A small city-centre bar working an East-meets-West list with Asian ingredients and a cook's attention to them. The counter sits about a metre high with stools made to match, which puts everyone at the same level and makes the room feel smaller than it is. No reservations.
Chloe Merz's basement bar on Hein-Hoyer-Strasse in St. Pauli, open since the summer of 2023. The idea it is built on is equal drinking: the same complex cocktails whether you want a lot of alcohol, a little or none, rather than a token list for the last case.
The bar of The Fontenay, the white curved hotel on the Aussenalster shore, ringed by old trees. Wide windows onto the water, a calm room, and a list to match the setting rather than compete with it.
The bar of the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, looking over the Binnenalster from Neuer Jungfernstieg. Wood, low light and a pianist, and a classics list served the way a grand hotel has always served it. One of two bars in the building.
Le Lion Bar de Paris is Hamburg's standard-bearer for classic cocktails and good Champagne, and the room where the Gin Basil Smash was created in 2008, a drink that went on to conquer bar menus worldwide. Afternoons bring the bar's Champagne sessions, and payment is by card only.
A small aperitif counter inside the GRILL restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, built around the martini in its classic forms and a few of the house's own. The second bar in the building, and the more intimate of the two.
A HafenCity bar on Versmannstrasse, away from the St. Pauli drinking streets, working a modern list in a quieter part of the city.
A tequila and mezcal bar in the heart of St. Pauli, open since 2015 and built around chugs: minicocktails served small and quick, so a guest can work through more of the list than a full-size drink would allow. Agave is the subject and the format is the argument.
These 8 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Hamburg, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.
All bars in Hamburg