The Best Things to Do After Dark

A city's daytime self is mostly for tourists and business. Its nighttime self is closer to the truth. Once the museums close, that's when you find out how a place actually spends its evenings.

Follow the night market

In much of Asia, and increasingly elsewhere, the night market is where the day's real social life happens. Grilled skewers, cheap beer, families out together, students on dates. Go hungry, go without a plan and let the smell of the nearest stall decide your dinner.

Find the rooftop that locals actually use

Every city has a hotel bar built for the view and priced accordingly. Fine, once. But ask around for the rooftop that isn't in the guidebook, the one above an apartment building or a modest restaurant, where the crowd is mostly people who live nearby. The view is usually just as good and the atmosphere is better.

Listen for live music before you look for it

The best nights out are rarely the ones you booked in advance. Walk a neighborhood known for its bars and follow whatever sound pulls you in, a trumpet, a guitar, a crowd clapping along. Small venues with no cover charge often deliver more than the famous jazz club with the line outside.

Daylight shows you a place. Night tells you who it's for.

Walk somewhere you'd normally avoid

This isn't a suggestion to be reckless, use common sense and read the room. But a well-lit, busy street that feels slightly unfamiliar after dark often turns out to be perfectly ordinary, just less curated for visitors. Some of the best small meals and quiet bars exist a few streets past where the tourist maps stop.