Switchboard Bar.Café.Kultur

Switchboard is the beating heart of queer community life in Frankfurt, the café and cultural center of AIDS-Hilfe Frankfurt, open in the rainbow quarter on Alte Gasse since 1988. Founded as a safe space for HIV-positive men at the height of the AIDS crisis, it has grown into a beloved institution that's meeting point, living room and stage all at once, and remains the only café of an AIDS-service organization in Germany to run, decade after decade, largely on the passion of its roughly 60 volunteers. Warm, welcoming and open to everyone who supports the community, it serves fair-priced, mostly regional food and drinks alongside a rich cultural program: karaoke and dance nights, bingo, drag, live music, readings, film screenings, exhibitions and community group meetups. It's a lovely, low-key place to start a night out and get local tips, and every drink you buy supports a good cause.