10 Best Cocktail Bars in Amsterdam, Shakerato to CUE

In not even 20 years, Amsterdam has grown into a cocktail destination worth a visit, and these are the ten best cocktail bars in Amsterdam you don’t want to miss. It’s a city you can easily explore on foot. As a historically densely populated country, the Dutch know how to squeeze the most into every square meter they have, and an immense number of cocktail bars are packed within the cozy historic city center, or just a short walk away. Time to tie those shoes.

Sins of Sal

Those who prefer their sin delicious find their holy ground under the red neon light of Sins of Sal. Tucked away in the historic Jordaan neighborhood, this Latin food and cocktail bar breaks all the rules of traditional Latin American cuisine. Head bartender Martin Eisma has contributed heavily, and heavenly, to the local cocktail scene with his signature hyper-technical yet fully fun guilty pleasures. Drinks like the KFC Daisy with chicken skin crisp, or the Breezer Daiquiri that refines teenage nostalgia. Meanwhile the kitchen team slams out deliciously sinful tacos and tostadas deep into the night.

Shakerato

Shakerato is the new adventure of the team behind Handshake Speakeasy, No. 6 in The 50 Best Bars 2026 and the world’s No. 1 in 2024. This is not your usual cocktail bar draped in velvet and dark wood. Shakerato is light and bright, with big personality. Eric van Beek and his team carefully consider even the tiniest element, far beyond what happens in the glass. Cocktails are elegantly creative and detailed, without overloading on complexity. You can just sip and enjoy. With Michelin-starred restaurant Showw in charge of the food, the bites are equally refined and deliciously comfortable. The selection of mini cocktails lets you try as many of Van Beek’s creations as possible without getting too up close and personal with one of Amsterdam’s iconic canals.

Fitz’s Bar

Fitz’s Bar was named Cocktail Bar of the Year in the Netherlands by Gault&Millau in 2026. And it’s easy to agree. A visit to Fitz’s Bar is like stepping back in time. Award-winning bartender Nick Vrielink and his team bring the seductive cocktail scene of the 1920s to modern-day Amsterdam. Classic cocktails flirt with innovative techniques and unexpected ingredients. The menus are always strongly themed, creating a storytelling frame for the night without ever feeling forced. The current menu celebrates Aromas of the World: guests sniff house-made perfumes and choose their cocktail by scent instead of a written description.

Taxman

This is a tax office you’ll love to visit. Taxman sits in the first tax office of the Western world, hidden in one of Amsterdam’s historic canalside warehouses. And it’s not just the original interior that honors that heritage. The menu is laid out as a 19th-century tax form, with cocktails named after some of the most heavily taxed goods of the time, like sugar, salt, and wine. Owners Sergej Platonov and Vitaly Alekseyev rely on a neutral alcohol to balance the ABV of their drinks, which gives them the freedom to use other ingredients and distillates purely for flavor. One of the best parts of the bar is the layout: Taxman brings people together at a big communal table in the center of the room that blends almost seamlessly into the stations and back bar.

Door74

The door at Reguliersdwarsstraat 74 might seem like nothing special at first glance. But behind this inconspicuous entrance, much of Dutch cocktail history was made. Door74 has been a driving force of the Dutch cocktail scene since 2008, when cocktails in the Netherlands were still mostly overly sweet, fruity concoctions. This speakeasy was one of the first to do things differently, and it has been doing so ever since. The bar has that quintessential old-school cocktail bar feel, yet the team makes the high-end drinks and the beautiful Art Deco interior feel incredibly easygoing. This is a classic you keep coming back to.

Super Lyan

When cocktail entrepreneur Ryan Chetiyawardana opened his first bar outside London, he created a colorful love letter to Amsterdam. That’s Super Lyan. It’s bright, bold, and a lot of fun, while still serving beautiful drinks. That recipe earned it No. 42 in Europe’s 50 Best Bars 2026, the inaugural edition of the list announced on June 30 in Amsterdam, and Super Lyan is the only bar in the Netherlands on it. Super Lyan turned a 17th-century canal house into a vibrant 1950s bar full of neon, with a menu of playful reinventions of the classics and cocktails on draft.

De Blauwe Parade

Amsterdam is a city full of history, and De Blauwe Parade has been part of it since 1887. The Hulscher brothers opened a bodega to introduce Amsterdam to the wines, ports, and sherries they had tasted in Portugal. De Blauwe Parade was the first café with electric lights, installed for an expected visit by the royal family, who never actually dropped by. Today the fully reinvented Blauwe Parade honors the bruine kroeg, the Dutch equivalent of a traditional pub. Its cocktail pub is the most relaxed spot in town to settle in for drinks that are straightforward and incredibly well made. Most of the original details were preserved, and the cocktail menu shows the same love for what has always been good and always will be.

Rosalia’s Menagerie

Once, the menageries of Amsterdam showed off the remarkable animals sailors brought back from their trips around the world. In Rosalia’s Menagerie you marvel at other curiosities: vintage furniture, stacks and stacks of cocktail books and, of course, deliciously creative cocktails made with plenty of local ingredients and spirits. The bar team takes inspiration from past and present, near and far, fact and pure fiction. In summer, the seat to take is the one by the open window, with a view over the historic canal. Best paired with the signature Midsummer Scroppino, made with red berries and dark chocolate sorbet.

NIDO

Cocktail bar NIDO has a quiet quality. It’s a place where things slow down, like a lazy Mediterranean afternoon. The bar has an open view over the neighboring park, and the sunset-orange lighting colors the room in the shades of a Southern European holiday. For the menu, the team found inspiration in big Spanish flavors, with cocktails like the Mercado Michelada and the Horchata Colada. With such a Mediterranean heart, it’s no surprise that NIDO loves an afternoon cocktail: Wednesday through Friday, all aperitivo cocktails come with complimentary tapas.

CUE

CUE is not your regular cocktail bar. At street level you find CUE’s Michelin-starred restaurant. For the bar, you take the stairs down. Hidden underneath Amsterdam is CUE’s listening bar, inspired by the listening bars of Japan: cool and clean, with a coziness that still has you sinking back into your seat. The compact drinks menu reflects the same mix. Cocktails are smart interpretations of familiar classics. No frills, no fuss. You sip a perfectly clean cocktail while skilled vinyl DJs build the soundtrack for an evening that instantly feels intimate. Just add a few bites from upstairs.

Details

Sins of Sal – Westerstraat 86, 1015 MN Amsterdam Shakerato – Stadhouderskade 7, 1054 ES Amsterdam Fitz’s Bar – Mauritskade 61, 1092 AD Amsterdam Taxman Cocktail Room – Oudebrugsteeg 7, 1012 JN Amsterdam Door74 – Reguliersdwarsstraat 74, 1017 BN Amsterdam Super Lyan – Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 3, 1012 RC Amsterdam De Blauwe Parade – Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 178, 1012 SJ Amsterdam Rosalia’s Menagerie – Kloveniersburgwal 20, 1012 CV Amsterdam NIDO – Linnaeusstraat 2C, 1092 CK Amsterdam CUE – Utrechtsestraat 30A, 1017 VN Amsterdam