Here’s How the Cost of a Night Out Compares in Cities Around the World

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Shutterstock

Letting loose during a big night out on in the city is an antidote to many nine-to-fivers' workweek woes around the world. But it can also get pretty pricey, pretty fast -- especially if you're throwing caution to the wind by grabbing a meal at a restaurant and hitting a few bars or clubs into the wee hours. Of course, your tab for the night is also heavily dependent on where you are, and the average prices for booze, food, and cover fees there. 

Now, thanks to some handy new research, we know just how much the average cost of going out on a Saturday night compares in big cities around the world

Mexico City, bless you and your budget-friendly vibes.

The crack team of researchers at UBS recently took a comprehensive look at the cost of living around the world, and went far beyond the obvious housing, food, healthcare, and transportation stats to investigate just how much it costs people in different global cities to unwind after a long week. Specifically, they took into account the average price of a "party night" by adding up the cost of the typical activities involved in such: cab fare, club entry, drinks, and a Big Mac, the presumed late-night snack choice of over-served patrons literally everywhere. 

Topping the list as the most expensive city is Zurich, where an average Saturday night out will set you back the equivalent of $93.77. Meanwhile, those same late-night exploits are cheapest in Mexico City, where you'd spend just $20.35. Here's how the 13 cities they looked at ranked, from least to most expensive. 

13. Mexico City -- $20.35
12. Moscow -- $26.56
11. Rio de Janeiro -- $44.07
10. Prague -- $46.29
9. Tokyo -- $58.04
8. Paris -- $60.83
7. Hong Kong -- $62.33
6. Sydney -- $62.78
5. Barcelona -- $65.01
4. New York -- $78.44
3. Stockholm -- $86.97
2. Miami -- $87.18
1. Zurich -- $93.77

Thanks to the data visualization pros at Statista who made the above chart, it's also easy to see just how the costs per activity UBS looked at break down. You'll notice club entry costs vary from city to city almost as much as taxi fares, but that drinks tend to be the costliest part of the whole night pretty much everywhere. It's also worth noting that they only took into account the cost of two cocktails to determine the ranking.

Obviously, not everyone's idea of unwinding involves raging or clubbing all night. So, to give you an idea of how expensive it is to, say, hit up a nice restaurant and see a movie, UBS also crunched the numbers for that. They looked at what a "date night" would cost in the same cities as above, taking into the average price for dinner for two, drinks, and two movie tickets. In that ranking Tokyo topped the list, with a cost of $200.17, while Mexico City is cheapest once again (date night for two is just $84.82 there).

Of course, the cost of all this fun is relative -- generally speaking -- to the overall cost of living in the given city, so even though it may seem super cheap in Mexico City or Moscow, it's likely still fairly expensive for locals to do so. Still, seeing just how much cheaper it is to have a good time out in a city that's not the one you live in sure makes settling on your next budget vacation destination a whole lot easier.

h/tStatista

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Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.