Nightclubs abound in Orlando, Florida. (Photo: Medioimages/Photodisc/Digital Vision/Getty Images )
Related Articles
While Orlando is home to several family oriented theme parks, it also provides a variety of nighttime entertainment venues for those 18 and older, in either the Universal City Walk or the downtown area. Dance to live music or DJ mixes, show off your song styling at karaoke clubs, enjoy both headliners and new talent at the comedy clubs, or move to the rhythms of salsa and rhumba at one of the city's Latin music nightspots.
Dance Clubs
Dance to live music by a varied and continually changing lineup of up-and-coming rock bands at The Beacham (thebeacham.com), Back Booth (backbooth.com) or Roxy Orlando (roxyorlando.com). For country-and-western dancing, kick up your heels at Cowboys (cowboysorlando) and for dancing to Top 40 music, Antigua (no website; 46 W. Church St., Orlando; 407-649-4270) is popular with students from nearby Rollins College. All of these clubs are in the downtown Orlando area.
Karaoke Clubs
Take to the stage, choose country or rock, and perform to live band music, complete with backup singers, at Universal City Walk's Rising Star Karaoke Club (universalorlando.com). Or, try your talent at rock band karaoke, simulating the sounds of lead guitar, bass guitar or drums with instrument controllers, in the downtown area at Pulse (no website; 1912 S. Orange Ave., Orlando; 407-649-3888) or One Eyed Jacks (no website; 15 S. Orange Ave., Orlando; 407-849-3888.)
Comedy Clubs
Both newcomers and well-known performers are showcased at Bonkerz Comedy Club (bonkerzcomedy.com) with locations downtown and in East Orlando, and open mic nights in both locations. If it's improv you're after, try the Improve Comedy Club (theimprovorlando.com) at Pointe Orlando, or SAK comedy Lab (sak.com) in downtown. Jazz City, a venue at Universal's City Walk (universalorlando.com), becomes a comedy club, with acts from Bonkerz, on Thursday through Saturday nights.
Latin Music Clubs
Florida is a hot spot for Latin music, and in Orlando, several varieties of this genre attract aficionados. Listen and dance to merengue and Colombian salsa at the Club Copa (no website; 5454 International Drive, Orlando; 407-351-4866) and to merengue, bachata and salsa at Coco Bongo's (no website; 11370 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando; 407-859-7225). The Latin Quarter at Universal City Walk (universalorlando.com) features reggaeton, salsa and merengue on Thursday through Saturday nights. Roxy Orlando (roxyorlando.com) has a rhumba night on Wednesdays, with salsa, merengue and bachata.