This ‘dark and sultry’ Barcelona bar is the best in the world for 2023

If you want to visit the bar proclaimed as the world’s best, you’d better book a trip to Barcelona.

Sips, a watering hole in the Spanish city, was named the top drinking spot across the globe by the World’s 50 Best Bars organization. The announcement was made at a Tuesday event held in Singapore.

It was the second consecutive year that a Barcelona establishment claimed the top spot. In 2022, Paradiso earned the best bar honor.

Sips is celebrated for its drinks and decor alike, according to the 50 Best Bars team. Its “pastel pink and green decor makes [it] an approachable early evening venue that easily transitions with the fading light into a dark and sultry hideaway,” according to the 50 Best site.

The cocktails Sips serves can be on the playful side. For example, its Daiquiri Heliodora “arrives via a hand-turned machine which delivers grapefruit shaved ice,” the 50 Best site says.

Sips has already earned other honors. Last year, it ranked third in the 50 Best Bars survey.

A handful of U.S. bars also made the top-50 cut, including Double Chicken Please in New York (No. 2), Overstory in New York (17), Café La Trova in Miami (24), Katana Kitten in New York (27) and Jewel of the South in New Orleans (49).

The announcement of the World’s 50 Best Bars list comes as American drinking establishments appear to be recovering from the pandemic, which forced many bars to shut down for months on end. The U.S. bar and nightclub industry saw revenue rise by 14.6% in 2022 to $36.5 billion, according to market researcher IBISWorld.

William Reed, the media company behind the bar ranking, also releases an annual survey of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, plus it launched a 50 Best Bars in North America survey.

Here’s the full list of the 50 Best Bars in the World:

1	Sips	Barcelona
2	Double Chicken Please	New York
3	Handshake Speakeasy	Mexico City
4	Paradiso	Barcelona
5	Connaught Bar	London
6	Little Red Door	Paris
7	Licorería Limantour	Mexico City
8	Tayēr + Elementary	London
9	Alquímico	Cartagena
10	Himkok	Oslo
11	Tres Monos	Buenos Aires
12	Line	Athens
13	BKK Social Club	Bangkok
14	Jigger & Pony	Singapore
15	Maybe Sammy	Sydney
16	Salmon Guru	Madrid
17	Overstory	New York
18	Zest	Seoul
19	Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar	Bangkok
20	Coa	Hong Kong
21	Drink Kong	Rome
22	Hanky Panky	Mexico City
23	Caretaker’s Cottage	Melbourne
24	Café La Trova	Miami
25	Baba au Rum	Athens
26	CoChinChina	Buenos Aires
27	Katana Kitten	New York
28	Satan’s Whiskers	London
29	Wax On	Berlin
30	Florería Atlántico	Buenos Aires
31	Röda Huset	Stockholm
32	Sago House	Singapore
33	Freni e Frizioni	Rome
34	Argo	Hong Kong
35	A Bar with Shapes for a Name	London
36	The SG Club	Tokyo
37	Bar Benfiddich	Tokyo
38	The Cambridge Public House	Paris
39	Panda & Sons	Edinburgh
40	Mimi Kakushi	Dubai
41	Scarfes Bar	London
42	1930	Milan
43	Carnaval	Lima
44	L’Antiquario	Naples
45	Baltra Bar	Mexico City
46	Locale Firenze	Florence
47	The Clumsies	Athens
48	Atlas	Singapore
49	Jewel of the South	New Orleans
50	Galaxy Bar	Dubai