This bar is run by two South African Cypriot brothers and is the HQ of the Paphos Tigers rugby club, so you won't be surprised to learn that it's the best place to find rugby being shown in football-crazed Paphos. They also do excellent food and there's free wifi. The brandy sours, cold beer, internet and board games make it an excellent place to while away an hour or three ...

Bar Street, near the tourist office.
Google map: bit.ly/ilUXCX

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At night ring the buzzer and neatly sidestep the doorman to enter this beauty of an art deco bar, with its upstairs gallery, custard walls and wood panelling. The faded glamour of the interior surely calls for a whisky or cocktail, to be sipped while dancing around the piano, or up above, looking down at the assembled heads. L’Archiduc also hosts free jazz concerts, “Jazz After Shopping" and "Round About Five", during the autumn and winter months; and “Tell me why I do like Mondays” jazz and blues in the summer.

Antoine Dansaert, 6, 1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 512 06 52
www.archiduc.net/
Google map: bit.ly/mjD1K8

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A secret bar in the heart of Palermo. Cross a cool east London bar with a great Buenos Aires house party (roof terrace included), great cocktails and a cool atmosphere - and you have Ferona.

Paraguay y Juan B Justo

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This is a great little beach bar next to Rosy's Little Village on the northern coast of Agistri about 100 metres east of Skala. There's good snorkelling and swimming, or you can just chill out all day, sunbathe, eat and drink, read books or doze in the sun. Bliss!

www.agistri.com.gr/hook/en-agistri.html
Skliri, Agistri
+30(0)2297091090

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Now, Casa Jaime is not the sort of place visitors normally go: it’s a workingman’s bar and lunch restaurant serving simple fare. However, Jaime, the owner, is from Soria and among the tapas you can try are his Iberian cured sausages and – my special recommendation – his homemade croquetas. Now a good croqueta is never born; it’s always made from scraps of meat and vegetables from other dishes, notably stews. At Casa Jaime, the croquetas are made from the meat and veg left over from the thick chicken and meat stew known in Catalonia as escudella.
Massive and misshapen, these authentic croquetas bear little resemblance to those industrial cylinders facetiously served as the real thing in unsavoury bars devoted to tricks on travellers.
Jaime’s octogenarian mom spends a couple of hours separating and shredding the ingredients, mixing them with a thick béchamel and coating them in crumbs.
Anyone wishing to experience the genuine traditional croqueta should drop in, order a couple and wash them down with a bottle of Moritz, Barcelona’s original beer.
Moritz appeared in 1856, disappeared in the late nineteen seventies and has now made a triumphant reappearance. Its distinctive yellow and blue label, fine graphic design and superb marketing knock the hell out of Estrella Damm’s pretentious efforts to be trendy. The beer’s great, too; Moritz brings spring water from the Montseny massif and uses only the finest hop flowers in its fermentation. The beer tastes fresh, clean and delicate.

Enric Granados 107, 08008 Barcelona
+34 93 218 10 55
Google map: bit.ly/jKeLAA

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The Bunker is a fantastic gritty underground bar and live music venue in the heart of Chemnitz in Saxony, East Germany. Chemnitz is a city awash with a grim architectural grey which effortlessly fuses utilitarian communist era concrete blocks with the heartless new town chic which has afflicted countless modern European cities. But I was lucky enough to be staying with friends from the city when I visited and beneath the cold exterior (it was winter as well), there were pockets of life seething with energy. While there, nothing captured this energy better than the Bunker. We went on a cold, rainy night. As you approach the club, you descend from the surface of the city to the inconspicuous, unassuming front entrance, surrounded by oppressive concrete blocks and iron grills - it could be an underpass. But once in, the underground lair was warm and inviting, the genuine thing and an actual former bunker, with low curving ceilings creating a wonderful higgledy-piggledy array of nooks and crannies tumbling away from the central room and bar used for the live shows. It was sweaty, claustrophobic, edgy and smoky and a great place to jump around to bands, DJs and music I'd not heard before. It was one of the great nights which made one of my odder European city getaways. I don't know if the smoking ban is enforced yet but it does continue to be a regular venue for regular live music (see last.fm for listings) and I'd heavily recommend it to anyone who has the dubious pleasure of passing through Chemnitz.

Rosenplatz 7, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
+49(0)371 519949
Google map: bit.ly/jJz7DU

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On the buzzing Rue Faubourg Saint-Denis, this bar is a lively and fun local. It's opposite the now uber-trendy Chez Jeanette, but offers a much more chilled out and party atmosphere than its neighbour. And much friendlier staff! Prices are reasonable, the music is great and you can even order a curry from the many Indian restaurants in Passage Brady next to door and have it served to you in the bar!
Always packed with young locals, this is the bar (and street) that the dispels the myth that Paris's nightlife is dead.

46 Rue Faubourg St Denis, 75010, Paris
+33(0)1 44 79 06 42
Google map: bit.ly/kR5Gkd

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After spending two weeks in arty, alternative Gràcia it’s now my favourite Barcelona barrio. Predominantly a working class area, its residents are largely university students, artists, musicians, and designers, which explains the abundance of art galleries, boutiques, ateliers, and music stores that line the narrow lanes. It’s a living breathing neighbourhood with plenty to do if you like eating, drinking, shopping, and hanging out in cafés, bars, and sunny squares. It’s a good fifteen-minute walk to Plaça de Catalunya, although you can catch the underground train and it’s faster, but this means you’ll rarely see a tourist in Gràcia, which is what I like most about it. It’s not far from posh L’Eixample, where there are chic shops and some of Barcelona’s best restaurants, and it’s close to Park Güell, which is a short hike (or bus ride) up the hill.

Google map: bit.ly/jjAPGY

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If you see stand-up comedy in NYC, you'll probably be stuck with an admission fee and a two drink minimum. The night won't be cheap, and there's no guarantee that the performances will be worth it. Especially at an open mic - believe me, I've performed in them. My favorite comedy in NYC is actually a $5 variety show in Brooklyn. "Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen" is a weekly labor of love put together by Kristen Schaal of The Daily Show and Flight of the Conchords and Kurt Braunohler of various improv troupes. Every Monday night includes musical performances, comedy, general weirdness from up-and-coming funny people. (One recent guest was Jenny Slate, formerly of Saturday Night Live.) The show starts at 8pm at Littlefield in Park Slope, Brooklyn. If you've worried about venturing outside Manhattan, don't. It's an easy train ride over and so worth it.

www.littlefieldnyc.com/
622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
+1 (718) 855-3388
Google map: bit.ly/jFJKqd

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In its current form this characterful café has been around for six years but before that it was a Vespa repair shop. When the repair shop moved to a new location they kept some of the old bikes and put them on the walls. Now the café is a busy trendy spot in Waterloo with wine and beer and a huge range of teas. They even have a cat. While in the area why not check out the designated graffiti tunnel.

132 Lower Marsh, Lambeth, London, SE1 7AE
Closest tube: Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo and Jubilee lines), Lambeth North (Bakerloo)
Google map: bit.ly/hVPURq

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A bar that is busy from early evening until very late! Filled with students mixed with local drinking crowd. Billiard and pool tables, table football. Cheep beer. When it gets rowdy it stays rowdy. Can be a bit cramped but that is half the appeal.

Nørrebrogade 24, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
+45 3537 0470
Google map: bit.ly/iFynlK

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Is the only bar I found in KBH with a competitive pool table, winner stays on and you can wait hours for a game, the turn is indicated by hanging a key on a clock face. There are two pool tables in the back that can be hired if you want to play a bit more sedately. Packed on most nights and a bit of a cattle market during the weekend. Open very late. (Can be too busy to get on the good pool table and the service slows if you arrive in the wee hours!)

Sundevedsgade 2, 1751 Copenhagen
+45 33 23 77 20
Google map: bit.ly/mipT0c

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As it's name suggests a place to drink beer (lit. 'beer bar')
Was my favourite bar for a while, well I had a friend working there who really knew his beer and the education was very intoxicating! Truly the samples of 10% beers do go to the head. A great, cosy bar, great music and huge selection of beers from all over the world as well as many introductions to some of the more alternative Danish beers. The staff know their stuff and are always willing to help. Don’t follow the hype and go to Norrebro’s Bryghus, come here and have a much nicer time.

Elmegade 2, 2200 København
www.olbaren.dk
+45 3535 4534
Google map: bit.ly/mONWUD

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Out partying into the wee hours and the bar closes? Yes it happens in Denmark too, the only difference being it is now morning. Still thirsty and want to continue? Well head off to Hong Kong a small nats vaertshus, and one of the first in KBH to go 24hrs. It's a really unimpressive, scruffy bodega generally full of drunks and the like. Oh yeah, by this time you will fit in just fine! Just take it from me the cobbles outside lining Nyhavn are not that comfy to sleep on!

Nyhavn 7, 1051, Copenhagen, Denmark
+45 33129272
Google map: bit.ly/jztOlA

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Drinking establishment that does not break the bank.
A very easy going bar, full of locals with character and friendly staff. Has four or five Danish billiard tables, a great game when you learn how to play it and the best thing is that you can play for free for as long as you like, ask for your balls at the bar (they give you the pins too.) When it gets busy you are expected to give up the table when someone marks your scoreboard within two or three games depending on how long you have been there - they may even ask to join in. Has a pool table, table-football and darts too. You can even watch the football on TV. Small outside area for the summer and the smokers. Only nachos and snacks for those with hunger pains but grab a kebab or pizza locally and come back for more - you are allowed in with your food!

Stefansgade 22, 2200 København N
+45 3585 5822
Google map: bit.ly/k8CRDi

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Best bar in Portugal without a doubt! Alex is the greatest barman out there and makes the best cocktails known to man, prices are good. All in all a friendly and lovely place to spend the evening

Rua da 25 Avril, Lagos

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The best place to eat when your head is so relaxed by the sun and sea and you can't be bothered to think about your next move. King chicken - no menu, no frills just chicken piri piri; the best tomato, onion and oil salad; and the grand finale - chocolate mousse all for 10 euros ish. Heaven!

R. do Emigrante 50, 8200 Guia, Portugal
+351 289 561 318
Google map: bit.ly/fBp1ud

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New York, like most cities, is best seen on foot.  Too often, when you're fixed on seeing a specific attraction, you get there the quickest way possible and don't always notice everything else on the way. Take time out to explore a few neighbourhoods, with no specific aim other than to get a real feel of New York. Check out lower Manhattan, starting with SoHo, and stop for a drink in O'Nieal's Grand Street (the bar filmed as Scout in Sex and the City). Then wander further down Mulberry Street into Little Italy and scoff a bowl of pasta in an authentic local restaurant, before sampling the chaos and colour of Chinatown. Or head to the Village to queue with New Yorkers for a cupcake at the Magnolia Bakery, before wandering down the tree-lined streets of mega-bucks brownstones for a glimpse of how the other half lives.

www.onieals.com/
174 Grand Street, New York, NY 10013
+1 (212) 941-9119

www.magnoliabakery.com/home.php
401 Bleecker Street, New York 10014
+1(212) 462-2572
Google map: bit.ly/hLrnCu

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This attractive café on Hanoi’s famous Food Street (Tong Duy Tan) is an ideal place to enjoy a few beers after sampling some Vietnamese cuisine in one of the many eateries nearby.
Puku is advertised as ‘Western owned and operated’. While this might be the main appeal for some, for me its principal attraction is the fact it’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s spacious and stylish, and the dim lighting and chilled ambiance make Puku a very pleasant place to forget the time and relax in this sometimes chaotic city. The other day I accidently stayed till sunrise after failing to notice the clock was ticking.
The crowd is mostly Western (both expats and backpackers) with a few trendy young Vietnamese folk too.
Large bottled beers go for 25.000 dong (less than £1). The food is also reasonably priced.

16-18 Tống Duy Tân, Hanoi, Vietnam
+84(0)91457 2952
Google map: bit.ly/h1zT2f

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A local bar squished between two blocks of flats. Don't go if you have tired feet or are looking forward to a good sit down, as there are no seats! Saying that the place was packed, and all of the white, plastic garden tables were taken up. There is not much on the menu, but the pajarito (roasted quail) and filete (pork bap) are both yum. Dare to try the spicy sauce too!

Avenida Santa Cecilia, 2, Triana, 41010 Sevilla
+34 954 08 66 94
Google map: bit.ly/fXIXVR

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