Sobering stuff: European bars drop in ranking for 2024's World's Best Bar list

A total of 19 European bars have made it to the 16th edition of The World’s Best Bars, dropping from last year’s total 22.

Most notably, last year’s overall best bar: Barcelona’s Sips, has fallen from the number one spot to the bronze step of the podium. It’s replaced at the top by the Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City and Bar Leone in Hong Kong.

Sips and Handshake Speakeasy have traded places, with the Mexican joint placing third in 2023 and the Catalan cocktail spot being third in 2022.

Second place entry Bar Leone in Hong Kong enters the list for the first time.

Nevertheless, it’s an impressive showing for European bars as 11 cities from seven different countries are in the top 50 watering holes.

The UK is once again one of the best represented in the list with five bars on the list between London and Edinburgh. As with Sips’ rise to the top spot last year, Spain’s surge in top dollar drinking spots is evidenced by its three entries, with Italy present across four entries and Athens showing Greece’s quality offerings with two spots in the top 50.

Outside of Europe, it’s the usual story with New York represented five times, and Asia’s high-end cities such as Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo all taking up respectable space on the list.

As Handshake Speakeasy takes the top spot for Mexico City, the story of this year’s list is the presence of South American as one of the leading continents for a top-notch cocktail with 11 bars in the top 50.

Over 700 anonymous industry experts helped compile the list that also featured individual awards such as the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award which went to Iain McPherson, the owner of Panda & Sons in Edinburgh.

Here are the Top 50 Bars of 2024 – for those of you wishing to tick them off your to-drink list. We’ve even highlighted the European ones.

1. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City

2. Bar Leone, Hong Kong

3. Sips, Barcelona

“Opened in 2021, Sips soared to glory in two short years, being named The World’s Best Bar in 2023. The rise of Sips may seem meteoric but everything that happens within its walls is the result of decades of combined experience. Owners Simone Caporale and Marc Alvarez are legends of the field, Caporale’s former bar Artesian having won the top spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list four times from 2012-2015, while Alvarez honed his craft for more than 10 years with the Adria brothers of El Bulli Fame.”

4. Tayēr + Elementary, London

“Even five years into its life, Tayēr + Elementary feels as fresh as the day it opened. That’s probably because its power-couple owners Monica Berg and Alex Kratena have always been one step ahead of the world they work in.”

5. Jigger & Pony, Singapore

6. Line, Athens

“All whitewashed walls and neck-craning ceilings, this former art gallery is the digs of Athens cocktail royalty Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis (alongside Three Cents’ Dimitris Dafopoulos). Just a few klicks from the pair’s downtown debut venue, The Clumsies, Line needed to be big to accommodate its owners' ambitions: to redefine craft bartending.”

7. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires

8. Alquímico, Cartagena

9. Zest, Seoul

10. Paradiso, Barcelona

“Two of Barcelona’s top tourist destinations are Gaudi’s famed Sagrada Familia and Paradiso. And there’s a kinship: both create a sensation of wonder and awe in visitors. At Paradiso, this starts with the entrance, hidden behind the fridge door of a pastrami shop, which leads you into a bar that looks like the inside of a whale with its majestic curving wooden ‘ribs’.”

11. Himkok, Oslo

“When you realise that Himkok translates to moonshine (specifically homemade) in Norwegian, everything in this temple of drinks makes sense. This place goes deeper than your usual cocktail bar concept – it’s a showcase of Norway, from distillery to glass, with echoes of the same seasonality and localism of the New Nordic food movement.”

12. BKK Social Club, Bangkok

13. Connaught Bar, London

“Connaught Bar is not a venue, it’s an icon of the bar industry. When it opened in 2008, it was the game-changer that cast away the classic trope that five-star hotel bars were stuffy museums to drinking’s past, and ushered in a new way of thinking – a bridge between classicism and modernism.”

14. Double Chicken Please, New York

15. Overstory, New York

16. Lady Bee, Lima

17. Baba au Rum, Athens

“In a world of flashy bars, there’s something very straightforward and honest about Baba au Rum. A self-styled “rum and cocktail society” where you come for the drinks but “stay for the company”, it wears its heart on its sleeve, just like owner Thanos Prunarus.”

18. Coa, Hong Kong

19. The Cambridge Public House, Paris

“Opened in 2019 by three friends, including notable Paris bartender Hyacinthe Lescoët, The Cambridge Public House combines the convivial atmosphere of a traditional English pub with the meticulous approach of a modern-day cocktail lounge. In addition to cocktails, they serve craft beer and natural wine.”

20. Tlecān, Mexico City

21. Caretaker's Cottage, Melbourne

22. CoChinChina, Buenos Aires

23. Salmon Guru, Madrid

“Now a global phenomenon with outposts in Dubai and Milan, Salmon Guru is best understood in its natural habitat of Madrid. “Only dead fish go with the flow,” owner Diego Cabrera likes to say, and this philosophy has driven the ever-evolving bar for almost a decade now.”

24. Martiny's, New York

25. Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo

26. Maybe Sammy, Sydney

27. Superbueno, New York

28. Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore

29. Satan's Whiskers, London

“This refreshingly themeless cocktail bar in Bethnal Green has become a bona fide bartender favourite. Why? Because it sees and celebrates the complexity in simplicity. The drinks are all made à la minute, quickly, and with laser focus on the two most important elements: balance and temperature. The atmosphere is made by the pitch-perfect lighting, the classic hip-hop soundtrack that flows at just the right level out of every speaker, and the service, which is warm and attentive but never too fussy.”

30. Panda & Sons, Edinburgh

“Panda & Sons manages to be many things at once. From the street it’s a barber shop owned by a family of pandas through which you descend to a cocktail bar with vintage stylings, a bouncy vibe and a wide-armed welcome. Inside it has the tweed and wood trappings of a traditional pub where you can drink pints of lager or, alternatively, some of the most creative cocktails the world of mixed drinks has ever seen. It won’t matter to the friendly bartenders in panda aprons what you choose – this is some of the warmest, most unassuming hospitality around.”

31. Tan Tan, São Paulo

32. Licorería Limantour, Mexico City

33. Drink Kong, Rome

“Drink Kong seamlessly blends a retro futuristic aesthetic with an innovative and technological approach to cocktails. The bar’s dark, vibrant atmosphere, accentuated by neon lights, invites a cool, trendy crowd to explore its multiple engaging nooks and rooms.”

34. Jewel of the South, New Orleans

35. Byrdi, Melbourne

36. Locale Firenze, Florence

“Locale Firenze is a time-machine that takes you both backwards and forwards. Back to the 1200s from when the Concini Palace first dates, to the 1500s when it gained its name and much of its more elaborate, period features. Back to centuries-old Tuscan chandeliers, mirrors and antique furniture of the time of the Medici. But also forward to a future-thinking menu serving modernist cocktail techniques using the latest lab technology to harness seasonal produce with a low-waste approach to drinks-making.”

37. Scarfes Bar, London

“The beautifully designed Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London will have you falling for it from the entrance. The revolving door delivers you from the bustle of High Holborn into one of the most glorious nightspots on the planet. On your left side will be the long hardwood bar, tended by half a dozen bartenders – each bedecked in the signature Scarfes white jackets and tartan trousers – and, in the surrounds, clusters of colourful plush seats, each intimate, but with their own ringside view of the live musicians.”

37. Moebius Milano, Milan

“The industrial-chic Moebius blends cuisine, cocktails and culture in a revitalised former textile warehouse. Stylish Milanese snack on Italian bistro-style tapas or indulge in fine dining at the tiny floating restaurant table. Audiophiles shop for vinyl or stop in for a regular programme of live bossa nova, jazz, or DJ sets that provide the soundtrack to lively nights.”

39. Bar Nouveau, Paris

“The bijou Bar Nouveau doesn’t take reservations but opens every day at 3pm, making it easier to score one of the city’s most sought-after barstools. Co-founded by Remy Savage, twins Sara and Hadrien Moudoulaud and Marc Puzzuoli, it’s built around the Art Nouveau movement, paying tribute to a bygone era with exceptional attention to detail.”

40. Mimi Kakushi, Dubai

41. Bar Us, Bangkok

42. Virtù, Tokyo

43. Atlas, Singapore

44. La Sala de Laura, Bogota

45. Röda Huset, Stockholm

“Röda Huset, or Red House, is a bar that can’t help standing out. Its three tiers of crimson rise from the grey Stockholm pavement like a modern art installation, looking out to the famous Sergels Torg square. This is the house of the earth-father of Swedish drinks, Hampus Thunholm, who found his philosophy at Fäviken, the now-shuttered Noma of northern Sweden. What he serves is Scandinavia in a glass, with the 17-cocktail menu reacting weekly to the seasons, rather than ploughing right through them.”

46. Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires

47. Analogue Initiative, Singapore

48. El Gallo Altanero, Guadalajara

49. Danico, Paris

“Danico’s brand of stylish design paired with innovative drinks keeps cocktail connoisseurs and trendsetters alike perched on the plush bar stools. The decor’s crisp lines and bold colours are softened by velvet upholstery, dim lights and delicate gold details that recall the space's fashionable former life as the Jean Paul Gaultier flagship store. Enter through the historic covered passage Gallery Vivienne or via the big, buzzy, beautiful Italian eatery Daroco, within which the bar is hidden.”

50. 1930, Milan

“With an unpublished address and invite-only access, 1930 is one of Milan's better-kept cocktail secrets. The lucky few to gain entry through the unassuming shopfront step back into another time and another world. Prohibition style pervades, with desk lamps casting a warm glow on brick walls and statement wallpaper. The 1930s furniture is prevalent with stylish touches like an old-timey gramophone and manual cash register present. But the sharply dressed staff turn out cocktails that go beyond rehashed pre-Prohibition drinks.”