Partying around the world

Where are the best parties in the world?

I'm surely biased (coming from Finland) when I say this, but I do think there are quite many great places to party in Finland. I don't think it's that much of a question of place or time but more of the mentality of the local people...or the tourists in leisure locations. Actually I think one must categorize partying places to "normal" cities or towns (category 1) and to leisure locations like skiing resorts and certain cities that have grown around travel industry (category 2).

Category 1
In Europe outside Finland I've at least partied in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Barcelona, Larnaka, Reykjavik, Stockholm and Vadso :). In Finland I've partied in all the major cities except Turku and in quite a many smaller places. Of all these places I think French Riviera sucks the most. There have been some great private company parties but the night life otherwise sucks if you are not there during the tourist season. And you can't get a taxi so you have to walk if you want to change to another bar or club. The two best places of these European cities for partying from my experience are London and Barcelona. London has the best clubs and a great number of choices. Barcelona is almost as good with those measures but food is way better there. Helsinki and Stockholm are quite ok as well but the people are a bit uptight (sorry).

In US soil I partied in Seattle, San Francisco and many of the Silicon Valley cities. So I still have a great deal of good partying places to test drive like NY City and Chicago. San Francisco is a great place for partying if you choose the right night of the week. The only problem is that it seems like partying is totally forbidden in this city (as well as the rest of the America) on some weekdays like Wednesdays for example. Everything closes so early and all the places are almost empty.

Many times the best parties are in small roadside bars of small towns. The atmosphere is so warm and you actually do get to know new people. The locals of course are happy to see new faces and everyone pretty much knows each other so that naturally affects the atmosphere. If you are surrounded by strangers you have your guard up but with your own people you are more relaxed and can easily tolerate a couple of strangers.

Category 2
Usually all the leisure locations have great parties as people are more relaxed there and not worrying about the next morning. In Finland the best places in this category are Levi and Ruka (IMHO). I haven't partied in too many places of this category abroad, but one place to mention is Las Vegas. I must say both Ruka and Levi beat Las Vegas 100-0...well maybe not quite, but 2-1 anyway. Las Vegas get the lone point for the great amount of options for partying. Levi and Ruka get their points for the more relaxed atmosphere and the friendlier people. I've heard some of the ski resorts in Alps are also good for partying, but my bet is they won't beat Levi and Ruka.

Almost a category of its' own are the big sea cruisers. I don't know if there are any as crazy cruises as the "love boats" cruising between Finland and Sweden. I've only taken this cruise once and it was a great party. But still I think it doesn't quite get to same level as Levi or Ruka.


Now don't get me wrong. Partying is not that important for me, but I thought it's a funny subject to write about :)