2018 World's 50 Best Bars: Complete Rankings and Results

Ryan 'Mr. Lyan' Chetiyawardana's revolutionary Dandelyan redefined London luxury through botanical cocktail innovation and Tom Dixon's striking design. This World's Best Bar winner at Mondrian London transformed hotel bar conventions with approachable sophistication, Thames views, groundbreaking mixology before evolving into Lyaness.

Few bars in London carry a ranking history as sustained as American Bar at the Savoy. From World's 50 Best number one in 2017 to consistent top-twenty placement across more than a decade, its position in the global cocktail conversation is grounded in verifiable record rather than reputation alone. The Strand address puts it at the centre of London's most storied hospitality corridor.

Manhattan at Conrad Singapore Orchard holds one of the most decorated track records in Asian cocktail history, ranking as high as #1 in Asia's 50 Best Bars and #3 globally. Named the Tatler Best Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 Best Service winner, the bar frames Golden Age American cocktail culture through a Singaporean lens. It sits at the upper tier of Orchard Road hotel bars.

The Connaught Bar has appeared in the World's 50 Best Bars rankings every year since 2010, reaching number one twice. Its David Collins-designed interior and technically precise cocktail programme, anchored by a signature tableside Dry Martini, set the standard by which other hotel bars in London and beyond are measured. Open Tuesday through Sunday in the heart of Mayfair.

Bar Termini on Old Compton Street operates at the point where Italian bar culture and London's cocktail scene meet. Ranked as high as #6 in the World's 50 Best Bars, it trades in precision espresso and aperitivo-format drinks across a compact Soho address. Opening hours stretch from morning coffee to late-night cocktails, making it one of the few London bars that earns its space across the full day.

The Clumsies has placed in the World's 50 Best Bars every year since 2015, reaching as high as third globally in 2020. Operating from a Praxitelous Street townhouse in central Athens, it applies Greek ingredients and fermentation techniques to high-volume bar service without sacrificing precision., it functions as the clearest reference point for serious cocktail drinking in the Greek capital.

Dante NYC is a West Village aperitivo address with serious bar-world credentials: The World's Best Bar in 2019 and a long run across World's 50 Best Bars and North America's Best Bars lists. Its pull is not secrecy or spectacle, but the modern New York version of an Italian café-bar, built around negronis, garibaldis, vermouths, spritzes, classic cocktails and all-day food.

The Old Man on Aberdeen Street has held a place inside the World's 50 Best Bars top ten and led Asia's 50 Best Bars rankings, making it one of the most decorated cocktail addresses in Hong Kong. The bar draws a steady crowd to Soho's lower slope with a literary-themed program and a commitment to technical precision over theatrical flourish. Booking ahead is advisable.

Licorería Limantour helped define Mexico City’s modern cocktail culture from its Roma Norte address, with recognition across World’s 50 Best Bars, North America’s 50 Best Bars, Top 500 Bars, Pearl Recommended Bar in 2025. Expect a high-volume room with serious technical control, Mexican-rooted drinks, a playful approach to back-bar nostalgia.

Bar High Five has appeared on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2011, reaching as high as #3 globally in 2013. Located in a basement in Ginza, it represents the classical Tokyo bar tradition, precise technique, minimal theatre, drinks built around the guest rather than the menu. reflects consistent execution over more than a decade.

Native sits in Singapore’s serious cocktail tier, with repeat appearances on World’s 50 Best Bars, Asia’s 50 Best Bars, Top 500 Bars. Its value is not spectacle; it is a drink programme that helped make regional ingredients, technical prep, local reference points part of the city’s premium bar conversation.

Florería Atlantico is Buenos Aires drinking culture at its internationally recognised end: a cocktail bar whose programme draws on migration, Indigenous influence, Argentina’s Atlantic-facing history. Its long run on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, including #46 in 2024 and #90 in 2025, makes it a reference point for visitors comparing the city’s serious cocktail rooms.

Attaboy NYC is a New York City cocktail bar with no printed menu, a bespoke drinking format, a long awards trail that runs through World's 50 Best Bars and Top 500 Bars. Its lineage from the former Milk & Honey space gives it rare historical weight, while the 2025 expansion changed access without abandoning the bar's tightly controlled style.

The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog sits in New York City's Irish-bar lineage with a more serious cocktail pedigree than the category usually suggests. Its two-floor format, Irish produce and hospitality brief, long run on World's 50 Best Bars lists make it a useful reference point for how tavern energy and awards-level drinks can share the same room.

Oriole has held a place among London's most recognised cocktail bars since its mid-2010s opening in Covent Garden, reaching No.17 on the World's 50 Best Bars list in both 2017 and 2018. Now ranked No.92 in the Top 500 Bars for 2025, the bar operates at 7 to 9 Slingsby Place, WC2E.

Behind an unassuming wooden door on Storgata, Himkok operates across several floors and formats: a draft cocktail bar, a terrace pouring local ciders, a barbershop, a ground-floor distillery bar where house-made aquavit, gin, vodka go directly from still to glass. Ranked #6 in Top 500 Bars (2025) and #11 in World's 50 Best Bars (2024), it is one of Scandinavia's most consistently recognised cocktail programmes.

Speak Low has placed on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2016, reaching as high as #10 globally in 2017. Spread across three floors of a former French Concession shophouse on Fuxing Middle Road, it remains one of the most consistently recognised cocktail bars in Asia-Pacific, appearing on the Tatler Best Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 list and holding.

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company has held a place on the World's 50 Best Bars list since 2017, reaching as high as #21 globally in 2018. Located on 20th Street in Miami Beach, it operates as one of the most credentialed cocktail bars in Florida, drawing both local regulars and visiting drinkers who track the North America rankings closely. reinforces its sustained standing.

Operation Dagger has earned consecutive placements on both the World's 50 Best Bars global list and Asia's 50 Best Bars since 2016, reaching as high as number 6 in Asia. Located on Neil Road in the Tanjong Pagar district, it operates as a serious craft cocktail bar with a technically driven program that has made it a reference point in Singapore's bar scene for nearly a decade.

Lost & Found on Lord Byron Street has carried Nicosia onto the global cocktail map, appearing in the World's 50 Best Bars every year from 2015 to 2023, reaching as high as number 25., it holds a position that few bars anywhere in the eastern Mediterranean can match. For cocktail drinkers passing through Cyprus, this address is the reference point.

<strong>Employees Only NYC</strong> remains a defining West <strong>Village cocktail</strong> room because it treats classic drinking as theatre without letting the room swallow the drinks. Its long run on the World's <strong>50 Best Bars</strong> list, including #95 globally and #18 in <strong>North America</strong> for 2025, places it in a rare category: a 2004-era <strong>New York</strong> bar that continues to compete with younger technical programs.

Matt Whiley's groundbreaking Scout in Shoreditch pioneers zero-waste luxury through hyper-seasonal British cocktails and closed-loop sustainability. This intimate London cocktail bar transforms discarded ingredients into boundary-pushing libations, creating an educational experience where environmental consciousness meets exceptional mixology.

Three Sheets on Kingsland Road has appeared in the World's 50 Best Bars list six consecutive times, peaking at #16 in 2019. Located in Dalston, east London, the bar operates in the focused, technically precise tier of London cocktail culture. Booking ahead is advisable, particularly on weekends.

Black Pearl on Brunswick Street has held a position in the World's 50 Best Bars rankings for over a decade, peaking at number seven globally in 2013. Open nightly until 3am, it functions as both a serious cocktail destination and a genuine Fitzroy local, the kind of bar that draws regulars as reliably as it draws out-of-towners. Its longevity in a competitive field says more than any single award.

Tales & Spirits occupies a narrow alley off Amsterdam's Nieuwmarkt and has appeared in the World's 50 Best Bars list every year from 2014 to 2018, reaching as high as number 18.

Little Red Door has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars rankings every year since 2013, reaching as high as sixth globally. Tucked into Rue Charlot in the Haut-Marais, it functions as a serious cocktail address that has shaped how Paris thinks about bar culture, drawing a neighbourhood crowd as readily as international visitors.

One of Singapore's most decorated cocktail bars, 28 HongKong Street occupies a converted shophouse on 28 Hong Kong St and has appeared in the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2012. A sustained run of recognition, including a #1 Asia ranking in 2016, places it among the bars that shaped the city's modern cocktail identity.

One of Hoxton Square's most recognised addresses, Happiness Forgets earned a place in the World's 50 Best Bars every year from 2012 to 2019, peaking at number six globally. The basement bar trades in precisely constructed cocktails without theatrical staging, positioning itself in the quieter, more technically serious end of London's drinking culture. Open daily from 5pm, it remains a reference point for how East London reshaped the city's cocktail conversation.

La Factoría has held a position in the World's 50 Best Bars global rankings every year since 2015, reaching #12 in North America in 2022. Located on Calle San José in Old San Juan, it operates Tuesday through Saturday on daytime and early-afternoon hours, making visit timing a genuine planning consideration. It occupies the upper tier of Puerto Rico's bar scene.

Experimental Bistro has held a position inside the World's 50 Best Bars global ranking for seven consecutive years, reaching Asia's Best Bars #2 in 2018 and #3 in 2019. Located in Taipei's Da'an District, it represents the sharper edge of Taiwan's bar scene, where international technique meets local produce. Few bars in Asia have sustained this level of recognition across as many consecutive cycles.

El Copitas bar in St. Petersburg has held a position inside the World's 50 Best Bars top ten since 2021, peaking at number eight — a ranking that places it alongside a very short list of addresses outside the traditional cocktail capitals of London, New York, Tokyo., it operates at the upper tier of Russia's bar scene from a compact address on Kolokol'naya Ulitsa.

Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry's Blacktail recreates Prohibition-era Havana in the heart of Manhattan, where historically accurate Cuban cocktails and immersive period design transport guests to the golden age of American bartending in 1920s Cuba.

A taqueria on Rue de Saintonge that conceals one of Paris's most decorated cocktail bars behind an unmarked interior door. Candelaria built its reputation on Mexican spirits and inventive mixing, earning a place inside the World's 50 Best Bars top 20 across multiple consecutive years. The reflects a crowd that returns for the drinks, not the novelty.

Schuman's Bar has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars every year between 2010 and 2019, reaching as high as number 20 in 2010. Positioned at Odeonsplatz, one of Munich's most architecturally considered public squares, it occupies a tier of German cocktail bars that compete internationally rather than regionally. suggests a venue that polarises, which is often the mark of a bar with a clear point of view.

Fifty Mils sits inside the Four Seasons Mexico City on Paseo de la Reforma, holding a ranked position in both the World's 50 Best Bars (No. 45 in 2018) and the Top 500 Bars list (No. 114 in 2025). The bar's design-forward environment and technically driven cocktail program place it at the serious end of Mexico City's bar scene, drawing an international crowd alongside local regulars with precise standards.

Swift on Old Compton Street operates across two floors with entirely different intentions: a light, aperitivo-focused bar upstairs and a whisky-dedicated basement below. Ranked #76 on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2023 and holding a position in the Top 500 Bars at #133 in 2025, it is one of Soho's most consistently recognised drinking addresses.

Buck & Breck has held a position inside the World's 50 Best Bars every year since 2013, reaching as high as number 16 in 2015. The bar operates as a small-format, appointment-style room in Mitte, where the counter format and craft-focused program sit closer to the Tokyo or New York model than the high-volume Berlin club scene. For serious cocktail seekers, it remains a fixed reference point in a city with no shortage of good drinking.

Bar Benfiddich belongs to Tokyo’s serious cocktail tier: a 17-seat Nishishinjuku room where farm botanicals, old bottles and historical technique shape the programme. Its repeated Asia’s Best Bars and World’s 50 Best Bars placements make it a reference point for drinkers comparing Tokyo’s precision-led bars with more improvisational, ingredient-driven counters.

Lost Lake Chicago elevated tiki culture through Paul McGee's innovative tropical mixology and sophisticated design that eschewed kitsch for authentic escapism. This Logan Square destination featured signature rum-forward cocktails, an educational rum club, immersive tropical atmosphere that redefined modern tiki sophistication.