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The Opera Bar, situated under the Opera House, has the most stunning views in the world. It could therefore serve bad food and drink and charge a premium for the pleasure, but it doesn't.
Food is bistro-style, very reasonably priced and of decent standard. Bar staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Cocktails are mixed without pretension but with care. My bloody mary was the best I've had outside my house.
Lower concourse level, Sydney Opera House;
tel: 9247 1666;
www.operabar.com.au
You can't beat Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) when it comes to looking for souvenirs from Krakow: Amber, silver jewellery, linen table cloths, stained glass, wooden chess sets and decorative glass are among the most popular buys.
On the first floor, there's a gallery of 19th century Polish Art, housing paintings by Jan Matejko, Henryk Siemiradzki, Józef Chełmoński, Julian Fałat, and the Kossak family.
After shopping and sightseening have a rest in the Noworolski cafe, a favourite of a certain Vladimir Lenin during his stay in Krakow.
In the middle of the Market Square (Rynek Glowny).
Wonderful cellar bar which serves a happily mind-numbing array of extraordinary vodkas (Bison, anyone?) and fried garlic which comes sizzling to your table as a whole head.
Florianska
A restaurant with a brewery, an excellent selection of real ales and a carafe of beer brought to the table so you can serve yourself.
6-7 Ulica Podwale;
tel: 429 25 05;
ckbrowar.krakow.pl/index_en.html
After a hard days relaxing on the island, Bar Sanda in Stari Grad makes the ideal spot for a drink.
Celebrity Lounge is the new side of Bratislava - a laid back bar with great cocktails and a very chilled DJ. Cokoladovna is old school. It is a family run chocolate shop on the way to St Martin's Tower that offers over 60 types of the drink including one variant with chilli and another with tomato.
Celebrity Lounge: Panská 14;
tel: 02 5441 9824;
email: info@celebritylounge.sk
Cokoladovna: Michalska 6;
tel: 02 5443 3945;
www.cokoladovna.com
I have to recommend Captain's Club in Banjol for a drink while watching the sun set.
Just a 15 minute coastal walk from the old town.
724 Banjol, Rab 51280
00 38 51 777 907
Forget the nature, forget Wieliczka, this is for the tourists and YOU are not one of those are you? There is only one place where you can feel what is it like to be bohemian in the Jewish quarter of a central European town. Right in the middle of it all. It’s Kazimierz, the medieval Jewish town which now is part of the centre of the city, a 10 minute walk from the main square (Rynek Glowny).
Once you are in Kazimierz proceed as follows: 0- Wait for the night to fall (it’s essential you get to see the place at night - once you do it you will know what I mean). 1- Locate an alcohol shop (sklep monopolowy). 2- In the shop locate the bottles with Wodka Zoladkowa (herbal vodka-light brown colour). 3- Proceed to buy the bottle and head to a quiet location nearby to get acquainted with your new Polish friend. 4- After the brief yet pleasant (one hopes) encounter feel free to start the tour in any direction of Kazimierz. Don’t forget to keep the dialogue with the bottle going. Soon you will feel as if in Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. 5- Once you get that feeling don’t wait a second and immediately head for one of these two pubs: Alchemia or Singer. Once you are inside things will keep happening on their own if you have fulfilled the first 4 points. Enjoy!
Alchemia: ul. Estery, Pl. Nowy, Kazimierz;
tel: 12 428 47 80;
www.alchemia.com.pl
Singer: ul. Estery 22;
tel: 12 292 0622;
www.cracow-life.com/krakow/where_to_drink/pubs_cafes_details/25-Singer
Though not so central as Nieuwmarkt, Leidseplein and the other well-known hangouts, if you want to avoid the crowds head here for a quiet night out with a local flavour. There's five or six authentic little brown cafes to choose from, and a couple of restaurants too. The scenery's not bad and there's few if any lary stag-nighters.
Just off Prins Hendrikkade: from Centraal station, cross the road and walk east for fifteen minutes, it's opposite the old sailing ship at the Scheepvartsmuseum. Try also bus 22 or trams 9 and 14.
Siem Reap's premier restaurant. For a taste of what the colonial lifestyle might have been like before the guns started firing take a pew on the veranda in this old French villa . The menu is extensive, tasty and not that expensive, and Angelina Jolie can't be wrong about the cocktails (they even named one after her).
If you really like it, there's a guesthouse too.
No. 341, 50 m north-west of the Old Market, Svay Dangkom, Mondul I;
www.redpianocambodia.com
It's a bar. It's dark, lit only by candles in a huge iron candelabra, and it’s unusually decorated. You can get uproariously drunk in very friendly and entertaining company. Age/sex/nationality irrelevant. Be careful of the mulled vodka.
ul. Estery 5, Pl.Nowy, Kazimierz
This bar is for those who enjoy sitting on soft cushioned seats, surrounded by soft tealight candles which are delicately placed amongst the greenery of the garden. True, it doesn't feel typically Polish, but the atmosphere in this bar makes it a very special place to enjoy Krakow in.
ul. Rynek Główny 6;
tel: 12 421 65 22;
krakow.zaprasza.net/puby/budda/
This square in the centre of the Kazimierz district of Krakow has some excellent and friendly bars which are enjoyed by the large student population of the city. You will be welcomed with open arms and you will meet loads of people.
Trams 4 and 9 both go from Krakow city centre to Plac Novy.
One of Lyon's few non-smoking bars, the Cafe 100 Tabac (say it out loud - you'll get the joke even with schoolboy French) is in a busy little side street off the main Rue de La Republique. It serves reasonable wine and beer at low prices, often has interesting and enthusiastic staff, and can provide a simple meal at lunch or dinner.
The big selling point is the intimate and friendly atmosphere, the art on the walls, and the traditional Lyonnais style of the building, with exposed stone, wooded beams and a little mezzanine accessed by a tiny spiral staircase. As with so many Lyon bars, space is at a premium, but it's rarely crowded and the small scale means that it's easy to strike up a conversation with your neighbour.
Smokers should try the Cafe 203 (another French-language gag) next door, which is run by the same people.
23, Rue de l'Arbre Sec, Lyon 69001;
tel: 04 78 27 29 14;
www.cafe203.com/cafe100tabac.php
Great new hotel in Chamonix with shop for kit rental, beer garden with it's own climbing wall and a cool bar and restaurant downstairs. Open year round with regular events/parties in the bar.
964 Routes Des Gaillands, on the South side of Chamonix by the lake and climbing wall. www.verthotel.com
Tel +33 0450 531 358
A blot on the landscape from anywhere in the city, you can't miss the TV Tower's horrible 1970's architecture. Take a trip up it however and you'll find the Milky Way, a slowly revolving bar that offers fantastic panoramic views of the city and surroundings without, of course, seeing the TV tower. Enter by a creepy tunnel that puts you in mind of a James Bond film, pay the surly lift attendant a small fee, and you are transported 21 floors upwards at great speed into a different world. Also on the ground floor is an exhibition dedicated to the Lithuanians who lost their lives in the 1991 siege, which eventually led to the overthrowing the USSR occupation.
Sausio 13-osios 10;
tel: 252 53 33;
www.lrtc.lt/
Head to Mimi's in the Marigny for the most delicious but really cheap tapas, voodoo spell candles and good music. In fact, it is the perfect bar.
2602 Royal Street
942 0690
One of the most beautiful and secluded beaches on the island - and yet it's just around the corner from San Antonio. A nice little bar with very reasonable (if simple) food, clean sand and beautiful water. It's not exactly a secret, but is never crowded even in peak season despite its small size. The other sun worshippers are usually Spanish or Italian, and you'll be very unlikely to find noisy gangs of Brits. Good for families as well. When you get off the taxi boat you'll be at the Aquarium which is also beautiful and well worth a look.
Take a taxi boat from San Antonio for a few Euros, or it's probably walkable. Take a taxi to Hotel Tanit and walk towards the sea
A beautiful bar just along the coast from the Sunset Strip. Great cocktails, good cheap food, a pool (with twice weekly foam parties) and fantastic music. The 'secret' parties are legendary. It has sun-loungers available for free, live football on an indoor big screen (great if you're away during the World Cup) and the best atmosphere of any of the San Antonio bars during the day. This is where the island's workers often go to chill out. Also hosts pre-parties for some of the big club nights.
Calle Soledad 53, Calo des Moro beach. It's orange canopy is easily visible from Cafe Mambo etc if you look along the coast away from San Antoni. Next door to Coastline Cafe/Sunsea Bar;
www.ibiza-kanya.com
The coolest place to stay in Ibiza. Art Deco building, super-stylish rooms and a decked pool area to lounge in with a cocktail bar close at hand. Utter bliss. Don't miss the Electric Cabaret Bar at night for some naughtier action.
c/Carlos Roman Ferrer
www.hotelesvive.com
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