It’s Friday night. You’re dying to go out. You just don’t know where to go. To provide insights, Lyft drew on its proprietary ride-booking data data to determine the most-happening cities for nightlife around the country as well as popular destinations in each one.
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Rides to bars and entertainment venues
More than 20% of Lyft rides in the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings are people going to bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.
Lyft
Best cities for nightlife overall
Winner: Austin, Texas
The best city for partying is Austin, Texas, where a whopping 6% of all weekly Lyft rides were Friday or Saturday night trips to a bar or entertainment venue. Austin was also the only U.S. city to be included in the recently released Time Out's Best Cities for Nightlife. Austin's nightlife pedigree can be traced back to at least 1991 when the city proclaimed itself the "Live Music Capital of the World."
The top-visited late-night bar in Austin is Latchkey, which bills itself as "A Bar and a Daycare Center for Adults." Austinites stay the latest at the Highland Lounge, a gay club where over a third of rides occur after 2 a.m. Locals are most likely to visit Back Lot, a relatively relaxed spot with a patio, pool, and darts. And the hottest late-night destination is the funky live-music joint Mama Dearest, which saw the biggest percentage increase in late-night visitors.
Honorable mention: Columbus, Ohio
Austin is followed closely by Columbus, Ohio––where nightlife is primarily driven by the OSU student body (campus hits include Out-R-Inn and Midway on High). However, in the past year, it has been live-music venues, like Bristol Republic and Forum Columbus, that have grown the fastest, with almost twice as many rides as in the previous year.
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Best cities for late-night glam
Winner: Miami
The 1992 headline "Splashy, Flashy Miami" still holds true. Over 7.5% of rides taken to nightlife destinations in Miami and Miami Beach last year were Lux rides: i.e., passengers paid extra to ride in a higher-end vehicle. (Perhaps that's not too surprising, given that Miami was recently deemed the nation's luxury-car capital.) That was particularly the case for rides to clubs like E11EVEN, where one out of every seven Lyft rides was a Lux ride.
Honorable mention: Atlanta, GA
Miami's northern neighbor, Atlanta, is next up, with Lux rides accounting for more than 5% of late-night rides. One top destination? The Atlanta nightclub Revel, where celebrities like T-Pain and 50 Cent frequently turn up.
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Best cities for the latest nights
Winner: Miami
With last call coming in around sunrise (5 a.m.), it's no surprise that Miami parties the latest––most notably at Club Space, the 24-year-old venue famous for its after-hour parties.
Honorable mention: New York
Why is the city not sleeping? Because it's partying–– 20% of nightlife rides in New York occur after 2 a.m. Some popular late-night venues include Nowadays, which hosts a summer party called Mister Sunday and receives over a quarter of all ride activity after 2 a.m. Meanwhile, the FiDi Irish pub The Dead Rabbit is the fastest-growing bar (300% increase in rides in the past year), and the dance-y Brooklyn gay bar The Rosemont draws regulars every weekend (two visits per rider, on average).
This story was produced by Lyft and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.