Must-see nightlife in Central Europe

  • Augustiner Bräustübl

    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…

  • Hofbräuhaus

    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…

  • Berghain/Panorama Bar

    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…

  • Weingut Muster

    Styria

    Despite having something of a cultish international following for their organic wines, Maria and Sepp Muster have one of the friendliest tasting rooms in…

  • Mooserwirt

    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…

  • Germany, Berlin, Clarchen's Ballhaus, old beer hall

    Clärchens Ballhaus

    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…

  • Palmenhaus Schonbrunn

    Palmenhaus

    Vienna

    Housed in a beautifully restored Jungendstil palm house with high arched ceilings, glass walls and steel beams, looking through into the adjacent…

  • Entrance to Cafe Sperl, Mariahilf.

    Café Sperl

    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…

  • Café Bunkier

    Bunkier Cafe

    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…

  • Four friends with a fresh beer in a Beer garden; close-up on beer stein; Shutterstock ID 94653856; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; Project no. or GL code: 56530; Network activity no. or Cost Centre: Online-Design; Product or Project: LP.com Destination Galleries

    Augustiner Bräustuben

    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…

  • New York Café

    Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter

    Considered the most beautiful cafe in the world when it opened in 1894, this neo-Renaissance-style place on the ground floor of the New York Palace Hotel…

  • Cheder

    Cheder

    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…

  • 500px Photo ID: 144389993 - Romantic medieval Ljubljana's city center, capital of Slovenia, Europe. Night life on the banks of river Ljubljanica where many bars and restaurants take place. Franciscan Church in background

    Slovenska Hiša

    Ljubljana

    Our favourite boozer along the river is so cute it's almost twee. Choose from artisanal coffees, wines, lemonades, cocktails and spirits, featuring…

  • Couple looking over city from Letna Park.

    Letná Beer Garden

    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…

  • U Slovanské Lípy interior.

    U Slovanské Lípy

    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…

  • Léhűtő

    Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter

    Drop into this basement bar if you fancy a craft beer, of which it stocks a large range of Hungarian and international labels. Friendly staff are on hand…

  • Kisüzem

    Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter

    The bare-brick interior of this relaxed corner bar gives it a bohemian vibe. A mixed-age crowd mingles at the bar or chats at the tables ranged around the…

  • 500px Photo ID: 111928875 - Cafe Camelot, one of the most famous cafes in Cracow with excellent food, and unusual drinks (like milk shake with figs and flax seeds). Based in old building with "fin de siecle" decor.

    Café Camelot

    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…

  • Beer Geek interior.

    Beer Geek

    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…

  • Szatyor Bár és Galéria

    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…

  • 500px Photo ID: 49612506 - This is the terrace of a club in Hamburg, called "Golden Pudel (Poodle) Club". Very unique and enjoyable!

    Golden Pudel Club

    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…

  • Kaffeefabrik

    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…

  • Kavárna Slavia

    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…

  • Gut Drauf at Gut Oggau

    Neusiedler See

    It's worth planning ahead to visit this wonderful cellar door, a few kilometres north of Rust, in the hamlet of Oggau. Young winemakers Eduard Tscheppe…

  • Cafe Belg & Hostel

    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…

  • Mercy Brown

    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…

  • Frau Gerolds Garten

    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…

  • E Wedel

    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…

  • Buck & Breck

    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…

  • Promenade

    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…

  • Graciarnia u Plastików

    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…

  • Paul's

    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…

  • Selektion Vinothek Burgenland

    Burgenland

    Occupying one of the erstwhile, columned gatehouses of Schloss Esterházy, with a summer terrace that has a fabulous outlook across to its buttercup yellow…

  • Hagenbräu

    Heidelberg Region

    Producing four varieties of beer each month (light, dark, wheat beer and a seasonal brew such as potato beer), this half-timbered microbrewery is one of…

  • Melete Art Design Cocktails

    Vienna

    Both an art gallery and a hopping bar, Melete ingeniously pairs changing art exhibitions with inventive drinks. Its 'Africa' exhibition, for instance,…

  • Baker Street

    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…

  • Meinl’s Weinbar

    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…

  • U Zlatého Tygra

    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…

  • Kraftpaule

    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,…

  • Blue Mustard

    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…