Nights out

[micdans]

So when heading out for the night, I'm just wondering how much you guys spend on your evening of fun. Including travel, admission to places, drinks, food, that sorta thing. It seems that drinks are frickin expensive and so is admission to clubs and some bars. What would be a conservative budget compared to a crazy night on the town?

Thanky

[bluepea]

Yikes... This is a tough one. A lot to a litte? I live in Chicago now, so when we go out to drink, we usually budget at least $50-100 for drinks alone. If we're going to eat first, add another $30-60 first, depending on where. We usually drive, so don't have that cost, but we've taken a cab on a few occasions, and I like to make sure there's a good $20 for that. Or else, we drive to the el stop and take that (about $8 two people RT). We don't go to clubs or anything and haven't been to the cool places downtown where there are entrance fees. So a good night out (say New Years) around $200 (cab included). A Friday night date, around $100.

When I go home to Wisconsin, $20 will get us rip roaring drunk and doing snow angels in tank tops, plus some late night drunk snacks.

[omisan]

Boy, it really depends where you are! Are we comparing hometowns?

Here's the skinny on San Francisco

Typical cab ride across half the city: $12 (one way)

Cover for a big-name/trendy nightclub: $20
Drinks at a big-name/trendy nightclub: $6-12

Cover for a dive/cool live music venue: $4-10
Drinks at said venue: $2-5

Add stuff up and there are your totals.

I've had insane nights out in Spain for less than $20 total. And tame nights out in London for over $100. Prices vary greatly... so if you list out the places you're intending on hitting, perhaps we can paint a more accurate picture.

[micdans]

Oof that spendy! Maybe we will have to limit our nights out.

Since im not 21 yet (a few months) I'm not too familiar with the whole scene.

But in Europe itll be a differnt situation.
How about cities like Amsterdam, London, Paris, Munich, Interlaken, Rome

[Jen05]

I was about to respond, then realized I have no idea how much I spent on drinks in Europe...probably not a good thing! Hostel bars often have cheaper drinks, and a good happy hour, so you could load up on those before heading out, or get some from a corner store. My friend and I had a plan where we would strike up conversation with drunk British boys on stag nights and were guaranteed a couple of drinks from them! Tacky, maybe but it saved us some money!

[omisan]

Alright, I can cover a few of the cities for ya...

Paris
Transit - day pass for metro/buses (includes night buses): €8

Nightclub covers: 5€ - 20€
Your concern here should be dress code, or worse yet, the fact that bouncers can completely discriminate and not let foreigners in. Make friends with a local at a bar and have them take you to a club. Much easier to get in that way.

Drinks: 3-4€ for a .5L beer, 8-12€ for spirits/mixed drinks. No Red Bull, as taurine is illegal in France.

Your best bet are to go to student bars to drink and "DJ Bars" instead of night clubs to dance.


Amsterdam
Transit - trams are dirt cheap, but the whole city is very walkable anyway

Nightclub covers: 5€ - 15€

Drinks: 2€+ for beers (they tend to be smaller than in the rest of Europe) with better deals at aforementioned hostel bars. 5-7€ for spirits/mixed drinks. Try to speak Dutch to the bartenders at "brown cafes" (aka a typical pub) and they might spot you some free drinks for the effort.


London
Drain your whole bank account, you're gonna need it...

Underground/Bus day pass: £6.20

Nightclub covers: £5-£25

Drinks: £3 for a pint of beer at most places, £4 for spirits, extremely measured to a tiny few drops. Worth the £1 extra for a double at places that have that sort of deal.

There are many student oriented clubs/bars where you can find a much better deal (i.e. £1.50 drinks), but in general, London will give you some pretty poor mileage for your dollar/euro/pound.

[Somnambulation]

In London either stick to the hostel bar or go to places like The Walkabout for cheap drinks. Its not really a club, but it has music (sometimes live) and dancing. There is also the Sports Cafe in Picadilly Circus, which is another semi-club with dancing and cheaper drinks. Its a good place - bring your student ID for 2 for 1 beers on tuesday. But always remeber that you can drink outside in London, so it pays to stop off at the corner shop on your way out for the night and pick up a 6 pack for 5 pounds.

[U2fan]

Well over $100 here in Tokyo and that is not a lot of alcohol.

[omisan]

There is also the Sports Cafe in Picadilly Circus, which is another semi-club with dancing and cheaper drinks. Its a good place - bring your student ID for 2 for 1 beers on tuesday.

Sports Cafe feels just like being at home... not sure if that's good or not, but hey, it is what it is: an American sports bar. But it does go off all club-like on most nights. Just remember that it's a £5 cover, so get as many 2-for-1s as you can to make it worthwhile! And if you want to stay past 2 am, find out what US sports are on live that night and say you're there for the game... that way you can stay 'til 5 or whenever the game is over.

[bluepea]

Oh, now I feel dumb. I thought it was just a random question about our social lives. Hehe.

Anyhow, everyone's pretty much answered.

[SleepIsTheCousinOfDeath]

Yeah i can second U2Fan's tokyo budget...i was there in july and that shit was fucking expensive...here in cincinnati everything is cheap but its also incredibly lame...so yeah...

[RootBrewskies]

well, i'm definately a pregamer. i drink beer mostly when im out cause its cheaper, but normally i pick up drinks before hand. basically i attempt to spend as little as possible when i go out and still have lots of fun. covers suck but i pay them when neccessary. i typically try to get just one or two drinks at a bar since i usually have already had several before arriving.

[micdans]

Omi,
Thanks for that insight, very helpful!