World City Guide

Nightlife

Traditional Kneipen (bars) cluster around the Alt Sachsenhausen district (between Brckenstrasse 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 also has a lively club scene – techno is particularly popular. Discos and gay haunts are to be found around Zeil and Bleichstrasse, while the seedier side of nightlife can be found down the Kaiserstrasse artery and the surrounds.

Many bars in Frankfurt also offer live music, particularly jazz. The best venues are around Kleine Bockenheimer Strasse, otherwise known as Jazzgasse (Jazz Alley).

Bars stay open until 0100 during the week and remain open significantly later at the weekend. The minimum drinking age is 18 years and in trendy bars or clubs, a beer can cost around 2.50 or 3.50-4 (bottled), while a glass of wine is usually around 3.50 and sprits 3. Dress code is smart to casual – a tie is not necessary but many places will not allow trainers or jeans. Clubs and discos often charge admission of around 8.

The Urban Entertainment Centre, which is currently being built by the successful architect team ABB, is situated between the fair district and the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station). It will offer a multiplex cinema with 5500 seats, restaurants, shops, wellness facilities and a lot of entertainment and fun.

Prinz (website: www.prinz.de) is the magazine to pick up for the latest bars, club and nightlife information. The free magazines, Strandgut (website: www.strandgut.de), Fritz (website: www.fritz-frankfurt.de) and Kultur News (website: www.kulturnews.de or www.citymag.info/frankfurt) all have information on culture and nightlife in Frankfurt (in German) and are available at the tourist information centre. An excellent source of information and listings is available from the online service (website: www.rhein-main.net) for Frankfurter Neue Presse and Journal Frankfurt.

Bars: To experience the best of a dying breed of ppelwoi taverns, trawl the streets of Alt Sachsenhausen around Affentorplatz. However, if an up-to-the minute scene is more your style, try the super-trendy Soho, Fritschengsschen 5, or Coconut Groove, Kaiserstrasse 53, a stylish restaurant-bar with live music and tables spilling onto the pavement in summer.

In the centre, the places to see and be seen are Lounge, Weissadlergasse 15, a cosy bar that is open until 0300 every day, Keepers Bar, Berliner Strasse 175, offering an excellent mix of cocktails and DJs, and the trendy Studio Bar, Katharinenpforte 6, with upstairs seating in its penthouse. A place with understated style is Luna Bar, Stiftstrasse 6. This is one of the best ‘designer bars’ in Germany, with great atmosphere and 52 types of whisky to choose from. Once a month, the venue hosts a Lunatics Party, with live music.

The Main Tower Bar, on the 53rd floor of the only public skyscraper in Frankfurt, offers breathtaking drinks as well as views from 1830 onwards. Craving German beer? Make for Elfer Music Club, Maybachstrasse 24, the mother of all trendy pubs in Frankfurt. Prices are quite steep at Jimmy’s 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. A friendly and atmospheric Irish pub is located opposite the Hauptbahnhof. The imaginatively named O’Reilly’s, Am Hauptbahnhof Strasse, offers punters the chance to sink a pint of Guinness, as well as some balls in the new pool room. Or the homesick can head for the creatively named Irish Pub, Kleine Rittergasse 11-13. A lively gay pub, which gets going early in the afternoon, is Zum Schweijk, Schfergasse 20.

Casinos: Bad Homburg Casino is the nearest casino – in the spa town of Bad Homburg, just to the north of Frankfurt, on Im Kurpark. Table gambling is available 1500-0300. It costs 2.50 for a day card and the minimum age is 18 years – ID in the form of a driving licence or passport is required. Dress code is smart, with no jeans, sports clothes, sandals or trainers. A jacket and tie is required for men.

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. You can groove into the small hours at L.O.F.T.House, Hanauer Landstrasse 181-185, which nightly rages to everything from techno to 60s rock. Galerie, Dsseldorfer Strasse 1-7, is where the young and trendy enjoy live sets, dance music, theatre performances and unusual art exhibitions. House and trance features prominently at Blue Angel, Brnnerstrasse 17. Das 21. Jahrhundert, Oeder Weg 21, is open every day until the morning hours and hosts DJs from around the world. A palatial villa in Bethmann Park is the chic setting of the Odeon disco, Seilerstrasse 34. A more alternative, almost kitsch, venue is Schaubar, Saalburgstrasse 61.

Live music: The most exciting venue in the city is Die Brotfabrik, Bachmannstrasse 2-4 (website: www.brotfabrik.de), which features live international music. There is also a caf and restaurant on site. Batschkapp, Maybachstrasse 24 (website: www.batschkapp.de), hosts rock, pop and DJ acts, with guests including German punk rockers Die Toten Hosen and famous names like Tracy Chapman and Napalm Death.

Cabaret and live concerts get an airing at Sinkkasten, Brnnerstrasse 5, and Neues Theater Hchst, Emmerich-Josef-Strasse 46a (website: www.neues-theater.de). Live salsa, Latino, ‘Havana heat’ and ‘Bronx beat’ are all on offer at the brightly hued Latin Palace Chango, Mnchener Strasse 57. The most famous and atmospheric venue on Jazzgasse is Der Jazzkeller, Kleine Bockenheimer Strasse 18a, which is open 0900-0400 Wednesday to Sunday, with live music on Thursday and Saturday. NuJazz is featured at the popular live music venue, King Kamehameha, Hanauer Landstrasse 192.

International pop and rock stars pack out the Festhalle, Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1 (website: www.festhalle-frankfurt.de), and Jahrhunderthalle Frankfurt, Pfaffenwiese.

Variety: Tiger Palast, Heiligkreuzgasse 16-20 (website: www.tigerpalast.com), a converted chapel, hosts celebrated variety shows featuring magicians and circus performers, with a restaurant, bar and bistro on site. Shows cost 45 (concessions available). The first and oldest cabaret in town is Die Ks, Waldschmidtstrasse 19 (website: www.die-kaes.com), which guarantees German humour at its best, while Neues Theater Hchst, Emmerich-Josef-Strasse 46a (website: www.neues-theater.de), also puts on a good show every now and again.