Berliners party hard and late, and while many bars seldom get busy before midnight, some start earlier, building a crowd by eight or nine o'clock. But with no regulated times for bar closings, there isn't a rush, so events can take their own course.

More Cafe (Motzstrasse 28) is one place that's busy all afternoon and late into the evening. This restaurant and bar serves creative and delicious breakfast, lunch (with daily business specials), Sunday brunch buffet (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and dinner selections daily. Their entrees are expertly prepared, thoughtfully presented, and generously apportioned, so you won't go away hungry; but you will still want more! Their web site lists all the menus. The long low bar at center of the restaurant is perfect for leisurely afternoon chats over tea, coffee, or drinks, and there are sidewalk tables open to Motzstrasse for summer afternoons and evenings, covered and heated at cooler times. Your host Eric and the staff here are charming and devoted to customer satisfaction.

Several fun watering holes along Motzstrasse await you after dinner. Hafen (Motzstrasse 19) has been a place of cavorting for years. Good vibes from owners Ulrich and Johannes and their easy rapport with staff create a truly friendly atmosphere at Hafen, making conversation with a stranger here is perfectly cool. Wild DJs, drag shows, various performances, Monday Quizz-o-rama, and Banty's Basement every Friday and Saturday night featuring one of the Snoopy Lads (Arte television came recently to film here) make this bar a continuing pleasure to return to night after night.

Heile Welt (Motzstrasse 5) is known for its decor and its fun-loving and friendly crowd. The bartenders are cute, smiley, and fluent with the fluids. Outdoor seating is available, weather-permitting. Their front bar is wall-to-wall packed with people most nights, but there's also a sophisticated, ultra-modern, and comfortable lounge that extends far into the rear. It's open Wednesday through Sunday for casual cruising, or just to get some spreading-out space. Heile Welt roughly translates into "perfect world," and you can't get more perfectly queer than this.

There are ample opportunities for sex in Berlin clubs. Many are the dark-room and video arcade options, and numerous dance clubs and ordinary bars have naked nights and sex parties that might surprise and delight North Americans accustomed to more regulation. Sexual opportunity is so common as to be unremarkable here, and except in some of the kinkier and serious fetish venues it's usually playfully casual.

Scheune (Motzstrasse 25) is a longtime favorite that draws many butch men and their admirers. Leather and uniform, though popular , is not strictly enforced. Cruise the video bar and check out the porn videos playing before heading into the darkroom. There are naked safe-sex parties on Sundays at Scheune, and many other special events throughout the year.

Tom's Bar (Motzstrasse 19), famous for their heavy darkroom action, has a cruisy vibe with hot videos firing up an already obviously horny crowd.

Prinzknecht (Fuggerstrasse 33) has sidewalk seating (and indoor darkrooms) as well as great original art lining the walls. Come sunset, Wednesday's two-for-one happy hour, 7-9 p.m., attracts a nearly overwhelming crowd that spills out onto the street.

Next door, Connection Club (Welserstrasse 24, at the corner of Fuggerstrasse) has a large following on the weekends for late-night dancing and cruising. Their downstairs bar has sprawling space with big comfortable chairs and a crowd that runs from Levi/leather to college-age student types. This area extends into a three-level complex of darkroom play-spaces, the "Twilight Zone," where the party begins at midnight and gets very busy on weekends. There are lounges, couches, videos, glory holes and a maze of twists and turns and dark room dead-ends so you never know what you'll see or bump into.

Bumping might be euphemistic for what young men who frequent the corner at Motzstrasse and Eisenacher Strasse are up to. It's no coincidence that Tabasco (Fuggerstrasse 3), the self-described "largest hustler bar in Europe," is here. Play pool with the guys in back, or just watch from the bar, and before long someone will say hello. Their friendly doorman keeps an eye on things and those who might be troublesome are kept away. The staff can also arrange meetings for those either too shy or if language is a problem. For special events there are table dance strip shows and in good weather they have sidewalk seating by the trees.

Next door is Pinocchio (Fuggerstrasse 3), a cozy and sociable place, also with sidewalk tables. Blue Boy (Eisenacher Strasse 3a) across the street, also has a doorman to buzz you in, and a friendly mix of young and old of many backgrounds who come here to meet one another -- not just a pick up bar (that too) but a social hang-out as well. Next door, and extending around on Fuggerstrasse, Blond (Eisenacher Strasse 3a) is a bright open bar with sidewalk tables serving breakfast each morning from 10am for only 3.50 euros, or for cocktails afternoons and late into the evening. Blond has free Wi-Fi too.

Tramps (Eisenacher Strasse 6) is a neighborhood men's bar with early opening hours, and Eldorado (Motzstrasse 20) is a handy meeting place on a busy corner, for coffee or drinks, with a pool table and evening shows.

Woof (Fuggerstrasse 37) is home to the German Mr. Leather events, and pulls a good crowd of leather and fetish guys and bears most every night. Regular naked parties take place Thursdays and Sundays.

Mutschmann's (Martin-Luther-Strasse 19), a serious leather-and-fetish men-only bar, has a dedicated following. They have a large cruising area and backroom that gets going late. They're known here also for frequent naked sex parties. On Wednesdays, the dress code is lifted and a two-for-one happy hour brings in a randy group of guys.

Other bars in the area include: Hell (Lietzenburger Strasse 20b), Mario's Kneipe (Fuggerstrasse 34), Storks (Kleistrasse 7), and Pussy Cat (Kalckreuthstrasse 7).

Cafe Berio (Maassenstrasse 7) is a local icon with sidewalk tables, the place to see and be seen by passers-by in Nollendorfplatz any warm afternoon or evening over Ice cream, pastries or coffee. Breakfast is on the menu here from 8 a.m. through midnight.

Windows (Martin-Luther-Strasse 22) and Rastatte Gnadenbrot (Martin-Luther-Strasse 20a) are bar/restaurants at the other end of Motzstrasse with local flair. On the third corner here the great little pizza and pasta place Pizza Luna (Martin-Luther-Strasse 21) is conveniently open until 4 a.m. Fritz & Co. is the rainbow-flag adorned stand for quick currywurst and french fries, on the way to Shoeneberg from Wittenbergplatz U-bahn.

For those with only sex in mind, New Action (Kleiststrasse 35) attracts a kinky men-only crowd, and the action here is even later than at most clubs. Next door Bull is a men-only fetish space that runs into afterhours (until 6am) Saturdays and Sundays. Jaxx (Motzstrasse 19) is a membership sex party club associated with Tom's Bar, and Ajpnia (Eisenach Strasse 23) also does sex parties. Stage Club (Nassauische Strasse 36a) is another men's sex-party club in nearby Wilmersdorf.

Two tubs on this side of town are: Apollo Sauna Club Brasil (Kurfurstenstrasse 101) and Steam Sauna (Kurfurstenstrasse 113), each with all the amenities.

The Tiergarten (park) is not far away, and near the Siegessaeule (Victory Column) there's a legendary cruising spot. There's also action around the Lowenbrucke (Lion Bridge).

Heading East

Prenzlauer Berg is quite intriguing with lots of sidewalk cafes, restaurants, and little shops to explore.

A good first stop would be at Schall Und Rauch (Gleimstrasse 23). Besides their guesthouse, they have a restaurant, cafe, and bar with sidewalk seating and a menu to please everyone, including vegetarians. There are weekend and holiday breakfast buffets, daily lunch from noon, with ever-changing specials, and tea-time with pastries and 20 kinds of tea to choose from, week-day afternoons. A recent menu addition to their world-cuisine menu is typisch deutsch food -- good basic old fashioned German fare. Their bar offers over 100 kinds of cocktails, and Schall und Rauch celebrates all the holidays with special drinks and food.

Sonntags Club (Greifenhagener Strasse 28) bar and cafe is also a meeting house that dates from the GDR days, and retains some of that ambience still.

Several bars in this area are solidly male territory. Baerenhoehle (Schoenhauser Allee 90) is a cozy cave for bears coming up on nine years of providing comfort and converstation space for a broad cross-section of guys, but especially for those big friendly ursine ones.

For an even more sexually charged atmosphere there are other bars nearby. Black Box (Paul-Robeson Strasse 50), Greifbar (Wichertstrasse 10), and Darkroom (Rodenbergstrasse 23) are some cruisy neighborhood bar options, and Stahlrohr (Greifenhagener Strasse 54) organizes diverse and uninhibited sex and fetish parties. Area video arcade and sex shops include XXL-Berlin(Schoenhauser Allee 131) and Bad Boys (Schliemannstrasse 38).

Flax (Chodowieckistrasse 41) at Prenzlauer Berg south has a fun crowd. Highlights are Wednesday pasta buffets, topless service-boy Fridays, and a big Sunday brunch buffet. First Fridays of each month Flax is known for a big karaoke party of (mostly) young guys, that gets quite wild; a photo gallery on their website tells the story.

In Kreuzberg district, besides the big dance venues, there are several smaller gay clubs to check out.

Triebwerk (Urbanstrasse 64) is a gay sex club/bar on two floors with DJs, and naked sex parties more than 250 times each year. They share the address with Darkzone a cruisy video arcade and DVD sales shop. Ficken 3000 (Urbanstrasse 70), near Volkspark is a sparky little bar, also with darkroom sexual adventures, and Club Culture Houze (Gorlitzer Strasse 71) is another erotic playground for just about any taste, or gender.

Melitta Sundstrom (Mehringdamm 61) is coffee shop fronting Schwuz nightclub and the Schwules Museum with a more elaborate restaurant to be completed on the second floor sometime this summer. The atmosphere here is very East Berlin, and well worth a visit for stimulating conversation over drinks. While in the area, Barbiebar (Mehringdamm 77), Rauschgold (Mehringdamm 62) and Drama (Mehringdamm 63) are cafe/bars to check out.