43&10

Outside Zurich, Lausanne is the only Swiss city to have a dedicated gay club, and the unabashedly mainstream 43&10 caters to a young, hedonistic crowd every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Go-go studs with barely enough room in their leather briefs to stuff your CHF10 notes and twinkly trannies ply the intimate space to a soundtrack of pounding, ruthlessly commercial tunes, and the city’s large student population accounts for a big chunk of the happy, sweaty crowd each night. Upstairs is the Love Bar, a cosy space where you can chat over drinks before succumbing to the lure of the dark and delirious dancefloor. The regular bear and lesbian parties that used to happen here have now been dropped for more of the same successful weekend formula but the occasional theme night now and then gives the music policy a minor reshuffle.