a glass with liquid and a slice of lemon on it
A stunning cocktail from Atlas Bar in Singapore.

Travel and a celebratory cocktail go hand in hand, right? Part of the fun of exploring any city or culture is imbibing with new flavors and twists on the things you love, and cocktails lend themselves particularly well in this regard. In search of the finest bars in the world, there’s always been a pretty reliable list, with each annual World’s 50 Best Awards.

Depending on the city, it may not be the time to visit for a drink, and heck – many probably aren’t even open for in person service – hello, barrel aged negroni’s delivered to home – but whenever you do get back to exploring the world, here are the best cities for getting a wonderful cocktail bar buzz, and hopefully a polite hangover.

World’s 50 Best Bars 2021 List

If you want to visit the world’s five best bars, you’ll need to make stops in London, Singapore, Athens and New York. Who could mind? And thanks to positive changes in the global handling of the pandemic, all but Singapore are open, and for indoor dining too. Singapore plans to join soon.

The 2021 World’s 50 Best Bars list features many favorites from years past, as well as a few newcomers rounding out the top ten. GSTP favorite, Atlas, also climbed to number four.

For planning travel in 2021 or 2022, a time when just about everyone could use a drink, this list might be just the buzzing inspiration you need. Here are the top ten bars in the world, perfect for a handful of cocktails, according to the 50 Best List

10 . Tokyo – The SG Club

9. Singapore – Jigger & Pony

8. Hong Kong – Coa

7. Buenos Aires – Floreria Atlántico

6. London – Kwānt

5. London – Tāyer & Elementary

4. Singapore – Atlas

3. Athens, Greece – The Clumsies

2. New York City – Dante

  1. London – The Connaught Bar
a glass with liquid and a slice of lemon

Cities With Thriving Cocktail Scenes

Once again, London owns the lions share of high end drinking in the world. But rounding out the list brings a diverse and emerging field of cities where cocktails bars are thriving, and the next great scenes are being created.

In the World’s Top 50 list for 2021, you’ll find bars from Seoul, Cartagena, Taipei, Stockholm, Edinburgh, St. Petersburg, Oslo, Mexico City, Dubai, Lima and an increasing number from Sydney.

GSTP has been hyping Singapore’s cocktails scene for years, and the 2021 list now features 4 bars in the world’s top 20. Not bad, not bad at all. Notably, some bars have also slipped in the rankings big time, not that necessarily means much. The American Bar in London once claimed the top spot on the 50 Best List, but now sits at 20.

When the world gets moving (and drinking outside of home), it’s fair to say everyone will deserve something inspired. This world’s 50 best list is a fantastic pocket guide to finding an inspired drink in whatever city you’re headed to, and if you’re headed to London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Athens or Stockholm, actually quite a few. Cheers to that!

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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