The best bars in Europe are inside hotels you may never sleep in. Where to sit, what to order and when to arrive, from Mayfair to Milan.
The hotel bar is the most civilised institution in travel. It is open to anyone who dresses properly and behaves, it employs the best bartenders in the city because it can afford to, and it asks nothing of you but that you sit down. These ten are worth a taxi across town, a detour off a route, and in a couple of cases a trip on their own.
London
The Connaught Bar, Mayfair. The Martini trolley comes to the table and the bitters are chosen for you. Arrive at six, before the room fills, and sit at the bar. Dukes Bar, St James’s. Small, wood-panelled, the Martini poured from frozen gin at the table and limited to two per guest for good reason. Jacket required, which is as it should be. The American Bar at the Savoy. The oldest cocktail bar in Britain and still one of the best; a White Lady at the piano end of the room.
Paris
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz. Twenty-five seats, a bartender who remembers you, and a Serendipity if you want something the room invented. Go on a weeknight at seven and wait if you must. Le Bar at Hôtel Costes. Louder, darker, more fashion than tailoring, and the best people-watching in the city after ten.
A great hotel bar is a room where a stranger with good shoes can sit alone at eight in the evening and feel entirely at home. That is a harder thing to build than a restaurant.
The rest of Europe
Schumann’s, Munich. Technically not a hotel bar, but the model every hotel bar in Germany copies. Charles Schumann’s room on the Odeonsplatz, a Whiskey Sour done properly, and the garden in summer. Bar Basso, Milan. The Negroni Sbagliato was invented here by accident in 1972 and is still served in a glass the size of a vase. Stand at the bar with the architects. The Bar at the Hotel Sacher, Vienna. Red velvet, a pianist, a Manhattan, and the sense that nothing has changed since 1876, because very little has. Bar Boulevard at the Hotel Portugal, Lisbon. Marble, tiles and a Port tonic on a terrace that catches the last of the light. The Living Room at the Hôtel Villa Magna, Madrid. The Madrid bar for a serious gin and tonic, made with the seriousness the Spanish bring to that drink and no other.
How to use a hotel bar
Dress as if you were staying there. Arrive early, between six and seven, when the bartender has time to talk. Sit at the bar if you are alone and at a table if you are not. Order a classic first, so the bartender can show you what the room does, and let him suggest the second. Tip properly, in cash, and say thank you by name. You will be remembered, which is the whole point of a hotel bar: it is the one place in a foreign city where, on the second visit, you are a regular.
Questions we get asked
Do I need to be a guest?
No, at any of these. A few, like Dukes, may ask for a jacket; all of them will notice one.
What does a drink cost?
Between €20 and €30 in London and Paris, €14 to €20 elsewhere. You are paying for the room and the man behind the bar, and both are worth it once.
Can I bring a laptop?
Not after six. A hotel bar in the afternoon with a coffee is a fine office; in the evening it is a bar, and a laptop on the table insults the room.
