Best Nightlife: Brisbane/Gold Coast vs Melbourne vs Sydney vs Vancouver (best neighborhood, neighborhoods)
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What is the best city for nightlife between the ages of 25-35. Criteria...
24-7/Hours/Closing Times - how many nights per week are things good? What are the closing times?
Quality of sports bars?
Quality of pubs?
Quality of nightclubs?
Name the best neighborhood for nightlife in each city. Compare and contrast the neighborhoods?
Which is most likely to be filled with tourists? Locals?
• Please feel free to discuss any other criteria I may have left off.
• Pictures and google maps are welcome
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I haven't been to Vancouver.
Melbourne is the one I have most experience with. It has decent nightlife, I would say, something for everyone. It has more of a 'bar scene' with lots of great pubs for live music.etc, as well as a few clubs. I don't consider it a clubbing mecca like Ibiza, Miami, Berlin...Sydney has more of those flashy clubs and RSL's but it seems they are more um...I don't know, I don't like the vibe in a lot of places in Sydney, either very mainstream or stuck up. Best places in Melbourne are the city, Carlton, Fitzroy, South Yarra, St. Kilda, South Melbourne, Richmond.
Never been to Australia but Sydney and Melbourne and the Gold Coast can't be as disapointing for nightlife as Vancouver...
What time is last call or closing time in Australian bars? In Vancouver most places outside of Granville Street often have last call or shut down around midnight--even in Gastown.. Maybe stay open to two on the weekends, or a few clubs might stay open later. Vancouver's a nice city especially for the proximity to amazing scenery, but it's not a place I'd particularly choose for nightlife--which includes having a range of bars and lounges and live music not just top 40 dance clubs populated by a young crowd. There's other cities in Canada that are much better for a night out than Vancouver--there's a reason that some locals for years called it jokingly "no-fun city". It's a nice city, but it's hardly the big lively "international city" that it's sometimes made out to be...
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Reputation: 11862
It depends on the venue. Some pubs as early as 12, in some bars more like 3am, and a few bars and clubs 5-6am. Nightlife isn't anything that special, but it's pretty hopping. What I don't like sometimes is how aggressive people get when drunk and stuff here. A lot of clubs just play top 40 music and are full of d-baggish guys and girls dressed skimpily caked in make-up. I suppose if that floats your boat.
It depends on the venue. Some pubs as early as 12, in some bars more like 3am, and a few bars and clubs 5-6am. Nightlife isn't anything that special, but it's pretty hopping. What I don't like sometimes is how aggressive people get when drunk and stuff here. A lot of clubs just play top 40 music and are full of d-baggish guys and girls dressed skimpily caked in make-up. I suppose if that floats your boat.
Well geez, maybe Australia isn't much better than Vancouver BC... No wonder so many Canadians and Australians travel abroad...
Never been to Australia but Sydney and Melbourne and the Gold Coast can't be as disapointing for nightlife as Vancouver...
What time is last call or closing time in Australian bars? In Vancouver most places outside of Granville Street often have last call or shut down around midnight--even in Gastown.. Maybe stay open to two on the weekends, or a few clubs might stay open later. Vancouver's a nice city especially for the proximity to amazing scenery, but it's not a place I'd particularly choose for nightlife--which includes having a range of bars and lounges and live music not just top 40 dance clubs populated by a young crowd. There's other cities in Canada that are much better for a night out than Vancouver--there's a reason that some locals for years called it jokingly "no-fun city". It's a nice city, but it's hardly the big lively "international city" that it's sometimes made out to be...
Deezus, since Vancouver is close to you I'm assuming you have been quite a few times. The Vancouver nightlife was not impressive?
Deezus, since Vancouver is close to you I'm assuming you have been quite a few times. The Vancouver nightlife was not impressive?
Compared to it's overall reputation, yes, not that impressive. If I was ranking Vancouver, it'd rank high in several categories, but not in that one...
My biggest problem is the closing times--you can find a good bar and then suddenly it's just before midnight and it's last call. In Seattle or Portland(which aren't claimed to have great nightlife), you don't have this problem--last call is at 2:00 am in Seattle and 2:30 am in Portland every night of the week. It seems to be a holdover from Vancouver's more provincial character left off from the more conservative British/Scottish side of it's heritage. Some places are open later on the weekends, but some still close relatively early all week.
Vancouver also basically shorehorns by law the few clubs that can be open later into Granville Street downtown and nearby Gastown. If you're staying in the rest of the city, it's fairly dead. Maybe Kitsilano has some good bars, but a lot of them are struck by the same early closing times. Granville Street is the designated late entertainment night spot, and yet it's boring to me as it's basically to appeal to 19-year-old bros and hos glammed up and dancing to pop dance tunes. Most of it doesn't interest me.
It's not that Vancouver's nightlife is completely terrible. There's nice bars and lounges in parts, they have live music--it's just in comparison to even Seattle, I don't find it impressive by any means. On the West Coast, San Francisco has far better nightlife and a much bigger range than Vancouver, as does Los Angeles. There's probably more private events or music shows that aren't as evident to a visitor, but even then--that's not something you have to search out in a lot of other cities. Even Portland probably has far more live music venues around town.
The thing about Vancouver is that it gets promoted as more than it really is---it's a fine city, just not at the level of Toronto or Montreal for nightlife and nowhere in comparison to places like Miami, New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Chicago, or even a lot of mid-range American cities(I've had more fun in San Diego or Atlanta or even Boston). I'm not even the type to go out drinking all night these days that often, though occasionally I like to stay out late with friends enjoying more than a few drinks, seeing music or a DJ. But in cities that are known for "nightlife", not just for being a city with a great location or great urban planning--I sort of expect those late hours and vibrant places around town where people are up and doing things. I just don't find most of Vancouver to have that--it seems a relatively early to bed town in many ways. I don't expect it to be anything like Latin America where people don't even start going to the bars until after midnight, but it seems to have a more restricted civic approach to nightlife than even a lot of America. It's just not the type of place where you find cool neighborhood bars and music venues all over town.
Compared to it's overall reputation, yes, not that impressive. If I was ranking Vancouver, it'd rank high in several categories, but not in that one...
My biggest problem is the closing times--you can find a good bar and then suddenly it's just before midnight and it's last call. In Seattle or Portland(which aren't claimed to have great nightlife), you don't have this problem--last call is at 2:00 am in Seattle and 2:30 am in Portland every night of the week. It seems to be a holdover from Vancouver's more provincial character left off from the more conservative British/Scottish side of it's heritage. Some places are open later on the weekends, but some still close relatively early all week.
Vancouver also basically shorehorns by law the few clubs that can be open later into Granville Street downtown and nearby Gastown. If you're staying in the rest of the city, it's fairly dead. Maybe Kitsilano has some good bars, but a lot of them are struck by the same early closing times. Granville Street is the designated late entertainment night spot, and yet it's boring to me as it's basically to appeal to 19-year-old bros and hos glammed up and dancing to pop dance tunes. Most of it doesn't interest me.
It's not that Vancouver's nightlife is completely terrible. There's nice bars and lounges in parts, they have live music--it's just in comparison to even Seattle, I don't find it impressive by any means. On the West Coast, San Francisco has far better nightlife and a much bigger range than Vancouver, as does Los Angeles. There's probably more private events or music shows that aren't as evident to a visitor, but even then--that's not something you have to search out in a lot of other cities. Even Portland probably has far more live music venues around town.
The thing about Vancouver is that it gets promoted as more than it really is---it's a fine city, just not at the level of Toronto or Montreal for nightlife and nowhere in comparison to places like Miami, New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Chicago, or even a lot of mid-range American cities(I've had more fun in San Diego or Atlanta or even Boston). I'm not even the type to go out drinking all night these days that often, though occasionally I like to stay out late with friends enjoying more than a few drinks, seeing music or a DJ. But in cities that are known for "nightlife", not just for being a city with a great location or great urban planning--I sort of expect those late hours and vibrant places around town where people are up and doing things. I just don't find most of Vancouver to have that--it seems a relatively early to bed town in many ways. I don't expect it to be anything like Latin America where people don't even start going to the bars until after midnight, but it seems to have a more restricted civic approach to nightlife than even a lot of America. It's just not the type of place where you find cool neighborhood bars and music venues all over town.
Agree completely, I'm a mid twenties guy living in Vancouver, I've found the nightlife disappointing and frankly too upscale, tough to find a cheap, fun little dive and new music venues never seem to open up. Very silly and restricitive liquor laws, and too many NIMBYs trying to make every square block a "quiet, safe, residential area". I guess Australia doesn't seem so much better though from what I've heard and the cost of living appears to be even worse.
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