Hope & Sesame, southern China's first speakeasy, put Guangzhou on the global cocktail map. The best cocktail bars in Guangzhou start there, in Dongshankou, where the bar has hidden behind a Cantonese shop since 2016; it is No. 1 and The Best Bar in Asia on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026 and No. 12 in the 2026 edition of The 50 Best Bars. The same team runs DSK Cocktail Club, three floors of a heritage building inspired by grand hotel bars, and SanYou, which mixes with baijiu. In Tianhe, LIÁNG at the Mandarin Oriental builds its menu on the Five Elements. It keeps seats for walk-ins. These are the bars we would start with.

Hope & Sesame opened in March 2016 behind a small Cantonese store in Dongshankou, in the old heart of Guangzhou, and is led by Bastien Ciocca and Andrew Ho. The bar calls itself a testing ground for cocktail innovation rooted in Cantonese hospitality and flavors, and its seventeenth menu, Bittersweet, is built on herbal teas, bitter melon, dried tangerine peel and ginseng.

DSK Cocktail Club fills a three story heritage building in Guangzhou's Dongshankou area and takes its cues from the grand hotel bars of London and New York. The ground floor Lobby Lounge has leather and velvet sofas, black marble tables and an elegant counter, Room Service upstairs serves classic drinks with hearty comfort food, and The Suite on the top floor offers just seven bar seats and two booths. It comes from the team behind Hope & Sesame.
The Churchill Bar is the wood-paneled bar of The Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou, on Xing An Road in the Pearl River New City district of Tianhe. Its center of gravity is an extensive collection of single-malt whiskies, backed by fine cognacs, wines, beers and the bar's signature cocktails. The rest of the evening follows the classic hotel-bar script: imported cigars, handmade chocolates, a snooker table and live entertainment from a pianist and vocalist duo. In a hotel whose restaurants cover Cantonese, Italian and buffet dining, this is the room for a dram and a slow nightcap.
Tian Bar sits on the 99th floor of Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou, which occupies the top third of the 103-story International Finance Center in Zhujiang New Town, between the Pearl River and the Tianhe business district. The room is built around a bar counter made from natural crystal agate stone, and beside it stands "Angel," a sculpture by the Chinese artist Guangci Qu. The list covers champagnes, wines and spirits alongside a menu of signature cocktails, with small bites to go with them. The hotel pitches it for evenings of music and drinks, with views across the city and the river.
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These are the cocktail bars specifically. The full Guangzhou guide ranks the best bars of every style, and the directory lists all 9 with a map and filters.