Bachelorette trips are for spending meaningful — and often debaucherous — time with your friends before tying the knot.
Which cities are best for celebrating the bride-to-be ahead of the big day?
To mark National Weddings Month, Lawn Love ranked 2023’s Best Bachelorette Party Destinations.
We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on 21 key metrics, such as attractions, restaurants, nightlife options, and spas. We considered safety, cost, and transportation options, too. Plan an unforgettable prenuptial party alongside your besties in one of our top cities below.
In addition to our ranking, we also surveyed over 560 U.S. adults about their bachelor(ette) party experience — with fun stats about trip attendance, budget, destination, and, of course, naughty activities. Check out the survey results here.
In this article
City rankings
See how each city fared in our ranking:
The upshot
Beachy bachelorette
Have a magical bachelorette trip to our top city, Miami.
Magic City is ideal for a lively and glamorous getaway, with plenty of nightlife options, bars, and liquor stores per square mile (proximity matters if you plan to barhop). Good thing it’s also safe and easy to get around the city by foot or car.
If drinking and dancing aren’t on your agenda, Miami is also full of art to admire, beauty clinics and spas to relax and reset, and the most restaurants per square mile.
Nearby, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (No. 13), stands as its own luxurious destination. The “Venice of America” follows just behind Miami in nightlife options (No. 4) and also boasts great choices for brunch, bars, and restaurants.
What’s cookin’ out West?
If the bride is a foodie or wine connoisseur, bring the party to a West Coast city like San Francisco (No. 3), Portland, Oregon (No. 7), or Seattle (No. 9).
San Francisco comes out on top for Eating and Drinking, with the most bars and liquor stores per square mile. SF impresses with the second-highest number of restaurants per square mile and has great access to beer, too. The Golden City is known for its tasty treats, from pastries to sandwiches to chocolate and beyond.
Coffee isn’t the only delicious drink you’ll find in Seattle. Emerald City follows SF with the second-highest number of bars per square mile and places third in number of wineries. Keep it weird (and wild) in Portland, which also boasts plenty of bars and the second-highest number of wineries.
All three cities are great for brunch, too.
Hot spots
Some cities like New Orleans (No. 26) and Nashville, Tennessee (No. 39), famously host many raucous bachelorette parties. New Orleans offers plenty of gay bars and strip clubs, and is the second-best city for brunch. Sing your heart out in one of Nashville’s many karaoke bars, or rent out a bike bar to pedal down the Honky Tonk Highway.
Other trendy cities like Savannah, Georgia (No. 41), and Scottsdale, Arizona (No. 48), are safe spots that are full of glamour, bars, karaoke, and brunch spots.
Why didn’t such popular bachelorette destinations land at the very top of our ranking? Smaller cities tend to offer fewer options than big metros.
Additionally, with a low walk score, it can be hard to stumble back to your hotel after a late night in Nashville or Scottsdale. NOLA and Nashville also dropped in the ranks due to low safety.
Quaint escapes
It’s hard to have a bad bachelorette bash no matter where you go, even in some of our low-ranking cities. For instance, Charleston, South Carolina (No. 125), lacks options compared with larger cities but is still a favored getaway.
Visiting places like Waco, Texas (No. 193), Huntsville, Alabama (No. 194), and Thornton, Colorado (No. 197), might not lead to wild nights. However, some brides-to-be may prefer a laid-back celebration amid stressful wedding planning.
Waco might be a fixer-upper city, but this growing Texas town provides a little luxury in places like Magnolia Market and Spice Village. Huntsville also has several wineries, the Huntsville Botanical Garden, and museums. Have fun shopping in Thornton’s Denver Premium Outlets or go on an outdoor adventure.
Behind the ranking
For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, we gathered publicly available data on the factors listed in the table below.
We then grouped those factors into six categories: Having Fun, Eating and Drinking, Resting and Relaxing, Getting Around, Staying Safe, and Spending.
Next, we calculated weighted scores for each city in each category.
Finally, we averaged the scores for each city across all categories.
The city that earned the highest average score was ranked “Best” (No. 1), while the city with the lowest was ranked “Worst” (No. 200). (Note: The “Worst” among individual factors may not be 200 due to ties among cities.)
Sources
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, AreaVibes, Barbike.com, Booking.com, Getaround, LawnStarter, MallsandStores.info, Neighborhood Scout, Trip Advisor, Turo, Yelp, Walk Score, and Zipcar
Local tips
Check out the slideshow below for some fun ideas in some of our top-ranking (or iconic) bachelorette party destinations.
Photo Credit: Maksim Goncharenok
Photo Credit: WeTravel | Flickr | CC BY 2.0
Photo Credit: G. Lamar | Flickr | CC BY 2.0
Photo Credit: iStock
Photo Credit: Austin Kirk | Flickr | CC BY 2.0
Prefer to stay local and throw a big bash in your backyard? Hire a local Lawn Love pro to make sure your lawn looks great before you put the fun in function.
Main Photo Credit: Shutterstock
