Bars: Galileo's Piano Bar, Steinenberg 14, in the Stadtcasino on Barfüsserplatz is an intimate and elegant bar with live piano music ever evening. Café des Arts, Barfüsserplatz 6, is located nearby and is quite a fun place where people go to see and be seen. Campari Bar, Steinenberg 7, by the Kunsthalle is an elegant yet casual bar with a lovely garden. Rather more alternative is Cargo Bar, St Johanns-Rheinweg 46, a riverside bar with live music, art installations and video art. And for pub lovers, Mr Pickwick Pub, Steinenvorstadt 13, is a good English-style pub close to the Barfusserplatz with a good selection of beers and some nice pub food.

Clubs: The restaurant, concert venue and club Atlantis, Klosterberg 13 (website: www.atlan-tis.ch), is a Basel nightlife institution, very popular and with a great musical menu ranging from live blues, jazz and rock to disco and dance music. Rather more alternative and with a stronger cultural and artistic emphasis, Kaserne Basel, 1 Klybeckstrasse (website: www.kaserne-basel.ch), is still a fun place with a nice atmosphere and plenty of good music.

Live Music: Basel is a great place for jazz music. Not only does the city have its own jazz school and a jazz department at the music academy, in the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, Kohlenberg 20 (tel: (061) 263 3341; website: www.birdseye.ch), it also has one of Switzerland's best jazz clubs with live jazz on the programme from Tuesdays to Saturdays. Young talents as well as international stars are regularly performing there. More local, but with a great atmosphere and a musical repertoire consisting of jazz, blues and rock, Culturium, Gempenstrasse 60 (tel: (061) 361 5931; website: www.culturium.ch), calls itself a jazz and social club, and that pretty much sums things up. Hirscheneck, 23 Lindenberg (tel: (061) 692 7333), has a nice restaurant upstairs and a loud rock club in the basement. A more temporary and seasonal stage is a raft out on the Rhine, which is used for concerts in summer, when the banks of the Rhine are filled with people. The indoor St Jakob Arena, St Jakobs-Strasse 395 (tel: (061) 375 1222; website: www.st-jakob-arena.ch), Basel's ice sports arena, is used for big concerts and other events, as is St Jakob Park, the outdoor football arena.