Insomnia Berlin has a reputation for the bizarre, the extreme… and the hedonistic. It has forged a reputation as one of the most infamous sex clubs in Western Europe.
In a city famed for permissive nightlife, Insomnia still manages to stand apart. And that’s truly saying something! Now celebrating more than a decade of kink, queer, fetish and libertinism, this sex-positive dance club has a diverse range of themed nights and regular parties. From chilled-out Sundays to wild weekend orgies, curious newcomers to seasoned cuckolding Queens… Insomnia caters for all.
Here we dive into what makes Insomnia so unique, from its storied history and outrageous calendar to the anything-goes atmosphere that keeps open-minded clubbers coming back for more.
Why Insomnia Is NOT Your Typical Night Club
Insomnia Berlin is known as the home of the ‘Modern Lifestyle’, which basically makes it a centre for wild party nights and hedonism.
Though some might dismiss the venue as ‘just another club for swingers,’ its patrons celebrate it as something much more exciting.
In fact, calling Insomnia a “swingers club” feels a bit like calling Burning Man a “camping trip.”
Sure, people have sex there. But Insomnia is really a multi-sensory playground where boundaries blur, kink reigns, and techno throbs deep into the early hours. You kind of have to see it to believe it.
For starters, Insomnia is not a bar with a dark room tucked in the back. It’s a fully immersive adult club housed inside a grand old ballroom in Berlin-Tempelhof, transformed into a giant den of fucking and sucking.
We’re not exaggerating there.
If you step inside this famous venue, you are highly likely to see revellers in the act.
There’s a main dance floor where DJs blast everything from dark techno to electro swing, a plush upper-level play area with beds, mirrored walls and mood lighting, a wet zone complete with jacuzzi and showers, and a fully equipped dungeon downstairs (where things really get out of hand).
Whether you’re here to play or just observe, boundaries are respected… but make no mistake, this is not a place for tourists to gawp. The expectation is one of embracing and taking part.
A Foreboding Party Spot In The Heart of Berlin
Set in a historic ballroom and spread over several floors, Insomnia Berlin has a dark and foreboding (but contemporary) ambience.
It is one of Europe’s most notable dance clubs and hosts some of the most sought-after club DJs. The club is also home to a finely stocked bar that serves premium spirits and impressive cocktails, as well as a VIP lounge to entertain.
And yes, it also just so happens to be a kinky space for some intoxicatingly libidinous parties.
Insomnia is a swingers’ club, and you can engage in all manner of sexual frissons, but what sets the club apart from the rest of Germany’s celebrated culture of libertinism is the diversity of the clientele.
Insomnia is a natural home for, as the club’s owners put it, ‘cosmopolitan free spirits, kinky freaks, weird birds of paradise, urban night creatures and crazy party people’.
In keeping with its clientele, the club runs a varied selection of queer, BDSM, fetish and swinging parties that are suitable for all genders, sexual orientations and experience.
At least once a week, there is something that will appeal to almost all demographics of sexually experimental couples and singles… including tango lessons!
The weekends are by far the wildest, and you can expect a mix of musical genres, including electro-swing and dark wave, gothic and straight-up electro, progressive and trance.
There is also a good range of entertainment booked to perform most weekends, which are as extravagant as they are entertaining and can range from burlesque to acrobats, performance artists to painters and every kind of colourful creative you can find in Berlin.
The Rise of Insomnia
Like many great things in Berlin, it all started with a party… and a very kinky one, at that.
The roots of Insomnia date back to 1997, when a flamboyant dominatrix named Dominique, already a fixture of Berlin’s fetish scene, began hosting wild private events under the Insomnia brand.
These early parties were hosted inside KitKatClub, which at the time was the undisputed king of Berlin’s adult nightlife scene. (It’s still a huge draw.)
But Dominique had bigger plans.
She wanted to create her own erotic utopia: a space that celebrated sensuality, music, and kink with equal enthusiasm. Somewhere you could dance until dawn, explore your filthiest fantasies, and not feel weird about asking for a spanking in the smoking area. That vision… a kid of fusion, part libertine salon, part warehouse rave… slowly took shape over several years.
The parties moved through various underground venues, including an abandoned power plant and a former crematorium (classic Berlin), before finally finding a permanent home.
Opened in 2006, Dominique has created a truly exceptional, iconic and landmark venue for the alternative libertine scene in Germany’s capital.
The club has grown to become a community in its own right, and Insomnia is home to a vibrant network of the city’s kink, swinging, queer and fetish libertines. Famously, it even continued to hold live streams online for locked-up revellers during the height of the Covid lockdowns.
Now, in 2025, Insomnia is one of the longest-running adult clubs in Europe, and has cemented its place as an iconic fixture in the global sex party scene.
Events at Insomnia Berlin
The club is open six days a week and each night comes with its own flavour of filth.
The club’s weekly and monthly events span a wild range of themes and there’s always something to tempt in the punters. We’d suggest you keep a close eye on their upcoming schedule, which is updated weekly.
One of the stalwarts is “Berlin Kink”, a regular mid-week playparty that turns Insomnia into a “sexpositive playground” with BDSM dungeon stations and even an erotic cinema corner.
On weekends, the pace picks up: Fridays and Saturdays are usually “Dance & Play” parties, blending thumping electronic music with full-on erotic revelry.
Techno, tech-house and trance beats keep the dance floor moving while open-minded couples and singles mix and mingle throughout the venue.
Some of Insomnia’s signature events have become the stuff of local legend around these parts (and all across Europe).
“Young Love” is a long-running sex-positive electro-house party catering to the 20-30s crowds.
It just recently marked a 16-year anniversary bash, which is quite impressive when you consider the turnover of generations!
There are also “Golden Age” parties which appeals to the older clientele, but let’s be real… you’ve got to be pretty young at heart to be considered Insomnia as your next clubbing night out!
Other recent hits include “HEDOMANIE” (kink meets cardio) and “Master & Servant” (BDSM themed dancefloor frolicks). The club has also dabbled in niche fetishes with events like Erotic Hypnosis workshops, Tantra nights, and even cuddle parties (lol) for the more… mellow… crowd.
Now that’s what we call inclusive…
As you’d expect, the club has close ties with the wider adult scene in Berlin.
It typically hosts the After Parties for the Venus Erotic Trade Fair (each October). In 2024, the Venus Kick-Off party at Insomnia was a massive draw.
Events regularly hit capacity (around 400 people), and the weekend blow-outs run deep into the early morning, often until 5 or 6 the next day.
What Does The Venue Look Like Inside?
Since snapping selfies at Insomnia will get you a very swift talking-to (phones are strictly banned at the door), you might be wondering what the infamous club actually looks like inside.
Well… let’s see…
You’re walking into a historic 100-year-old ballroom, but instead of waltzes and tuxedos, you’re met with a rotating cast of corsets, collars, leather, latex and lube. The air is thick with incense, anticipation, and occasionally… actual moaning. Probably the basement.
There’s no Instagram lighting here. Fuck no. It’s moody, red-lit, and intentionally erotic to set your senses on fire. There’s a sense of nervous anticipation at the door, but it rarely lasts for long.
The main room is where the party begins… and for many, where the inhibitions end.
It has a proper club setup: bar, booming DJ booth, dancefloor, smoke machines, strobe lights, the lot. There’s plush seating dotted around the edges, usually already occupied by a couple mid-grope, especially as the hours tick by and inhibition exits stage left.
Climb the staircase and you’ll find the “play area”, or what can only be described as an erotic theatre — complete with wipe-clean beds, mirrored walls, silky curtains, and helpful buckets of condoms, gloves, and lube. Whoever designed the place clearly believed in Open Plan: the orgy has landed.
There’s also a Jacuzzi zone tucked toward the back, popular later in the night when guests are feeling… loose. The showers are communal.
Downstairs is where the hardcore action unfolds. The dungeon is fully stocked with St. Andrew’s crosses, spanking benches, cages, slings and a collection of restraints that would make your average vanilla club-goer cry and call their mum. But here? It’s just a Thursday.
We’re not sure how else to describe the place, except as a weird cocktail of part Berlin rave, part boudoir, part back-alley sex den. And somehow all of those things at once.
The Downsides to the Hedonism
It’s impossible to have hedonism, on this scale, without somebody feeling a little bit turned off.
Let’s be absolutely clear about this: Insomnia is NOT for everybody.
Christ, it’s NOT for most people.
If you’re uncomfortable with open sexual activity, nudity, or kink, Insomnia will be overwhelming. It just will.
This is not the place for a casual top-40 dance night. Some first-timers freeze up when they realize what’s happening around them. We’ve seen many tales of intrigued tourists getting the fuck out of there once the penny drops.
It’s not that other guests are intimidating, many just don’t quite clock on that the deed is really being done so openly. They think it’s some kind of urban myth or something. Spoiler: you will encounter sex here.
Also, Insomnia’s venue, while atmospheric, isn’t what we’d call huge. On popular nights it can get packed and rather hot and sweaty.
Add in all those bodily fluids and it can definitely feel a little claustrophobic and intense for the uninitiated.
It’s also inevitably… a bit of a mess by the end of the night.
Clean freaks, we’d probably say: best give this one a miss.
Follow The Dress Code To Avoid Disappointment
We can’t stress this enough.
You will not get in wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Not even nice jeans. Not even a black designer tee that you once wore to Berghain. Insomnia’s dress code is intentionally strict.
You are expected to make an effort. And by effort, we mean latex, lingerie, leather, harnesses, heels, fishnet, fetish gear, cosplay, creative kink couture, or something that clearly screams “I’m here to be fabulous and fuckable.”
Unless the event specifically states that casual wear is acceptable (and unless you’re attending a workshop, that’s pretty unlikely), you’re going to need to dress up. Or down.
If you rock up looking like you just left a Spoons, the bouncers will politely (or not so politely) tell you to go home and rethink your life. Or at the very least, rummage through your bag and change into something that won’t ruin the legendary mood that Insomnia has spent decades refining.
Generally, if you’re unsure, black fetishwear is always a safe bet. Latex catsuits, mesh tops, studded pretty much anything, bondage accessories, or risqué lingerie all go down well.
Is Insomnia Still Worth Visiting?
Insomnia Berlin is many things: a club, a sanctuary, a freakshow, a furnace, a rite of passage, and… we’d imagine… a fucking nightmare for whoever’s cleaning up in the morning shift.
It’s sweaty, messy, and totally unforgettable. And no, it’s not for everybody.
But that’s kind of the point.
Insomnia is not trying to be accessible. It’s not trying to be cool in the mainstream sense. It doesn’t give a flying fap whether you “get it” or not. What it offers, unapologetically so, is a space where adults can let go of shame, expectation, and inhibition.
For those brave enough to walk through the doors (dressed appropriately, of course), we’d say Insomnia offers an experience unlike anywhere else in Europe. And it remains a bucket list item for any adult party-goer in Germany.
Will you feel overwhelmed on your first visit? Probably.
Will you see things you weren’t quite prepared for? Absolutely.
Will it make every other nightclub in Berlin look PG? Without question.
Check out their upcoming events via the website to plan your visit…
Let us know if you’ve been – and what you made of the experience!
