Suddenly spending a week in Cancun or your dad’s basement seems juvenile.
Ah, Spring Break: Those booze-fueled glory days you spent partying in Cancun, Panama City, and Lake Powell feel like they were just yesterday. Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to convince yourself (and those around you) that someone older than 22 should still be hitting the beaches with college kids. Luckily, there are plenty of places for the mature, modern man to take a spring break of his own without feeling like a 7th-year senior. We’ve picked our favorite party spots that offer more than just shooter girls, stomach aches and wet t-shirt contests.
PALM SPRINGS
Not so long ago, Palm Springs was a sleepy desert town that catered to geriatrics. Then a little festival called Coachella was born and the scene hasn’t been the same since. The cool kids flocking in from L.A. on the weekends have supported the rise of an awesome bar scene in the town that caters to everyone from dirty hipster to rock gods. Finally there’s a place that will respect your ironic 20 “Matchbox Twenty” back tattoos!
Hotels We Love: Just like at its sister properties, the parties at The Ace Hotel and Swim Club are the stuff of legends. The two pools host music events each weekend (usually with well-known DJs), and rooms are decked out with sweet amenities like turntables and iPod docks.
MONTREAL
As the temperatures begin to rise in Montreal, packed bars and clubs, festivals, and parties galore return to town. Do your best to avoid the douchey bachelor party tourist traps downtown and explore the nightlife in the Plateau. You’ll be practicing your French with the locals in time. “La anal” is a good ice breaker.
Hotels We Love: Spring for a massive loft with your buddies at The Loft Hotel: Their living rooms are perfect for pre-gaming before hitting up the bars (or hosting an after party) in the surrounding Latin Quarter.
AMSTERDAM
Yeah, we know what you’re thinking: A Harold and Kumar style vacation doesn’t exactly scream “mature.” But Amsterdam is a multifaceted city, where your older, more refined side can take in the sights and architecture, museums, and fun nightlife. And if your younger alter-ego wants to hit up an herb-supplied coffee shop at some point, that’s fine too. But we’re telling your pastor, your parents, the FBI, the CIA, Batman, and the local police here in America. USA!
Hotels We Love:The Canal House, while on the pricier side, has a sliding scale of swanky rooms with some of the sexiest bathrooms in Europe. It’s also close to bars and nightlife, and its lobby bar is sure to impress any locals you decide to bring back for a nightcap.
WHISTLER, B.C.
The modern man knows that there’s something awesome about opting for a last chance run on the slopes during a spring break. Whistler packs a double whammy as home to what is arguably the most diverse skiing terrain in North America as well as serious nightlife and quality eats. The best part? Everything is accessible by foot, so you’ll never need to D.D. or spring for a cab.
Hotels We Love: While it has some slight management issues in the offseason, The Adara Hotel is in a prime location for anyone looking to hit the mountains as hard as they hit the bars. It has a more updated look and more modern amenities than most other hotels in Whistler, too, with iPod docks, flat-screen TCs and Playstation 3s in rooms.
PUERTO RICO
True, Puerto Rico’s drinking age is 18 and colleges occasionally send groups of spring breakers to all-inclusive resorts on the island. But San Juan is a city unlike any other in the Caribbean: the beaches are nice, the nightlife is bustling and upscale, and the restaurants are actually worth a damn. It’s a good compromise between setting your own pace and still getting the white sand beaches your vitamin D deprived body has been craving.
Hotels We Love: The Beach House doesn’t offer the swankiest digs in San Juan, but it offers the widest range of what you’d want on vacation with a white sand beach, live DJ parties on weekends, the atypical-for-Puerto-Rico Follie Bar on site, and clean, hip rooms. When you start craving a change of scenery, the bars and nightclubs of Old San Juan are only a short cab ride away.