2014 has been an eventful year for nightlife in Cairo, with the city's bars & clubs shifting, changing and welcoming new competition. But amongst all the nonsense, hype and misinformed understanding of what makes a good party, bar or event, there are a few who have stood head and shoulders above the rest.

NACELLE

An obvious choice, maybe, but a worthy one nonetheless; the Nacelle hype machine can often go into overdrive thanks partly to a very loyal fan base but it very rarely disappoints.

The first half of the year Nacelle foray into unfamiliar waters with a rare live gig that saw UK group, Crazy P, headline an evening that also saw locals, the Meteors Project, perform their very first gig. This was soon followed up by another commendable edition of Sandbox in Sahel.

Nacelle's Halloween party, 'The Krypt'

This second half of the year saw B-Side return stronger than ever to give meaning to Wednesdays again, while House Sessions has been a pleasant mix between foreign and local DJs and Halloween party, the Krypt, was in no uncertain terms awesome.

THE TAP

Egypt has a tendency to overhype; everything from new venues, to foreigners, to their talentless sons and daughters. When Facebook was amok with news of Maadi’s third new bar of 2014 a few months ago, one couldn’t help but roll their eyes. This was a special case, too; building number 17 on Road 257 is haunted by the ghosts of Tipsy and Syren.

The customary reaction when the the three-litre personal beer tap emerges from behind the bar at the Tap

The Tap, however, have exorcised the demons of failure and have, thus far, made a pretty good go at doing what few have done; open and run an uncomplicated, gimmick-free bar. In the few months that it’s been open, the bar has amassed quite a following for its eclectic rota of entertainment and its solid food – namely the buckets of chicken wings. The Tap has even hosted a few editions of Nacelle’s B-Side – and those guys are hard to please.

CAIRO JAZZ CLUB

What can you say about Cairo Jazz Club that hasn’t been already said? It has its haters (plenty of them) but no one can argue the fact that CJC is the most consistent bar – nay, venue – when it comes to live entertainment; something that saw them receive the only Cairo 360 Editor’s Choice Award for Live Music & Entertainment in the Bar & Lounge category – and those Cairo 360 guys are harder to please than Nacelle.

Another satisfied punter at Cairo Jazz Club.

It’s been typically busy year for the CJC faithful; a longer than expected Dancestock, Movember and Christmas charity events, Beyond Stage gigs in collaboration with the Cairo Jazz Festival, El Fusion and countless impressive bookings have made this another excellent twelve months. Few, if any, bars can host Los Compadres doing Buena Vista Social Club covers one night, the stripped-down techno music of Ahmed Samy another night, then the fist-pumping house of Mohasseb another night after that and it all just work.

STUDENT DJ