Schaffhausen has a good range of places to eat, from the self-service Manora diner just off Fronwagplatz upwards. The best budget dining is to be done at the cosy Fass-Beiz, Webergasse 13 (closed Sun), a co-operative-run café-bar which offers plenty of wholesome, home-cooked veggie dishes for under Fr.15. Unterstadt is lined with cheerful, inexpensive places in which to join the locals for some hearty nosh: typical among them is Zum Schäfli at no. 21, with menus of standard Swiss fare from Fr.14. Zur Flamme, above a WWF shop at Vorstadt 9 (052/624 09 05; closed Mon eve and Sun) is an informal veggie restaurant, offering excellent food for well under Fr.20 – or go for the five-course evening menu for Fr.45. Pizza and pasta dishes are available for Fr.20 or so at the bright, funky Sternen, Webergasse 38, while Falken, Vorstadt 5, has quality Swiss food for roughly the same price. Moving up the scale is Zum Frieden, Herrenacker 11 (052/625 47 15), an atmospheric tavern-style place with a good-value Stübli at ground-floor level and a pricier formal restaurant upstairs serving Frenchified mains for around Fr.40. Top of the heap is the spectacular Fischerzunft, Rheinquai 8 (see “Accommodation”), rated in the top half-dozen restaurants in the country and offering a unique cuisine blending French and East Asian elements: don’t expect change from Fr.100 per head.

There’s any number of places at which to drink: café-bars line all the Old Town squares, with those on Fronwagplatz particularly well placed for people-watching. Fass-Beiz (see above) is a quiet little nook to savour a beer or three, while there’s a lively café-bar (closed Mon & Tues) attached to the Kammgarn cultural centre at Baumgartenstrasse 19. Zum Weissen Rössli, Repfergasse 28, is the loudest, smokiest bar in town.