Four African cities have been named best in the world for nightlife
So, to uncover which cities are the best of the best when it comes to going out after dark in 2025, we quizzed thousands of city-dwellers and consulted a panel of experts to curate a list of the planet's best nightlife cities.
Claiming the top spot was Las Vegas, which over recent years has leaned into a more low-key night out, and you can read all about it here.
However, four African cities also claimed a spot in our shiny new top 20, and the first of these was Cape Town in number 11, where the 'party scene pulses with grit, glamour, and groove – just ask South African homegrown global stars Tyla and Black Coffee,' according to Time Out Cape Town editor Selene Brophy.
And the stats do back up that claim. Seventy-seven percent of Capetonians describe the city as 'good' or 'amazing' when it comes to nightlife, and it also ranks as the third cheapest place on our list for a boogie – even better, eh?
Lagos is up next in fourteenth place, where 79 percent of locals rate the nightlife positively. The Nigerian city's nightlife scene is shifting from exclusive lounges to inclusive underground raves such as SweatItOutLagos and Our Group Therapy.
Cairo follows closely behind in fifteenth place, where 79 percent of locals approve of the city's nightlife scene and 72 percent describe it as 'cheap or free' or 'affordable'. But while history shows us that Egyptians were big on beer-drinking, the culture here is much more focused around shisha tobacco and caffeine. However, cool cocktail bars have been cropping up in more expat-heavy areas.
Lastly, Marrakech comes in at number 19. 'As Marrakech's tourism numbers rise, so do its after-dark offerings,' says Morocco-based writer Sally Kirby, 'The Medina is home to colourful rooftop bars, including El Fenn and Kabana, offering cocktails and majestic views over the Koutoubia Mosque. In Gueliz, you'll find playful lounge bars such as Baromètre, a speakeasy, and The Mix, known for its electric Gnawa nights.'
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Time Out
2 hours ago
- Time Out
The Culture Edit: Art, memory and reverence of soft vengeance
'People go to an exhibition expecting to be bored, to be quite candid, and they're delighted when it's not,' Albie Sachs tells me in a near-whisper, leaning in during the opening of Spring Is Rebellious, now on at Zeitz MOCAA. 'And I think this is a total surprise,' he adds with a glint of mischief. Listening to Sachs reflect on a turbulent period in Southern Africa's history, and his own life as an activist, is quite something. There's a radical optimism in it. Not the hollow kind peddled by revivalists, but something more complex: a joy hard-won, defiant, and elevating. The curatorial approach, led by Dr Phokeng Setai, resists the trap of monumentalising one man (though Sachs, by all accounts, deserves it). Instead, it becomes its own rebellion against the singular hero narrative. And yet Sachs, with his signature blend of humility, humour, and piercing intellect, still anchors the experience. His personal collection, along with that of the Constitution Collection (commissioned and curated under his watch), shapes the experience. His story, including surviving a car bomb planted by apartheid security forces that cost him an arm and the sight in one eye, is not presented as tragedy. It becomes, in his words, a testament to 'the intense joy of survival.' Yes, it's a historical exhibition and a biography - but also a deeply moving love letter to a life lived in full colour. A life of freedom fighting, legal vision, Constitutional Court judge and an unwavering belief in the transformative power of art. Curated by Setai and a team of young curators mentored by the late Koyo Kouoh - to whom the exhibition is dedicated - Spring Is Rebellious lands with remarkable subtlety. 'Africa's stories are often told through singular biographical lives. We wanted to let the art and the artists bring the complexity and layers to the narrative of this exhibition," Setai says. And they do. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Cape Town (@ A Revolution of Feeling What emerges is not a dry litany of accolades, but an emotional architecture in what Sachs himself calls a 'big emotional palette.' 'It's very public and very private at the same time,' Sachs says. 'It's not a historical narrative. It's an emotional one.' Crucially, it never feels didactic. This is not protest art with a slogan, nor a catalogue of suffering. In his 1989 essay Preparing Ourselves for Freedom, written for an ANC cultural seminar in exile, Sachs wondered whether we had 'sufficient cultural imagination to grasp the rich texture of the free and united South Africa we have done so much to bring about.' That same question pulses through this exhibition. While Sachs' memories of Mozambique's revolution included children sculpting ephemeral art in sand under the guidance of artist Malangatana Ngwenya. 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Two artworks ground the space: a poignant wooden sculpture by Mozambican artist Naftal Langa, showing a couple grappling with the scars of war, and a stark photograph of Sachs in his London apartment, his amputated arm captured in mirror and shadow. It's a room of reckoning, where trauma acts as an uncomfortable truth - a wound, not hidden, but instead opening up toward something far greater. As Sachs says, justice is "refusing to become what you have survived." 'They tried to kill me, and I lost an arm,' he says with typical bluntness, 'but I lived. I got to help write our Constitution.' His vengeance is in living, not in bitterness or rage, but in beauty and joy. The show is both irreverent and serious at the same time. Archival protest posters sit beside odes to jazz and arson. Its storytelling spans exile, solitary confinement, and ultimately homecoming. And the title? Taken from a paper that sparked both debate and delight among his comrades - reminds us: Spring is rebellious, then and now. It honours not just Sachs, but the artists, activists, and everyday people whose creative resistance has shaped South Africa and the continent in unexpected, enduring ways. At 90, Sachs continues to write and inspire, offering as a living reminder that as our democracy matures, so too must our capacity to reimagine it. The revolution, he suggests, is not a moment, but a mindset needing constant renewal. 'If spring was rebellious then,' he says, 'autumn is rebellious now.'
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Chart topper Tyla confesses huge success of hit record Water left her feeling ‘trapped' as she releases hot new track
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But her very worst experience was at one of the biggest events in the showbiz calendar – the Bafta Film awards. 9 Edith Bowman knows all about the ups and downs of a red carpet Credit: BBC In an exclusive chat, Edith said: 'I was eight months pregnant and it was really wet. 'My dress was like a sponge. And so it had literally come up past my knees. 'My dress was kind of waterlogged. And I've got this massive, child-bearing belly in front of me. And so that was probably not the best look and not fun.' But she said one of her highlights in recent years was interviewing Joaquin Phoenix at the 2023 premiere of his film Napoleon – because he did so by accident. Edith recalled: 'We were told beforehand, 'He's not doing anything'. And then he came up not realising what he was coming into. So I was like, 'Nice to see you'. 'I was like, 'You were late the last time we chatted'. And he's like, 'What?'. 'I did a thing for Joker and he went to the loo and then he got lost, and then he came in late. 'So we just got into this really funny conversation, him going, 'I wasn't late, I'm never late!' kind of thing. 'And then he realised his voice was coming out of the speakers. And he was like, 'What am I doing here?'' IT wasn't just Tom Cruise who headed to Wembley Stadium to catch Oasis in action. My pals spotted Dua Lipa in a VIP box with her fiance Callum Turner. 'Dua and Callum were going absolutely wild when Noel and Liam Gallagher came on,' my mate said. 'They were hanging out with Noel's daughter Anais. 'Jarvis Cocker was there too and looked like he was loving it.' Destiny's smiles at Bey's last date BEYONCE took her fans back to where it all started on the final night of her Cowboy Carter world tour, reuniting with her Destiny's Child bandmates. She bought out Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams for a medley of some of their hits including Bootylicious and Lose My Breath. 9 Beyonce reuniting with her Destiny's Child bandmates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, on stage Credit: instagram/beyonce 9 Beyonce with her Destiny's Child bandmates in 2001 Credit: Reuters Kelly and Michelle even wore chaps for the show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Although Bey's 32-show tour may be over, she isn't stopping for a rest. She has already finished her next album, which is understood to be called Betty Black. It has its roots in rock is expected to be released in the spring. The record's title is, we understand, a bid to reclaim Ram Jam's 1977 song of the same name which has been controversial in recent years due to its connection to a whip used on enslaved people in prisons. Hill of a hen do WEDDING bells can't be far away for Becky Hill after she spent the weekend in glamorous Lake Como on her hen do. The two-time Brit Award winner flew her nearest and dearest gal pals to Italy for the celebration. It wasn't all play for Becky as she was working too, belting out tracks and getting behind the decks at a gig she played there on Friday. It came a week after her fiance Charlie Gardner flew off on his stag do, which was attended by the couple's close pal Gareth Gates. I'm told Gareth will definitely be there when they tie the knot later this summer. Between touring and working on her next album, it's a wonder Becky's had time to plan a thing.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Chart topper Tyla confesses huge success of hit record Water left her feeling ‘trapped' as she releases hot new track
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'We need some summer songs right now' and I am just too excited to hold on to them. 'I really just want people to hear it and party to it, and see how I've grown through the years and just see who I am now.' And it seems like she's more confident than ever, which isn't something she will apologise for. Tyla — who will perform at All Points East festival in London's Victoria Park next month — said: 'I just always knew I had something in me. 'I just always had that kind of peace knowing that this is the life I'm gonna live. 'I don't let anybody or anything limit me or put me in a box. I think I'm just confident. 'A lot of people say arrogant, but I think everyone needs a little bit of arrogance, especially to make it in this industry and to make people believe in your music. 'If you're not that proud and you don't believe in your stuff as strongly as you should, why would someone else?' 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Lead singer Thomas Rylance revealed how the friendship flourished. Speaking at the Together Again Festival at Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire, he said: 'Robbie reached out because he'd heard a few of our songs and read some interviews and he wanted to be friends. We spent months chatting on FaceTime. And then one day he asked if we fancied coming on tour. 'It's been stadiums every night. And to watch Rob do those shows, he's just magic. 'He's just as lovely off stage as he is on stage. He's just such an inspiring man to be around. I think he's my soul mate.' Despite his late night headliner slot, Olly Murs won the prize for the weirdest rider request of the weekend – asking for boxes of Coco Pops and Cornflakes. IT'S little wonder Jennifer Lopez has such a huge smile on her face. She performed to more than 70,000 fans in Poland, this weekend and looked proud as punch as she headed out with friends afterwards. 9 9 9 Jen, who looked chic in this nude coloured blazer dress, has been riding high on the success of her shows which have seen her take repeated swipes at her ex Ben Affleck. Last week, insiders told Bizarre's Howell that J-Lo had a whole new album ready to go, with Jen saying on stage she had 'scorned woman energy.' With songs like Up All Night and Wreckage Of You taking pops at Ben, I think he should be running for cover when that album drops. RED CARPET RAIN A PAIN FOR EDITH AS a regular host of glitzy film premieres, Edith Bowman knows all about the ups and downs of a red carpet. But her very worst experience was at one of the biggest events in the showbiz calendar – the Bafta Film awards. 9 In an exclusive chat, Edith said: 'I was eight months pregnant and it was really wet. 'My dress was like a sponge. And so it had literally come up past my knees. 'My dress was kind of waterlogged. And I've got this massive, child-bearing belly in front of me. And so that was probably not the best look and not fun.' But she said one of her highlights in recent years was interviewing Joaquin Phoenix at the 2023 premiere of his film Napoleon – because he did so by accident. Edith recalled: 'We were told beforehand, 'He's not doing anything'. And then he came up not realising what he was coming into. So I was like, 'Nice to see you'. 'I was like, 'You were late the last time we chatted'. And he's like, 'What?'. 'I did a thing for Joker and he went to the loo and then he got lost, and then he came in late. 'So we just got into this really funny conversation, him going, 'I wasn't late, I'm never late!' kind of thing. 'And then he realised his voice was coming out of the speakers. And he was like, 'What am I doing here?'' lIT wasn't just Tom Cruise who headed to Wembley Stadium to catch Oasis in action. My pals spotted Dua Lipa in a VIP box with her fiance Callum Turner. 'Dua and Callum were going absolutely wild when Noel and Liam Gallagher came on,' my mate said. 'They were hanging out with Noel's daughter Anais. 'Jarvis Cocker was there too and looked like he was loving it.' BEYONCE took her fans back to where it all started on the final night of her Cowboy Carter world tour after reuniting with her Destiny's Child bandmates on stage. She bought out Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams for a medley of some of their best loved hits, including Bootylicious and Lose My Breath. 9 9 Kelly and Michelle even put on matching chaps when they got up on stage at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The duo also helped Bey with her 'mute challenge' much to the delight of the packed out crowd. Although Bey's 32-show tour may be over, the hard work isn't stopping here. She's now hard at work on her next album, which is understood to be called Betty Black, and has its roots in rock. The record's title is, we understand a bit to reclaim Ram Jam's 1977 song of the same name - which has been controversial in recent years due to its connection to a whip used on enslaved people in prisons. WEDDING bells can't be far away because Becky Hill spent the weekend in glamorous Lake Como on her hen do. The two-time Brit Award winner flew her nearest and dearest gal pals over to Italy for the celebration, which came off the back of a gig she played there on Friday night. It came a week after her fiance Charlie Gardner flew off on his stag do, which was attended by his close pal Gareth Gates. I'm told Gareth is a surprisingly close mate of Becky and her fella and will definitely be there when they tie the knot later this summer. Between touring and working on her next album, it's a wonder she's had time to plan a thing. The week in bizness WEDNESDAY: Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Billie Piper will be among the stars at the premiere of the second series of Netflix hit Wednesday in London. THURSDAY: Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis jet into London's Leicester Square for the UK premiere of Freakier Friday – 22 years after Freaky Friday hit screens. FRIDAY: US singer Renee Rapp will lead the new releases with her second album Bite Me, while Chappell Roan will drop her new single The Subway. SATURDAY: Mariah Carey, Sugababes, Will Young and Natalie Imbruglia perform at the UK's biggest Pride festival over two days in Brighton's Preston Park.
