CABARET · BURLESQUE · VARIETY
Dim the lights. Raise the curtain.
The Moulin Rouge in Paris, the ladyboy revues of Bangkok, burlesque on the Las Vegas Strip, Weimar kabarett in Berlin. Real reviews of the cabaret and variety shows worth a seat, in the cities that do them best.
Worth the trip for the show alone
Three cities that wrote the rules.
Some places you visit for the museums. Paris, Bangkok and Berlin you visit for the curtain: the grand revue, the ladyboy cabaret, the late satirical show. Between them they invented what cabaret means, and they still set the bar.
France
Paris
This is where the word was made. The Moulin Rouge has filled its red windmill nightly since 1889; the Lido, the Crazy Horse and the Paradis Latin each stake their own claim to the most beautiful show in the world. A night here is champagne, a thousand sequins and a chorus line drilled to the half-second. No city does the grand revue like Paris.
- 1 Paris: Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with Champagne
- 2 Paris: Dinner Show at the Moulin Rouge
- 3 Paris: Crazy Horse Cabaret Show
Thailand
Bangkok
Thailand turned the ladyboy cabaret into a national spectacle, and Bangkok is its capital. Calypso and the big revue houses stage lip-sync, mime and costume changes at a pace that leaves first-timers laughing and gasping at once. It is camp, it is dazzling, and it is one of the warmest nights out in the city.
- 1 Bangkok: Calypso Cabaret Show with Thai Set Dinner
- 2 Bangkok: Calypso Cabaret Show with Optional Dinner
- 3 Bangkok: Calypso Cabaret & Dinner Cruise with Hotel Transfer
Germany
Berlin
Berlin invented modern cabaret in the smoke of the Weimar years, and it never let the form settle. Tonight that means the musical "Cabaret" staged in a circus tent, a Cirque du Burlesque revue, and a new generation of burlesque nights in back rooms across the city. Sharp, satirical and gloriously unbothered by the rules.
- 1 Berlin: Cabaret – The Berlin Musical at Tipi am Kanzleramt
- 2 Cirque du Burlesque Berlin show ticket
- 3 Berlin: Showgirls of Burlesque Show
If you only see one
The one show every first-timer should book.
Out of every show on the site, this is the one that sends audiences out into the night telling everyone they know to get a seat.
The crowd-pleasers
The Most Popular Shows Right Now
The Moulin Rouge in Paris, Calypso in Bangkok, the burlesque rooms of Las Vegas, the Berlin revues. The seats audiences are happiest they booked.
Start with a city
The best cabaret shows, city by city.
Paris for the grand revue, Bangkok for the ladyboy cabaret, Berlin for the late satirical show. Pick the city you are headed to and we will show you which seats are worth booking there.
Where to see a show
Three kinds of night under the lights.
Start with the kind of show you are in the mood for. Each of these is a tradition the site covers deeply, and a very different evening waiting at the end of it.
Paris
The red windmill has not gone dark since 1889.
A Paris cabaret night is the original: a table, a bottle of champagne, and a chorus line in feathers and rhinestones moving as one. The Moulin Rouge, the Lido, the Crazy Horse and the Paradis Latin each promise the most beautiful show in the world, and most nights they deliver. Pick your room and book the good seats early.
See the best Paris cabaret shows →Bangkok
The ladyboy cabaret, done at full volume.
Bangkok turned the ladyboy revue into a spectacle the whole family books. Calypso and its rivals run wall-to-wall lip-sync, mime and costume changes, Broadway numbers one minute and broad comedy the next, all sequins and grins. Shows are short, air-conditioned and reliably a riot, and the cast lines up for photos in the lobby afterward.
See the best Bangkok cabaret shows →Las Vegas
Where the showgirl never really left.
Vegas built its name on the revue, and the feathers-and-rhinestones spirit still runs through the Strip. Today that means cheeky burlesque like Fantasy at the Luxor, topless and tease revues, and the late, glittering shows that turn a casino night into an event. Loud, knowing and unmistakably Las Vegas.
See the best Las Vegas cabaret shows →Berlin after dark
The city that gave cabaret its edge.
Berlin’s cabaret was born sharp and stayed that way. Tonight the bill runs from the musical "Cabaret" staged inside the Tipi circus tent to a Cirque du Burlesque revue and a wave of late burlesque nights in back rooms across the city. Satirical, glamorous and gleefully unafraid to push.
- 1 Berlin: Cabaret – The Berlin Musical at Tipi am Kanzleramt
- 2 Cirque du Burlesque Berlin show ticket
- 3 Berlin: Showgirls of Burlesque Show
What kind of night
What kind of show are you in the mood for?
A champagne-and-feathers revue in Paris. A sequinned ladyboy cabaret in Bangkok. A late, satirical burlesque night in Berlin. Pick the night that sounds like yours and we will point you to the city that does it best.
The grand revue
Paris, champagne and feathers.A seat at the Moulin Rouge or the Lido, a glass of champagne, and two hours of high-kicking precision under the lights. The polished, dress-up-for-it end of cabaret, and the version most people picture first.
The ladyboy cabaret
Bangkok, sequins and lip-sync.Thailand made the ladyboy cabaret its own art form: Calypso and its cousins stage a fast, funny, gloriously over-the-top revue of mime, costume and Vegas-scale numbers. Loud, warm and a guaranteed good night.
The late, wild show
Berlin, anything goes.The city that invented modern cabaret still does the dark, satirical, anything-goes version best. Weimar-era kabarett and a new wave of burlesque, in tents and back rooms where the fourth wall never stood a chance.
Pattaya
Alcazar built a palace for the cabaret.
Pattaya turned the ladyboy revue into an industry. Alcazar and its rivals play purpose-built theatres seating hundreds, with a cast of dozens, full orchestral playback and a costume budget you can see from the back row. The numbers run from Thai classical to Bollywood to Vegas showstopper, and the pace never lets up. It is the biggest, glossiest version of the Thai cabaret, and the easiest night out to say yes to.
See all 3 Pattaya cabaret shows →By city
Pick the city you are headed to.
Paris for the grand revue. Bangkok for the ladyboy cabaret. Berlin for the late satirical show. Las Vegas for the burlesque. Phuket for Simon Cabaret. Vienna for old-world variety.
More cities
More stages worth a night out.
Pattaya for Alcazar, Patong for the Phuket revues, Chiang Mai for Siam Dragon, New York for Moulin Rouge on Broadway. The rest of the map, ready when you are.
Three cities, three kinds of night
Pick a city, plan the night around the show.
A burlesque night in Las Vegas, a ladyboy spectacular in Phuket, an old-world revue in Vienna. Three cities, three very different ways to spend an evening under the lights.
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