Berlin Open 24/7 — Pharmacies, Supermarkets, ATMs, ER

You’re in Berlin on a Sunday night with a raging headache, a dead phone, and an empty stomach—and every normal store is shuttered. The city runs on a different clock after dark and on Sundays, but there’s a parallel network of 24/7 lifelines if you know where to look. Here’s where to find an open pharmacy, a supermarket, an ATM that won’t eat your money, an English-speaking ER, and everything else that keeps you going when everything else is closed.

When the Apotheke Is Closed: Night & Sunday Pharmacy (Notdienst)

German pharmacies (Apotheken) are strictly regulated: all close by 8pm on weekdays and are completely shut on Sundays and public holidays. The exception is a rotating emergency duty system (Notdienst). Every district has one pharmacy designated to stay open overnight and all day Sunday. You pay a €2.50 surcharge on top of the medication price, but it’s legal and standard.

To find the current open pharmacy in your area:

Visit apotheken.de – enter your district or current location.
Call the free hotline: 0800 00 22 833 (toll-free in Germany).
Note: emergency pharmacies often close at midnight or 6am the next day – check the specific listing. You can’t get a prescription filled here without a valid script, but over-the-counter meds (painkillers, cold remedies) are fine.

Pro tip: Stock up on basics (ibuprofen, antihistamines, rehydration salts) at any regular Apotheke before 8pm on Saturday. Sunday headaches are the worst kind of surprise.

Supermarkets on Sunday & Late Night: The Loop Holes

There is no 24-hour full-size supermarket anywhere in Berlin. The biggest loophole: REWE To Go convenience stores inside major train stations. These are open Sunday and often until midnight or later. Key locations:

Hauptbahnhof (main station) – open daily until 10pm, Sunday 9am–10pm
Friedrichstraße station – until 10pm daily, Sunday as well
Ostbahnhof – until 11pm, Sunday from 9am
Zoologischer Garten – until midnight, Sunday 9am–midnight
Südkreuz – until 10pm, Sunday from 9am

They have a limited grocery selection: bread, milk, eggs, pasta, beer, fruit, and some frozen stuff. Enough to survive, not enough to cook a feast.

For longer hours, Tegut at Friedrichstraße (near the station) is open daily until midnight and Sunday 10am–8pm. The Edeka at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) terminals are open daily until 10pm including Sunday – but you have to be airside or in the public arrival area.

See our arrival setup guide for more on what to bring and how to dodge the Sunday panic buy.

Spätis (Spätkauf) – The Real 24/7 Berlin

Spätis are the city’s unofficial 24-hour convenience stores. More than a thousand dot Berlin, especially dense in Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. Most are open 24 hours, or at least until 3–4am even on Sundays. They sell:

Beer, wine, spirits (the main draw)
Snacks, chips, chocolate, sometimes sandwiches
Charger cables (USB-C, Lightning) for €10–15 – save you if you forgot yours
Razor blades, toilet paper, basic toiletries
Phone credit and prepaid SIM cards

Spätis are not regulated like normal grocery stores, so they can open on Sundays. The catch: prices are higher – expect €1.50 for a can of Club-Mate instead of €1 at a supermarket. They don’t sell fresh vegetables or dairy reliably. For that you need a station REWE or a Sunday-opening Späti that doubles as a mini-market (look for “Spätkauf” signs with a vegetable rack).

24/7 ATMs – Finding One Without Getting Ripped Off

Berlin has plenty of 24-hour ATMs, but not all are equal. The rule: use bank-affiliated ATMs only.

Sparkasse, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Postbank – all have card-swipe doors for 24/7 access. Tap your contactless card or insert and pull to enter. No fee for German card holders; foreign cards may face a €5–7 flat fee. Withdraw larger amounts to spread the cost.
Euronet, Travelex, Cashpoint – red machines often in tourist areas. Avoid them like the plague. They advertise “0% fee” but include a massive unfavourable exchange rate (up to 10% markup). You’ll see the amount in your home currency before confirming – cancel it.
Reisebank ATMs at airports and Hauptbahnhof – also high fees. Stick to bank branches.

If you’re in a pinch after midnight, any bank lobby with a card-swipe door works. For more money tips, see our Berlin money guide.

Hospital Emergency Rooms (Notaufnahme) – English Okay

If you have a real medical emergency, just walk into any hospital’s Notaufnahme (emergency department). No appointment needed. The three biggest ERs with reliable English-speaking staff:

Charité Campus Mitte – Luisenstraße 64, 10117 Berlin. The largest university hospital, best for serious issues.
Vivantes Friedrichshain – Landsberger Allee 49, 10249 Berlin. Good for trauma and surgery.
Vivantes Neukölln – Rudower Str. 48, 12351 Berlin. Also takes walk-ins.
Vivantes Spandau – Lynarstraße 12, 13578 Berlin. Western districts.

Bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) if you have one, otherwise your passport and travel insurance details. Expect to wait, especially on weekend nights (you’re competing with drunken injuries). Non-urgent cases can be seen faster at Bereitschaftspraxen (evening walk-in clinics) – ask the ER triage nurse.

Non-Emergency but Need a Doctor After Hours

For non-life-threatening issues (stomach bug, high fever, weird rash):

Medical hotline: 116 117 – free, 24/7, English available. They’ll advise and can direct you to an ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst (on-call doctor service) open evenings/weekends.
Home doctor visits: 030 31 00 31 – call this number 24/7 if you can’t leave your hotel. They send a doctor to your accommodation. Costs are covered by most travel insurance (save the receipt).

Dental Emergency – 24/7

Toothache at 3am? Call 030 89 00 43 33 (KZV Berlin Notdienst). This is the official dental emergency hotline. They’ll tell you which dentist is on duty in your district. No walk-in dental ER – you must call first. English is generally spoken.

Vet ER – If Your Pet Gets Sick

Berlin has a 24-hour veterinary clinic: Kleintierklinik Charlottenburg. Address: Schloßstraße 18, 14059 Berlin. Phone: 030 30 11 33 0. Open 24/7 for emergencies. They treat dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs – basically small animals (“Kleintiere”). Also: Vetmeds Tierklinik at Ullsteinstraße 128 in Tempelhof, also 24/7 but smaller.

Lost Passport or Phone – What to Do Now

Lost passport: Call 110 (police) to report it missing and get a report number. Then go to your embassy during business hours. Most embassies are in Charlottenburg (Tiergarten area). The UK embassy is at Wilhelmstraße 70. The US embassy is at Clayallee 170 in Zehlendorf. No 24/7 passport service – you’ll have to wait until morning.
Lost phone: If you think it fell on public transport, call BVG Lost & Found at 0800 00 22 833 (free) the next day, or check at any BVG service point. For a replacement: Späti for a cheap burner phone? Not common – but you can buy a prepaid smartphone at MediaMarkt on Sunday only at train station branches (Hauptbahnhof has one open until 10pm). Charger cables are the easy fix at the nearest Späti.

Late-Night Food Beyond Spätis

Spätis handle packaged snacks. For hot food after midnight, Berlin’s kebab shops and certain currywurst stands keep going:

Curry 36 – Mehringdamm 36, Kreuzberg. Open until 5am seven days a week. The classic Berlin currywurst with fries. Order “Currywurst mit Pommes” and pay cash (~€4.50).
Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebab – Mehringdamm 32 (just metres from Curry 36). The famous “vegetable kebab” queue sometimes runs until 3am. It’s overhyped according to locals, but if you want a line for a kebab, this is it.
24-hour kebab shops – not all are 24h, but many in Neukölln (Sonnenallee) and Kreuzberg (Skalitzer Straße) stay open until 4–5am. Look for the neon “Döner” sign – if the lights are on, they’re open.

For a sit-down meal, try Barra (a bar with food) in Mitte that stays open late, but expect bar prices.

Berlin after dark is not a dead zone – you just have to know the parallel networks. Pick up a power bank, find your nearest Späti, and remember the Notdienst pharmacy number. The city will take care of you, but it demands a little local knowledge in return. For more Berlin survival guides, start at our main Berlin page.