10 Best Places to Get Drunk in Public
When pounding shots of Jack alone in your room isn’t cutting it anymore (we really hope it hasn’t come to that), OTP found you some great places to get drunk in public. There’s nothing like travel for the chance to let your hair down and get your drink on. While the globe is generously sprinkled with a variety of festivals encouraging copious public alcohol intake, know that our international counterparts prefer to focus on the journey (drinking), not the destination (drunk mess). Instead of hurling shots into the gutter, experience public drinking without being a mass nuisance. OTP’s Top 10 options for public inebriation show you where to soak up your surroundings as you sip.
10. Qingdao International Beer Festival Qingdao, China
The sleeper celebration on our list, the Qingdao Festival seems like the typical travel conspiracy: Get the tourists drunk so they buy our crap. This means you can expect overwhelming hospitality – in the form of free beer – from Chinese locals during Asia’s largest beer festival, held over two weeks in mid-August. Everpresent entertainment is just what you’d want to try with Qingdao’s famed Tiger beer blurring the edges. Beautiful women dance on tabletops, drinking competitions offer cash prizes – and need we mention karaoke?
9. The Great American Beer Festival Denver, Colorado
If your palate is more provincial (read: American), Denver presents The Great American Beer Festival, established in 1982. Initially featuring 22 breweries competing for the title of ‘America’s Greatest Beer’, 2010’s contest had nearly 500 breweries showcasing 2100 brews of amber liquid sunshine. Your taste buds differ from the next dude; so screw the judges and head on your own sampling spree until you find nirvana. For just $55 per day, the taps promise to keep flowing and ensure your throat is never dry.
8. Tequila Trail Jalisco, Mexico
Dadadadadadada…Tequila! Respect, please, for the beverage that requires no introduction – and certainly no chaser. Made from the blue agave plant, this sparkly spirit is native to the town Tequila, in Jalisco, Mexico. Take a trip down the Tequila trail, home to factories producing the land’s signature beverage. The budget-friendly Tequila Express, bringing you to the doorsteps of Jalisco’s five main tequila-producing communities, includes a guided tour of local cultural and archeological sites, plus plenty of free tastings. As the day goes on, watch your train ride increase in entertainment value relative to tequila consumption!
7. Mardi Gras New Orleans, Louisiana
If you can’t make it to Brazil for Carnaval, grab your glitter and head to New Orleans for Mardi Gras that same week. In case New Orleans doesn’t already heave with musical energy and sexual excess, Mardi Gras literally blows up “Fat Tuesday”. Purple, green and gold floats parade down the narrow streets throwing trinkets while surrounded by masqueraded beauties. Coveted Mardi Gras beads are thrown out as prizes – often as a result of boob-flasher-age. Be warned; be excited.
6. Times Square New York, New York
No matter how often we drink in NYC, the thrill of Times Square has yet to escape our liquored blood. Weekday or holiday, the lights please the sober and completely amaze the drunk. New York’s best feature is easy transportation, taking you from the famed New Year’s Eve ball-drop to your next destination via subway in a few stumble-y shoves. This melting pot shines with sheer variety, presenting endless entertainment opportunities to the imbibing traveler.
5. Queen’s Day Amsterdam, Holland
Queen’s Day is for drinking in the madness that engulfs the city yearly on April 30. Nearly one million people participate, starting when Amsterdam’s nightlife kicks off Queen’s Night on the 29th and continuing for 24 hours thereafter. While the Night is filled with young adventurous thrill-seekers, the busier Queen’s Day is chaotic, with live music on every corner, in every alley – even on boats. The atmosphere pulses in unison with your hangover, permeating the Heineken haze.
4. Wembley Stadium London, England
- Few events have a livelier atmosphere than a soccer (er, football) game at Wembley Stadium, near London. Dive into the mass of 90,000 screaming fans, and (with the help of a few beers) inhale the elixir of English life. The original stadium was considered the premier sports venue for decades before its demolition, but 2007’s Version 2.0 is doing a great job filling its soccer spikes. Down your pints, whip off your shirts and chant rhymes hoarsely like a true footie fanatic.
3. St. Patrick’s DayDublin, Ireland
Photo by: Anthony Cronin
The Irish take pride in their highly developed drinking skills and St Paddy’s (March 17th) is their time to shine. Dublin’s world-renowned parade is a display of pride that fuels the unintelligible drinking songs of loud green Irishmen worldwide. Leprechauns crawl the streets to live music and the Guinness stream never ends as the partying stretches for days. OTP Tip: Wear green. Unless you really like physical abuse from inebriated Dubliners.
2. Carnaval Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio is the queen of Carnaval celebrations, though this Catholic prelude to Easter is celebrated in many regions of Brazil. The four-day celebration has thousands of Brazilians swarming the streets in elaborate costumes, indulging in all pleasures cachaca and cooch before the arrival of Lent (period of abstinence). With caipirinha in one hand and a sexy Brazilian groping the other, let the banging booze fest begin!
1. Oktoberfest Munich, Germany
The infamous Oktoberfest turns 200 this year and as the world’s largest public fair, tops our list. What better place to knock back a few than this Bavarian festival, accommodating nearly 5 million people over two weeks bridging September and October. The streets of Munich flood with tourists stumbling from the fairground’s enormous drinking tents, dressed in sexy lederhosen and dirnds, grasping gallon-sized mugs of foaming German beer. Das very good.
Drinking en masse is thrilling and joyous – and great for bonding with a stranger or two. Just slow your chug a bit, we promise you will want to remember some of this in the morning.
A mind and body traveller who thrives on recollection and anticipation, all the while decorating the crossroads.
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I think people are familiar enough with Carnaval in Brazil that putting New Orleans first won’t make a difference (I know there is an internal reference in the paragraph). The alternative (i.e. putting Carnaval first) would sacrifice the actual order of the list as Carnaval is way more exciting than Mardi Gras. So this order works. Chris, thanks for your work on this. I understand you’re getting used to our system, everyone is slowly settling into it I think. This article should be published next week.
haha das very good!
Hard to believe that I’ve been to three of these….clearly, a youth mispent
Fun list.
Great article, you have to be in the right place in the right time.
Good luck but don’t overdo it.
And who would of ever thought this would make a great article title! But as it turns out a very interesting post. I am coming to know this blog as having some of the best travel pictures anywhere. If this article does not make one thirsty I don’t know what will!
Perfect list for the weekend! Woohoo!
Good article for the liver
During my first visit to Amsterdam, I happened to show up on Queen’s Day by complete accident. Straight off the train I assumed that the city was like that everyday and nothing special was going on. I don’t recall if I did much drinking or not, now that I think about it, I don’t recall much about it at all.
@Lawrence – im guessing that means you did do so drinking then ? haha!
Great list – can confirm wembley is a good one..
Duncan