No one knows for sure how many bars exist on Earth, but there are likely millions of spots around the world where patrons can get a glass of wine or a bottle of beer.

But within that number, how many offer cocktails that are served inside giant balloons, made from foraged ingredients, or topped with pastel-colored edible foam? And of all these wide and diverse alcohol-vending establishments, which ones are worth traveling for?

That’s a question that the World’s 50 Best group tries every year to answer. The UK-based organization puts together an annual ranking of the world’s best bars and reveals the winners in October.

For 2025, the No. 1 answer to that question is Hong Kong’s Bar Leone. This Italian spot in the fashionable Sheung Wan area is helmed by Rome native Lorenzo Antinori, who said he wanted the bar to feel “like my grandmother’s living room.”

It is the first-ever bar in Asia to win the No. 1 spot.

Rome native Lorenzo Antinori's Bar Leone has a neighborhood feel evoking his grandmother's living room.
Rome native Lorenzo Antinori's Bar Leone has a neighborhood feel evoking his grandmother's living room.
World's 50 Best

“Grazie mille!” he said as the bar’s name was called.

“Our idea was try to be a neighborhood bar as much as possible,” Antinori said at a press conference after the ceremony.

“We are living in times where consumers are seeking for comfort. There’s no smoke and mirrors. What you see on the menu is what you’re going to get.”

The world’s best bars list was announced at a splashy, cocktail-attire-please event in Hong Kong, where the hometown crowd seemed firmly on Bar Leone’s cheering squad.

Second place went to Handshake Speakeasy, a Prohibition-inspired cocktail spot in Mexico City. It won the World’s Best Bar title last year. Sips in Barcelona earned the No. 3 ranking.

Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City is the No. 2 bar in the world in 2025.
Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City is the No. 2 bar in the world in 2025.
Horacio Rodriguez Valdes/World's 50 Best

One way to spot potential future honorees is to look at the list of the 51st-100th best bars, which was released on September 24. New entries to the list include New York City’s Schmuck (“effortlessly cool”), São Paulo’s Exímia (“a taste of Brazil in a glass”), and Taichung’s Vender (“disguised as one of Taiwan’s many vending machines”).

The World’s 50 Best began as a restaurant ranking in 2002, then expanded to bars and hotels.

There are also prizes for sustainable practices and for standout bartenders.

The world’s 50 best bars for 2025

  1. Bar Leone, Hong Kong
  2. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
  3. Sips, Barcelona
  4. Paradiso, Barcelona
  5. Tayer & Elementary, London
  6. Connaught Bar, London
  7. Moebius Milano, Milan
  8. Line, Athens
  9. Jigger & Pony, Singapore
  10. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
  11. Alquimico, Cartagena
  12. Superbueno, New York City
  13. Lady Bee, Lima
  14. Himkok, Oslo
  15. Bar Us, Bangkok
  16. Zest, Seoul
  17. Bar Nouveau, Paris
  18. Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
  19. Caretaker’s Cottage, Melbourne
  20. The Cambridge Public House, Paris
  21. Satan’s Whiskers, London
  22. Locale Firenze, Florence
  23. Tlecan, Mexico City
  24. Tan Tan, São Paulo
  25. Mirror Bar, Bratislava
  26. CoChinChina, Buenos Aires
  27. Baba au Rhum, Athens
  28. Nouvelle Vague, Tirana
  29. Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou
  30. Danico, Paris
  31. Scarfes Bar, London
  32. Svanen, Oslo
  33. Sastreria Martinez, Lima
  34. Panda & Sons, Edinburgh
  35. Roda Huset, Stockholm
  36. Mimi Kakushi, Dubai
  37. Salmon Guru, Madrid
  38. Coa, Hong Kong
  39. Sip & Guzzle, New York
  40. Drink Kong, Rome
  41. Double Chicken Please, New York
  42. Maybe Sammy, Sydney
  43. 1930, Milan
  44. Jewel of the South, New Orleans
  45. Virtu, Tokyo
  46. Overstory, New York
  47. The Bar in Front of the Bar, Athens
  48. The Bellwood, Tokyo
  49. BKK Social Club, Bangkok
  50. Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore