Cities that come alive at night

A sprawling capital of neon districts, quiet shrines and endless street life.

After dark, Shinjuku's Kabukicho district blazes with neon signage stacked several stories high, while a five-minute walk away, Omoide Yokocho — Memory Lane, nicknamed Piss Alley after its postwar origins — packs dozens of tiny yakitori stalls into alleys barely wide enough for two people to pass. Golden Gai, a warren of roughly 200 closet-sized bars in Kabukicho's shadow, each seats only a handful of regulars and often charges a small seat fee just to walk in the door.

The country's largest, fastest city, its streets filling with beer halls and food stalls once the heat of the day breaks.

Bui Vien, a few blocks from Ben Thanh Market, turns into a pedestrian strip of plastic stools, cheap beer towers and street vendors once the sun goes down, drawing backpackers and locals alike until well past midnight. The streets around Ben Thanh Market itself fill with a separate night market of food stalls after the main building closes each evening, and rooftop bars along Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi look out over the glass towers of District 1.

Vietnam's capital, its Old Quarter corner streets crowded with low plastic stools and fresh beer every evening.

Ta Hien street, at the heart of the Old Quarter, is known locally as 'Bia Hoi Corner' — low plastic stools spill across the intersection every evening as vendors pour fresh, cheap draft beer straight from the keg. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, a separate street market takes over Hang Dao, Hang Ngang and Dong Xuan streets, closing them to traffic for stalls selling clothes, snacks and street food until around 11pm.

A frenetic capital of glittering temples, canals, street food and soaring skyline.

Yaowarat Road, the spine of Bangkok's Chinatown, is at its best after dark, when neon signage in Thai and Chinese script lights up rows of street stalls grilling seafood and simmering noodle soups late into the night. Khao San Road, the backpacker strip a few kilometers northwest, fills with bars, cheap cocktail buckets and street vendors until sunrise, while dinner cruises on the Chao Phraya River pass the floodlit spires of Wat Arun after dark.

Istanbul spans the Bosphorus strait that divides Europe from Asia, the only major city set across two continents. Once capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, it layers monumental mosques, palaces, churches and covered markets across its hills.

Istiklal Street, the pedestrian spine of the Beyoglu district, fills with crowds every night, and its side alley Nevizade Sokak is lined end to end with meyhane taverns serving raki and mezze at packed outdoor tables. Rooftop bars along the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus stay busy well past midnight, with the floodlit domes of the historic peninsula visible across the water.