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The 9 Best Bars in Sydney

Sydney's bars run from the harbor to the inner west. The best bars in Sydney cluster in the CBD around The Rocks, Circular Quay and Clarence Street, with a second scene in Newtown and Enmore and a few more in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills. Maybe Sammy in The Rocks, a film-inspired bar, is No. 75 on The 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026, and The Baxter Inn, a basement whisky bar on Clarence Street, reached No. 6 on The World's 50 Best Bars in 2015. Tigra + Disco Pantera in Quay Quarter, a ground-floor bar inspired by Barcelona and Tokyo with a 1970s New York cocktail bar upstairs, won the Best Bar Design Award at The World's 50 Best Bars 2025. Cantina OK! pours a deep agave list in a standing-room bar for about twenty, and The Waratah in Darlinghurst pours drinks that celebrate native Australian ingredients. The Baxter Inn takes no bookings and is walk-in only, seven days a week. These are the nine we would start with.

Browse every Sydney barBest cocktail bars in Sydney
  1. Maybe Sammy
    ★ TOP 1050 BESTCocktail Bar

    Maybe Sammy

    Seven consecutive years on the World's 50 Best Bars list (No. 42 in 2025, No. 75 on The 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026) make this The Rocks venue Australia's most internationally acclaimed bar of the last decade. The program channels Golden Age Hollywood through a Rat Pack aesthetic and a cocktail menu built on generosity: big flavors, theatrical presentation, and a service style that makes every guest feel like the headline act. Maybe Sammy operates on the conviction that a great bar should be an event, not just a venue. After seven years, the event shows no signs of winding down. It was a Top 4 finalist for World's Best Cocktail Menu at the 2025 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.

    115 Harrington Street, The Rocks, NSW 2000Wed-Sat 4:30pm-1am, Sun 4:30pm-10pm, Mon-Tue closed
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  2. Cantina OK!
    ★ TOP 1050 BESTCocktail Bar

    Cantina OK!

    Three-time Tequila Bar of the Year in a standing-room space for about twenty guests, Cantina OK! operates on intensity rather than scale. The agave program runs deep, with a collection spanning artisanal mezcals and heritage tequilas that rival specialist bars in Oaxaca. The tight quarters force proximity between bartender and guest, creating a conversational intimacy that larger venues struggle to replicate. Cantina OK! proves that size and influence share no correlation.

    Council Place, Sydney NSW 2000Monday 4 pm–12 am Tuesday 4 pm–12 am Wednesday 4 pm–2 am Thursday 4 pm–2 am Friday 4 pm–2 am Saturday 4 pm–2 am Sunday 4 pm–12 am
    Full profile
  3. Tigra + Disco Pantera
    ★ TOP 1050 BESTCocktail Bar

    Tigra + Disco Pantera

    Scottish brothers Gordon and Ross Purnell opened this dual-concept venue in September 2024 and collected the World's 50 Best Bar Design Award in 2025, a first-year result that validated a bold bet. Tigra occupies the ground floor as a moody cocktail bar; climb the stairs and Disco Pantera erupts into neon, sound, and late-night energy. The split personality gives a single address twice the range, and the cocktail program across both levels demonstrates the technical chops that the design spectacle might otherwise overshadow.

    11 Young Street, Quay Quarter, Sydney, NSW 2000Mon-Wed 2pm-2am, Thu-Fri 12pm-2am, Sat 4pm-2am, Sun closed
    Full profile
  4. The Baxter Inn
    ★ TOP 1050 BESTCocktail Bar

    The Baxter Inn

    A subterranean whisky bar on Clarence Street with close to three hundred bottles and one of the finest Australian wine cellars in Sydney. The Baxter Inn featured on the World's 50 Best Bars list six times between 2012 and 2017, collected Best Bar in Australia from Ketel One three years running, and earned Tales of the Cocktail recognition for both Best International Bar Team and World's Best Spirits Selection. The Swillhouse Group venue operates on atmosphere rather than spectacle, dim lighting, no signage, and a staff whose whisky knowledge runs deeper than the spirits shelf itself. The underground bar that became Australia's whisky benchmark.

    152/156 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
    Full profile
  5. The Waratah
    ★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar

    The Waratah

    Evan Stroeve, Australian Bartender of the Year 2021, built this Darlinghurst bar around indigenous Australian ingredients, producing a cocktail program that tastes unlike anything else in the country. Native botanicals, bush foods, and indigenous flavor profiles replace the European and American pantry that dominates Australian bars. The Waratah channels Stroeve's conviction that Australian cocktail culture should taste Australian, and the program delivers on the promise with drinks that educate as they satisfy.

    308-310 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010Wed-Fri 4pm-late, Sat 12pm-late, Sun 12pm-10pm
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Flavour Blaster
  1. Dean & Nancy on 22
    ★ TOP 10PINNACLEHotel Bar

    Dean & Nancy on 22

    From the team behind Maybe Sammy, Dean & Nancy on 22 crowns the A by Adina tower with a room styled on the swinging bars of the 1950s, black, gold and marble, with a live grand piano. The list splits between its two namesake personas, Dean's jazz-leaning drinks and Nancy's rock'n'roll ones, alongside a signature Caviar Martini and The Rip It Up (Chivas 12, Rhubi, Montenegro, lapsang souchong).

    Order thisCaviar Martini
    2 Hunter Street Level 22, Sydney NSW 2000Daily from 5pm (cocktails & dinner)
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  2. Bar Planet
    ★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar

    Bar Planet

    Harrison Kenney, flagged as one of Sydney's most talented young bartenders, leads a Newtown martini bar that wraps serious technique in theatrical service. The program focuses on the martini as a canvas rather than a formula, exploring variations through seasonal ingredients, fat-washing, and clarification techniques that produce drinks with the clarity of gemstones. Bar Planet's Newtown location places it in the heart of Sydney's most dynamic bar neighborhood, and the room's energy matches the street outside.

    16 Enmore Road, Newtown, Sydney, NSW 2042Mon-Fri 5pm-12am, Sat-Sun 4pm-12am
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  3. El Primo Sanchez
    ★ TOP 10PINNACLECocktail Bar

    El Primo Sanchez

    El Primo Sanchez is The Maybe Group's Mexican cocktail bar in Surry Hills, a Crown Street sibling of Maybe Sammy with agave at the heart of the list.

    410 Crown Street, Surry Hills
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  4. PS40
    50 BESTCocktail Bar

    PS40

    A cocktail bar in the Sydney CBD entered from Skittle Lane, off King Street. The bar produces its own sodas and mixers in-house and uses them across its cocktail list. It runs a recurring guest-bartender program, Takeover Tuesdays, and offers packaged cocktails for delivery.

    Shop 2, 40 King Street, NSW 2000Tue-Sat 5:00pm-12:00am
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These 9 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Sydney, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.

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