Germany Guide
Saxony
Drinking
1 100 Wasser Barfussgässchen 15 A bright explosion of colour like being inside a Kandinsky painting in a futuristic bar for older style-slaves – think Armani and sunglasses.
2 Barcelona Gottschedstr. 12 Intimate metropolitan-style bar with sensual ruby-red walls and a hip late-twenties crowd. There's a superb Spanish wine list and tapas, and a buzzy rear garden that rocks in summer.
3 Flower Power Riemannstr. 9 Psychedelic little bar-club in the Südmeile with booze-fuelled parties of super-solid sounds from the Sixties to the Eighties – best at weekends in the wee hours.
4 La Playa Altes Messegelände 
www.beach-club-leipzig.de . With the help of potted palms, loungers, a pool, cocktails and a lot of imported sand, beach cool comes to the old trade-fair site southeast of the centre near the Völkerschlachtdenkmal: take tram #15 or #2 to "Altes Messegelände". Opening time: Closed Oct– April
5 Moritzbastei Universitätsstr. 9 www.moritzbastei.de A multipurpose bastion of student nightlife ever since students dug out the former city bastion in the1970s. Bars and gig- and club-venues are within a warren of cellars. Café Barbakane in a well-like cocoon is a good central spot for Sunday brunch. Keep an eye open for outdoor cinema and arts in summer.
6 Sixtina Katharinenstr. 13 Absinthe and Goths in a dark bolthole opposite the Museum der bildenden Künste; a focus of doom-laden fun for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen goth-fest.
7 Spizz Markt 9 www.spizz.org . Terraces that straddle the Markt and Barfüssgässchen are prime position to people-watch and be watched in a rather posey central café-bar favoured by a stylish middle-aged set.