Chemnitz Nightlife

La Bouché is one of those bars which look pretty upperclassy and turn out to be just cool places. It’s slightly more expensive than average but the food is good and drinks can be enjoyed in a nice and cosy atmosphere. It's a favourite eating place for those working in central Chemnitz.

Dress Code: none

Subway to Peter – a strange name for a bar, isn’t it? Subway is an alternative bar near the station. Several times per month, there are concerts of local bands. Music includes Metal to Punk. A weird thing is that Subway offers Chemnitz's only vegan brunch. While the food is great, the atmosphere (a dark and somehow shabby cellar room) needs getting used to. Moreover, I'm not sure whether I can truely enjoy my breakfast if a bunch of punks opposite shares the next round of beer this early...

Dress Code: none - but you'd certainly feel more at home when dressed indie- or alternative-like

Brazil is a great bar in Chemnitz's city centre. They've got a good selection of cocktails and other drinks. The food is good (except maybe the French fries) and the location is perfect - in the middle of the centre. A good place to stop by after the movies or a long shopping trip.

Dress Code: none

Alex, a bar located on Market Square, belongs to a chain of the same name that has branches in every major city in Germany. The concept is the same like in the other Alexs, but Alex in Chemnitz is nicer because of its interestingly designed interior and its huge terrace outside. Food and drinks are plentiful and good.

Dress Code: none

Cafe Kutsche is a nice living-room bar on the Kassberg, Chemnitz's most beautiful area. It's a nice place to spend an evening with interesting discussions and a glass of wine and/or beer. There are a lot of strange pictures all involving puns on the word "beer" as their theme. Friendly and attentive staff are a guarantee for a good evening.
Cafe Kutsche is also known as "Betreutes Trinken" which translates as "Guided Drinking". You'll know what they mean by that if you go there.

Btw, this bar even inspired me to write short story about it...

Dress Code: none

Flower Power is a rock music discotheque in Chemnitz with music ranging from 60s rock'n'roll to 70s hard rock, 80s NDW 90s Grunge or today's alternative. If you like this, then it's the place to be. The place is decorated in a rather weird style - stripped flipper machines hanging on the walls, artificial sunflowers on the ceiling, lamps covered with rags of a carpet... you name it. Friends of mine call it "hobbit cave", and looking closer you'll know what they mean!

Anyway, Flower Power is really cool for dancing. Every 30 minutes or so, the DJ changes the theme of his music. Elvis and Janis Joplin then give way to Billy Idol and Queens of the Stone Age. This ensures that more or less every visitor enters the dance floor at some time. Left-over hippies leave the floor for headbangers in jeans vests with countless pins from metal bands long gone...
Apart from that, there is NO ENTRANCE FEE and the drinks are also cheaper than in other places.

The bad thing: Due to the cheap beer, there are often many drunk people some of whom are not really what one would call friendly. Be careful not to upset them.

Dress Code: none

Di Franco and his "brother" Exil are two bars owned by the same person. The former is a very nice alternative bar about 15 minutes by foot from the city centre. It offers a good selection of food and drinks and is a perfect place to get to know interesting music, especially if the girl who looks like a boy manages the bar! She enjoys playing her favourite music and she does have a good taste, ranging from electropop to Joanna Newsom, from Coldplay to chansons of the 30s. Furthermore, Di Franco's walls are used as a photo gallery of young artists.

The latter, Exil, was called "Di Franco deluxe" until a while ago. The name has changed, but not the concept. It is located just behind the theatre (Schauspielhaus) and is thereby frequented by many theatre fans. Especially in the break or shortly after a play, the bar fills quickly. Exil is similarly nice with its modern ambience, its selection of good food and nice music. Several times per month, parties take place here and in the foyer of Schauspielhaus.
So which one is more recommendable now? I don't know - perhaps it's best to try out both of them...

As there is too little space below for a description of how to get to the bars, you'll find it here:
*Hainstr is located on the lower end of Sonnenberg. Take bus no 21 to Ebersdorf and get out at "Fürstenstraße". Walk down the street for maybe 100m and Di Franco is on your left.

*Zieschestr is located next to the Schauspielhaus. Take tram no 5 to Gablenz and get out at "Zieschestraße". Walk up the street to your right side and follow the signs to "Schauspielhaus". Exil is behind the theatre building.

Dress Code: none

Etepetete is said jokingly in German if some person or place is really posh and over-stylish... Starlight, a comparably new discotheque in Chemnitz, belongs to that kind of places! I never went there because even from the outside it radiates this way of life - dressed-up girlies who look like they spend ages in the bathroom every morning to get their make-up done, guys whose shirts can't and are not meant to hide the mounts of muscles beneath them and whose suntanned skin comes from daily visits to the solarium. Well, you know what I mean.

Anyway, some of my students convinced me to go to that place. From the inside it's kinda cool with a very space lounge-like atmosphere. Tables, walls and lamps change their colours from red to blue to pink every minute or so, the bars are decorated with illuminated shelves full of empty schnaps bottles. Situated opposite the famous Karl Marx statue, you can enjoy great vistas on Chemnitz's main sight from the top floor.

Despite the fine interior, the disco itself isn't and will never be my cup of tea. Music ranges from hip-hop to techno to 80s songs which are underlaid with annoying disco beats and thus all sound more or less the same. Go there if you feel posh enough, or head for Flower Power just next door for a more alternative evening!

Dress Code: apparently none, but the doormen don't really look like they would let you in with your punk outfit or so