Entertainment

For young people, the most popular way to spend Saturday night is in the clubs. One must be at least 16 to get in and at least 18 to stay past midnight. Clubs offer dancing, often with live music, and drinks and snacks. The official drinking age for wine and beer is 16, and for hard liquor, 18. However unless one appears to be young, it is rare to get carded in clubs or at the liquor store. Discotheques are usually larger than clubs and more geared toward dancing. These larger clubs often feature three different dance floors playing hiphop, techno and Dance Floor music. Jazz if harder to find, usually played in smaller, more intimate city clubs. Bars are more casual places where one can go for a drink during both day and night. Smoking is permitted everywhere.

Movies are popular, and all current Hollywood films are available dubbed in German. A customer must be over 18 to buy tickets for a show that ends after midnight. Tickets are sold at a reduced rate on certain days that vary from city to city. Students can also get discounts.

Going to the theatre is also a common pastime, and the different kinds of theatre cater to the tastes of audiences of all ages. Theatre passes are available for older patrons, while young people can take advantage of student discounts.

Soccer is the favorite sport in Germany, and the larger cities all have teams. Working out at the gym is a popular past-time. When vacationing, Germans do not usually stay in Germany. Recently, popular destinations have been Italy, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Turkey or Tunisia. German youth often take advantage of companies that arrange inexpensive travel to all destinations, and are particularly fond of bus tours to major European cities.