Rave new world—why travelers are flocking to unique party spots

It’s Friday evening and I’ve arrived in East London for one of the capital’s hottest new nights out. All around me, partygoers dance with sweat-glazed foreheads, eyes closed in deep concentration as the DJ drops a minimal house track.

So far, so Shoreditch. But this isn’t your typical sticky-floor nightclub. Instead, I’m at The Sanctuary & Soul, a members’ wellness space that hosts regular raves in its sauna. At the centre of a pine-clad, heated space, large enough to hold around 70 people, a DJ in a tropical-print swimsuit mixes tracks as the heat intensifies.

Having worked up a sweat, ravers in trunks and bikinis retreat to the chill-out area, slipping into ice plunge baths as a facilitator guides them through controlled breathing exercises over the heavy bassline. It’s hedonism made healthsome — and it’s part of a growing appetite for parties in unexpected places.

The 1980s and 1990s brought us a wave of anarchic parties in bombed-out spaces in Berlin, illegal raves in rural English fields and underground techno gatherings in abandoned factories in Detroit, but today’s burgeoning movement takes place in functioning venues, often better known for the humdrum routines of daily life.

Take the daytime parties currently brewing across Berlin, including popular morning coffeeshop raves hosted by events company Good Daze. At a recent happening, a cafe bathed in cheerful sunlight transformed into a banging dance floor for a couple of hundred clubbers.

In keeping with falling alcohol consumption — Gallup’s 2025 poll reported that 46% of U.S. adults don’t drink alcohol, and an NHS survey in 2026 suggested that almost a quarter of English adults are now teetotal — the party was fuelled by shots of espresso rather than tequila. Once the rave wrapped up, calm was once again restored as clear-headed freelancers studiously tapped away on their laptops, sipping on pastel-green matcha lattes.  

DJ Celina Negassa, known as Aunty Cece, performed at the event, with a set that mixed gqom, a genre of South African electronic dance music, with some deep house classics. She noticed a subtle shift in the early-bird crowd compared with her usual all-nighters. “The median age was a little higher,” she says. “I usually have a lot of people in their early 20s, but the coffee rave had more people in their late 20s and early 30s.” While she’s quick to note that caffeinated raves are still pretty niche, she’s observed a growing appetite for diurnal parties across the circuit. Of her last five bookings, two have been for daytime raves, she adds.

It’s perhaps not surprising that coffee raves have taken root in Berlin, a place that takes its techno culture so seriously that in 2024 it landed a spot on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Yet scenes like this are increasingly playing out all over the world. And they’re easier to access than ever. Once hush-hush events now spread via printed flyers or word of mouth, with hardcore techno raves in, say, a launderette, only a swipe away — such as regular Toronto events organised by Livid Underground, held in a working launderette complete with a giant swirling disco ball.

Something has been cooking in the U.S., too. Over the past year, several Seafood City locations, part of the Filipino grocery chain, have transformed into after-hours venues via their Late Night Madness events. At the Chicago location, a recent gathering saw Filipino street food served, as the aisles became a thumping dance floor. Coloured lights strobed over a raucous crew of 500 partygoers, throwing shapes against a backdrop of shelves stacked high with canned coconut milk and packets of Oishi prawn crackers. Footage of ravers in the ramen section soon went viral online, making tickets to future pop-up parties — held every few months and announced via social media — more coveted than a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

It’s part of a broader change of tempo, as more people look to party beyond the nightclub space, says Jonny Ensall, founder of Detour Discotheque. He’s orchestrated some of the world’s coolest parties in one-of-a-kind locations, such as a revolving restaurant that requires four cable-cars to reach.

Jonny believes the rising appeal of unexpected dance venues lies in how standard clubs can feel like a buzzkill to many. “It might be that they’re too exclusive or too serious,” he says. “Changing up the venue immediately injects a sense of fun into the whole experience. There’s also an element of ‘Instagrammability’, by having these experiences that others haven’t.”

With a blowout disco planned for 2026 in a 16th-century convent in Italy’s Basilicata region, Jonny points to the sense of escape these offbeat spaces can offer. “What anybody wants from a good party is to lose themselves. To be taken out of the everyday and experience something more magical,” he says.

Now might just the perfect moment for ravers with an insatiable taste for such novelty. Why not let loose in an ancient monastery, or hit the dance floor hard at a sunrise rave in a neighbourhood coffee bar? After a quick cappuccino and a dose of euphoria, you could still make it home in time for lunch.

4 unusual raves to try

1. The Techno Train, Nuremberg, Germany

Launched in 2019 by the people behind Nuremberg’s Haus 33 techno nightclub, the biannual rolling rave is surely Europe’s most debauched train ride. Step on board in the southern German city, as the 12-carriage train chugs leisurely towards the Bavarian beauty spot-city of Würzburg, before looping back, a journey of seven hours in total.

Revellers are kept entertained with three carriages of dance floors, bars and decks, where a rotation of 25 DJs spin hardcore techno tunes through the haze of a fog machine. Each journey on the Techno Train has 700 spaces, with forthcoming events announced via social media, but be warned, tickets sell out faster than an Intercity Express.

2. Necropolis Festival, London, England

The 16th-century Old Church in Stoke Newington provides a seriously atmospheric backdrop for this afternoon-into-evening rave. The event in London’s only remaining Elizabethan church has celebrated its three-year anniversary at the start of 2026 and holds its divine gatherings every few months, with dates announced online.

Fittingly, the music matches the haunting surroundings, with DJs playing dark disco, 1980s goth, EBM and industrial techno, as party-people dance in the pews. The house of worship venue is wheelchair accessible, with an access manager on site to support those with additional needs. Goth attire is the uniform, so break out the kohl eyeliner for a suitably unholy affair.

3. Dom Whiting Bike Raves, worldwide

What started as a lockdown hobby for British DJ and producer Dom Whiting, who modified his pushbike to add DJ decks, speakers and a camera to stream his sets, has since evolved into a global movement on wheels.

Dom’s drum-and-bass-on-a-bike concept has since hosted over 100 high-energy rides, from the streets of Madrid to Adelaide. Impressively, he mixes and hypes up the crowd, all while navigating traffic flow. Hundreds, and even sometimes thousands, of cyclists turn up to follow his rave rides, which have clocked up over 100 million views online.

4. Get Washed 360 Laundromat Rave, Los Angeles, U.S.

Not since model Nick Kamen stripped off in the 1985 Levi’s commercial has a laundrette sparked this much pop-culture intrigue. The latest nightlife craze in Tinseltown is after-hours raves inside working laundrettes, where clubbers throw their hands in the air to dubstep, bass and UK garage, surrounded by shiny rows of coin-operated washers and dryers.

Organised by B-Side, the most recent party featured an all-female DJ line-up and a fire-eater. Scoring an invite is a cloak-and-dagger operation that recalls original warehouse rave parties, involving following the Instagram account and texting a number, with the venue only revealed on the day. The extra legwork is all part of the thrill of this truly underground experience, where vinyl spins in time with the washing.

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