After 50 Best Bars, Has Drinking in Europe Ever Been Better?

As golden hour washed over Amsterdam, Europe's 50 Best Bars shone a light on the continent's top drinking spots for the first time.

The new regionalized list comes off the back of the success of the awards body’s first two standalone celebrations – North America’s 50 Best Bars and Asia’s 50 Best Bars.

Considering Europe’s repeated heavyweight performance on the annual global list, it was a welcome – albeit overdue – move to showcase what it packs in cocktail-making prowess with a standalone list. It made up nearly half of 2025’s global list and has dominated the top 20 for at least the last five years. European bars have also won 12 of the 17 global awards, too.

Although the added depth is welcome, the top of the list contained many of the usual suspects. It was no surprise that Athens’ Line bar took the top gong. Helmed by Athenian bar royalty Dimitris Dafapoulous and Vasilis Krystis, its farm-to-glass closed-loop concept – and house-made fruit wines – have made it one of the most talked about bars in the world since it opened in an industrial former art gallery in 2022.  

The runner-up, The Bar in Front of the Bar, also flew the flag for Athens, as did three other bars from the Greek capital; while Barcelona’s Sips took third position, proving itself to still be Spain’s most exciting and esoteric drinking experience.  

Italy topped out as the country with the most bars on the list (nine) and London as the most recognized city (seven). It was no surprise to see the likes of east London’s Tayer & Elementary and Satan’s Whiskers, and Three Sheets in Soho.  

London is also home to the winners of the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender and Roku Industry Icons Awards – Giorgio Bargiani and Salvatore Calabrese, respectively.

Does that make London the best city in Europe to drink? Maybe. But the overall list told a bigger story of old alongside new, tradition versus boundary-pushing, and five-star meets considered casual. It leaves no doubt that Europe is as dynamic as it’s ever been when it comes to world-class bars. 

Drinking discovery 

I was stoked to see some of the best bars I’ve been to get their well-deserved flowers. A bar which makes me feel cooler than I am when I drink there, Himkok in Oslo, ranked fourth; possibly Paris’s most beautiful bar (and relatively new at that), Bar Nouveau, came in fifth; Baba Au Rum in Athens, in which I’ve pulled some questionable moves fueled by their obscenely smashable Daiquiris, came 14th; while London’s Waltz, which I’d argue should have been much, much further up, came 23rd. 

It was also warming to see that it wasn’t just the newer, shinier bars making the top 50 either, but some of those that have been instrumental in building Europe’s reputation for bartending brilliance. 

Connaught Bar (tenth) led the charge for London and has been a jewel in the capital’s booze crown for nearly 20 years; the oldest bar on the list, and considered the first bar in Europe to bring cocktail culture to the continent, Harry’s Bar Paris (27th), has still got the proverbial ‘it’ a mere 115 years after it first opened; and Barcelona’s Boadas (36th), famous for its never-not-showstopping throwing technique since it opened in 1933 is going strong under the skilled eyes of Simone Caporale and Marc Álvarez, of Sips fame.

The list has also piqued my interest with bars that haven’t necessarily been top of my radar in pockets of Europe that are starting to lay down their gauntlets in the cocktail arena. I’m ready to strap on my skis to try a Blackberry Espressotini at Dunlin (50th) in Austria’s Innsbruck, and head to Albania to immerse myself in Balkan ingredients at Nouvelle Vague (16th) in Tirana.  

I’ve never been to Zurich, but the Papara (agave spirits, tomato, cucumber, feta, onion and peppers) at Late Bloomers (44th) sounds like an intriguing excuse to go. I’ll even pop my Wizz Air cherry if it means I can check out the winner of the Campari One to Watch Award, Art bar in Poland’s Katowice. 

The biggest surprise for me on the night was not seeing Seed Library or Lyaness on the list – Mr Lyan’s brilliant Amsterdam outpost Super Lyan deservedly came 42nd though. There could have been more room for Irish, Austrian, and Finnish bars, too, where I know fun and tasty things are happening. Ukraine should also find its way onto the list when a semblance of normality returns.

All the range

What’s most striking about the spread of bars on this list’s first outing, though, is what it says about the different styles of bars we’re lucky enough to have on our doorstep on this side of the world. While I’ll never tire of the resplendent opulence of a perfectly pitched, jazz-backdropped Martini at Scarfes Bar (47th) in Rosewood’s original London hotel, I’d also be down for a capped bottled Mimosa at Barcelona’s FOCO (48th) in Doc Martin sandals and too short shorts.  

My life could be on fire and yet the clean lines and hyper-locality of Stockholm’s Roda Huset (43rd) would have the ability, like a fresh manicure, to make me feel put together, while a night at Edinburgh’s Panda & Sons (20th, and also winner of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award) can melt my brain with its envelope-pushing techniques (and often ends with a trip to find a battered sausage or pizza crunch).

Hide in Budapest (winner of the Sevenrooms Best Bar Design Award) shows how bars in Europe can embrace cinematic and avant-garde design to tell a story, while the likes of Paradiso (ninth) do this masterfully both architecturally and through its theatrical cocktail presentations. 

Europe’s approach to its ingredients and its proclivity to support local produce and suppliers was championed throughout the list, but no more so than the winner of the Ketel One Sustainable Bar award, De Vie in Paris, which champions French spirits, doesn’t use a single cube of ice, and embraces renewable energy sources too.  

As the winning bars and their tenders pack up their trophies and trademark red scarves and hop home, I hope they feel that this first dance has been a showcase of their not-so-small footsteps on their continent’s seriously skilled stage.

See the full list at theworlds50best.com