Just in: Melbourne is the sixth best city in the world for nightlife right now

Time Out

5 days ago

If this news doesn't call for one helluva party, we don't know what will. It's just been announced that Melbourne has ranked sixth on Time Out's list of the world's top 20 best cities for nightlife – and while it's no shock to any of us locals who love a late-night boogie and bev, we're still pretty damn stoked to be named among some of the hottest party spots around the globe.
In case you hadn't realised, we've long been a champion of nightlife – and that's why we set out to collate the world's greatest cities for going out in 2025. We quizzed thousands of people in hundreds of the world's best cities, asking them to rate both the quality and affordability of their city's nightlife scene, from clubbing and bars to pubs and nighttime entertainment.
After crunching all that data, we narrowed down the selection by excluding cities with lower overall scores and only including the highest-scoring city for each country. To create the final ranking, a panel of nightlife experts, including Time Out's city editors and arts and culture writers, voted on their faves.
So which city claimed the top after-dark accolade? None other than the legendary party den of Las Vegas. Yep, the glittering, neon-lit strip is officially the hottest nightlife spot in 2025. And you know what, we get it – it's fun, it's full on and whether you're at a giant rave, epic EDM set or swanky cocktail bar, you know it's gonna be a guaranteed good time.
Rounding out the rest of the top five is the Spanish capital of Madrid in second, Paris in third (duh, that one's a classic), Shanghai in fourth and Berlin (another no-brainer) in fifth. That means Melbourne beat out certified party spots like Amsterdam, Bangkok, Mexico City and Cape Town. How good!
Back to Melbourne. We've always known our all-hours city is Australia's undisputed nightlife capital, and now we can really rub it in (sorry, Sydney!). On any given evening, you can find a basement club catering for all kinds of subcultures, an intimate bar with a vinyl collection that will have you swooning (hello, Music Room) or a glittering drag show starring a roster of fabulous queens.
And while the tried-and-true nightclubs remain a rite of passage for all partygoers – we're looking at you, Revs – there's been a noticeable shift to alternative after-hours adventures. Think chic, cosy lounges with epic sound systems à la Waxflower, Caretaker's Cottage and Angel Music Bar, or late-night festivals like Rising and Now or Never that host exhibitions, feasts and parties well into the wee hours.
If we take a look at the stats, locals in Melbourne were fourth-most likely to describe their city as 'lively', and an impressive 81 per cent of Melburnians rated their city highly for nightlife. However, only 23 per cent agreed that a night out in the city is cheap, making it one of the lowest-ranked cities for affordability. Ok, so there's room for improvement – but hey, if we can fix that we're a shoe-in for the number one spot next year.
Sleep? There's no time for that in Melbourne – see you out there, no matter how late it is.
Here's the full list of the the world's 20 best cities for nightlife:
Las Vegas, USA
Madrid, Spain
Paris, France
Shanghai, China
Berlin, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
Brighton, UK
Mexico City, Mexico
Dubai, UAE
Mumbai, India
Cape Town, South Africa
Warsaw, Poland
Bangkok, Thailand
Lagos, Nigeria
Cairo, Egypt
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Medellín, Colombia
Marrakesh, Morocco
Athens, Greece
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