Best Bars in New Orleans 2026

Top Picks This Week

Editor's Choice

Cure

Freret Street

🍹 Cocktail Bar 📍 Freret 💲 $$$ ⭐ 4.9

The bar that put Freret Street on the map and helped define the new New Orleans cocktail culture. The Sazerac here is the standard others are measured against. The space is beautiful, the music is exactly right, and the staff know everything.

Hidden Gem

Bacchanal Wine

Bywater

🍷 Hidden Gem 📍 Bywater 💲 $$ ⭐ 4.8

Wine shop downstairs, live jazz in the courtyard, small plates upstairs. No reservations, no pretension, no bad nights. The kind of place you stumble into and stay for three hours longer than planned. The Bywater has its own logic and Bacchanal is its beating heart.

Cocktail Bar

Arnaud's French 75 Bar

French Quarter

🍾 Cocktail Bar 📍 French Quarter 💲 $$$$ ⭐ 4.7

Beneath the dining room of a 1918 restaurant, a properly elegant bar where the French 75 is made as God intended: with Cognac, not gin. The bar staff have decades between them. Go dressed for the occasion.

Browse by Occasion

New Orleans by Neighbourhood

French Quarter

Thirteen square blocks that contain a disproportionate share of the world's bar history. Bourbon Street is for visitors; Royal, Chartres, and Decatur Streets are for everyone else. The best bars here are the ones that have been open for 80 years and have no interest in changing. The Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt and the French 75 at Arnaud's define the category.

Freret Street

The neighbourhood that changed New Orleans bar culture in the 2010s. Independent cocktail bars, craft breweries, and restaurants opened on a formerly neglected commercial strip. The quality is consistently high. Cure is the anchor; a dozen serious bars surround it within walking distance.

Bywater and Marigny

The bohemian neighbourhoods downriver from the Quarter. Bars here are less polished, more genuine, and often better. Live music spills onto the street, the drinks are made with care, and the local crowd is some of the most interesting in the country.

Magazine Street and the Garden District

Six miles of bars, restaurants, and neighbourhood spots running through the Garden District and Uptown. The best bars here serve a mix of students, professionals, and long-time residents. Less touristic, more residential, more consistent week to week.

Mid-City

The neighbourhood around City Park and Bayou St. John. An emerging bar scene that the locals know well and visitors rarely find. Lower prices, stronger pours, and the kind of atmosphere you only get in a neighbourhood that hasn't been discovered yet. If you are travelling along the Gulf Coast, our Houston bar guide covers the closest major city — including Anvil Bar and Refuge and the East Downtown brewery scene — with the same editorial depth.

Latest Editorial

The Best Cocktail Bars in New Orleans

New Orleans Jazz Bars: From Frenchmen Street to Freret

French Quarter Bars: Beyond Bourbon Street

Advertise with barsforKings

Reach bar enthusiasts and industry professionals. Let's partner.

Learn About Sponsorship

New Orleans Bar Guide

Top Picks This Week