What are the best rooftop bars in Berlin?

My short list is five: Klunkerkranich in Neukölln for a cheap, plant-filled sunset roof; Monkey Bar in City West for a polished tenth-floor skyline cocktail; House of Weekend on Alexanderplatz for a central roof under the TV Tower that turns into a club; Deck 5 in Prenzlauer Berg for a beach bar with real sand on a car-park roof; and Solar near Anhalter Bahnhof for a dressed-up sky bar you reach by an exposed glass lift. The casual roofs are the more typically Berlin experience.

Are Berlin rooftop bars free to enter?

Mostly, yes. Monkey Bar and Solar are free to enter but charge proper cocktail prices. The casual roofs like Deck 5 are free with normal Berlin bar prices, while Klunkerkranich often has a small entry fee once the evening music starts. House of Weekend is free-ish as a daytime sun-deck but charges a club entry at night. Berlin is still a partly cash city, so carry some, even though most places take cards.

Is there a dress code at Berlin rooftop bars?

At the casual roofs, no. Klunkerkranich and Deck 5 are come-as-you-are, and shorts and trainers are completely normal. The exception is Solar, which enforces a dress code and turns people away in beachwear, shorts or flip-flops. Monkey Bar is smart-casual but relaxed. When in doubt, the hotel and sky bars expect you to look a little tidier than the car-park roofs.

When is the best time to go to a rooftop bar in Berlin?

Aim to arrive about 45 minutes before sunset. That lets you get a drink and a good spot while it is still light, then watch the sky turn gold and the city lights come on. Berlin sunset times move a lot across the year, from close to 21:30 in late June to soon after 18:00 in late October, so check tonight's actual sunset rather than assuming a fixed hour. Most roofs are open-air, so keep an eye on the weather too.

Do I need to book a rooftop bar in Berlin?

For the casual roofs, no, you just turn up, though there can be a short queue for the lift at busy times. For Monkey Bar and especially Solar, a reservation is a good idea on sunny evenings and weekends, when the best window seats and tables fill quickly. Deck 5 and Klunkerkranich are seasonal and weather-dependent, and House of Weekend often announces its summer daytime roof opening on social media at short notice, so check the venue's own channels on the day.

Which Berlin rooftop bar has the best view?

It depends what you want to see. For the classic TV Tower and central Berlin skyline, House of Weekend on Alexanderplatz puts it right in front of you. For a wide western sunset over the city, Klunkerkranich in Neukölln and Monkey Bar in City West are both excellent, with Monkey Bar also looking down into the Zoo. Solar gives the highest, most panoramic window view. For pure sunset mood on a budget, Klunkerkranich is the one I recommend most.

Best Rooftop Bars in Berlin: Where to Drink With a View

Yusuf Ucuz
Jul 17
7 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

On the first properly warm evening of a Berlin trip, almost everyone has the same idea at the same time: find a rooftop, order a cold drink, and watch the city go gold. It is one of the best things you can do here in summer. The problem is that most "best rooftop bars in Berlin" lists send you straight to a handful of expensive hotel bars and skip the part that actually makes Berlin different.

So this is the honest version I give guests on my free walking tour when they ask where to go for a drink with a view. Berlin does have rooftop bars, but the good ones are rarely glossy sky-lounges. Half of them sit on top of multi-storey car parks. Once you understand that, you stop looking for the wrong thing and start enjoying the right one.

Berlin rooftop bars are not what you expect

In a lot of cities, "rooftop bar" means a polished hotel terrace with a doorman, a dress code and a fifteen-euro cocktail. Berlin has a few of those, and I will get to them. But the rooftops locals actually love are scruffier and more fun than that. The two most famous ones in the city, Klunkerkranich and Deck 5, are both built on the roof of a shopping-centre car park. You walk up through a mall, past parked cars, and step out into deckchairs, plants, music and a wide view.

That is the real Berlin rooftop split, and it decides where you should go. On one side you have the casual, cheap, come-as-you-are roofs where the point is the sunset and a beer. On the other you have the handful of dressed-up cocktail bars where you pay more for a polished room and a skyline. Neither is better. You just want to pick the one that matches the evening you actually want.

Warm golden-hour view over central Berlin with the TV Tower rising above the rooftops

The payoff every Berlin rooftop is chasing: the low summer light over the city and the TV Tower.

The rooftop bars actually worth the trip

I have kept this list short on purpose. There are dozens of roofs in Berlin, but these five cover the situations most visitors are in, and each one is genuinely worth the trip for the right person.

Klunkerkranich, Neukölln: the sunset classic

If you only do one rooftop in Berlin, this is the one I send people to. Klunkerkranich is a roof garden on top of the Neukölln Arcaden car park on Karl-Marx-Straße, and it is pure Berlin: plants in old crates, cheap-ish drinks, a mixed local crowd, live music and DJs, and a long open view west over the rooftops that is made for sunset. Go up through the shopping centre to the top parking level, which feels wrong until you step outside.

It is seasonal and the hours move around, so check before you go. In the warmer months it is usually open into the evening from the afternoon, closed on the quietest early-week days, and there is often a small entry fee once the music starts. It is the same rooftop I mention in my Neukölln guide, and it pairs perfectly with the Sonnenallee food street a few minutes away.

The Klunkerkranich roof garden with plants and picnic tables on a car-park roof in Neukölln

Klunkerkranich sits on top of a shopping-centre car park on Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln.

Monkey Bar, City West: the skyline cocktail

For the polished version, go west. The Monkey Bar sits on the tenth floor of the 25hours Hotel in the Bikini Berlin building, right next to the Zoo. Entry is free, the cocktails are proper and not cheap, and the view looks straight down into the Berlin Zoo enclosures on one side and out over the western city and Tiergarten on the other. It is the most "sky bar" of the bunch.

The catch is the crowd. On a sunny evening the best window seats fill fast and there can be a queue for the lift, so come early or reserve. Nearest station is Zoologischer Garten (U2, U9, S-Bahn and the regional trains).

The City West skyline around the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the view the Monkey Bar looks over

The Monkey Bar looks out over City West, from the Zoo to the Memorial Church and Tiergarten.

House of Weekend, Alexanderplatz: the central party roof

If you want a rooftop that is right in the middle of everything, House of Weekend is a two-level terrace on top of a tower block on Alexanderplatz, staring straight at the TV Tower. By night it is a proper club. On warm summer days the upper roof terrace opens earlier as a sun-deck bar, sometimes with a small pool, and the opening is often announced on their social media at short notice on the day.

This is the one for a central drink with the most famous view in Berlin behind you, especially if you want the evening to slide into dancing. It is a two-minute walk from the Alexanderplatz transport hub, so it is easy to reach and easy to leave.

The Berlin TV Tower and the red brick Rotes Rathaus, the view from a rooftop on Alexanderplatz

A rooftop on Alexanderplatz puts the TV Tower and the Rotes Rathaus directly in front of you.

Deck 5, Prenzlauer Berg: the beach bar on a roof

The other famous car-park roof is Deck 5, on top of the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden in Prenzlauer Berg. It leans all the way into beach-bar energy: real sand underfoot, striped deckchairs, burgers and cocktails, and sun from late morning until the light drops. It is casual, family-friendly in the daytime, and cheaper than any hotel bar.

It is strongly seasonal, roughly late spring to early autumn and weather-dependent, so it lives and dies with the sunshine. Nearest station is Schönhauser Allee (U2 and the Ringbahn). If you are already wandering Prenzlauer Berg, it is an easy, low-effort roof to end the afternoon on.

A wide open-air rooftop terrace at dusk looking out over the Berlin skyline

The casual roofs like Deck 5 are all about the open-air deck and the evening light, not a fancy interior.

Solar, near Anhalter Bahnhof: the glass-lift date spot

The most grown-up option is Solar, a sky bar and restaurant about seventeen floors up near Anhalter Bahnhof, between Potsdamer Platz and Kreuzberg. You ride an exposed glass lift up the outside of the building, which is half the fun, and arrive at a floor-to-ceiling window view over central Berlin. It is the dressed-up, cocktail-and-dinner, special-evening choice.

Two honest warnings. It has a dress code and turns people away in shorts and flip-flops, and it is often open only from the evening on selected days, so book a table and check the hours first. Nearest station is Anhalter Bahnhof (S-Bahn) or a short walk from Potsdamer Platz.

When to go: chase the light, not the hour

The single biggest mistake I see is people asking "what time do the rooftops open?" when the real question is "when does the sun set today?" In Berlin that answer swings wildly across the year. In late June the sun sets close to 21:30 and the sky stays bright well past 22:00. By late October it is dark not long after 18:00. A rooftop that is magic in July can be cold and empty at the same clock time in October.

My rule: arrive about forty-five minutes before sunset. That gives you time to get a drink and a spot while it is still bright, then watch the whole show as the light turns gold and the city switches its lights on. The little planner above works out tonight's Berlin sunset for you and tells you when to leave. For ground-level alternatives when the roofs are closed or full, I have a separate guide to the best places to watch the sunset in Berlin, and if you want a proper high view rather than a drink, my observation decks guide covers the TV Tower and Panoramapunkt.

Sunset up the Spree with the Molecule Man sculpture and the TV Tower in the distance

Berlin summer light lasts late, so plan your rooftop evening around sunset, not the clock.

What it costs, dress codes and getting in

Berlin rooftops are refreshingly relaxed compared to other cities, but there are a few real rules worth knowing.

Casual roofs (Klunkerkranich, Deck 5): come as you are. No dress code, drinks are normal Berlin bar prices, and there may be a small entry fee in the evening at Klunkerkranich. Cash is still useful in Berlin, though most places now take cards.
Hotel and sky bars (Monkey Bar, Solar): free to enter but pricier drinks, and Solar enforces a dress code. Reserve if you can, especially at sunset on a weekend.
Club roofs (House of Weekend): the daytime sun-deck is easygoing, but the same venue at night has a real club door, so the mood shifts completely after dark.
Weather is the boss. Most of these roofs are open-air and simply close or empty out when it rains. Always have a backup, like a beer garden or a normal bar, in your pocket.

One more practical note: getting home. Berlin's U-Bahn and S-Bahn run all night on Friday and Saturday, so a late rooftop is easy at the weekend. On weeknights the U-Bahn stops around midnight and switches to night buses, so check the last train before you settle in for one more.

How this fits a normal day in Berlin

You do not need to build a whole evening around a rooftop. The easy move is to end your sightseeing day on one. My free walking tour runs for about 2 hours through the historic centre and finishes at Hackescher Markt in the late afternoon, which is a natural moment to head to a roof for the sunset. From the centre, Klunkerkranich in Neukölln or House of Weekend on Alexanderplatz are both a short ride away, and you arrive with the light still high.

If you want a fuller plan for the day, my two-day Berlin itinerary already builds in a golden-hour slot. The rooftop is just the reward at the end of it.

Image credits

Berlin skyline (cover) and TV Tower with Rotes Rathaus: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Klunkerkranich roof garden: Lear 21, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
City West around the Memorial Church: Flocci Nivis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sunset over the Spree with the Molecule Man: Ansgar Koreng, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Open-air rooftop terrace at dusk: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.