The best bars for solo travel are not the ones with the most Instagram followers. They are the ones with a counter seat facing the action, a bartender who can read the room, and enough ambient noise that you do not feel like everyone is watching you eat a burger alone. We have been drinking solo across four continents for the better part of a decade, and these are the bars that made us glad we went in.
The Best Bars for Solo Travellers in New York
New York is one of the world's great solo drinking cities. The counter culture here is real — bartenders are paid to talk, the neighbourhoods are walkable, and no one looks twice at a single person occupying a bar stool for two hours. These are the ones we keep going back to.
01
Parlour & Proof
East Village$$Counter seats / Convivial
A narrow whisky-forward bar on a side street in the East Village where the counter runs the full length of the room and the bartenders have an encyclopaedic knowledge of American rye. The crowd skews local and curious. Solo drinkers get the same attention as groups. The backbar alone is worth the detour — over 180 American and Japanese whiskies, organised by region and age.
Order: Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned, stirred long and cold
02
The Counter at Maison Premiere
Williamsburg$$$Absinthe / Oysters
The horseshoe bar at this Williamsburg institution is one of the most compelling solo drinking spots in any city. You will sit between a stranger in a blazer and a painter who comes in every Thursday for oysters and absinthe drip. The ritual of the absinthe fountain alone makes you feel like you are doing exactly the right thing with your afternoon.
Order: Absinthe drip with a half-dozen Kumamotos
03
Attaboy
Lower East Side$$$No-menu / Intimate
Walk-ins only, no menu, and the bartenders make you a drink based on three words. For a solo traveller, this is the ideal low-pressure conversation starter — you tell them a spirit and a mood, they ask two questions, and you drink something you will spend the rest of the trip trying to recreate. Gets busy after 10pm; arrive before 8pm for a proper conversation.
European cities have a different relationship with solo bar culture — more café-adjacent, more accepting of the person who nurses a single drink for ninety minutes while reading a book. London and Amsterdam are particularly good for this, and these bars understand it.
04
The Quiet Man
Marylebone, London$$Whisky / Low-key
A tight, wood-panelled Irish whisky bar on a Marylebone backstreet that manages to feel both serious and welcoming at the same time. The owner is usually behind the bar and has strong opinions about what you should be drinking. Counter seating runs along two walls. It never fills up so much that you feel crowded — a rare quality in central London.
Order: Redbreast 12 neat, no ice
05
Bar Nieuw Amsterdam
Jordaan, Amsterdam$$Dutch gin / Neighbourhood
This small Jordaan bar is where locals go when they want a proper Dutch genever without the tourist markup. The proprietor stocks over forty Dutch and Belgian gins, and the afternoon light through the canal windows is one of the better things you will see in Amsterdam. The bar seats eight people maximum — at that size, not being sociable feels actively rude, which is exactly what solo travellers need.
Order: Aged jenever with a beer chaser
06
Studio Negroni
De Pijp, Amsterdam$$$Aperitivo / All-day
Dedicated entirely to the Negroni and its family of variations. The menu runs to twenty-two interpretations — classic, white, mezcal, aged barrel, clarified — and the bar is open from noon which makes it one of the few places in Amsterdam where a solo afternoon drink does not feel like you are getting an early start on a problem. Excellent bar snacks.
Order: Barrel-aged Negroni, served on a single large ice cube
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The Solo Drinker's Picks in Berlin and Barcelona
Berlin has no closing time, which means the solo traveller who arrives at a bar at 11pm is not early — they are on time. Barcelona's bar culture rewards the person who turns up alone at 7pm for a vermouth and a piece of cheese. Both cities take solo drinking seriously, which is why they appear on almost every edition of our best bars for solo travel list.
07
Schwarze Traube
Kreuzberg, Berlin$$$No-menu / Dark
One room, eighteen seats, a no-menu policy, and a playlist that takes about forty minutes to repeat. Schwarze Traube is the kind of bar that makes you feel like you found something secret even though it has been written about extensively. The bartenders are technically precise and unusually friendly for Berlin. Tell them what you feel like and they will get it right.
Order: Ask for their whisky sour variation — it changes weekly
08
Bar Calders
Sant Antoni, Barcelona$$Vermouth / Terrace
Bar Calders is the epicentre of the Sant Antoni vermouth scene — a long terrace on a corner of the neighbourhood's best square, where the locals line up on Sunday mornings for house vermouth and patatas bravas. For a solo traveller, it offers the rare experience of being completely anonymous while sitting surrounded by the full texture of daily Barcelona life. Get there before noon to snag a terrace seat.
Order: House red vermouth with olives and bread
09
Zum Wohl
Mitte, Berlin$Wine / Neighbourhood
A natural wine bar in Mitte that has the energy of a place that does not know it is fashionable. The wine list is written on a chalkboard and changes every few days. Counter seating looks directly into the open kitchen. The regulars range from architects to club promoters, and the conversation flows freely. One of the cheapest honest bottles of wine you will find anywhere near central Berlin.
Order: Ask for their cheapest glass of orange wine — it is usually the best thing on the list
10
The Bridge Tap Room
Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin$Craft beer / Communal
Twenty rotating taps of German and European craft beer, long communal tables, and the kind of crowd that accepts new arrivals without ceremony. This is where we end up when the day has been long and we want something cold and easy without having to perform. The staff are efficient and knowledgeable without being preachy about hops.
Order: Whatever the rotating Berlin brewery special is on the chalkboard
Explore hidden gems across 60 cities
The bars that require a local to find. Our hidden gems category covers the best off-the-radar drinking spots worldwide.
The best bars for solo travel share a few consistent qualities: a counter or bar seat facing the action, staff who initiate conversation without being overbearing, and a room where a single person does not feel like a gap in the seating plan. If the bar has a no-reservations policy, even better — it signals a place that is comfortable with the unpredictable.
Our strongest advice: avoid anywhere that requires a booking for one. Go early in the evening before the group bookings take over. Sit at the bar rather than a table. And tell the bartender where you are from — it is the most reliable conversation starter in any city on earth.
Best hidden gem bars worth the detour
Solo travel is about finding the unexpected. Our hidden gems guide is where the real discoveries are.
