Everyone wants to have a good time. People can find refuge in them. They search and search through various sites looking for recommendations of where to go, what to do, and for how long – toing-and-froing about whether they’d have more fun here or there. And then it’s booked and the excitement builds. They are going. Some friends say, “that sounds so nice. It’s not my kind of thing, but that sounds so nice.” Other friends say, “oh you’re going there? Oh wow. I’m jealous!” There’ll be tips and schedules thrown at them from those who’ve been.
They take suggestions on board, crafting a priority order, a loose outline of where to be when. Before you go your mind is there while your body runs through routines, but, when you get there, your body is steps ahead of your mind, which prepares for what’s to come.
Las Vegas is an example of this process. A place high on so many people’s need-to-go lists but one which always feels very particular, exclusive. A place of universal renown but which seems to have a very specific idiosyncrasy. Somewhere you go even if it’s not your thing. You know what you’re getting into. Often referred to as the Entertainment Capital of the world, Las Vegas appears to be its own level. Is it though? Are there other cities which offer more?
Las Vegas
Let’s first know what we’re comparing everything to. Las Vegas is twenty-four-hours-a-day for seven days of the week for three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of the year. It is intense. The natives are solar-powered and nocturnal, it seems. Nothing has a need to stop.
It’s world famous Strip is the postcard dream in reality: the Bellagio Fountains, the wonders of the world – the Eiffel Tower at Paris, Las Vegas and Luxor’s pyramid and sphinx – and the Venetian Resort. Las Vegas, obviously, is built on casinos. It draws out the high-roller lifestyle. This tends to be where a lot of Vegas’s energy is spent, at blackjack or roulette tables – cultivating this heightened luxury. This is where it gets its reputation.
Many places and products have sought to replicate Las Vegas. An example of this is Casino sites. They take Las Vegas and make it accessible from any place in the world, at any time. The gameplay of online casinos can be taken at a gamer’s own pace but, in general, it can be fast, matching the kind of intensity of Vegas. No only that, there’s the luxury: websites are simple, elegant, focusing on the clean lines and simple colour palette of black, white, and gold; live casinos offer a human dealer and a chatroom with all the excitement that in-person socialising brings to the table. Gamers can trial the luxury with free spins and bonuses, finding the best offers on OLBG, for instance, to see if it’s right for them. Las Vegas’s atmosphere is the ideal, a product.
More recently, though, the city has become more flexible with what it can offer. The luxury of boutiques and spas and restaurants can be attended without having to head to the casino, of course – but Las Vegas has natural beauty. The desert climate helps the solar-powered residents but it’s also great for hiking and sight-seeing. Today – right now – the question and comparison will consist of Las Vegas’s primary export: nightlife.
Miami
Let’s go West to East, from Las Vegas to Miami. Las Vegas has its own rhythm, it’s one of dice rolls, roulette spins, cascading chips, and the rap sound that cards make when you bend-and-pop them. Miami, though, has EDM. Music is essential to Miami. It’s a melting pot of cultures and demographics, meaning there are plenty of different genres and subgenres to dance to, to lose worldly time and find rhythmic time to. The nightlife scene in Miami is smaller than Vegas. Miami relies more on local DJs and one-off performances from high-profile ones, while Las Vegas has local DJs and high-profiles ones – like Calvin Harris and Diplo – in residence. There’s quite a difference here, between the two.
Miami’s casinos aren’t a priority for the area, like they are in Vegas. The city is more of an art-and-culture place. It has an Art Deco District which is a time-warp. It also emphasises its beaches – obviously – so water sports and relaxing tend to take the daytime energy.
Seoul
We move across the Pacific to Seoul, South Korea’s capital. It’s a major city, which means that, like New York, it has an intense and dedicated working and professional culture, in addition to the nightlife. But, as it’s a sprawling metropolis, it’s nightlife is dynamic, diverse.
In the Gangnam district, there is the luxury, the high standard of living. This is the high-life. There are likely to be celebrities and socialites mixing it up.
Hongdae offers a loud, vibrant, and cheaper experience. The underground music scene thrives here.
Itaewon is the middle-class, the more universal place. Notably, though, it embraces the international, with a wide variety of restaurants and rooftop establishments.
Seoul, like Miami, is about the locals, as much as the tourists, which is in contrast to Las Vegas, which has a new population every week.
Bangkok
Bangkok is a place you’ll have heard about. Many people head to the globe’s East and pass through or stay in Bangkok. If you’re heading that way, you tend to go here. It’s one of the more lively cities in South-East Asia, that’s for sure.
Bangkok is full of great nightlife venues. However, in places like Khao San Road, there is as likely to be a chaotic and vibrant atmosphere in the street. It is anything-goes.
As is common across all of Bangkok, rooftops are the place to be. This is where prime real estate is. The views are incredible and more than match the luxury.
Bangkok’s intensity can match Las Vegas’s.
Ibiza
Final stop: Ibiza. The little Spanish Island is a nightlife and entertainment specialist. Like Miami, it’s difficult to separate Ibiza from its music. DJs have extended residences here too, like Las Vegas – Idris Elba completing a stint in recent years. Ibiza covers the high-life and the cheaper one too. Whereas Vegas seems to convince people that the high-life is The Life, other cities on this list, like Ibiza, can accommodate any budget, and just tries to provide the environment for a good time. Ibiza isn’t much of a gambling spot. You come here for the music and beaches.
Las Vegas is undisputedly one of the premier places to go. It’s transformative. You can come with nothing (but money) and leave with nothing (but more or less money). Other places will pitch a similar experience, a similar vibe. However, despite that, despite their construction of their own stories and environments, Las Vegas constructed its own truth first, and continues to do it so it’s an absolute truth
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