Travelling is a fun and eye-opening experience. It allows you to discover beautiful natural wonders, explore the culture of a country and also sample some delicious food. But no matter where you visit, there’s one aspect of a country that you shouldn’t miss; its nightlife.
Whether you’re travelling to a metropolis such as London or an island paradise like Bali, there’s bound to be a unique nightlife scene that is worth exploring. However, a lot of people find the idea of going to foreign clubs and bars a little daunting, especially if they don’t speak the language or aren’t accustomed to dipping their toes in the nightlife world. This is completely understandable, especially if your holidays usually involve exploring cultural landmarks and trying out unique foods. Most people also associate nightlife with partying, getting drunk and letting loose, so it’s not something that you typically travel to another country for.
But in this article, we’re going to cover four reasons why you should actually consider exploring the nightlife scene in any city that you travel to, even if you’re not the type to enjoy going to clubs and bars even in your home country.
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- Nightlife doesn’t have to mean drinking, dancing and loud music
Nightlife is defined as social activities and entertainment that is available at night. Note that the definition doesn’t include anything about clubs or dancing! Nightlife is just commonly associated with those types of things, but it doesn’t need to be the only thing on offer.
A great example of this would be the night markets in Taiwan. These are considered nightlife destinations because, as the name suggests, they’re only available at night. It often involves chatting with people, eating delicious food and exploring lots of unique cultural and traditional things. You can even do a spot of shopping at these night markets for unique trinkets or fashion, making it a wonderful place to learn more about the culture of the people that you often won’t see when the sun is up.
In short, don’t just assume that nightlife means drinking and dancing. It can also mean exploring some of the lesser-known parts of a city, embracing unique cultures and also trying out some outstanding street foods. This can vary from city to city, but it’s always worth having a stroll at night or doing some research to see what you can discover.
- Nightlife can help you discover new things to fall in love with
Whether it’s the energetic burlesque clubs of London or the cutesy music festivals found in Shibuya, exploring the nightlife of a country can help you discover new things to fall in love with. Each country has its own unique culture and traditions that help to shape its nightlife. For instance, Japan is known for its eclectic music tastes and over-exaggerated costumes, and this makes for some incredibly colourful nights out in areas like Shibuya and Tokyo. Similarly, nightlife in areas like Florida and Bali often involves beach parties on golden sands which is an entirely different atmosphere to inner-city nightlife.
If you really want to explore and fall in love with a country, then it’s important to embrace all aspects of it–and that includes the nightlife! You might find yourself disliking the entertainment and activities that go on when the sun goes down in your home country, but that doesn’t mean it’s exactly the same in another city that you’re visiting. The nightlife could be totally different and whether it’s the atmosphere, music choices or even the drinks, you’re bound to find something to fall in love with.
In short, we highly recommend exploring the nightlife in another city or country just to see what it has to offer. Who knows–you might develop a completely new passion for something new!
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- Nightlife is a gateway to networking with locals
Whenever you explore a city at night, it exposes you to all of the locals that are just getting off work, enjoying their evenings and meeting up with their friends or family members. This makes it a brilliant time for you to mingle, interact and get to know some more people.
Before heading out to get social and chat with others, we do suggest trying to make some contacts beforehand. For instance, if there are other people staying in your hostel or locals that you’ve met through your travels, try and meet up with them and take them to nightlife venues you have in mind. This will offer more safety and it also helps you network with the locals. If you haven’t met anyone, then going with just your travel group is perfectly fine as well, though you may have some troubles with the language barrier.
Exploring the nightlife of a city is a lot of fun even if you’re a solo traveller looking to meet up with people. However, we do suggest that you practise safety to some extent. Don’t just accept random drinks from strangers and make sure you’re looking after your belongings so that nothing ends up being stolen from you.
- Nightlife is a great way to embrace the spirit of a country
We’ve mentioned it briefly already, but each country has its own style of nightlife that makes it unique and iconic. While you might enjoy looking at historical sites, museums, art pieces and other traditional travel destinations, it’s important that you don’t neglect the fact that the nightlife is also part of what makes a country unique and special in its own way.
If you truly want to explore everything that a country has to offer, then mingling with the nightlife and the activities it offers is one of the best ways to fully embrace the spirit of a country. Even from city to city, you’ll find unique differences that make each place you visit a completely new experience that will create wonderful memories that will stick with you for a long time.
