Tiergarten Berlin – All our local tips

The futuristic appearing building of the Bauhaus-Archiv is a real landmark in the urban landscape of Berlin. Combining two houses and a bridge on which you can walk “over” the house makes the museum a special playground of architecture. Planned by the Bauhaus founder Martin Gropius (see the Martin Gropius article) in 1964 and built up in 1976-79 in a modified version the white building is a hidden eye-catcher on the bank of the Landwehrkanal.

The Archive/Museum attends to research and retrospection of Bauhaus architecture, art and design in the 20th century. It is the worldwide biggest collection of originals of the classical modernity. In a permanent exhibition which will be showed in December again, you can only see a part of the collection but the most interesting Bauhaus examples of architecture, furniture, ceramics, metal, photographs as well as artworks of the famous Bauhaus teachers Gropius, Itten, Klee, Feininger, Kandinsky, Albers, Schlemmer, Moholy-Nagy and van der Rohe.

At the moment you can see two special exhibitions. “Bauhäusler mit der Kamera” shows photographs of Bauhaus students, which were taken inside the Bauhaus. “Vorzeigeobjekte” shows montages, furniture and modells from the Bauhaus archive collection. This will give you a foretaste of the permant exhibition which will be back in the museum in December, after the renovation of the building will be finished.

For a deposit of € 10.00 you can rent an audio guide that explains the samples in your language.

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Bauhaus-Archiv | Art & culture | Entry fee +/- € 6.00
Klingelhöfer Straße 14 | Tiergarten | +49302540020
Wed – Mon 10:00 – 17:00

Once in Buchkantine, a café just a street away from the river, you will wonder yourself: how come not all cafes have books, or how come not all bookstores serve coffee? The books are new, and in case something is missing, one can order new titles from one day to the next. The bulk is in German but there are also a few English titles.

There is Wireless internet available for free, on request, and the music covers jazz and relaxed tones. They also show detective films every Sunday between 20:00 and 22:00. The people from Buchkantine are friendly and have a great sense of humor, too, some of their passwords for the Wireless used to be: I want to stay alone with my sandwich or the horse eats cucumbers.

The mixture of books, music and drinks is a good choice for a relaxed afternoon or simply for a search for new books or new inspiration. While writing this text, I am sitting at one of their tables and I observe with curiosity my neighbour – a middle aged man, alone with his laptop, longer hair, looking at the people sitting around as if they would suddenly become characters in his novel. One thing is sure, now he certainly has become a character on Spotted by Locals.

Tip: A books’ connoisseur is in the café from Monday to Friday, between 09:30 and 18:30, and on Saturday between 09:30 and 17:00 o’clock.

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Buchkantine | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping, Snacks | Tee € 2.20
Essenerstr 11 | Tiergarten | +493094883728
09:30 – 20:00 daily

There are many words to describe this little bar just off the Potsdammer Strasse,  garish, offbeat and oddball come to mind.

This place pure and simple is the proverbial dump and that’s what I find so charming.   It’s a a nice change from the painfully self concious and affected bars in more ‘It’ districts.   It’s a bar where I can imagine Iggy Pop off his face their grimey toilet, which does come close to looking like something out of  ‘Trainspotting’.

I normally grab a drink here when I am on occasion in Tiergarten visiting the White Rabbit arts space (check the White Rabbit arts space article) around the corner. My friends and I make a late night stop for a night cap ending up with us always staying until the early morning.

This former brothel turned grotty drinking hole opened in 1987, and not much seems to have changed since.  On entering you are greeted by the doorman, who for good measure wears a bullet proof jacket under his wife beater, or trannies having a little boogie on the mini dance floor, or prostitutes coming in for an end of shift drink.

The music is hit and miss, you can experience anything from cheesy disco, to chart hits, to grinding techno who knows, it’s a gamble and I’m pretty sure it’s all Dj’d via cassette tape too.  I personally really like the gigantic wall tapestry overlooking the dance floor, of a young boy reading a lion a story.

A word of caution to all you hipster dufuss’ out there, please check your post-modern, self referential irony at the door, cause your names not on the guest list mate.

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Kumpelnest 3000 | Bars
Lützowstrasse 23 | Tiergarten
20:00 till late daily

Sometimes after trawling Berlin’s many galleries, museums and sight seeing tours your poor feet are just Kaput and a little pampering wouldn’t go astray. A break from the city hum drum in the midst of the this bustling capital would be in order right? In that case, soothe your aching feet and over stimulated mind with a trip to the Liquidrom.This urban spa, part of the Tempodrom complex, in heart of Berlin, combines a sense of modern minimalism with Zen like temple through the designs of architects Gerkan, Marg and Partner.  The defining characteristic, setting it apart from other more traditional spas, is the “Underwater Concert Hall”.

The main feature of this spa, is a darkened 34 degree heated saltwater pool, where gentle, (for want of a better term) electronic ‘World’ music, is played to enhance your relaxation experience. The music is projected both outside and within the pool and on Friday evenings you can even enjoy live music from 8pm onwards in candlelit interiors.

A note to my fellow Anglo Saxons, this spa is a thoroughly German affair.  This being the case, both the sauna and changing rooms are mixed. In the sauna, there is a no clothing policy, though a towel is permitted for those like myself who are a bit more on the shy side.

It’s a little bit a case of style over substance here, but all in all you do leave feeling quite pampered. The Liquidrom is a lovely break from the daily routine of urban life and worth a visit if you are in Berlin.

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Liquidrom | Music, Relaxing | 2 hour entry ticket € 17.50
Möckernstrasse 10 | Tiergarten | +493025807820
Sun – Thu 10:00 – 00:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 01:00

At first sight you could never imagine that this temple of glass houses a whole gallery. But beneath the ground on which it stands, you’ll find big, wide showrooms housing Berlin’s best collection of modern art. Designed by Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe, the house was opened in 1968 and stands as an icon of classical modernity. The impressive glass-steel façade of the cubic building represents van der Rohe’s idea of a universal space.

The collection of the Neue Nationalgalerie focuses on Cubism, Expressionism, Bauhaus and Surrealism. But the permanent exhibition cannot be seen throughout the whole year because the museum primarily presents special temporary exhibitions like the “Met in Berlin” (an exhibit from 2007 where the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York loaned its most beautiful French impressionist paintings).

The upper hall is often used as a showroom for larger art installations. In the outside area some sculptures can also be seen. There is also a beautiful outdoor sculpture garden, though unfortunately access is only available by special request.

On the Neue Nationalgalerie website you can find the current programme.

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Neue Nationalgalerie | Art & culture | The Klee Universe € 10.00
Potsdamer Straße 50 | Tiergarten | +49302662651
Tue – Wed & Sun 10:00 – 18:00, Thu 10:00 – 22:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 20:00

Berlin is, and has always been, a city that embodies a sense of experimentation, spontaneity and creativity that has lured many creatives from all over the world. To find something genuinely experimental within Berlin’s heavily saturated arts scene, perhaps we should follow the ‘Esprit’ of Berlin’s young collectives and collaborators operating on the peripheries. Jochen Arbeit (guitarist and vocalist from Einstürzende Neubauten) recently cited the White Rabbit Cross-Disciplinary collective space as one of his favourite top three insider tips in Berlin.

The basic concept of the space, is that there are month long exhibitions and in the course of that month there are weekly one off events in the space at the same time. Whether it be music performances, screenings or readings. The idea is that the contemporary art gets attention not only from the Vernissage but also from all the people that come for the other events. It introduces experimental music people to a bit of contemporary art, and people who come for the contemporary art at the openings, get to listen to some experimental music.

Please note that the space is now temporarily closed for the next 3-6 months, please check the website for re-opening dates.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
White Rabbit @ GDK | Art & culture, Music | From € 3.00
Potsdamer Straße 98 | Tiergarten
Wed – Sat 15:00 – 18:00 (see listing for evening events)