Berlin Prenzlauer Berg

What was once Berlin's overlooked Beirke, replete with crumbling cement and graffiti-covered Soviet-era buildings, is rapidly transforming into perhaps the trendiest area in the city. Attracted by low rents, students and artists stormed the neighborhood after reunification, giving the area a bohemian vibe with a unique DDR spin. Today, the streets are owned by well-dressed schoolchildren and their young, effortlessly hip parents, and the city blocks are interrupted by countless small parks, playgrounds, and costly secondhand stores. In Prenzlauer Berg, everything used to be something else. Delicious brunches are served every summer in what were once butcher shops, students party in a horse stable turned nightclub, and cheap cocktails are served from a bar countertop in a former linoleum showroom. For this neighborhood, what's cool is ironic, and what's ironic is the bare-bones, stuck in the'70s, USSR cement siding, burnt-orange shag carpeting past. Cafe-bar owners know what's hip, so even as relics of Prenzlauer Berg's are rapidly disappearing, mismatched sofas and floral wallpaper remain the shabby-chic decorating standard. The bar scene is to Prenzlauer Berg as club culture is to Friedrichshain. After dark, Prenzlauer Berg turns into a not-to-be-missed extravaganza of hole-in-the-wall basement concerts, laid-back wine tastings, and trendy, vegan cafes.

Geographically, Prenzlauer Berg is east of the city center, overlapping in some places with Mitte to the west. Cheaper bars cluster around the Kastanienallee, while the area around Lettestr. is ideal for checking out the'70s decorating revival. Only two U-Bahn lines and a single S-Bahn line cut through the area, so plan on trams or walking to explore the berg.