Travel: Berlin for partygoers

BEST REUNIFICATION PARTY

ON 3 October 1990, Germany was officially reunified and the date is now a public holiday known as the Day of German Unity. Berlin will be throwing a huge party of official events with live entertainment centred on the streets around the historic Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag, plus Straße des 17 Juni, with stages set up featuring everything from classical to rock. As if that’s not enough, the clubs of the capital will be going all out to keep hundreds of revellers dancing until the wee small hours.

BEST NIGHTLIFE

DANCE music nights at Tape, Heidestrasse 14 (www.tapeberlin.de), a warehouse nightclub, are legendary, and its art exhibitions are worth a look too, Or drop into KTV on Chausseestrasse 36 (www.ktv-berlin.com), packed with DJs and bars from the owners of the nearby Tausend Bar (www.tausendberlin.com), where the cocktails are wunderbar.

BEST HOTEL

KEEP the party going at Propeller Island City Lodge where you can sleep in a ‘flying’ bed suspended from ropes or a coffin. There’s even a room where you can sleep in a cage, with fellow guests to watch you. Or another where you can pull down a panel if you’ve fallen out with your partner, and raise it again for a little east meets west reunification party of your own once you’ve sorted out your differences. Hey, if Germany can do it ... And for first-timers who just want somewhere to sleep off the effects of their hedonism, there’s even a ‘normal’ room too. Propeller Island City Lodge, rooms from €84 (£75) for two, Albrecht Achilles Strasse 58, 10709 (00 49 30 891 9016, www.propeller-island.com)

BIGGEST THRILL

ZIP up the 24 floors of Berlin’s tallest building, the Kollhoff Tower in Potsdam Square, in eight seconds, with the fastest lift in Europe for panoramic views and top cakes, for €8 each, and with a Welcome card you get a pair of binoculars too.

BEST POST-PARTY PROMENADE

A WANDER along the Luisenstadtische Canal will blow away your hangover. Situated between Mitte and Kreuzberg, it was built in 1848 to connect the Landwehr Canal and the city’s River Spree before it was closed and the space transformed into an urban paradise in the 1930s by landscape gardener Erwin Barth. Stretching for more than a mile, it has a picturesque water basin called the Angel’s Pool, where you can sit and chill while you plan your next party night.

BEST PARTY GEAR

HEAD to Quartier 206 at Friedrichstrasse 71 (www.quartier206.com) for designer shops including Yves Saint Laurent and Moschino, plus a whole floor of Departmenstore Quartier 206 from Berlin style maven Anne Maria Jagdfeld. For lesser-known but no less hip brands, see Happy Shop at Torstrasse 67 (www.happyshop-berlin.com)

BEST techno time

IF YOU like your techno music to have a Teutonic air, the Berlin Music Days Festival (2-5 November) is a great time to enjoy a clubbing weekend in the capital of cool. Featuring international electronic DJs the BerMuDa festival (bermuda-berlin.de) is a non-stop celebration of electronic music with workshops, panels, lectures and exhibitions during the day at the city’s former Tempelhof Airport, and label nights, showcases and top-notch party events in Berlin’s hottest clubs and locations at night.