best bars in europe. top european pubs

Welcome to the Drink in the Sights guide to the best bars in Europe. For me a cities bars are just as important as the major sights. They are where locals and tourists mingle, a place to sit down, take a break, and reflect on the days sightseeing. They are often beautiful, historic landmarks in their own right, palaces that serve beer, the great elixir of life. They can have stunning views, and fascinating backstories. They are a refuge for weary travellers, and a meeting point for local revellers, they are the beating heart of the city, and the soul of the town. 

But what makes a good bar? This is a question I've come to struggle with the more I travel, and the more I drink. The answer is surprisingly complicated... I used to think great beer was an absolute must, but more than a few places on this list don't have great selections, a good view is nice, but not essential, comfy seats are always a bonus, having friendly staff always helps, cheap beer is definitely a step in the right direction, but more than anything else I think I'm looking for somewhere unique, but still has a proper pub feel. Anyway here's my guide to the ultimate European pub crawl and the best bars in Europe.

Best Bars in Europe

Szimpla Kert Budapest

If you've already read my guide to the best pubs in Budapest you'll know that I absolutely adore Szimpla Kert. This is the mother of all ruin bars, the original, and still the best. If you don't know what a ruin bar is the concept is very simple... Find an old abandoned building, make it just about safe, stick a sound system in, go to the skip, take out anything that looks fun, graffiti the walls, and install a bar. The results are frankly amazing. Szimpla Kert ticks all the boxes when it comes to been a great pub, it's unique, it's so iconic Budapest's walking tours will take you there, it's in Hungary so the beers are cheap, and if you want to splash out there's a Mad Scientist bar on the top floor, so it even ticks the local speciality beers box.

During the day Szimpla Kert is busy, but at night it really comes alive, as the lights all come on, and it's like having a drink inside a Christmas tree, with some of the oddest decorations you can imagine. There's live bands at the weekend, but the place is so huge you'll still be able to find a quiet spot if you just want a pint with your mate. Even the food in Szimpla kert is excellent so you really can stay all day and night should you choose too. You'll find locals mixing with tourists, the young mixing with the not so young, and surprisingly even the toilets are a decent standard. I don't think I could start a drinking tour of Europe anywhere except Szimpla Kert. For more of the best bars in Budapest click here.

Loft Bar Vienna

Just down the Danube from Szimpla Kert you'll find the bar with the best view in Europe. Standing on top of a hotel in Vienna the imperious Loft Bar looks out over the beautiful city, and it's one hell of a view. 

Try to make sure you get here just before sunset when the ceiling lights up casting its glow over the city making it look like the sky is on fire. I've gone up a lot of sky bars in my time but this one is by far the best. It's not just the view that makes it special either, the whole interior is gorgeous, and the drinks are surprisingly reasonable with several nice Belgium offerings. This really is the bar that epitomises the idea of drinking in the sights.

​Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs Riga

In the cult film Donnie Darko they claim the most beautiful phrase in the English language is cellar door. I think we can do better by saying the most beautiful phrase in the English language is cellar bar. There's just something about cellar bars that I really enjoy, and Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs in the unassuming city of Riga is the very best one I've ever visited.

This isn't only the best place to drink in Riga it's also by far and away the best place to eat. Don't let that fool you though this is a proper pub with 28 beers on tap, and they are excellent local ones too. The prices are cheap and the interior is both stunning and vast. If you want to eat you might have to book as every local and tourist wants a piece of this bar. There's live bands at the weekend, which just adds to the atmosphere, and despite been rushed off their feet the staff are excellent. This truly is one of the great bars of Europe. You can find more of the best bars in Riga here.

Temple Bar Dublin

I know lots of people might think this is here purely on reputation but it's not. Like most people I went to Dublin thinking Temple Bar would be an expensive overrated tourist trap. It's not. The reason The Temple Bar is so famous is because it's fantastic. As with any Irish bar there's great hospitality and friendly staff but this glorious pub cranks everything up to 12. There's all the usual beers and whisky, by which I mean there's Guinness, and lets be honest that's what you be having here. 

There's live music playing on stage pretty much all day every day most of which seems to be traditionally Irish with a few hits thrown in for the tourists. There's statues of famous Irish figures such as James Joyce along with green masks of river gods. This really isn't a place for a quiet pint though as it's rammed from 12 on Sunday through to closing the following Saturday week after week. There's no bar other than maybe Szimpla Kert that's this busy any day, any time. The place is simply stunning from the red ceilings to the bare brick walls and the wooden bars and all the gorgeous decorations in between. Sometimes a bar is famous for all the right reasons.

Bosque de les Fades Barcelona

Have you ever wanted to drink in an enchanted forest? And if not why not? Las Fades, on a small street just off Las Ramblas gives you exactly that experience, and it's one of the most atmospheric bars you'll ever find. The whole place is just beautifully designed as the forest of your childhood dreams, or nightmares, except for one small room which inexplicably seems to be a creepy dolls playhouse. 

There's trees everywhere, some of which have creepy faces, and branches that appear like arms ready to grab you, there's also little hidden passages, tiny streams, and the occasional fairy hidden in the bushes.  On top of all this periodically the lights will go off, you'll hear thunder, and then lightening will flash until the storm passes. Sure the beer selection isn't great, but the bottled lager is pretty cheap as is the sangria, and it doesn't really matter this is a unique drinking experience not to be missed.

The Sheffield Tap

Sheffield is a proper English city, with proper English bars, but the first one you get to when you step off the train is comfortably the best of the lot and one of the best bars in Europe. It's in a stunningly beautiful 

You'll find 25 beers on tap including ones from their own onsite Tapped Brew Co brewery which produces an amazing porter. On top of this there's an absolute mountain of craft cans and bottles for sale. It's honestly worth going to Sheffield just to see this bar, it's magnificent, and just to make it perfect you can get takeout draught beers for your train back to wherever you're going.

Delirium Cafe Brussels 

There's no great need to explain why this bars on the list beyond saying it has the single biggest beer selection in Europe with over 2000 different beers available at any one time, and given that a lot of them are Belgium beers that will knock your socks off it's going to take a while to get through them all. It's a huge pub, that still has a real pub feel, so don't be fooled into thinking the selection is just a gimmick. How could a bar this good, with this many beers not be on the best bars in Europe list?

The Crown Saloon Belfast

The oldest and best pub in Belfast makes nearly every list of top bars in the world, and tops quite a few of them. It's certainly a beautiful building and the attention to detail inside is exquisite with stunning woodwork, gorgeous stained glass, and tiled floors. There's several booths, each with their own saloon doors comfortably seating 6-8 people. The booths also come with a bell you can press to order your next round of Guinness (other drinks are available but this is Ireland). Belfast was always going to have one of the best pubs in Europe.

Hofbrau Berlin

Does size matter? If the answer is yes then this bar has to make the list. Hofbrau Berlin is the biggest Beer hall in the world, and where there's a big beer hall there's also big beers. There's something oddly satisfying about drinking from a proper full stein, filled with proper German beer while an oompah band plays, and everyone gets on the table to dance beer in hand. This place s just humongous, and a lot of fun, sure some people will find it too loud, but it's good to just enjoy the show sometimes. 

Sa Jugueteria Palma De Mallorca Spain

when I decided to go to Palma I really wasn't expecting much when it came to bars, so I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this 80's child's paradise. There's pretty much every 80's toy imaginable, ranging from Mr Potato Head to Darth Vader. Memorabilia is all over the bar, the walls, and hanging from the ceiling. It's every 80's child's fantasy, and it serves a good range of beers. Sure if you missed out on the 80's you may not recognise everything in here, but your parents will so take some photos for them. This just bought back so many memories for me it had to go in the list. It should be mentioned that the bar staff are excellent, and the whole place is just a lot of fun.

CK Browar Krakow

CK Browar is an exceptional bar in the centre of Krakow with a small outdoor area, it's own microbrewery, and a cellar bar which morphs into a nightclub for the late hours. All the beers here are great and brewed to traditional recipes while the downstairs cellar rooms are absolutely stunning. This is comfortably the best bar in Krakow, which has a lot of good bars, the service is excellent and I just love a good cellar bar so it was always going to be a winner for me.

Best Pubs in Europe

The Strait and Narrow Lincoln UK

Should I really put a fairly new bar I'm quite biased about in here? Yes I should it's my site after all. This is the pub that changed my hometown. When the Strait opened in 2012 every other bar had to step up or die, and quite a few died. The Strait was really the first to introduce huge variety to the Lincoln beer scene. Prior to this most pubs would have 2-3 ales on tap, here you have 15 and more bottles than you can shack a stick at. The staff all know their stuff, and are more than happy to advise and offer tasters. Outside of Lincoln this pub probably isn't too well known, but it really did completely change the entire cities drinking scene so it's pretty important. For more of the best bars in Lincoln click here.

Poechenellkelder Brussels

Beyond any doubt this place should come with a warning, if you're scared of creepy dolls you wont like it here. However this is a truly excellent traditional Belgium bar in the centre of the capital.

Like all Belgium bars the impossible to pronounce Poechenellekelder has top class, highly alcoholic beers at surprisingly low prices. What it has more than any other Belgium bar though is charm. Somehow the dolls and pictures which makes the bar difficult to tell from an eclectic antiques shop just work. There's a homely feel to the place and as tourists we felt very welcome you simply can't miss this off your European pub crawl.

Il Santo Bevitore, Venice, Italy

OK so in pretty much any other country this bar might not stand out, but in Italy it's a Godsend. Usually Italy is all about the little cafe/bars with a couple of lagers, and maybe a craft beer if you look hard enough but this is a proper pub. There's around 20 beers on tap, alongside an even bigger bottle selection, so you wont run out of beers to try. The selection covers both local beers and offerings from around the world, including several from Belgium. It has a proper barman pulling the pints, and a proper pub atmosphere. In the UK, Belgium, Germany, or virtually anywhere else this would be a good bar, but in Italy it's the best bar. For more of the best bars in Venice click here.

Para-Noir Budapest

For those of you that have read my previous bar reviews it may come as a bit of a surprise that it's taken me this long to get to the first rock bar in this list, but here it is the exceptional Para-Noir in Budapest. In this ridiculously cheap bar it's Halloween every night, the tables and walls are covered in every horror villain you could imagine from Leatherface and Jigsaw through to the aliens from Aliens. There's heavy rock music coming through the speakers, and skeletons in cobwebs hanging form the ceilings. It's an absolutely gorgeous bar with a fair selection of cheap beers, a friendly barmaid/owner who clearly loves the place, and it really has character. You absolutely have to visit Para-Noir it's spooktacular.

You can find more of the best bars in Budapest here.

The Armoury Riga

It's an unusual idea to mix alcohol and guns to make a success but the Armoury Bar in Riga manages to pull it off. The bar is filled with ammunition while the walls have every gun imaginable from and AK47 right through to a bazooka. These aren't replicas either, they are all the real thing, although I'm told they have been rendered inoperable, which is probably for the best. If you ask nicely the barman will let you play with any of the weapons you choose which makes for some nice photos.

It's not all about guns though, there's also one of Riga's biggest beer selections with a dozen on tap and plenty more in bottles. The atmosphere is always surprisingly friendly for a homage to deadly weapons, and you'll always find a comfy seat. This really is an excellent, unique drinking experience and you really do have to get your photo taken the the bazooka before you've had too many drinks to be able to hold it straight. You can find more of the best bars in Riga here.

King Street Brew House Bristol

The King Street Brew House is very possibly the perfect English bar, it's got beer pins on the roof, as all good ale pubs should, stone walls, a wooden floor, and the bar in the middle of the building, which for some reason I just find more reassuring than having it pushed over to one side. It also has a huge selection of beers both on tap and in bottles, but above all else it's a microbrewery with the equipment on show. This is just the perfect English bar in a great English city. Oh and their Got Milk Stout is excellent.

Click here for more of the best bars in Bristol.

Salm Brau Vienna

Salm Brau is one of the growing number of absolutely superb brew pubs in Vienna. It's a properly traditional Austrian bar with proper traditional Austrian food, beer, and lederhosen. Yea it turns out that's not just a German thing. 

The interior is a gorgeous cellar bar with their brewing equipment on show, and the exterior has an excellent beer garden next to one of Vienna's great palaces. Their beers are top class and come in steins which is just how I like them. If you can't choose which one to have don't worry they do a taster platter so you wont feel like you're missing out. Sadly this doesn't come in stein form. This really is one of the best bars in Europe.

Le Cercueil Brussels

Otherwise known as The Skull Bar Brussels despite literally translating as The Coffin which is just as appropriate for this wonderfully macabre Belgium treat of a bar. 

Located down a small street off the main square Le Cercueil is as Gothic as bars come. The drinks come in skulls, which are placed on your table, which is a coffin, with a (presumably plastic) skeleton inside. The art work is all suitably dark and disturbing. I love this kind of place it's a bit different, and loads of people were coming in to take photos. As it's a Belgium bar there a whole host of Trappist beers with deadly percentages, but hey if it all goes wrong the coffins are already there waiting for you.

Canalhouse Nottingham

This is a truly exceptional bar owned by Castle Rock Brewery but featuring a range of beers from around the world. You'll struggle to find a better selection anywhere in the UK so you can go local or go exotic, it's very much your choice, although the local beers are quite a bit cheaper. You'll also usually find 2-3 gluten free options to keep any celiac friends you may have happy. It's not just the sheer range of beers that makes this pub exceptional though it's a bar with real character.

There's an extensive beer garden by the water but for me the real joy is sitting inside by the little bridge that leads from the seating area over two docked barges to the bar, I honestly don't know of a another bar in the world where you have to go over water and boats to get served. Any bar that's this unique and has close to 200 different beers available either in bottles or on tap has to be classed as one of the best bars in Nottingham, or anywhere else for that matter.

I hope you enjoyed my guide to the best bars in Europe now it's down to you to go visit them all.