are recommending right now, across 60 cities worldwide.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime.

Advertising

Reach bar-goers in every major city.

Sponsored listings, newsletter placements, and city guide partnerships across 60 cities.

For venue owners

Reach bar-goers actively looking for the best venues in Berlin. Featured listings from $299.

Advertise in Berlin →