Alfama, Castelo & Graça
On a good night, walking into A Baiuca is like gatecrashing a family party. It’s a special place with fado vadio, where locals take a turn and spectators…
Must-see entertainment in Western Europe
Brussels
The AB’s two auditoriums are favourite venues for mid-level international rock bands and acts such as Jools Holland and Madeleine Peyroux, plus plenty of…
Manchester
Arguably the world's most famous football team, Manchester United ply their incredibly lucrative trade on the perfect pitch at Old Trafford, given the…
Richmond, Kew & Hampton Court
For a few weeks each June and July, the sporting world’s attention is fixed on the quiet southern suburb of Wimbledon, as it has been since 1877. Most…
Manchester
In 2018 Manchester City were crowned league champions for the third time since 2012, playing a brand of football that had fans and rivals alike applauding…
Bordeaux
Admire the art-deco domed ceiling and original octagonal windows of this former post office, telephone and telegraph centre where Bordelais once queued to…
Lisbon
SL Benfica play at this 65,000-seat stadium in the northwestern Benfica district, which also houses the club's well-done museum (https://museubenfica…
East Sussex
In 1934, science teacher John Christie and his opera-singer wife Audrey Mildmay decided to build a 1200-seat opera house in the middle of nowhere. It…
Le Divan du Monde & Chez Madame Arthur
Montmartre & Northern Paris
Very much an iconic, cross-cultural address at the foot of Montmartre, this hybrid cabaret-club has played host to cabaret troupe Madame Arthur since 1946…
Professor Codman’s Punch & Judy Show
Llandudno
Queen Victoria herself watched this show, performed by the same family with the same puppets since 1860. Mr Punch’s iconic red-and-white-striped booth…
Luxembourg City
French architect Christian de Portzamparc conceived this stunning modernist glass oval with 823 white steel columns as a 'natural filter' to enter the…
Jordaan & the West
Surrounded by the construction of docklands-turned-neighbourhood Houthavens, this gleaming theatre has a glass facade providing views over the IJ River…
Paris
The city’s original opera house is smaller than its Bastille counterpart, but has perfect acoustics. Due to its odd shape, some seats have limited or no…
Chester
Chester's ancient racetrack, on the western side of the walls in what was once the Roman harbour, has been hosting races since the 16th century. The…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
Immortalised in Toulouse-Lautrec's posters and later in Baz Luhrmann's film, Paris' legendary cabaret twinkles beneath a 1925 replica of its original red…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
Built in neo-Egyptian art deco style in 1921 and saved from demolition by a neighbourhood association seven decades later, this historical monument is a…
Marseille
Despite the name, this live-music venue is actually a repurposed 1950s cinema, not a windmill (which would have made for interesting gigs). Scheduling…
Glasgow
Occupying a former tram depot, this buzzy cultural centre has performance and exhibition spaces as well as a popular cafe. It's a real Southside community…
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Run by the Institute of Art and Ideas, the people behind Hay's HowTheLightGetsIn festival of philosophy and music, this converted Methodist chapel wears…
Ceredigion
One of the largest arts centres in Wales, this happening place stages excellent opera, drama, dance and concerts, plus it has an art gallery, a quality…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Pontio cements Bangor's place as the cultural capital of North Wales. Within the fluid, Guggenheim-esque interior of this ambitious new multimillion-pound…
Bairro Alto, Chiado & Cais do Sodré
With one wall covered in LPs and another with old cinema chairs, there's an old-time feel to this jazz and blues bar in Bairro Alto. Free concerts happen…
Paris
Everything from film screenings to jazz and world music concerts, poetry slams, photography, painting and sculpture exhibitions, art installations and…
Marquês de Pombal & Around
Cinemateca Portuguesa screens offbeat, art-house, world and old movies.
Birmingham
Topped by its art deco sign, this is the UK's oldest working cinema, operating since 1909. It screens mainly art-house films. Be waited upon in plush two…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Built in 1864, intimate concert, theatre and dance hall Le Bataclan was Maurice Chevalier’s debut venue in 1910. The 1497-capacity venue reopened with a…
Counties Wicklow & Kildare
Hosting its first recorded race in 1727 and officially inaugurated in 1868, the Curragh is the oldest and most prestigious racecourse in the country, and…
Latin Quarter
Housed in a medieval caveau (cellar) used as a courtroom and torture chamber during the Revolution, this club is where many of the jazz greats (Count…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
On the banks of Canal St-Martin in a former fire station and later squat, this arts and music venue attracts an underground crowd for concerts, dance…
Notting Hill & West London
Opened in 1911, the single-screen Gate has one of London’s most charming art-deco cinema interiors, with director Q&As and a wealth of cinema clubs,…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
This true hybrid, known as the Grocery Store to Anglophones, is a massive space, fronted at street level by its in-house Italianate canteen-bar with big…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Gigs, concerts, theatrical performances, exhibitions, readings, dance classes and workshops: this arts centre is where it all happens after dark in…
Peak District
Designed by theatre architect Frank Matcham in 1903 and restored in 2001, Buxton's gorgeous opera house hosts a full program of drama, dance, concerts and…
Bairro Alto, Chiado & Cais do Sodré
This crowded dive (reserve ahead), full of soccer banners and spilling over with people of all ilks, is a fado free-for-all. It's not uncommon for taxi…
Amsterdam
A dramatic glass-and-steel box on the IJ waterfront, this multidisciplinary performing-arts venue has a state-of-the-art main hall with flexible stage…
North London
The name would have you think jazz is the main staple, but it's only a small slice of what's on offer here. The intimate club-like space also serves up…
Aliados & Bolhão
Maus Hábitos or 'Bad Habits' is an arty, nicely chilled haunt hosting a culturally ambitious agenda. Changing exhibitions and imaginative installations…
Belfast
The MAC is a beautifully designed venue overlooking the neoclassical St Anne's Sq development, with its two theatres hosting regular performances of drama…
West Yorkshire
Built in 1923 as a social club by the local trade unions, this place was revived in the 1980s and has since gone on to become one of the UK's coolest live…
Alfama, Castelo & Graça
This intimate spot features live fado on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and eclectic cultural fare (jazz, poetry readings) on other nights…
