Bar Leone in Hong Kong is No. 1 on The 50 Best Bars 2026, the list known until this year as The World’s 50 Best Bars, and it is the second year in a row that Lorenzo Antinori‘s bar has topped the ranking. This is the 18th edition of the list, announced at a ceremony in Milan on October 7, 2026, and its 50 bars come from 26 cities in 22 countries and territories. Every one of them has a profile on BarMagazine, and the full 2026 list in our Bar Directory sets this year’s ranking beside the earlier ones.
New York, Hong Kong and Paris place four bars each, more than any other city, and Mexico City, Athens, London and Bangkok follow with three apiece. With four bars to London’s three, Paris has more places on the list than London for the first time. The organizers count 14 new entries to the top 50, and three more bars return to it.
The top ten
Bar Leone holds the position it first reached in 2025, when it became the first bar from Asia to be ranked No. 1, and this year it is also named The Best Bar in Asia. Behind it, Moebius Milano gives the host city a bar at No. 2, up from No. 7, and is also named The Best Bar in Europe. Alquímico in Cartagena rises from No. 11 to No. 3 and takes two special awards, the Art of Hospitality Award and The Best Bar in South America. Bar Us in Bangkok climbs from No. 15 to No. 4, and Line in Athens moves from No. 8 to No. 5 and receives the Sustainable Bar Award.
Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City, No. 2 in 2025, is down to No. 6 and is named The Best Bar in North America. Zest in Seoul rises from No. 16 to No. 7. Connaught Bar in London, No. 6 a year ago, is No. 8, and Lady Bee in Lima moves up from No. 13 to No. 9. Bar Mauro in Mexico City completes the ten as a new entry to the top 50: No. 54 on the 2025 extended list, it climbs 44 places and receives the Highest New Entry Award.
Just outside the top ten, Schmuck in New York, also new to the top 50, climbs from No. 59 to No. 11 and receives the Best New Opening Award. Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou rises from No. 29 to No. 12 and The Cambridge Public House in Paris from No. 20 to No. 13. Sip & Guzzle in New York rises from No. 39 to No. 14, and Bar Nouveau in Paris from No. 17 to No. 15.
The biggest climbs
The steepest rises belong to bars from the 2025 extended list. Bar Carmen in Medellín climbs from No. 100 to No. 39 and Dry Wave Cocktail Studio in Bangkok from No. 88 to No. 27, 61 places each. Mamba Negra, also in Medellín, rises 59 places from No. 81 to No. 22, and Victor Audio Bar in Buenos Aires goes from No. 87 to No. 31. Schmuck’s gain of 48 places and Bar Mauro’s 44 are the largest in the top 15.
El Gallo Altanero in Guadalajara moves from No. 71 to No. 28 and Exímia in São Paulo from No. 61 to No. 20. Argo in Hong Kong climbs from No. 56 to No. 25, Gokan, also in Hong Kong, and Martiny’s in New York gain 29 places each, to No. 41 and No. 46, Barro Negro in Athens rises from No. 62 to No. 40, and Angelita in Madrid steps up from No. 51 to No. 50.
Among the bars that were already in the 2025 top 50, the largest move is by The Bar in Front of the Bar in Athens, from No. 47 to No. 19, and it receives the Highest Climber Award. Sip & Guzzle gains 25 places, BKK Social Club in Bangkok rises from No. 49 to No. 30, Hope & Sesame gains 17, Nutmeg & Clove in Singapore climbs from No. 50 to No. 38 and Danico in Paris from No. 30 to No. 26.
New to the list
Of the 14 new entries to the top 50, four were on neither the 2025 top 50 nor the 2025 list of No. 51 to 100. The highest of them is De Vie in Paris at No. 23. Waltz in London enters at No. 32, Montana in Hong Kong at No. 36 and Bar Snack in New York at No. 49. The other ten rose from last year’s list of No. 51 to 100: Bar Mauro (No. 10), Schmuck (No. 11), Exímia (No. 20), Mamba Negra (No. 22), Dry Wave Cocktail Studio (No. 27), Victor Audio Bar (No. 31), Bar Carmen (No. 39), Barro Negro (No. 40), Gokan (No. 41) and Angelita (No. 50).
Argo, El Gallo Altanero and Martiny’s also came up from the 2025 extended list, but they are not counted as new entries, because each has been in the top 50 before. They return to it: Argo was No. 28 in 2022 and No. 34 in 2023, and El Gallo Altanero and Martiny’s were No. 48 and No. 24 in 2024.
The falls
Several of last year’s leaders slip. Sips in Barcelona, No. 3 in 2025, is No. 16, and Paradiso, also in Barcelona, moves from No. 4 to No. 17 and receives the Legend of the List Award. Jigger & Pony in Singapore goes from No. 9 to No. 18, Tres Monos in Buenos Aires from No. 10 to No. 21 and Himkok in Oslo from No. 14 to No. 24.
The largest drops within the list belong to Caretaker’s Cottage in Melbourne, from No. 19 to No. 45, and Bar Benfiddich in Tokyo, from No. 18 to No. 44, 26 places each, and to Tlecān in Mexico City, from No. 23 to No. 47. Nouvelle Vague in Tirana moves from No. 28 to No. 43, Locale Firenze in Florence from No. 22 to No. 33, Tan Tan in São Paulo from No. 24 to No. 35 and Mirror Bar in Bratislava from No. 25 to No. 34. Satan’s Whiskers in London (No. 21 to No. 29), Mimi Kakushi in Dubai (No. 36 to No. 42), Sastrería Martinez in Lima (No. 33 to No. 37) and Virtù in Tokyo (No. 45 to No. 48) also move down.
Seventeen bars from the 2025 top 50 are not in this year’s. Fifteen of them are on the 2026 list of No. 51 to 100, published on September 23, led by Double Chicken Please in New York at No. 53 and Coa in Hong Kong at No. 54, while Superbueno in New York goes from No. 12 to No. 61. Two are not among this year’s 100: Tayēr + Elementary in London, No. 5 in 2025 and currently temporarily closed, and Overstory in New York, No. 46 in 2025.
The special awards
Alongside the ranking, the organizers presented 19 special awards. Seven of them went to bars in the top ten, as above: one each to Bar Leone, Moebius Milano, Line, Handshake Speakeasy and Bar Mauro, and two to Alquímico. Schmuck, at No. 11, receives the Best New Opening Award, which goes to the highest-placed bar that opened during the voting period. Paradiso receives the Legend of the List Award and The Bar in Front of the Bar the Highest Climber Award. Panda & Sons in Edinburgh, No. 72 this year, wins the Best Cocktail Menu Award, Saikindō in Abu Dhabi the Best Bar Design Award, and Three Horses in Melbourne, No. 84, the One to Watch Award.
Three more regional titles complete the set: Mimi Kakushi is named The Best Bar in the Middle East, Caretaker’s Cottage The Best Bar in Australasia and Front/Back in Accra, No. 80, The Best Bar in Africa. Three awards go to people rather than bars: Takuma Watanabe of Martiny’s receives the Bartenders’ Bartender Award, Shingo Gokan the Industry Icon Award and Isa Mejia, from Ecuador, The 50 Best Bars Scholarship.
The 50 Best Bars 2026: the full list
Each bar below links to its profile. The same ranking, with No. 51 to 100 and the earlier years, is in the full 2026 list in our Bar Directory.
- Bar Leone, Hong Kong
- Moebius Milano, Milan
- Alquímico, Cartagena
- Bar Us, Bangkok
- Line, Athens
- Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
- Zest, Seoul
- Connaught Bar, London
- Lady Bee, Lima
- Bar Mauro, Mexico City
- Schmuck, New York
- Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou
- The Cambridge Public House, Paris
- Sip & Guzzle, New York
- Bar Nouveau, Paris
- Sips, Barcelona
- Paradiso, Barcelona
- Jigger & Pony, Singapore
- The Bar in Front of the Bar, Athens
- Exímia, São Paulo
- Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
- Mamba Negra, Medellín
- De Vie, Paris
- Himkok, Oslo
- Argo, Hong Kong
- Danico, Paris
- Dry Wave Cocktail Studio, Bangkok
- El Gallo Altanero, Guadalajara
- Satan’s Whiskers, London
- BKK Social Club, Bangkok
- Victor Audio Bar, Buenos Aires
- Waltz, London
- Locale Firenze, Florence
- Mirror Bar, Bratislava
- Tan Tan, São Paulo
- Montana, Hong Kong
- Sastrería Martinez, Lima
- Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore
- Bar Carmen, Medellín
- Barro Negro, Athens
- Gokan, Hong Kong
- Mimi Kakushi, Dubai
- Nouvelle Vague, Tirana
- Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
- Caretaker’s Cottage, Melbourne
- Martiny’s, New York
- Tlecān, Mexico City
- Virtù, Tokyo
- Bar Snack, New York
- Angelita, Madrid
