Best Bars by Candlelight Worldwide

Two floors, one lit by daylight through the front windows, one — downstairs — lit almost entirely by candles set into the rough stone walls. The downstairs room at Swift is one of the finest bar environments in London. The whisky list runs to 300 labels. The cocktail programme is exceptional. Go down, not up, and stay for two more drinks than you planned.

The oldest wine bar in London, open since 1890, in a Victorian railway arch below the Embankment. The candles here are functional necessity — the arched ceiling is so low and the space so narrow that electric lighting would change the character of the room entirely. The wine list is reasonable and the experience is irreplaceable. Always crowded after 6pm.

A jazz cave that has been lit by candles since 1947. The wax accumulation on the original stone columns has never been cleaned off — it simply grows. In winter, the room smells of hot wax and cold stone and somewhere in the middle of that, you understand exactly why Paris became the city it did. Live jazz seven nights a week.

A cocktail bar that uses only French spirits — Armagnac, Calvados, eau-de-vie, pastis — in a menu that changes seasonally. The candlelit interior is in a former trade union office, which gives the room an odd, democratic grandeur. One of the most interesting cocktail programmes in Europe, and the candlelight makes every glass look like a still life.

Through a phone booth at the back of a hot dog restaurant, PDT is one of the most famous speakeasies in New York and earns its reputation entirely on the quality of the drinking experience. The room holds 45 people and is lit by tea lights on every table and along the bar. The cocktail programme is inventive without being exhausting.

A Japanese-style bar that has enforced a no-standing policy since 1994 — you must have a seat to stay. The room is small, lit by candles and the amber glow of the back bar, and the cocktail standard is among the highest in the city. The rule about seating creates an atmosphere of considered pleasure that very few bars anywhere achieve.

The oldest continuously operating bar in Barcelona. The candles here are original to the building's use as a tavern — there was no electric lighting when Marsella opened in 1820, and the transition was never fully made. The absinthe is extraordinary. The mirrors are fogged with two centuries of smoke and wax. Nothing here was designed. It simply is.

A fado house with 30 seats, candlelit tables, and performers who stand between them when they sing. The combination of live fado — Portugal's defining emotional music — and candlelight in a room this small is one of the most affecting experiences any bar anywhere can offer. The wine is local and correct. Reserve two weeks ahead.

A brown cafe on the Spui that has been in continuous operation since 1670. The stained wooden walls, sand-covered floor, and candles on every table are original to the building's function as a place of drink and conversation. The genever selection is serious. The atmosphere is the closest thing Amsterdam has to a time machine.

A Victorian pub with stained glass, original mahogany fittings, and candles in the alcoves that have always been there. The Stag's Head sits on a small courtyard off Dame Street, which means most people walk past it twice before finding it. The Irish whiskey selection is solid. The Guinness is excellent. The room is perfect.

A basement bar in Edinburgh's New Town that runs almost entirely on candles and the glow of the back bar. The menu is seasonal and draws on Scottish produce wherever possible. The Scottish gin and whisky selections are among the most considered in the city. The room holds perhaps 60 people but always feels more intimate than that number suggests.

A bar dedicated to the pre-Prohibition era of cocktails, in a room lit almost entirely by candles and the glow of vintage glassware. The drinks programme draws on classic recipes from the 1890s to the 1930s. The physical space — stone arches, wooden bar, genuine antiques — was designed to feel like the Havana bar world that Hemingway documented.

While the ruin bars of the Jewish Quarter are famous for their scale and spectacle, Doblo earns a different kind of attention. It is small, serious about Hungarian wine, and lit almost entirely by candles. The sommeliers know the Tokaj and Eger wine regions with genuine depth. This is Budapest's best argument for slowing down.