Hong Kong has been voted the 12th best city in the world for nightlife

By now, we’ve all heard it repeated on social media and news outlets: the younger generation are not drinking alcohol or going out partying all night any more. The abundance of sober daytime raves – or events naming themselves as raves despite bearing no resemblance to the actual activity – might suggest that this is true. But even though the way that the Gen Z and younger prefer to spend their time might be different, people are definitely not just staying in.

In fact, Hong Kong has just been ranked as the 12th best city in the world for nightlife culture. Time Out’s experts asked people from all over the globe about the current nightlife scene in their hometowns right now – from cool venues and affordability, to the ease of finding community and how safe, exciting, and diverse things are – and voted for their favourite cities in the world for after-dark shenanigans.

Hong Kong’s nightlife has been in the spotlight for a while now, especially given that we have Bar Leone, the best bar in the world as crowned by World’s 50 Best Bars 2025. Plenty of other bars are also multi-award-winning (think the likes of Coa, Quinary, Penicillin, and more) with no small amount of creativity when it comes to the craft of cocktails and warm hospitality. Our bar industry really doesn’t play when it comes to quality experiences, and we couldn’t be more proud of it.

While sipping on cocktails in dimly lit watering holes or on the slopes of Soho might have become Hong Kong’s going out norm, the heady days of clubs and dance bars might just be making a comeback. Upper Bangkok, known for its atmospheric music programming, has just expanded from the Thai capital into California Tower (taking over Petticoat Lane’s old space, RIP). The iconic club Dragon-i has also recently returned following a major facelift. Perhaps we will be popping bottles in the ice like a blizzard again soon.

As for the city with the best nightlife scene in the world? Bangkok takes number one spot, boasting everything a party animal could desire, from pokey street-side bars, mega clubs, and rooftop bars, to party pads for the queer community, underground joints where people go to “really, truly dance”, and that cabaret club with the red lanterns in season three of The White Lotus.

Check out the full list of the world's best 20 cities for nightlife now.

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