Salzburg
Who says monks can’t enjoy themselves? Since 1621, this cheery, monastery-run brewery has served potent home brews in beer steins, in the vaulted hall and…
Must-see nightlife in Central Europe
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Munich
Even if you don't like beer, every visitor to Munich should make a pilgrimage to the mothership of all beer halls, if only once. Within this major tourist…
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Friedrichshain
Only world-class spin-masters heat up this hedonistic bass-junkie hellhole inside a labyrinthine ex-powerplant. Hard-edged minimal techno dominates the ex…
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Tyrol
One word: craaaazy. Come teatime Mooserwirt heaves with skiers guzzling beer (the place sells around 5000L a day), dancing to Eurotrash and sweating in…
Berlin
Yesteryear is now at this early-20th-century dance hall where groovers and grannies hoof it across the parquet without even a touch of irony. There are…
Vienna
Housed in a beautifully restored Jungendstil palm house with high arched ceilings, glass walls and steel beams, looking through into the adjacent…
Vienna
With its gorgeous Jugendstil fittings, grand dimensions, cosy booths and unhurried air, 1880-opened Sperl is one of the finest coffee houses in Vienna…
Kraków
The Bunkier is a wonderful cafe with an enormous glassed-in terrace tacked on to the Bunkier Sztuki, a cutting-edge gallery northwest of the Main Market…
Munich
Depending on the wind direction, the bitter-sweet aroma of hops envelops you as you approach this traditional beer hall inside the Augustiner brewery. The…
Kraków
Unlike most of the other Jewish-themed places in Kazimierz, this one aims to entertain and educate. Named after a traditional Hebrew school, the cafe…
Ljubljana
Our favourite boozer along the river is so cute it's almost twee. Choose from artisanal coffees, wines, lemonades, cocktails and spirits, featuring…
Prague
No accounting of watering holes in Holešovice would be complete without a nod towards the city’s best beer garden, with an amazing panorama, situated at…
Prague
A classic Žižkov pub, plain and unassuming in and out, ‘At the Linden Trees’ (the linden is a Czech national emblem) is something of a place of pilgrimage…
Kraków
For coffee and cake, try this genteel haven attached to a theatre of the same name and hidden around an obscure street corner in the Old Town. Its cosy…
Prague
One of the most successful of a new generation of multi-tap pubs in Prague, offering the best beers from local Czech producers as well as brewers from…
Budapest
Sharing the same building as the Hadik Kávéház and separated by just a door, the Szatyor is the funkier of the twins, with cocktails, street art on the…
St Pauli & Reeperbahn
In a 19th-century bootleggers' jail, this tiny bar-club is run by members of the legendary ex-punk band Die Goldenen Zitronen and is an essential stop on…
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Vienna
It's all about the beans at this small, whitewashed cafe-shop. Its small-batch speciality coffee is roasted in Burgenland to bring out the individual…
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Staré Město
The Slavia is the most famous of Prague’s old cafes, a cherrywood-and-onyx shrine to art-deco elegance, with polished limestone-topped tables and big…
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The Kraków−Częstochowa Upland
Inside a passage is Częstochowa's most interesting cafe. Choose from a huge range of carefully curated teas or opt for one of the excellent Polish…
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Kraków
This hidden bar shows just how far word-of-mouth goes. It's not easy to find – nevertheless, it's so popular you need a reservation to get in. The allure…
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Zürich
Hmm, where to start? The wine bar? The margarita bar? The gin bar? Whichever poison you choose, this wildly popular focal point of Zürich's summer…
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Warsaw
The Austrian Wedel family set up their first Warsaw chocolate factory in this handsome building in 1865. Varsovians have been flocking here for the…
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Berlin
Liquid maestro Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro and his baseball-cap wearing team treat grown-up patrons to libational flights of fancy in their clandestine…
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Graz
Delightful Promenade is a Graz institution. Run by the people behind the legendary Aiola, it's a pretty, modern take on the traditional coffee house. On a…
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Carpathian Mountains
It's not surprising this student bar just off the Rynek retains an arty vibe – sculptors, painters and other members of the Artistic Arts Workshop have…
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Linz
Facing the monumental Mariendom cathedral, this A-line building's facade is split down the middle: half is stone, the other half is fronted by floor-to…
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Vienna
Both an art gallery and a hopping bar, Melete ingeniously pairs changing art exhibitions with inventive drinks. Its 'Africa' exhibition, for instance,…
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Frankfurt & Southern Rhineland
Named for Sherlock Holmes' fictional home, this fabulous Victorian-era-themed bar with crackling open fireplaces bills itself as a 'criminal tea room and…
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Staré Město
Novelist Bohumil Hrabal’s favourite tavern, the ‘Golden Tiger’ is one of the few Old Town drinking holes that has hung onto its soul – and its reasonable…
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Vienna
In the basement of food emporium Julius Meinl am Graben, this wine cellar stocks a vast selection of Austrian wines along with a smattering of…
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Stuttgart
Competition is stiff but for our money this might just be Stuttgart's coolest new-wave craft microbrewery and bar. The bartenders really know their stuff,…
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Vienna
Backlit wood hand carvings of Stephansdom's Gothic windows and a wall-to-wall neon-lit map of Vienna make this one of the city's coolest bars. Sensational…
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Cologne
The brainchild of artist Odo Rumpf, this subculture playground is creative lab, beer garden, concert venue, club, art centre, alfresco cinema and urban…
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Warsaw
We'll leave it up to you how many merry evenings you spend here working your way through the nearly 80 on tap beers, plus over a hundred more bottled ones…
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Budapest
This temple to craft beer, which takes its odd name from the slaughtered pig (note the wooden portrait on the wall) in the iconic Hungarian 1969 film A…
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Vienna
One of the last remaining grand Viennese coffee houses on the Ringstrasse, this 1861 beauty has chandelier-lit vaulted ceilings, wood-panelled walls,…
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Düsseldorf
At one of Germany's most progressive dance clubs, the music skews heavily towards non-mainstream electronic and improvisational acts, which makes for a…
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Vienna
Opened in 1939 by Leopold and Josefine Hawelka, whose son Günter and grandsons Amir and Michael still bake the house-speciality Buchteln (jam-filled,…
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Stuttgart
Jazz creates a mellow mood at this slinky little cocktail bar, with barrel-vaulted ceilings, stone walls and dim lighting. The mixologists seem to put a…
