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Venues in Budapest

Club Seven

A classy, supper-club atmosphere pervades in this sprawling, partly underground café, bar and music club. From the street it looks like a small café, and its frontage is just that. In true speakeasy style, dip down the stairs and pull back the curtains to reveal a long room with rows of tables, and a stage for sophisticated, mellow jazz acts and a medium-sized dance floor. There's also a separate cocktail bar area with drinks mostly around the 1000 Ft mark. The downside? The ubiquitous, surly bouncers and the occasional, out-of-place naff theme night (such as when the also-ubiquitous Chippendales show up). Admission free for women, 2 000 HUF for men.

Cotton Club

Imagine you're a 1920s gangster (or his moll) and take a trip down to the Cotton Club. With a cigar in one hand and a brandy in the other, sit back and relax in a dimly lit lounge with comfortable dark wood furnishings and watch mildly entertaining performances of American heyday classics given by the small company of dancers and a seductive blonde singer. Though the name suggests otherwise, the focus of the live entertainment is definitely not the music, so don't expect to hear Budapest's answer to Duke Ellington, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.

Fat Mo's

Fat Mo's is almost always, always busy. The place was presumably meant to resemble a speakeasy. What you've got here is basically one very long bar, with B & W prints from the good ol' days of prohibition, bootleg moonshine, Al Capone and the St. Valentine's Day massacre (what is it with this town's nightlife and American gangsters?). The crowds that fill the dance floor and prop up the bar are otherwise pre-occupied. Fat Mo's also operates as a daytime lunch joint, serving hearty fare for the hungry hitman (sorry, hitperson).

Gödör Club

Look underneath Gödör, and you will find that you are not mistaken; the club is actually on the top level of an underground car park. A dive however, it most certainly is not. Wide steps flanked by contemporary sculptures lead down to a spacious interior. Its glass roof is a minimalist ornamental pool at ground level. The club plays host to art exhibitions, varied live music and DJs.

Kaméleon klub

In a word, the theme of this nightclub is 'fire.' Everything, from the comfy fake leather seats (must be booked in advance) to the go-go dancers catwalk is deep red with golden flame patterns, making it clear that the atmosphere is going to get hot! Luckily, the shopping centre has a sophisticated sprinkler system should things get out of control. Latin on Friday, disco on Saturday and rock on Sunday.

Kuplung

When you tire of the beautiful people and want to relex among interesting people, consider the industrial sensibility of Kuplung. Decked out in cheap office carpeting and still sporting the remains of a graffiti exhibit, this place has character. It also has a friendly bar staff and cheap beer (360 HUF korsó). There is even a small art gallery in one corner.

Morrison's Music Pub

The classic, irreplaceable British red telephone booth is the most immediately eye-catching article of the MMP's memorabilia collection. An operational Thomas the Tank Engine train makes the rounds above the bartenders' heads. There's a spacious dance floor and a stack of nine TV sets in a separate chill-out room. Don't arrive too early there'll be no one there. Arrive too late, and it's mostly forlorn young men, consoling each other's losses.

Old Man's Music Pub

Let's get this straight. We're big fans of the happy hours, smiling bar staff and enthusiastic crowds that gather at the legendary Old Man's Music Pub. We're also rather keen on breathing. Some nights this likeably ramshackle underground bar and dance hall is just too packed, and must surely be a fire hazard. We're talking more than a disco inferno here. And that's it, our one gripe about one of the most fun Budapest nightspots. Live music 21:00 - 23:00.

Piaf

A photograph of lovelorn chanteuse Edith Piaf and heavy velvet curtains are the first things you notice after a burly bouncer and a rather Bohemian-looking woman at the door, giving this place something of a speakeasy atmosphere. Getting the bartenders' attention can be difficult. A second, livelier bar downstairs for those who feel no evening is complete without Gloria Estefan, the Gypsy Kings and so on.