Europe's best hotel bars – the Savoy, the Connaught, Dukes, the Ritz and Monte-Carlo

The hotel bar is one of the great institutions of European travel. It is a room for the arriving guest and the local regular alike, open late and discreet by habit. Several of the most influential bars in the world are hotel bars, and some of the drinks we take for granted were invented or popularised in them. The World's 50 Best Bars, voted by more than 650 drinks experts and first published in 2009, has crowned London hotel bars at the top of its list in recent years. These five rooms are where to begin.

The American Bar at the Savoy, London

In late nineteenth-century London, an "American bar" meant a place serving American-style cocktails, and the Savoy's was one of the earliest to bring them to Europe. Its history is a roll call of bartending. Ada Coleman created the Hanky-Panky for the actor Sir Charles Hawtrey; Harry Craddock, head bartender from 1925 to 1938, wrote The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. While the Savoy has been remodelled around it, the American Bar is described as nearly unchanged, and a small museum next to it shows items from the hotel's archives. It was named the world's best bar at The World's 50 Best Bars in 2017.

The Connaught Bar, Mayfair

The Connaught Bar was named the No. 1 bar in The World's 50 Best Bars in 2020 and again in 2021, two consecutive top rankings. It is led by Agostino Perrone, and its signature is the Martini trolley, designed by David Collins, from which bartenders make personalised drinks. The Connaught itself, part of Maybourne in Mayfair, was among the hotels recognised in The World's 50 Best Hotels 2026.

Dukes Bar, St James's

Dukes, a hotel founded in 1908 on St James's Place, reaches its bar from inside the hotel through a small, unmarked door, and it is the martini that people come for. Ian Fleming was a regular, and it was here, according to the hotel's history, that he decided James Bond would drink his vodka martini "shaken, not stirred". The bar's signature is the Vesper, and Dukes limits guests to two; a third will be declined. The Daily Telegraph called the hotel "reassuringly old-fashioned", which is the point.

Bar Hemingway at the Ritz, Paris

The Ritz on the Place Vendôme, founded in 1898 by César Ritz with Auguste Escoffier, has always been a hotel of writers and stars, and its cocktail lounge pays tribute to the writer most associated with it. Bar Hemingway is named after Ernest Hemingway, whose The Sun Also Rises, like Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, features the hotel.

Le Bar Américain, Hôtel de Paris, Monte-Carlo

On the Place du Casino, the Hôtel de Paris has received guests since 1864, and its Bar Américain sits in the same house as Le Louis XV and Le Grill. On New Year's Eve, it is one of the hotel's venues for the celebrations, and the casino is across the square. More on the principality on vpios.com/monaco.

Hotel-bar etiquette

The best of these bars are small: arrive early in the evening, or ask whether they take reservations. Dress as you would for a good restaurant. Let the bartender guide you – a classic made well is the point of these rooms – and do not expect to be rushed. More food and drink in our food and drink section, travel in our travel section and on metromode.co.

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