Hafen 49

Sand facing the canal

The dancefloor is laid out on sand, with the port canal on one side and the cranes of freight traffic in the background. Hafen 49 occupies Hafenstraße 49, in the Jungbusch neighborhood of Mannheim, at the foot of the yellow Neckarvorlandbrücke: an open-air venue that turns the post-industrial aesthetic of the freight port into an electronic club. There is no roof or nightclub darkness. There is sky, containers, orange flags over the dancefloor, and the onboard motto: it is celebrated an Deck.

The club that closes with the sun

The format is daytime by design. On event days, the venue opens from 15:00 to 22:00 and the season runs from April to October. You enter in the afternoon, dance to house, techno, and electronic music towards the sunset, and leave when other dancefloors in the region have not yet started. For years, the same ticket linked the afternoon at the port with the after-party at the Loft in Ludwigshafen or at Das Zimmer in Mannheim: a local circuit of the operator Loft GmbH. The audience is over 18, with access control, cloakroom, food on-site, and public parking next to the Musikpark.

From the secret of Jungbusch to the open-air of the south

In 2012, the place still circulated as a secret among electronic fans. In 2017, upon completing five years as Hafen 49, the Neckarvorlandstraße was closed for the first Hafenfestival: three stages, more than forty artists, and Sven Väth as a heavyweight of a lineup that was no longer local. Since then, the venue has consolidated itself as a reference open-air club in southern Germany, with more than 25 dates per season and regular headliners of major festivals: Loco Dice, Pan-Pot, Dixon, Ricardo Villalobos, Nina Kraviz, or The Martinez Brothers. The same plot was previously called Hafenstrand and hosted Loft Beach; the current identity is the port with a street number, not a traveling brand.

Deck, lawn, and tables

The venue fits between 400 and 1,500 people. You dance on the sand, rest on the lawn of the chill-out area, and eat by the water. There are exclusive tables with a view of the stage for small groups, a merchandising kiosk right at the entrance, and a wooden DJ booth facing the dancefloor. Outside the club season, the space is rented from May to September. The weather rules: if the weather breaks the day, the party can be canceled. What does not change is the location: a summer club anchored in the port of Mannheim.