Step Out After Hours in These 4 Hot Neighborhoods Around the Globe

Nightlife comes in as many varieties as there are cities to celebrate it. And if you travel for after-hours fun as much as for maximizing all there is to do during the day in a fabulous locale, read on for a few favorite neighborhoods in diverse locations around the world that make living it up — as much or as little as you like — par for the course.

As always, check for travel guidelines and closures before planning your trip.

Chelsea, New York City 

Chelsea’s iconic Antiques Garage might be history: The city’s first indoor flea market, which had been attracting a cast of characters to its parking garage location since 1976, has been razed and relinquished to the history books. But there’s no shortage of whimsical explorations to keep you busy from day into night in this part of Manhattan.

Start your evening with vintage vibes at the Flatiron Room, right near the Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel. With live jazz and more than 1,000 spirits on offer, the atmospheric bar is consistently ranked among the country’s best bourbon and whiskey bars.

Next, bar hop onward to Gallow Green Rooftop Bar, where verdant surrounds and a vintage-meets-modern aesthetic beg for a classic cocktail (a Manhattan should do the trick).

Wondering how to dress for a night out in this part of town? Chelsea’s vintage boutiques offer much inspiration. Start your hunting at New York Vintage, a treasure-trove that lures off-duty models seeking vintage couture and designer fashion. Then hit 2nd Street Chelsea, which has the gently used designer duds market cornered.

Uluwatu, Bali

Bali’s nightlife, along with its cultural cachet, is legendary. This is especially true in the southern reaches of the island in Uluwatu, where you can make the Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa your base for scoping the surf, visiting temples and sipping sense-of-place spirits.

Karma Private Beach Bali and Le Club 22 bring the daytime beach-club vibes, with DJs spinning at the foot of a limestone cliff in a scenic coastal cove.

For killer sunset views with cocktails overlooking one of Indonesia’s most legendary surf breaks, sip a Bintang Beer or a Nusa Negroni (given a tropical edge with Balinese mangos) while overlooking the surfers riding Uluwatu’s barreling waves at Single Fin Bali.

Visiting the Uluwatu Temple (Pura Luhur Uluwatu) to commune with the resident monkeys atop a cliff some 230 feet above the waves is another surreal sunset experience.

Jardins District, São Paulo, Brazil

For abundant LGBTQ+ nightlife, club-hopping and other after-dark fun in Brazil’s financial center, the Jardins district in São Paulo is a place that draws more than bankers to party.

Located right near the Avenida Paulista — one of São Paulo’s main avenues and a hotbed for street murals by vanguard hometown artists like Kobra — the Renaissance Sao Paulo Hotel makes an ideal base for exploring the area’s diversions.

Kick off the evening with live music, caipirinhas (the classic Brazilian cocktail made with fermented sugar cane juice called “cachaça”) and colorful sushi rolls at Living Lounge Bar & Sushi.

Continue the revelry nearby at Cava Bar, a hideaway Jardins hot spot where you can listen to DJs spin and sip creative cocktails with locals in the basement of a 1930s-era residence. Club Bofetada, one of the city’s best LGBTQ+ nightclubs, has multiple dance floors, karaoke and everything from Brazilian electro to funk music spinning.

King’s Cross, London 

A regular atop lists of the world’s best cities for nightlife, London doesn’t want for places to party. Narrow it down to a part of town that entertains you with heaps of restaurants and bars by staying in King’s Cross.

Caffeinate for a big night out at the iconic tea salon at Fortnum & Mason, located just beneath the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London. Then head upstairs to the hotel’s trendy rooftop for sunset cocktails (the St. Pancras Sgroppino mixes pear vodka, fruit sorbet and Champagne in the most delightful way).

Booking Office 1869 is a seductive watering hole and raw bar at the hotel, designed as a reimagined 19th-century ticket hall inspired by the original Victorian-era St. Pancras station.

Other neighborhood favorites for stepping out include Two Tribes Brewery, a 1990s-counterculture-inspired spot where a creative crowd chills out while emerging DJs spin in a year-round beer garden (it’s even heated when it’s cold outside).