The 7 best bars in Tilburg, ranked: Kandinsky, Taphuys and Bolle for beer, plus a bakery pub, a student café, RAW and a brasserie, with hours and honest downsides.
The best bars in Tilburg are beer bars. Kandinsky on Telegraafstraat lists about 200 beers, Taphuys on the Piusplein has a wall of 40 taps that you pour yourself, and Café Bakker serves local Dutch microbrewery beer in a former bakery. Around them are the student cafés Bolle and Brandpunt, RAW in a former railway workshop in the Spoorzone and a brasserie on the Oude Markt.
This list ranks seven of them. The pubs and party cafés that turn into dance floors are in our guide to the best clubs in Tilburg, so this one is for sitting down. Each entry gives the opening hours where we found them, a tip and one honest reason to skip it. The basics: the legal age for alcohol is 18, staff check ID when in doubt, and pubs are free to enter.
We ranked on five things: sound, crowd, door, late licence and value. For bars, sound means a room where you can talk, crowd means people who came for the drink rather than the dance floor, and door means walk-in and easy to predict. Late licence matters less here, because most of these bars are for the early and middle evening. Value compares the choice in the glass with the price, but few of these bars publish prices, so where we could not confirm a detail we say so. Every bar here is listed as open in 2026. We do not sell tickets ourselves.
Tilburg's beer specialist on Telegraafstraat, with about 200 beers, 16 taps and regular tap takeovers. It opens at 15:00 on weekdays and 14:00 at the weekend, and closes at 01:00 from Monday to Saturday and at 20:00 on Sunday. Skip it if you want to keep going after 01:00: the draw is the beer list, not the dance floor.
A self-tap bar on the Piusplein: take a tap card, slot it into a tap and pour from a wall of 40 beers. Happy hour runs every day from 20:00 to 21:00 with 25% off the whole wall. Skip it if you want table service or someone to recommend a beer: you serve yourself.
A café, restaurant and bar on the Piusplein with cocktails, specialty beers and a terrace, open from 11:00 and until 04:00 on five nights. Tuesday has Dobbeldinsdag with free entry, and other nights bring themed pub quizzes and a Film & Food menu with a Pathé cinema ticket. Skip it if you want a quiet drink in term time: this is the student hangout.
A beer pub in a former bakery on the Heuvel, named after the baker Van Erven. The interior is rough wood and stone, with two beer tanks hanging at the bar on brass chains, and the tap list leans on local Dutch microbrewery beer. Skip it if you want a dance floor: it is a beer pub.
A student eetcafé and bar on the Piusplein with a kitchen that serves chicken satay, burgers and steaks, a terrace in summer and a fireplace in winter. A DJ plays most days and Thursday is the student start of the weekend. Skip it if you want a quiet Thursday.
A restaurant and bar in a former railway workshop in the Spoorzone, with a large indoor space, a terrace under parasols and a sandy beach area with beach chairs. It has about 1,750 Google reviews. Skip it if you want a late-night club: it is built for food, a drink and a long sit.
A brasserie and beer café on the Oude Markt with indoor and outdoor seating and a wide beer list. It opens at about 10:00 and closes at 22:30 on Sunday and Monday, 23:30 from Tuesday to Thursday and around midnight on Friday and Saturday. Skip it if you want music or a crowd after midnight: it works for a first drink or dinner, not for the late part of the night.
Taphuys, Bolle and Brandpunt are on the same square, the Piusplein, and Bakker is on the Heuvel. Kandinsky is on Telegraafstraat, Anvers is on the Oude Markt and RAW is on Burgemeester Brokxlaan in the Spoorzone. A simple route: start with a beer at Kandinsky, which opens at 15:00 on weekdays, move to the Piusplein for the Taphuys happy hour from 20:00 to 21:00, and finish at Bolle, which stays open until 04:00 on five nights.
Kandinsky closes at 01:00, and Anvers closes between 22:30 and midnight. Taphuys, Brandpunt, Bakker and RAW do not publish their hours, so check before you go. For the way home, night trains run on Friday and Saturday only, hourly between Rotterdam, Breda, Tilburg and Eindhoven. Taxis have a maximum tariff of €4.31 plus €3.17 per kilometre and €0.52 per minute.
Tilburg's bars suit a slow start. Begin with a beer at Kandinsky, add a pour-your-own round on the Piusplein, and only then walk to the Heuvel. For closing times, prices and the way home in one place, read our Tilburg nightlife guide. For the dance floors, see the 8 best clubs in Tilburg, and to choose an area first, read Tilburg nightlife by neighbourhood. Planning a longer trip? Browse the Netherlands guide or find upcoming nights on NightFind tickets.
For beer, Kandinsky on Telegraafstraat, with about 200 beers and 16 taps. For a self-tap wall, Taphuys on the Piusplein. For a late night, Bolle, which closes at 04:00 on five nights.
Hours differ per bar. Kandinsky closes at 01:00 from Monday to Saturday and at 20:00 on Sunday, Anvers closes between 22:30 and midnight, and Bolle closes at 04:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. Many bars do not publish hours, so check before you go.
Kandinsky lists about 200 beers and runs tap takeovers, Taphuys has 40 beers on a tap wall, and Café Bakker leans on local Dutch microbrewery beer.
Yes. Taphuys on the Piusplein gives you a tap card, and you pour your own beer from a wall of 40. Happy hour runs every day from 20:00 to 21:00 with 25% off the whole wall.
The legal age for alcohol is 18, and staff check ID when in doubt. Bring ID even if you look older.
