The Most Classic Bars in the World

Open since 1893 and in continuous operation — wars, renovations, and ownership changes notwithstanding — the American Bar at The Savoy remains the standard against which all hotel bars are measured. The room itself is the primary experience: the Art Deco interior, the black lacquer, the framed portraits of past head bartenders. Order a dry Martini at the bar and you are doing exactly what every serious drinking person has done here for over a century.

Order: Dry Martini — gin, dry vermouth, lemon twist, made with the precision this room demands

The Leadenhall Market building dates to 1881 and The Lamb has operated within it for most of that time. The snob screens — those pivoting glass panels that allowed Victorian drinkers to stand at the bar without being recognised from the street — are original, intact, and still function. The Young's ale on draught tastes right in a way that is difficult to explain but immediately obvious when you are holding the glass.

Order: Young's Bitter on draught — pulled properly, drunk at the bar

Oscar Wilde drank here. So did Whistler, Beerbohm, and Aubrey Beardsley. The gilded ceiling and plush crimson banquettes of the Domino Room have been restored to their 1865 specification, and the current bar programme honours the room's heritage without turning it into a museum piece. The cocktail list takes its cues from the late Victorian era without being anachronistic. One of the few genuinely grand bar rooms still operating in central London.

Order: The house Champagne cocktail — it is the correct drink in this room

Where Hemingway drank, where the Bellini was invented in 1948, and where the staff still wear white jackets and remember your drink from a previous visit if you are the sort of person who comes back. The room is smaller than you expect — fourteen tables, a bar that seats seven — and the prices reflect the weight of what you are paying for: not just a Bellini but the specific room where the Bellini was invented. Some things are worth paying for.

Order: The Bellini — white peach puree, Prosecco, made the original way

The main Arnaud's restaurant opened in 1918 and the French 75 Bar — housed in its own room off the main dining area — has been the most serious cocktail destination in New Orleans for most of its operating life. The Cognac French 75 served here (not gin, never gin, in this room) is the definitive version of the drink. The bar manager Chris Hannah holds the institutional knowledge of this bar with genuine care, and it shows in every glass.

Order: French 75 with Cognac — the only correct version in this specific room

The 1906 Maxfield Parrish mural behind the bar is the most important piece of permanent art in any bar room in New York, and the St. Regis has been wise enough not to mess with anything else. The Bloody Mary was allegedly invented here — or at least popularised here — and the version they serve today honours that disputed history without making too much noise about it. The room is at its best on a Tuesday afternoon when the hotel guests have thinned out.

Order: The Red Snapper — St. Regis's proprietary name for their house Bloody Mary variation

The Singapore Sling was invented here in 1915 by head bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, and the Long Bar has been serving it ever since. The drink is a tourist trap if you are not paying attention, but the Raffles itself is a genuinely beautiful building and the experience of sitting in a rattan chair under ceiling fans in the Long Bar, ordering the drink in the room where it was invented, earns its place on this list on historical grounds alone. Order two — the first one is for the history, the second for the drink itself.

Order: The Singapore Sling — gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, pineapple, lime, bitters

Sitting on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya with a view across the river that has not materially changed since the hotel opened in 1876, the Oriental Bar operates with a deliberate formality that most contemporary bars have abandoned. The dress code is observed, the service is unhurried, and the Negroni — ordered in this specific room at sunset — is one of the more complete drinking experiences available anywhere in Asia.

Order: Negroni at sunset — gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, river view included

The harbour view from the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong sits at 118 storeys, making it the highest bar on this list and one of the highest in the world. The classic bar credentials come not from age but from the quality of the hospitality and the deliberate restraint of a room that could easily be overwhelming but is not. The whisky collection is the best in Hong Kong and the staff's knowledge of it is proportionally impressive.

Order: A dram from the Yamazaki vertical — the range and depth of their Japanese whisky selection is unmatched at altitude