Entertainment in Switzerland
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A
X-tra Limmathaus
X-tra Limmathaus is a bar/lounge/restaurant/club complex that attracts a relaxed 20-something crowd with everything from nu-metal bands to UK garage tunes, via salsa, 80s and dance-floor jazz. You can let all your alter egos out to play on the dance floor here.
reviewed
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B
Café Time
For Italian-style aperitif time, Café Time, buried inside an unlikely little shopping arcade, attracts the local movers and shakers. Relax against the high-backed burgundy leather benches over a fine wine or cocktail with tasty bar snacks.
reviewed
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C
Bar Tabac
Like a spruced corner tavern of old, this is the kind of thing Hemingway probably had in mind when he spoke of a ‘clean, well lighted place’. Squeaky timber floors lend warmth and punters engage in animated chat at tables around the L-shaped bar.
reviewed
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D
Café des Arts
As much a place to drink as a daytime café, this Pâquis hang-out lures a local crowd with its Parisian-style terrace and artsy interior. Foodwise, think meal-sized salads, designer sandwiches and other titillating lunch dishes (Sfr15 to Sfr20).
reviewed
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E
Bar Rouge
This plush red bar, with panoramic views from the 31st floor of the ugly glass Messeturm (trade fair tower), is the city’s most memorable. Hipsters, and a few suits early on weekday evenings, come to appreciate the regular DJs and films.
reviewed
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F
Privilege
Downstairs from street level and easily missed, this is the most central club in town. There are a couple of separate areas, including one for smokers! With go-go girls and guys, and the occasional spurt of live music, it attracts a pretty mixed crowd.
reviewed
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G
Reitschule
While determinedly cleaning up its act and trying to keep the drugs out, this infamous - and ramshackle - centre for alternative arts, music and theatre still retains a bit of its old charisma, attracting local slackers, students and curious tourists.
reviewed
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H
Bar Sport
A fairly run-of-the-mill place by day, this rough-and-tumble bar with the red-walled dance space out the back and beer garden on the side is an extremely popular hang-out with Locarno’s night owls. There are a few other bars in the immediate vicinity.
reviewed
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I
Papperla Pub
Rammed with sloshed skiers in winter, this pub blends pulsating music with lethal Jägermeister bombs and good vibes. Squeeze in, slam shots, then shuffle downstairs to Schneewittchen club (open to 4am) for more of the same. There is free wi-fi here.
reviewed
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J
Eclipse
Bars such as Eclipse are popular with hip young 20-somethings. During the day, people come for snacks, lunch or merely to chill out on the lounge chairs, but come evening they're heaving with eager wannabes out for a good time with cocktails and DJs.
reviewed
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K
Longstreet Bar
Run by the guy who seems to be behind half the city’s nightlife, Yves Spink, the Longstreet is a music bar with a varied roll-call of DJs coming in and out. Try to count the thousands of light bulbs in this purple-felt-lined one-time cabaret.
reviewed
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L
Sous le Pont
Delve into the grungy underground scene around the station, with this bar in the vibrant alternative-arts centre, the Reitschule, an old stone, graffiti-covered building – a former riding school built in 1897 – by the railway bridge.
reviewed
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M
Amnésia
This place packs them in down on the lake. Apart from the club proper (with four dance floors) you can limber up in one of three attached bars beforehand and, in summer, get a snack in the restaurant on the beach (both open to 2am, May to October).
reviewed
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N
Quasimodo
Backpackers staying at the Hotel Glocke will like the convenience of this techno bar-club downstairs. Arrive after 22:00 and you'll find the small dance floor packed with swaying, sweaty revellers from all parts of the globe, including Switzerland.
reviewed
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Klub Elf
House, techno, trance and minimal form the dance beat at this popular weekend club, where the real Saturday-night party kicks off after midnight and continues with an ‘after’ party from 5am on Sunday. Find flyers on their website.
reviewed
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O
Le Bourg
What was once an old cinema is now one of central Lausanne’s happening drink dens and live music stages. Squeeze upstairs past the bar for a good view down to the stage area. Music can be anything from Afro sounds to local jam sessions.
reviewed
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Giger Bar
For sci-fi encounters today, visit the space-age Giger Bar, a silver-black phantasmagoria of biomechanical artwork with chairs like ribcages, tendril-like mirrors and the odd extraterrestrial where you least expect it…
reviewed
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P
Qu'Importe
Never Mind makes no bones about its mission in life: 'qu'importe le facon pourvu qu'on ait livresse' ('Never mind the bottle as long as it gets you drunk…'), so said French Romantic poet and bar muse Alfred de Musset.
reviewed
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Q
Adagio
This club is for a well-dressed over-25 crowd lie just back from the northwest end of the lake. Adagio seems like a scene from a medieval thriller with its vaulted and frescoed ceiling. They play a broad range of dance music.
reviewed
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Chauffage Compris
This retro bar with a decorative tiled entrance that translates as ‘heating and kitchen equipment’ is one cool place to loiter. Be here for morning coffee, evening aperitif, night-owl drink or laid-back weekend brunch (Sfr10).
reviewed
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R
Saint Germain
This is about as hip as it gets in an uptown way these days. After impeccably turned out folks have finished dining on designer blini and smoked salmon, the tables are whisked away to turn this into a heaving dance den. Enter from Rennweg.
reviewed
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S
Fischerstube
An atmospheric, smoky beer hall, with long tables, Fischerstube is famous for its Ueli-bier. It also serves Wurst and a three-course 'Bier Menu' (around CHF42), where every course features the amber liquid, even the soup and the dessert.
reviewed
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T
Café Schober
A kitsch, fairy-tale grotto of a café, with huge bouquets of flowers tied with ribbons to ceiling arches, Schober serves a serious hot chocolate (made from real schoggi instead of cocoa powder) and shouldn't be missed.
reviewed
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U
Rote Fabrik
This once counter- cultural and now largely mainstream institution stages rock concerts, original-language films, theatre and dance performances. There’s also a bar and a restaurant. Take bus 161 or 165 from Bürkliplatz.
reviewed
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V
Bâtiment des Forces Motrices
Geneva’s one-time riverside pumping station (1886) is now a striking space for classical music concerts, dance, ballet and other cultural events. Its Sunday-morning Musique sur Rhône concerts are particularly delightful.
reviewed