The city itself doesn’t scream “rager” to the average traveler, but let me assure you, Cape Town is an all-day party town. Hearing those words probably brings to mind Nelson Mandela, Table Mountain, maybe penguins or great white sharks, if you’ve done a little homework. So while partying here might be fun in theory, the reality is there are cleaner, safer cities in the world for that. The local police aren’t the most helpful (just ask Ryan Lochte) and the city actually has a completely separate force designed just for tourists. A full 19% of the population lives in hillside favelas, and while the city’s rampant crime isn’t immediately evident in the tourist-friendly south zone, it’s still there, and tourists are an easy mark. And parties notorious for samba-ing well into the next morning.Īnd that’s not even scratching the surface of what goes on during Carnival.īut while the revelry here is on par with anywhere in the world, the city itself is pretty rough. When it comes to oceanside partying in South America, no city does it better than Rio, with clubs, bars, and live music venues lining the shores at Copacabana.

If you watched any coverage of the Olympics at all, your impression of Rio was probably that it was a nonstop beach party with the occasional break for a mugging.

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