These are the world’s best cities for clubbing, according to a huge Time Out survey

Everyone’s got an opinion on what makes a good night out, but if yours involves a heaving dancefloor, a decent sound system and staying out well past a sensible bedtime, you’ll want to pay attention to this one.

To create Time Out’s Best Cities for Nightlife with Intrepid Travel, we asked more than 24,000 locals around the world to rate their city’s after-dark scene across everything from cocktail bars to community feel, affordability to street life. We combined all that data, alongside a rating from Time Out’s nightlife experts, to rank the world’s nightlife capitals.

As part of that mega-survey, we asked locals to tell us which after-dark activity their city does best. Options ranged from raves to late-night cafés and casual pubs. But which cities are still proudly repping the good old-fashioned nightclub? We have the answer. Of all 150 cities surveyed, these 20 hubs received the strongest scores for clubbing.

Bulgaria’s capital is crowned the world’s best city for clubbing

Topping the list is Sofia, Bulgaria, where 72 percent of locals surveyed said clubbing is the thing their city does best after dark. Medellín and Lima tied for second on 71 percent, with Miami close behind on 70 percent. The rest of the top 10 spans everywhere from Panama City and Liverpool to Bogotá, Guadalajara, Newcastle and Las Vegas, proving today’s clubbing capitals go well beyond the usual big-hitters (though there are still a few of those). 

🪩 Read our brand-new guide to Europe’s greatest nightclubs, from Berlin to Budapest.

The world's 20 best cities for clubbing, according to locals

1. Sofia, Bulgaria – 72 percent
2. Medellín, Colombia – 71 percent
3. Lima, Peru – 71 percent
4. Miami, USA – 70 percent
5. Panama City, Panama – 69 percent
6. Liverpool, UK – 69 percent
7. Bogotá, Colombia – 68 percent
8. Guadalajara, Mexico – 67 percent
9. Newcastle, UK – 67 percent
10. Las Vegas, USA – 67 percent
11. Nairobi, Kenya – 65 percent
12. Bucharest, Romania – 65 percent
13. Johannesburg, South Africa – 64 percent
14. Madrid, Spain – 62 percent
15. Mexico City, Mexico – 62 percent
16. Brighton, UK – 62 percent
17. Accra, Ghana – 59 percent
18. São Paulo, Brazil – 59 percent
19. Cardiff, UK – 56 percent
20. Manchester, UK – 56 percent

Curious how the rest of the world’s nightlife scenes stack up? Here’s the full list of the world’s 20 best cities for nightlife in 2026.

ICYMI: A legendary Budapest ruin bar has been named the best bar in Europe for 2026.

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