Don’t want to wait til the weekend to get next to that potential someone special? Here are some comprehensive date ideas for every day of the week. Keep in mind that these are things I’d personally enjoy doing and have tried out myself or heard about from friends – someone else may tell you something completely different, of course.
Monday:
It’s a good evening to explore the east side of town, in a chilled-out way, before you decide if you want to take it up a notch and extend the date into trying out your pipes together. Say what? Yes. Start out by going to get a burger and drink at the Biergarten/bar Substanz (as long as it’s not too crowded – if it’s too crowded, you can try the Brauereilokal Hopfenspeicher nearby). If you get there at or shortly after 6 p.m., when they open, that will give you more than an hour for a warm-up and chat before heading to the movie theater. (I’m still a fan of the movie theater date. Though you shouldn’t talk during the movie, the experience provides an opportunity to “accidentally” touch your date and a topic to discuss afterwards.) Regina Palast, a mere 500 meters away from Substanz, shows new releases in English every Monday at 8 p.m. – so you can check out our list of movie showtimes in the original ahead of time to see what’s on. Monday is also *drumroll*… karaoke night in Leipzig. So for after the movie, you can choose between Zum Kakadu and Flowerpower – both close to the city center – if you want to put your (singing) pipes to work, have some fun into the later hours, and witness some funny, weird, random stuff going on.
Tuesday:
Want a more, say, upscale date? Head over to the super-chic, but not all-around-pricey, Chocolate (Bar Grill Dinnerclub) for a large array of drinks and a food menu that includes steak and burger samplers (which is what caught my eye)… plus some non-meat items, I’m sure. From 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, you can find live jazz in the basement of the nearby café/restaurant Telegraph, where I personally spent one of my most pleasant evenings in Leipzig. You can look at the Jazzclub Live calendar to see what’s coming up at Telegraph and elsewhere in town holding live jazz sessions – and other lively music – for the coming weeks.
Wednesday:
If you’re in the mood for experiencing some art & culture with your date, Wednesdays are a good day for it. The Gallery for Contemporary Art (GfZK) offers free admission every Wednesday, and is open until 7 p.m.; other museums in Leipzig offer free entry on select Wednesdays each month, while some others are always free (you can look that up on our “museum days for free” list). If you get a chance, be sure to stop by the Gallery’s Café bau bau for a before- or after-chat and coffee and cake together – a suggestion of our events expert Marjon. You can extend the evening by walking over to the famous Moritzbastei (700 meters away) for some drinks and whatever they’ve got on that particular night (they’ve got a packed music and nightlife calendar).
Thursday:
My favorite day of the week for “happy hour” is Thursday – getting pumped up for Friday and the weekend, but not quite there yet. So you can start earlier, and take your date to Karl-Liebknecht-Str. (Karli). You can get discounts on drinks at more than one spot on Karli: like 4.50 euros for any cocktail at tiefblau and two cocktails for the price of one at La Boum. After hanging out at the “happy hour” place for a couple hours, if you have no set plan, you can decide whether to end the date there or go on to dinner (good for a first date when you don’t yet know the person and are not sure how it could go). You have lots of options for food in the same area of Karli: like Acapulco for Mexican, Pata Negra for Spanish tapas and Safran for Indian. If the date’s going really well, you can go watch a movie or show and have another drink at die naTo a few steps away.
Friday:
How about an evening of performing arts… in Lindenau? maeshelle, our #ArtsAndCulture editor, suggests you choose among a concert or play at Neues Schauspiel, a musical or operetta at Musikalische Komödie, or a dance performance at The Lofft to take your date to. You can have a drink at any of those places and also nice food at The Lofft, or go to Café Westen for dinner and drinks.
Saturday:
maeshelle and I recommend that you start your date early and go to Spinnerei in Plagwitz, where art galleries open at 11 a.m. and stay open until at least 3 p.m. You may want to try Kunstkraftwerk afterwards for some more culturally diverse exhibits – when there’s an exhibit on, it’s open until 6 p.m. When you’re finished gallery-browsing, head over to Karl-Heine-Str. for something sweet at Café Albert, or walk a little farther to Café KH70 for what maeshelle calls “the best French fries in town… with mango curry sauce.” If you don’t want the date to end (perhaps ever, because this can turn into a marathon), you can go to Schaubühne Lindenfels for a live performance or movies, and drinks and some more food (in case you’re still hungry). For yummy cocktails and a kissy cozy atmosphere: Go to Tacoholics. The people working there can recommend you a party to go to if you’re not ready to take your date home yet.
Sunday:
Hopefully you’ll be waking up next to your date by now – if not, you can still meet up for brunch. My recommendation is Alex in the city center – plenty of breakfast and lunch food for a very reasonable price. maeshelle’s recommendation is Stelzenhaus in Plagwitz, “where they just keep bringing out different types of food – it’s great… and it’s classy.” But there are many places offering brunch in town, and some people I know also like Luise, for example. If you’d like something to do other than going back to bed and watching a movie online, check out the Opera – they’ve always got something on.
What would your recommendations be? Please leave them in the comments section! Would be nice to have other tips on different areas of town and totally different activities.
