After a day out exploring, I love unwinding with an aperitif at a fine bar right where I’m staying. A great hotel bar should have a fashionable décor, comfortable seating and, of course, impeccably mixed cocktails. Ideally, the atmosphere feels simultaneously convivial and exclusive. In a world full of problems, it should be a civilized oasis. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

These are the hotel bars we visited in 2025 that made the cut.

Portrait Bar, Fifth Avenue Hotel
New York City, New York

I always enjoy a bar that a passerby on the street wouldn’t realize is there; it feels all the more insider. In the Fifth Avenue Hotel, the clubby Portrait Bar hides down a short hallway behind reception. Framed faces crowd its wood-paneled walls. Cocktails are named after places like Cebu Island, Kolkata and Marrakech, making the menu seem tailor-made for the traveler. The gin-based Oaxaca, for example, had notes of citrus, tobacco, paprika and chocolate, demonstrating that the drinks have substance as well as style. Make reservations in advance, if possible.