Nightlife in Arequipa

Bars, clubs and discos

For a large city, Arequipa does not have a very active night scene. However, things have picked up in recent years, and there are now a number of good bars and clubs open most days of the week. However, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays still tend to be the most popular days with locals, with places filling up around midnight. Nightlife is concentrated in two main areas. In the centre there are a number of smart bars as well as some good clubs and discos. This tends to be where most tourists go in the evening. However, many young Arequipenos head for Avenida Dolores, where there are many discos and bars.

There are several lively bars on Santa Catalina and San Francisco in the centre. Siwara (Santa Catalina 210) is an attractive bar, which is lively at night. It specialises in beer cocktails, and gives free passes to the Kibosh disco. Don Quixote (Moral block 1) is quieter, but has a pool table. La Casa de Klaus (Zela block 2) is a small German pub, with a few German beers for those fed up with Peruvian ones. There is traditional live music at weekends.

Le Bistrot, in the Alianza Francesa (Santa Catalina 208) is a rather relaxed bar with good cocktails, and it also prepares excellent crepes. Le Cafe Art Montreal (Santa Catalina 300) also has a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere. On the first block of San Francisco, near the Plaza de Armas, there are several small pubs serving beer and pizzas, normally with MTV.

The liveliest club in the centre is the Forum (San Francisco 317), with a surprisingly large dance floor with a good atmosphere. There are quieter rooms if you don’t fancy a dance. A live band usually plays at weekends. Cover charge on these days is around USD 3, and the place starts filling up around midnight. Another very popular disco is the Kibosh (Zela block 1) with a small, crowded dance floor and loud rock music.

The Jenizaro Pub (Melgar 119) also has rock music and a small dance floor, as does deja vu (San Francisco block 3), which also shows videos on a giant screen in the evenings. A slightly more kitschy disco, with lots of mirrors and smoked glass, is The Point (Palacio Viejo 204), which has a small dance floor and a good mix of rock and Latin music. Popular places on Av. Dolores include the Tradicion Arequipena, which has live music on Saturdays, and gets very, very packed, and the Planet, a large disco.

Cinemas

There are three cinemas, all of which are of relatively poor quality. All tend to show the latest Hollywood offerings, in English with Spanish subtitles. These are the Cine El Portal (Portal de Flores, Plaza de Armas), the Cine Fenix (Moran block 1) and the Cine Andino (La Salle).

Cultural centres

There is no theatre, although the occasional production from Lima does arrive, and there are very few concerts, although there is an Arequipeno orchestra, which plays occasionally. Additionally, there are a number of cultural centres, which sometimes have some form of performance. These include the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (Melgar 109), the Instituto Cultural Peruano Aleman (Ugarte 207) and the Alianza Francesa (Santa Catalina 208).