The WORLD'S Most BEAUTIFUL BARS

From Bangkok to Buenos Aires, a survey of the best and most drop-dead gorgeous watering holes around the globe

- JARED PAUL STERN

We look forward to the annual ranking of The World’s 50 Best Bars much in the way some people do the Oscars, our tastes running more to the intoxicating than the theatrical. And while we eagerly parse the list for the wealth of insights and indicators of where the planet is headed, drinks-wise, it also inspires us to scour the globe for the kind of bars we ourselves like to frequent on our wide-ranging travels—i.e. those where the surroundings and interior design are as compelling as the cocktails. In the end we found that while the ranking of the world’s best bars doesn’t always overlap with what we consider to be the world’s most beautiful ones, when it does happen it’s as sublime an act of synergy as gin meeting vermouth.

Such is the case with the latest winner, Paradiso in Barcelona’s El Born neighborhood, now officially the best bar in the world, and, as it happens, one of the most gorgeous. One accesses the speakeasy-style watering hole through a retro-style fridge door set inside an industrial-looking sandwich shop, thereby entering a whole other world. “Sinuously shaped wood to recall the sea of Barcelona” and an homage to Gaudí; and “Carrara marble for the bar to recall [owner Giacomo Giannotti’s] Tuscan origins,” as the establishment notes; plus lush, tropical design elements just because the contrast is cool. Game, set, and match—and that’s before you’ve even ordered a drink.