Lichtenberg

Population: 259,881
Sub-districts: 10

Friedrichsfelde

Karlshorst

Lichtenberg

Falkenberg

Malchow

Wartenberg

Neu-Hohenschönhausen

Alt-Hohenschönhausen

Fennpfuhl

Rummelsburg

Those endless skyscraping prefab Platte (council flat-like blocks), the empty parks, the chimney stacks. Lichtenberg is huge, drab and wonderful. This is where I've been living for the past three months and I absolutely adore it. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg may be the coolest district in the capital but good old socialist Lichtenberg, good old post-industrial Lichtenberg, good old home of Lichtenberg, might just be my favourite Bezirk. And, down dead-straight streets the Romans would have been proud of, it's also where you'll find my favourite, and perhaps Berlin's most berserk – in terms of its unabating energy – party venues.

Sisyphos

This all-day-and-all-of-the-nightclub in the industrial neighbourhood of Rummelsberg is – if you like your techno rolling and relentless – absolutely irresistible. In the summer, primarily an outdoor venue, Sisyphos mainly attracts the under-30s and those that are averse to the smoky claustrophobia of venues like Chalet and Stattbad.

Partygoers are welcomed to the site by two approving ducks that bedeck the wrought-metal gates separating their weekend-long parties from the factory and chimneystack surroundings. The queues can feel like Sisyphean tasks so if you plan to return over the weekend make sure to grab a stamp on the way in.

Sisyphos has three main areas played to by three different DJs. The first is the outdoor beach bar and dancefloor bathed in vine-like fairylights. The second – the club's highlight – is a wooden shack. The floor is bouncy. Worn black couches dot the walls inside and out. The windows are made from stained glass and spotlight filters – like peeping out of a kaleidoscope.

Until around midnight the dancing is restricted to the outdoor stages fit for the hundreds so far arrived. The focus then shifts to a vast and decaying building in the centre of the site. This former dog biscuit factory has, it's been said, five floors fit for frolicking on, but few men have seen them all. The main dancefloor is dark and huge and there's a good chance that you could feel almost lost here.

The term 'dancing' is here loose. Wild often shirtless writhing is perhaps a better summation. And the sweat that drips and drops from the people and the walls is, like the bassline, perpetual.

Weißenbier with lemon – €3.50 – is popular and recommended. Pizza is also sold on-site and for €3 a slice might just keep you going long enough to see the sun arrive and depart before you do.

Hauptstraße 15, 10317 Lichtenberg

S-Bahn: S3 Rummelsburg

Open: Irregular but typically Friday 23.59 - Monday morning

Admission: €10

sisyphos-berlin.net