A: Choice/Quality of Drinks
Note: This is not simply a list of bars with the largest range or highest quality. No bar on our guide has made it on by virtue of drinks alone. This is a list of venues with excellent drinks which have made our bar guide for lots of other reasons.
- Kulminator, Antwerp – 🇧🇪 Cellar-aged Belgian and German beers curated by a husband and wife team, a selection that is literally unique.
- BierCaB, Barcelona – 🇪🇸 An enormous tap selection of beers covering styles from old to new.
- Schlenkerla, Bamberg – 🇩🇪 Smoked beer gravity poured from the wooden barrel including seasonal specials.
- Speakeasy, Skopje – 🇲🇰 Superb inventive cocktails that break the mould.
- Opus Pistorum, Bari – 🇮🇹 Refinement with indulgence is possible and it shows here across their range of cocktails.
- Szimpla Kert, Budapest – 🇭🇺 Generous, wide provision of drinks far beyond what they could get away with if they so desired.
- Enoteka, Znojmo – 🇨🇿 130 locally sourced wines available from sampler machines.
- Orchard Inn, Bristol – 🏴 Broad range of regional ciders from the barrel with a distracting selection of cask ales too.
- The Pot Still, Glasgow – 🏴 A wall of whiskies await at this intimate city centre tasting house and pub.
- Antigua Casa de Guardia, Málaga – 🇪🇸 Unforgettable offering of fortified wines poured straight from enormous wooden barrels.
B: Décor & Style
Note: This is not simply a list of bars with the most unusual or refined décor. No bar on our guide has made it on by virtue of décor alone. This is a list of venues with distinctive style which have made our bar guide for lots of other reasons.
- Szimpla Kert, Budapest – 🇭🇺 The carcass of a ruined city centre palace turned into a courtyard garden, farmers market, squat, shisha den, craft beer bar, greenhouse, and alternative bar, personalised over the years with gifts, art installations and messages from the millions of customers.
- Retsins Lucifernum, Brugge – 🇧🇪 Gothic, macabre art gallery and mansion. A labour of love that is so far beyond the norm as to be a life experience to visit.
- Goupil Le Fol, Brussels – 🇧🇪 Clandestine, womb like warren of imaginative clutter. Books nailed to the wall, large portraits looming above, jazz records, vintage chintz and candlelight.
- Hofbräuhaus, Munich – 🇩🇪 A secular cathedral to beer and socialising, the scale is phenomenal, each table fitted with wrought-iron signs from the guilds and clubs who are fixtures of this historic institution.
- Le Pot Au Lait, Liège – 🇧🇪 Surrealist, animist style has been swept, dotted and daubed across this unruly multi-room venue. Colourful, and thoroughly off-centre, this isn’t only a bar but a cultural monument.
- Komiteti, Tirana – 🇦🇱 Club, courtyard, museum. What is going on here? At once a found ethnographic trawl through rustic Albanian culture with cosy siderooms, while on another, a well-financed megabar with balconies and sweeping space.
- Bar Garlochí, Sevilla – 🇪🇸 The culmination of Andalusia’s Catholic chintz, a dressy, off-the-wall collection of the most off-putting shrines, figurines and iconography they can curate, laid on top of plush reds and ornate filigree.
- Scârț Loc Lejer, Timișoara 🇷🇴 A museum to communist childhood in the basement, that feels almost like a nuclear bomb shelter, with a large townhouse converted into a gathering of nostalgia and antiques, with a charmingly timeless overground garden.
- The White Horse (aka Nellie’s), Beverley – 🏴 A lost in time rustic tavern set across a series of rooms each with fireplace, farming equipment and centuries of survival that seems barely believable.
- Mementomori, Granada 🇪🇸 Dreamland café bar with moving parts, a sort of sticky, candyfloss fever dream where a hot air balloon will emerge from glowing clouds. Yes, really.
C: Character, Atmosphere & Local Life
Note: This is potentially the most critical of all criteria. Genius loci, the harmony of place and purpose. We look at everything from the rhythm of service, local life, the distinctive nature of the venue, celebrating labours of love and/or survivors as well as great new passion projects. Some can be atmospheric day or night, others you have to catch lightning in a bottle, but either way, the potential has to be there.
- Szimpla Kert, Budapest – 🇭🇺 An atmosphere unlike any other, people freed by the ability to wander from area to area, the same venue calm, cosy and dark in one room to buzzy and dancey in another. Entirely easy and informal, accommodating and open with an international crowd visibly wowed by the space around them.
- Papa Joe’s Jazz Lokal, Cologne – 🇩🇪 A counter outside notches the live performances that have occurred at this phenomenally atmospheric venue, a natural stage and balcony inviting the audience to take in not only the music but the array of Jazz ephemera, the dancing and the scene around them.
- Alchemia, Poland – 🇵🇱 The hub of Kazimierz, one of the crucibles of European nightlife. A gloomy, candlelit antique bar for clandestine chats, epic long nights, street performances and even basement clubbing.
- Café De Dokter, Amsterdam – 🇳🇱 The tiniest of bars that hasn’t seen a dustcloth since it opened, step back in time, join an excitable throng not just enjoying a night out but a unique experience.
- Zlatna Ribica, Sarajevo – 🇧🇦 A cluttered study and lounge with a colonial feel added to by wisps of cigarette smoke and personal clutter. Once seated, the experience quickly becomes one of the cosiest on Earth.
- Grogans, Dublin – 🇮🇪 Famous pub with literary and musical connections, now simply a famous Southside boozer with lounge furniture and a superb friendly atmosphere, the kind of place where the person sat next to you may swiftly become your new friend.
- U Zlatého tygra, Prague – 🇨🇿 Join the queue for 3pm opening to enjoy a 3 hour session of socialising. The ultimate ‘communal’ pub where conversation between strangers is naturally initiated and where, for a while, everyone is equal. The rhythm of service and what it adds to the sense of institution is all-pervasive.
- The Holly Bush Inn, Makeney – 🏴 The primal urges satisfied by a good country pub are worth a study alone, but all you need to know is this is one of the most characterful and atmospheric you could hope to find.
- A Baiuca – Fadio Vadio, Lisbon 🇵🇹 A reminder of Fado’s working class roots. Shun the posh restaurants and get back to basics at this lovely Taverna with tiled walls and homespun charm with, of course, the intense folk music performances. For a night at least you can feel part of another culture rather than just a wealthy spectator looking on at arms length.
- Calgary Antik Drinkbar, Budapest 🇭🇺 Normally when people say ‘it feels like someone living room’ it is largely a turn of phrase. Here is is literally true. Auntie Viki, an elderly lady with her fluffy cat and brain damaged dog invite you for a drink in and amongst her possessions. Dressy and in some ways disturbing, her kindly rhythms of service and the patronage of the city’s younger audience create a special dynamic. Whether you love or hate it, it’s memorable, it’s special and it’s unique.
D: Amenities, Events & Community
Note: We do not add venues to the guide simply through them having a wide range of activities but whether those are a big part of their already strong offering. Here are the highest rated venues where amenities, events & community value is part of the core of why that venue is great.
- Szimpla Kert, Budapest – 🇭🇺 Farmer’s market, meals, shisha, outdoor space, live event space and, of course, precious ‘Merch’, versatility is one of the pillars of Szimpla’s temple.
- U Sadu, Prague – 🇨🇿 People flock to this cult Žižkov pub because it has a bit of everything. Normal pubs don’t have turtles in the urinals, ice lollies and crypto payment but this isn’t a normal pub. Staying open late even for cooked meals, throwing in strong Belgian beers and games downstairs into the bargain.
- Yorckschlösschen, Berlin – 🇩🇪 Jazz & Blues performances are an obvious draw, but an attractive beer garden, meals, and pub type community events keep people coming back for a variety of reasons.
- Art Café Kalambur, Wrocław – 🇵🇱 Hugely versatile cultural hub with a bar type café and a café type bar (if that makes sense), food & drink, late openings, dance evenings, and even a cinema.
- Heltai FolkCenter, Cluj-Napoca 🇷🇴🇭🇺 A Hungarian community centre keeping folk tradition alive, organising live music, dance, arts & crafts, with meals, outdoor seating, books and even more formal meetings.
- Kavarna Bodi, Ptuj – 🇸🇮 This central café bar is all about provision, even the spaces feel tailored to accommodate different preferences and needs. At the heart of the community with live cultural events, outdoor seating and plenty of books, games etc to keep one occupied.
- Brudenell Social Club, Leeds – 🏴 A community social club versatile enough to cope with anything from football fans to ambient music gigs to pool playing to hosting political speeches. Large outdoor space in summer, two event spaces, games room, TV, meals and snacks give a flavour of why people flock here.
- Roncsbár, Debrecen – 🇭🇺 The best ruin bar outside Budapest, and part of the appeal is its provision, with so many spaces inside and out for different activities, street food vans, event space and TV screenings, creating a pull factor that draws in local residents.
- The Fat Cat, Norwich – 🏴 English pubs often attract a wide audience because their offerings draw in so many sections of society. The Fat Cat does an excellent job acknowledging the geekier and mainstream pursuits people seek into a pub and blending that into a democratic space that isn’t overwhelmed by either.
- Origines, Rennes – 🇫🇷 Based in a former hospital, this microbrewery and event centre covers a vast space with garden and playground out front, brasserie inside and cultural event space aplenty.
E: Value For Money
Note: This does not simply mean the cheapest items but whether the price is fair based on the quality of produce as well as the significance of the venue and its location. Once again, the only venues eligible are those already good enough in other areas to qualify.
- Geea Caffe, Sibiu – 🇷🇴 The centre of the city’s nightlife and one of the few later bars as well. They could definitely take advantage of that, but instead terrific value is on offer, not simply on lowbrow lagers – look at that cocktail menu.
- Bierlin Lemberg, Lviv – 🇺🇦 This is no greasy spoon, but a modern pub/bar offering up to date food and beers at very democratic prices, when all is considered.
- Brauerei Heckel, Waischenfeld – 🇩🇪 The cheapest half litre of beer in Germany is no trash, it’s their beloved home brew.
- U Prašivky, Prague – 🇨🇿 This notorious cult pub has a reputation for inflation-busting refusal to put prices up, and is one of the last places in Prague where £1 = 1 beer.
- Bernard pri Lyceu, Bratislava – 🇸🇰 The excellent Bernard beer range on tap at a cost way under the average, with no catches. For years this has been a cult venue for its unique range and good value.
- Kaon Beer, Tirana – 🇦🇱 As fashionable Blloku district fills up with aspirational lounge bars, completely unpretentious Kaon sticks around, legend growing with each passing year, the food and drink available at prices that take a huge undercut from the usual in the district.
- Zur Pinte, Berlin – 🇩🇪 Even in a working class part of an affordable city, there’s a further dive in prices for good Czech beers here at this lovely homely old Boazn type pub.
- Kis Kürt Borozó Csárda, Budapest – 🇭🇺 Soviet Borozó near Lehel Tér where wine is served for the equivalent of 44 pence per 200ml serving.
- La Casa Invisible, Malaga – 🇪🇸 A beautiful courtyard in the city centre hosts this ‘is it a bar-is it not a bar?’ venue. Basic drinks are all you’ll get, but the pricing is very fair considering the plum location.
- Vipard, Iași 🇷🇴 – Old-school boozer beloved by the holy union of students and old crusties, where a beer can still beer procured for 6 LEI.
Thirsty for more? Why not head to our Top 100 Bars page?
Your Guide To Europe’s Greatest Pubs And Bars