This busy, comfy and casual bar triples as a venue for theatre and music. Both bands and DJs tend to embrace the jazzy, world and urban side of sound, as demonstrated by...

Being 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the sea, Amsterdam was hardly anyone's choice for a beach holiday until sand was tipped on the artificial islands of IJburg, where 45,000...

Popular with the neighbourhood's more affluent young people, there's a mod-retro feel here - lacquered walls, 1970s lamps, school chairs - and weekends are livened up with DJs...

Art students and the terminally hip gather at this red-lacquered temple to pleasure, where there is no food or frippery, just booze and DJ-spun music with a party mood. Nearby...

This rather sophisticated bar near Centraal Station is a great way of beating train delay blues. There's free Wi-Fi, round-the-clock food from breakfast to tapas to dinner, and...

Queer or not - Prik is hot. Indeed, true to the bar's slogan this venue attracts a diverse crowd who enjoy its delicious snacks, groovy sounds and special events such as the...

Pre-war-style furnishings and booths add up to a Brief Encounter aesthetic, and the charming service makes you feel special in an old-fashioned way - though hair is let down on...

One of the few bars in town where black and white gay guys regularly meet and mingle, this place is always popular during the happy hour, which runs from 8.30pm to 10pm. Things...

Women-friendly during the week, Sappho turns totally lez on Friday nights, as a couple of hundred gay girlies and their friends of every gender and sexuality cram in to dance...

Looking like a cross between a British boozer and an English country house - complete with leather chesterfields and roaring fires - Soho attracts a young, fashionable and...

A chilled bar for creatives who like their music cool and their design street. The friendly neighbourhood café feeling is enhanced by econo daily dinner specials. Later on, the...

A mecca for serious clubbers, there is someone behind the decks here seven days a week. One day it could be the next big thing, another the flavour of the month. Dave Clark,...