22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out Dubai
Dubai ranked in top 10 global nightlife cities
Dubai has officially been crowned one of the world's top nightlife cities, according to a global survey.
Thousands of people answered a global Time Out HQ survey about their favourite places for a night out in hundreds of the world's buzziest cities.
And Dubai has placed neatly at number nine on the list, thanks to its extensive offering of nightclubs, speakeasies and beach clubs.
A massive 83 percent of locals in the global survey viewed Dubai's nightlife favourably, and it's comfortably the safest place to have a good time in the final ranking, with 75 percent of locals describing the emirate as such.
(Credit: Honeycomb-HiFi)
Time Out Dubai hosts an annual nightlife awards ceremony, highlighting everything from the best places to go for a pint to top places to dance into the wee hours.
Yousra Zaki, the food and drink editor of Time Out GCC, outlines exactly why Dubai is one of the best nightlife cities in the world right now.
She said: 'Dubai's nightlife scene is easily one of the most diverse on the planet. While it was once all about superclubs, more and more locals are spending their evenings at curated listening bars and beach clubs.
'Legacy nightclubs like Soho Garden are still pulling in the crowds, but the real energy is in the underground scene.
'In Business Bay, Honeycomb Hi-Fi – a bar hidden behind a record store – leads the city's listening bar boom, while Chanca, a speakeasy inside Peruvian restaurant COYA Dubai, hosts genre-hopping DJ nights.
'Music-wise, amapiano, afrobeats and deep house dominate dancefloors, with party series like Bohemia Beach Club and Ushuaïa booking international names on the regular.
'And while you'll still find big crowds in the cocktail bars of DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre), it's the pool and beach clubs like Cloud 22 on Palm Jumeirah and Sirene Beach at beachside district J1 Beach that are defining Dubai's nightlife trends in 2025.'
Overall, Las Vegas claimed the top spot with Madrid and Paris rounding out the top three.
Dubai is sandwiched between Mexico City and Mumbai in the top 10.
The full global ranking can be found here, with editors and local experts from across the globe shining a spotlight on what makes their city stand out from the crowd.
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