Clubbing Capital: New York City

Vegas and Miami are the top clubbing destinations in the United States, but it can be hard to find a night that doesn’t cater to the tourist crowd. New York City, on the other hand, has always been a mecca for dance music in America, with more parties than you can count, catering to every type of sound imaginable. Here are six of our favorite clubs in the City That Never Sleeps.

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Bar 13

This three-level club in Union Square has a lounge on the first floor, a dance floor upstairs and a rooftop bar, offering a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline. If you come on a Sunday, chow down on some of Kitchen 13’s barbeque.

Bossa Nova Civic Club

This tropical-themed club might seem a little kitschy, but this venue has quickly become a Bushwick hotspot for house and techno music since rave promoter John Barclay opened it in 2012.

Output

Output is Brooklyn’s most famous venue, the place you go with the pure intention of dancing. It harkens back to the days of New York’s legendary Sound Factory (before it became Pacha), offering no VIP tables or bottle service, just a superb sounding Funktion One rig and quality performances by the likes of Seth Troxler, Kaskade, Danny Tenaglia and many more. The rooftop opens in the summer and if you need a break from the headliner, wander over to the attached Panther Room.

A photo posted by Mehanata Bulgarian Bar (@mehanata) on Sep 29, 2015 at 5:16pm PDT

Mehanata

Mehanata is Manhattan’s hidden Bulgarian gem on Ludlow Street. They don’t get many star DJs as this venue is more like a house party than a club, featuring nights dedicated to music from around the world, ranging from Balkan pop to cumbia to bhangra. Be sure to check out the Ice Cage downstairs. The basement ice bar charges $20 to enter and even provides a Soviet-era jacket for warmth.

Good Room

Steve Lewis’s redesign of Club Europa is a shot at Brooklyn’s rising mega club scene. Eschewing the former venue’s reputation as a bottle service club, Good Room focuses on a good sound system and reasonable drink prices. The alternate Bad Room offers a second dance floor stocked with a massive wall of vinyl records.

Adultnapper at Cielo © Vincent Escudero | Flickr

Cielo

Cielo’s only packs a few hundred inside, but this Meatpacking club has been entertaining true dance heads since the 90s, outlasting Twilo, Mother and Limelight with their Funktion One rig and tasteful resume of DJs.