Switzerland » Entertainment in Lausanne

Lausanne is a city that declare firmly continuous entertainment: Summer festivals, (Le Festival de la Cite, Montreux Jazz Festival and Ouchy Jazz); cool outdoor cinemas (Orange Cinema) and grand indoor cinemas (Cine Qua Non); street performances; twice-weekly markets (Marche du centre and the Marche aux puces flea market); free concerts in very old churches (Cathedrale de Lausanne, St-François Church), choirs, jazz clubs (L'Arlov Jazz or VO), free-for-all concerts in tiny cafes (Le Cafe de Montelly or Le Cafe de l'Hôtel de Ville).

Thus, in order for Lausanne to establish itself as a first-class city to visit, it has turned to the arts. For a small city of 125,000 people, it has a world-class opera (Opera de Lausanne), ballet, chambre orchestra (Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne) and more museums and theatres per capita than just about anywhere else on earth (Musee Olympique, Musee de Design et d'Arts Appliques Contemporains, Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts and Fondation Claude Verdan).

Contemporary and classical dance, theatre and music are all represented in Lausanne by some of Switzerland’s best performers.

Some of the best nightlife entertainment Bars and cafes and clubs are Kerrigan’s, VO Le Jazz Café, MAD (Moulin à Danse), Captain Cook, Le Loft, La Belle Epoque, Au Château, Tabaris club, Le Tchin-Tchin, Eclipse Club, Le Tiffany, Dolce Vita, Garbo, Le Brummell.

Lausanne’s biggest party is the Festival de la Cité held in early July, in many ways much more spontaneous and cutting edge than the Montreux Jazz Festival happening at the same time just down the road, not least because everything is free and out in the streets: the whole of the Old Town is given over to live performance of all kinds of music, dance, drama, and more.