World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Frankfurt  - Nightlife
Nightlife

Traditional Kneipen (bars) cluster around the Alt Sachsenhausen district between Brückenstrasse and Dreiechstrasse but are increasingly being crowded out by more modern establishments with an international ambience. Many of Frankfurt's top hotels have excellent bars that attract outsiders as well as guests, and are particularly popular with visiting businesspeople.

Belying its rather staid image, Frankfurt has a lively club scene; techno is particularly popular. Discos and gay haunts are to be found around Zeil and Bleichstrasse. Many bars in Frankfurt also offer live music, particularly jazz. The best venues are around Kleine Bockenheimer Strasse otherwise known as Jazzgasse (Jazz Alley). The minimum drinking age is 18 years. All bars stay open until 0100 during the week and remain open significantly later at the weekend.

The Urban Entertainment Centre, which is being built by the successful architects' team ABB, is situated between the fair district and the central station and will open its doors later in the year. It will offer a multiplex cinema with 5500 seats, restaurants, shops, wellness facilities and a lot of entertainment and fun.

Bars: To experience the best of a dying breed of Äppelwoi taverns, trawl the streets of Alt Sachsenhausen around Affentorplatz. If an up-to-the minute scene is more your style try Oppenheimer and Orionbar, next door to each other on Oppenheimer Strasse, which offer excellent cocktails to a trendy crowd. In the centre, the places to see and be seen are Lounge, Weissadlergasse 15, a cosy bar open until 0300 every day; Keepers Bar, Berliner Strasse 175, a newcomer in the scene offering an excellent mix between cocktail bar and DJ music, and Studio Bar, Katharinenpforte 6, which offers a stunning view from the penthouse. A place with style is Luna Bar, Stiftstrasse 6, nominated the best bar in Germany in 1999.

Craving German beer? Make for Paulaner, Rotlintstrasse 28, a comfortable pub-bar in the Nordend district. Prices are quite steep at Jimmy's Bar in the Frankfurt Hessischer Hof Hotel, Friedrich Ebert Anlage 40, but anyone on an expense account will enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere and the gentleman's club surroundings. The Lifestyle Bar at the Maritim Hotel is the place for superb cocktails entertainingly shaken, stirred and thrown around with effortless precision.

Casinos: Bad Homburg Casino is the nearest casino, in the spa town of Bad Homburg, just to the north of Frankfurt, on Im Kurpark, and it is open 1430-0300. Dress code is smart. Ties are available at the entrance.

Clubs: Nachtleben, Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse 45, is two places in one: upstairs a trendy bar and downstairs a dance club playing house on Thursday and drum'n'bass on Saturday. Head to the airport for the most popular dance venue in town - Dorian Gray, in the basement of Hall C that attracts a lively local crowd Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 2100-0400. Back in town you can groove into the small hours at L.O.F.T.House, Hanauer Landstrasse 181-185, which rages to everything from techno to sixties rock nightly; or try Galerie, Düsseldorfer Strasse 1-7, where the young and trendy enjoy live sets, dance music, theatre performances and unusual art exhibitions. Das 21. Jahrhundert, Oeder Weg 21, is open every day until morning hours and hosts DJs from all over the world. A palatial villa in Bethmann Park is the chic setting of the Odeon disco, Seilerstrasse 34.

Live music: The most exciting venue in the city is Brotfabrik, Bachmannstrasse 2-4, which features live international music as well as DJ nights. There is also a café and restaurant on site. Rock fans head for Batschkapp, Maybachstrasse 24. Cabaret and live concerts are offered at Sinnkasten, Brönnerstrasse 5. The most famous and atmospheric venue on Jazzgasse is Der Jazzkeller, Kleine Bockenheimer Strasse 18a, which is open 0900-0300 Tuesday to Sunday with live music on Thursday and Saturday. Jazz Kneipe, Berlinerstrasse 70, is a worthy alternative with excellent music entertaining a friendly crowd. International pop and rock stars pack out Waldstadion in the city park and the Festhalle on the trade fair site.

Variety: A converted chapel on Heiligkreuzgasse 16-20 (tel: (069) 289 691) hosts celebrated variety shows featuring magicians and circus performers by Tiger Palast.



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