Editorial
We have spent the better part of three years drinking our way across Europe — not casually, but deliberately, with notebooks and strong opinions. The best European cities for nightlife are not the ones with the most clubs. They are the cities where the bars have character, the hours are generous, and the locals actually go out after midnight without apologising for it. Here is where Europe wins in 2024.
Some cities have built bar cultures so complete, so layered, that a single weekend barely scratches the surface. These are the destinations that reward repeat trips and longer stays. If you are planning a bar-focused trip to Europe, start here.
Not every great bar city has global name recognition yet. These cities are producing some of the most interesting drinking in Europe right now, with lower prices and far fewer queues than their more celebrated counterparts. We recommend building a trip around at least one of them in 2024.
These are the cities that do not always appear on European nightlife shortlists but absolutely should. If you have already done Berlin and Amsterdam, these are your next moves — lower prices, fewer tourists, and bar cultures that have improved significantly in the last five years.
If you have one European trip left this year and nightlife is the priority, Berlin remains the benchmark — no other European city offers the same concentration of late-night culture across so many genres and price points. For a shorter trip where quality per hour matters, London's cocktail scene is the most technically accomplished on the continent. For value, for weather, and for the pleasure of a city that wears its drinking culture lightly, Lisbon is having an exceptional decade.
Budapest and Prague are the underrated picks that deserve far more attention than they get. Both cities have invested seriously in cocktail culture over the last five years, both offer exceptional value, and both have enough going on that a long weekend barely covers the surface. If you have already done the obvious cities, these are the trips worth planning next.
Sofia has been writing about European bar culture for a decade, with a particular focus on cities where the drinking scene outpaces the tourism hype. She splits her time between London and Lisbon and has a very strong opinion about when to order vermouth.