The Best Nightlife Cities in the World: 2023 Guide

If you’re traveling to a new city, one thing you’re probably interested in is the nightlife and entertainment that’s in store when you get there.

In our 2022 nightlife cities study, we’ve used thousands of data points from popular online review platforms and other sources to put together a guide to the best nightlife cities in the world. This included data from over 500,000 restaurants, 8,000 bars and clubs, over 200 casinos, and more than 15,000 online reviews to determine: 

• How many nightlife venues each city has
• The average rating for the different types of nightlife venues in each city
• The Safety Index Score for each city
• The average cost of a meal for two, pint of beer, club entry or taxi ride in these cities

Using this data, we’ve ranked the 50 most popular cities around the world on their restaurants, bars, clubs, and casinos, along with Safety Index Score and taxi prices to show you the cities with the most nightlife venues and those that offer the best value for money.

25 Best Cities for Nightlife in the World

Based on the data we collected about restaurants, bars, clubs and casinos from the 50 most visited cities in the world, we allocated points to each city to determine which ones ranked best overall. Here is our top 25 list of the best nightlife cities in the world.

Topping the list is Prague with 267 points out of a maximum of 355. In second place was Madrid with 229 points, followed by Tokyo in third with 223.

Rank	City	Nightlife City Points
1	Prague, Czech Republic	267
2	Madrid, Spain	229
3	Tokyo, Japan	223
4	London, England	196
5	Istanbul, Turkey	187
6	Osaka, Japan	184
7	Barcelona, Spain	183
8	Paris, France	170
9	Amsterdam, Netherlands	168
10	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	165
11	Berlin, Germany	164
12	Rome, Italy	161
13	Taipei, Taiwan	153
14	Cairo, Egypt	148
15	Bangkok, Thailand	147
16	New York City, USA	128
17	Dublin, Ireland	123
18	Jaipur, India	121
19	Phuket, Thailand	120
20	Athens, Greece	119
21	Los Angeles, USA	107
22	Chennai, India	101
23	Shanghai, China	95
24	Las Vegas, USA	94
25	Antalya, Turkey	87

Keep reading to find out more about the breakdown of our rankings based on the number of nightlife venues, ratings, safety and affordability.

Cities with the Most Restaurants

Food is an important part of a trip to a new country or city, with travelers keen to seek out the best and most affordable food spots to visit. If you’re going to a city for the first time, you’ll want to have plenty of choice when it comes to eating out, whether it’s local cuisine or your favorite food staples.Using data from popular online review platforms, we’ve put together a top 25 list of world cities with the most restaurants in total. Tokyo, Japan tops the list with an estimated 102,236 restaurants and eateries. Tokyo also has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in the world, with 226 restaurants holding at least one Michelin star.Coming in second on the list was Osaka, another city in Japan, with 36,047 restaurants. Making up the rest of the top five was Seoul, South Korea with 35,357, London, England with 20,546, and Paris, France with 17,742. Check out the full list of cities with the most restaurants below.Do bear in mind that the largest cities are expected to have more restaurants and nightlife establishments than smaller cities, and this will have an effect on the total number of each in the cities we researched.

Top 25 Cities with the Most Restaurants

Rank	City	Number of Restaurants
1	Tokyo, Japan	102,236
2	Osaka, Japan	36,047
3	Seoul, South Korea	35,357
4	London, England	20,546
5	Paris, France	17,742
6	Shanghai, China	16,894
7	New York City, USA	15,868
8	Taipei, Taiwan	15,244
9	Istanbul, Turkey	14,940
10	Mumbai, India	13,884
11	Hong Kong, China	13,757
12	Los Angeles, USA	13,444
13	Singapore, Singapore	12,572
14	Bangkok, Thailand	12,460
15	Delhi, India	12,445
16	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	12,090
17	Madrid, Spain	11,952
18	Rome, Italy	11,291
19	Barcelona, Spain	9,778
20	Milan, Italy	7,638
21	Guangzhou, China	7,164
22	Berlin, Germany	6,386
23	Chennai, India	6,331
24	Prague, Czech Republic	5,514
25	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4,938

Cities with the Cheapest Restaurants

If you’re travelling on a budget and trying to keep costs down, affordable food is a must. We’ve ranked cities in a top 25 list by the average price of a meal for two at an Italian restaurant including starter, main course, dessert, and wine.

The city with the cheapest average cost for a meal for two was Chennai in India, at $14.86. This was followed by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at an average cost of $19.82 for a meal for two. The highest-priced city on our cheapest list was Dubai, at an average of $65.65 for a meal for two. However, out of all the cities we looked at, Hong Kong had the highest average price overall at $126.35.

Top 25 Cheapest Cities for a Meal for Two

Rank	City	Avg Meal for Two Cost
1	Chennai, India	$14.86
2	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	$19.82
3	Agra, India	$22.30
4	Antalya, Turkey	$22.30
5	Cairo, Egypt	$23.54
6	Jaipur, India	$23.54
7	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	$26.01
8	Taipei, Taiwan	$27.25
9	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	$32.21
10	Istanbul, Turkey	$33.44
11	Mumbai, India	$33.44
12	Berlin, Germany	$35.92
13	Pattaya, Thailand	$37.16
14	Delhi, India	$39.64
15	Phuket, Thailand	$39.64
16	Denpasar, Indonesia	$42.12
17	Prague, Czech Republic	$47.07
18	Cancun, Mexico	$48.31
19	Seoul, South Korea	$48.31
20	Bangkok, Thailand	$49.55
21	Madrid, Spain	$49.55
22	Athens, Greece	$52.02
23	Barcelona, Spain	$55.74
24	Singapore, Singapore	$61.93
25	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	$65.65

Cities with the Highest Rated Restaurants

If you’re a foodie looking for the best restaurants in town when you visit a new place, we’ve combined the popular online review platforms ratings of restaurants in each city to give you a top 25 list of cities with the best-rated restaurants.

Topping this list is Istanbul in Turkey, with an average restaurant rating of 4.96/5. Coming in a close second was Dubai, United Arab Emirates with an average restaurant rating of 4.91/5. 

Top 25 Rated Cities for Restaurants

Rank	City	Avg Popular Online Review Platforms Rating for Restaurants
1	Istanbul, Turkey	4.96
2	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	4.91
3	Paris, France	4.88
4	London, England	4.86
5	Rome, Italy	4.85
6	Bangkok, Thailand	4.82
7	Barcelona, Spain	4.82
8	Madrid, Spain	4.74
9	Cancun, Mexico	4.72
10	Phuket, Thailand	4.71
11	Denpasar, Indonesia	4.69
12	Delhi, India	4.68
13	Cairo, Egypt	4.68
14	Jaipur, India	4.66
15	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	4.65
16	Prague, Czech Republic	4.65
17	Athens, Greece	4.63
18	Tokyo, Japan	4.61
19	Hong Kong, China	4.61
20	Amsterdam, Netherlands	4.60
21	Singapore, Singapore	4.59
22	Milan, Italy	4.59
23	Taipei, Taiwan	4.57
24	Berlin, Germany	4.55
25	Mumbai, India	4.55

Nightlife City Safety

Safety is an important thing to consider when going on a night out, especially if you’re in a city you’re unfamiliar with. We took the 2021 Safety Index scores for our cities to determine which ones were the safest to visit.

Top of the list for safety was Taipei, Taiwan with a score of 86.55 out of 100, and second was Dubai, United Arab Emirates which scored 83.44 on the Safety Index.

Rank	City	Safety Index Score
1	Taipei, Taiwan	86.55
2	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	83.44
3	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	78.27
4	Tokyo, Japan	76.71
5	Prague, Czech Republic	75.84
6	Antalya, Turkey	72.83
7	Madrid, Spain	70.58
8	Osaka, Japan	70.13
9	Shenzhen, China	67.21
10	Singapore, Singapore	67.02
11	Amsterdam, Netherlands	66.32
12	Shanghai, China	65.68
13	Jaipur, India	65.42
14	Guangzhou, China	60.05
15	Chennai, India	59.78
16	Bangkok, Thailand	58.92
17	Berlin, Germany	58.86
18	Milan, Italy	56.44
19	Barcelona, Spain	54.49
20	New York City, USA	53.04
21	Istanbul, Turkey	52.50
22	Los Angeles, USA	51.59
23	Cairo, Egypt	50.03
24	Orlando, USA	48.07
25	Rome, Italy	47.87

Cheapest Cities for a Pint of Beer

When looking for the best cities for nightlife, you’ll probably be considering the cost of a drink when you go out. For those who want to find the cheapest cities for a pint of beer, we’ve put together a top 25 list. We used data from Expatistan to find the average price for a pint of beer in a neighborhood pub in each city.

The cheapest city we found for a pint of beer was Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, with a beer costing just $1.04. The next cheapest was Antalya, Turkey where the average pint of beer costs $1.55.

Out of all the cities we looked at, Dubai had the most expensive pint of beer, with an eye-watering average price of $12.38.

Top 25 Cities with the Cheapest Pint of Beer

Rank	City	Avg Cost of a Pint of Beer
1	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	$1.04
2	Antalya, Turkey	$1.55
3	Cairo, Egypt	$1.66
4	Prague, Czech Republic	$1.70
5	Agra, India	$1.71
6	Taipei, Taiwan	$1.92
7	Jaipur, India	$2.27
8	Cancun, Mexico	$2.29
9	Pattaya, Thailand	$2.32
10	Istanbul, Turkey	$2.54
11	Denpasar, Indonesia	$2.82
12	Bangkok, Thailand	$2.86
13	Phuket, Thailand	$2.92
14	Chennai, India	$2.96
15	Seoul, South Korea	$3.07
16	Delhi, India	$3.58
17	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	$3.73
18	Mumbai, India	$3.86
19	Osaka, Japan	$3.88
20	Vienna, Austria	$3.88
21	Tokyo, Japan	$3.96
22	Berlin, Germany	$4.01
23	Madrid, Spain	$4.21
24	Barcelona, Spain	$4.44
25	Venice, Italy	$4.63

Cities with the Most Bars and Clubs

When it comes to nightlife, many of us will see bars and clubs as a key attraction in cities that we visit. We found out which cities had the most bars and clubs, so you can find the ones with the most bustling nightlife scene.

From the cities we looked at, London and Tokyo had the highest number of bars and clubs, estimated at 1,000+ each. Please note, both of these cities have over 1,000 bars and clubs each but we were unable to extract data over 1,000.Making up the rest of the top 5 were Prague in the Czech Republic with 631 bars and clubs, New York City with 601, and Madrid, Spain with 592 bars and clubs.

Top 25 Cities with the Most Bars and Clubs

Rank	City	Number of Bars/Clubs
1	London, England	1,000+
2	Tokyo, Japan	1,000+
3	Prague, Czech Republic	631
4	New York City, USA	601
5	Madrid, Spain	592
6	Barcelona, Spain	521
7	Berlin, Germany	502
8	Osaka, Japan	502
9	Istanbul, Turkey	439
10	Paris, France	421
11	Rome, Italy	391
12	Las Vegas, USA	283
13	Milan, Italy	274
14	Amsterdam, Netherlands	263
15	Dublin, Ireland	250
16	Los Angeles, USA	249
17	Phuket, Thailand	181
18	Bangkok, Thailand	176
19	Athens, Greece	165
20	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	165
21	Vienna, Austria	148
22	Singapore, Singapore	141
23	Orlando, USA	117
24	Shanghai, China	92
25	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	83

Cities with the Cheapest Club Entry

If you’re planning to visit a club when you’re out in a new city, you’ll probably want to know the typical cost of entry or cover charge. Most clubs will charge some form of entry fee before you even buy any drinks, and the price can vary depending on the type of club you go to and the location. If you’re looking to visit the biggest party cities, these costs might be a little higher.During our research, club entry price data was only available for 16 of the cities we looked at. Of these, the cheapest average club entry price was in Rome, Italy at $14.50 followed by Orlando, USA at $15. The most expensive was, unsurprisingly, Las Vegas, USA at an average of $48.

Ranking of Average Club Entry Prices from Cheapest to Most Expensive

Rank	City	Average Club Entry Cost/Cover Charge (May 2022 Inflation-Adjusted)
1	Rome, Italy	$14.50
2	Orlando, USA	$15
3	Prague, Czech Republic	$15.50
4	Berlin, Germany	$14.70
5	Amsterdam, Netherlands	$17
6	Barcelona, Spain	$18
7	Dublin, Ireland	$19.50
8	Madrid, Spain	$19.50
9	Paris, France	$19.50
10	Miami, Florida	$21.50
11	London, England	$22.30
12	Los Angeles, USA	$24
13	New York City, USA	$26
14	Tokyo, Japan	$29
15	Las Vegas, USA	$48

Highest Rated Cities for Bars and Clubs

If you’re looking for the cities with the highest-rated bars and clubs, we’ve put together a top 25 list based on average popular online review platforms ratings in each city. If you’re not necessarily seeking out the cheapest nightlife, but rather the best quality establishments to visit, consider these cities. 

That’s not to say that the cheapest cities don’t perform well, Ho Chi Minh City had the cheapest pint of beer, and comes in 5th on our list of highest rated cities for bars and clubs.

The city with the highest average rating for bars and clubs is Tokyo Japan at 4.65/5. Coming in at a close second was Athens, Greece with an average rating 4.61/5 for its bars and clubs.

Top 25 Cities by Average Bar and Club Rating

Rank	City	Avg Popular Online Review Platforms Rating for Bars and Clubs
1	Tokyo, Japan	4.65
2	Athens, Greece	4.61
3	Phuket, Thailand	4.60
4	Barcelona, Spain	4.55
5	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	4.52
6	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	4.50
7	Prague, Czech Republic	4.47
8	Amsterdam, Netherlands	4.45
9	London, England	4.45
10	Osaka, Japan	4.42
11	Cairo, Egypt	4.42
12	Berlin, Germany	4.41
13	Madrid, Spain	4.40
14	Bangkok, Thailand	4.40
15	Rome, Italy	4.38
16	Los Angeles, USA	4.37
17	Paris, France	4.35
18	Jaipur, India	4.33
19	Dublin, Ireland	4.33
20	Istanbul, Turkey	4.33
21	Pattaya, Thailand	4.30
22	Taipei, Taiwan	4.28
23	New York City, USA	4.28
24	Agra, India	4.25
25	Denpasar, Indonesia	4.25

Public Drinking Laws

While public drinking is generally legal in most of the cities covered in our guide, there are some which do not allow public drinking or have specific rules regarding alcohol consumption in public. For each of these cities, we have deducted 10 Nightlife City Points from their total score.

City	Public drinking rules
Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by arrest
Singapore, Singapore	Public alcohol consumption is restricted between 10:30 pm and 7 am
Barcelona, Spain	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by a fine
New York City, USA	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by a fine
Los Angeles, USA	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by a fine
Orlando, USA	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by a fine
Cancun, Mexico	Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal and punishable by a fine

This list may not be extensive, some countries impose specific rules in certain districts and streets relating to public alcohol consumption. You should always check the local laws when visiting a new city or country.

Average Cost of a Taxi Ride Per km

For those who are venturing out in the city at night, transport is something you’ll need to consider, especially late into the night when public transport might not be as accessible.

We’ve broken down the average cost of a taxi ride per km in the world’s most visited cities. The cheapest average taxi ride is in Cairo, Egypt at just $0.16 per km. Tokyo, Japan had the most expensive average taxi cost at $4.17 per km.

Rank	City	Average Taxi Cost Per KM (May 2022 Inflation-Adjusted)
1	Cairo, Egypt	$0.16
2	Delhi, India	$0.20
3	Chennai, India	$0.20
4	Mumbai, India	$0.33
5	Shanghai, China	$0.41
6	Singapore, Singapore	$0.46
7	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	$0.51
8	Istanbul, Turkey	$0.55
9	Taipei, Taiwan	$0.93
10	Athens, Greece	$0.97
11	Hong Kong, China	$1.25
12	Prague, Czech Republic	$1.31
13	Madrid, Spain	$1.38
14	Paris, France	$1.70
15	Rome, Italy	$1.77
16	Los Angeles, USA	$1.93
17	New York City, USA	$1.97
18	Las Vegas, USA	$2.14
19	Amsterdam, Netherlands	$3.14
20	London, England	$4.13
21	Tokyo, Japan	$4.17

Cities with the Most Casinos

If a trip to the casino is what you’re interested in when it comes to the best nightlife cities in the world, we’ve put together a top list of cities with the most casinos to visit. 

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that topping the list with 85 casinos is Las Vegas, USA. Around 30 of these casinos are located on the famous Las Vegas strip, with many others dotted around the city in different locations. Coming second on the list was Prague in the Czech Republic, with 27 casinos in the city – also near Prague main station – closely followed by London with 24 casinos. 

Highest-rated Casinos

As well as looking at the cities with the highest number of casinos, we also found out which cities had the highest average rating for their casinos.

At the top of this list was Paris, France, which had an average casino rating of 4.75/5. Second on the list was Rome, Italy with an average casino rating of 4.5/5. So if you’re looking for the best casinos, consider checking out these cities first.

Cities with the Most Casinos and Best-rated Casinos

Rank	City	Number of Casinos	City	Avg Popular Online Review Platform Casino Rating
1	Las Vegas, USA	84	Paris, France	4.75
2	Prague, Czech Republic	27	Rome, Italy	4.50
3	London, England	24	Osaka, Japan	4.33
4	Dublin, Ireland	13	Prague, Czech Republic	4.13
5	Amsterdam, Netherlands	10	Athens, Greece	4.00
6	Macau, China	9	Tokyo, Japan	4.00
7	Madrid, Spain	9	London, England	3.97
8	Cancun, Mexico	8	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	3.90
9	Barcelona, Spain	5	Dublin, Ireland	3.86
10	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	5	Madrid, Spain	3.83

Summary

So, there you have it, the top nightlife cities in the world for restaurants, bars and casinos. Whether you want a destination with a variety of nightlife spots, or you want to seek out the best food and drinks, you’ll be sure to find something in our extensive guide. Have you planned your next trip yet? Which city do you think you’ll visit?

Methodology

When extracting data for this piece, we researched restaurants, bars, clubs and casinos for the top 50 most visited cities in the world^[5]. We also found the average cost of a taxi ride per km and the Safety Index score for each of the cities.

Using information from popular online review platforms, we determined the number of restaurants, bars and clubs, and casinos in each city, as well as the average rating for these types of establishments in each city.

We used Expatistan to find out the average cost of a meal for two and a pint of beer in each city. For the club entry charges and taxi costs per km we took data from 2018 and adjusted for inflation to estimate an average charge for 2022.

Points System

We applied a points system to the cities based on the top-ranked cities in the 12 different categories we researched with a maximum of 355 points available. Categories seen as more desirable to those looking for the best nightlife cities were weighted more strongly with a higher number of points. We analyzed more than 500,000 restaurants, 8,000 bars and clubs, and over 200 casinos, using over 15,000 online reviews. The points allocated break down as follows.

• Most Restaurants – Maximum 25 Points
• Cheapest Meal for 2 – Maximum 25 Points
• Highest-Rated Restaurants – Maximum 25 Points
• Average Taxi Ride Cost per km – Maximum 25 Points
• Most Casinos – Maximum 25 Points
• Highest-Rated Casinos – Maximum 25 Points
• Cheapest Pint of Beer – Maximum 35 Points
• Cheapest Club Entry – Maximum 35 Points
• Safety Index Score – Maximum 45 Points
• Most Bars and Clubs – Maximum 45 Points
• Highest-Rated Bars and Clubs – Maximum 45 Points
• Restrictions on Public Drinking – Deduction of 10 Points
• Total – 355 Nightlife City Points Available

All data is correct as of May 2022

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License