Can't Beat the Heat? Join It.

Once warm weather hits, everyone wants to take happy hour outside. Problem is, few bar "patios" are as relaxing as that word implies, and even though you're sitting outside, you're probably at a table on a sidewalk, just feet from honking cars and rushing pedestrians, tasting noxious bus fumes as well as your white wine. Not a good scene.

The solution is to head for places that combine drink specials with seating far removed from the street.

Grand Cru Wine Store And Vineria Cafe

4401 Wilson Blvd., Arlington (entrance in courtyard behind Vapiano). 703-243-7900.

Grand Cru Wine Store and Vineria Cafe is set in the prettiest courtyard in Ballston, steps from a tall, bubbling fountain.

Flower baskets hang on metal fences, and some tables are shaded by trees in planters. The appeal was immediate for Michael Scott and Brett Basile, who were having drinks with a group of friends recently. "It's an open courtyard right in the middle of Ballston," Scott marveled. "Usually [at outdoor bars in] in Arlington, there are cars driving by you."

"It has a great atmosphere," said Basile, a technology consultant. "And it was in the 80s earlier, and we had a nice little breeze."

Of course, Grand Cru is more than just a pretty face. It has nine house wines (one sauvignon blanc, shiraz, chardonnay, etc., selected from the store's racks) and a small number of rotating "featured glasses" worth checking out. (Last week, there were a few sparklers on the list, including a fizzy shiraz from Australia's Rumball.) There are also flights (sorry, "Wine Tours") that offer tastes of three wines for $12 to $15. If you discover a new favorite, they're all available by the glass. On Thursdays, women get $1 off glasses of wine.

Grand Cru's only downside is that service on the patio can be squirrelly; servers don't come as frequently as you might like, and when it's busy, you might be asked if you want your check before you've finished your wine.

Poste

555 Eighth St. NW (inside Hotel Monaco). 202-783-6060.

No matter how hard certain club promoters try to push the idea, Washington is never going to be Miami. When the folks there take lounging outside, they set up lush, couch-filled VIP areas on the beach, in the shade of palm trees steps from the ocean. When we take the nightlife outside, we prefer to do it in places such as the marble courtyard in a 19th-century post office.

The secluded courtyard at Poste, insulated from Penn Quarter's bustle by the building's fortress-like walls, has been a draw since the Hotel Monaco moved into the Old General Post Office building in 2002. Make your way through the tunnel from Eighth Street and you'll find an outdoor lounge with a selection of long, comfortable sofas, woven all-weather armchairs with soft cushions and circular tables topped with brushed steel.

Electronic dance music, by turns funky and jazzy, plays from hidden speakers, and as the sky darkens, floodlights illuminate the walls.