The 13 Best Places to Drink and Stay in Calgary

Gas masks line the bar, imported from Ukraine and Poland or made by local artists, which tells you this cocktail bar is not taking itself lightly but is absolutely taking its drinks seriously. The menu is built around the science of aroma, so every cocktail arrives with a deliberate fragrance doing half the work. It's intimate, a little theatrical, and landed on North America's 50 Best Bars list.

1. The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
2. The 50 #98 · North America's 50 Best Bars

The bar sits above a convenience store on 14th, which tells you nothing useful about what's inside. This cocktail bar runs a wine list across twelve pages, with vintage Champagne magnums, rare Burgundy, and Vin Jaune by the glass. The cocktail menu is equally committed, and quietly funny about it. Party Shots keep things honest. It landed on North America's 50 Best Bars, which the room itself gives no indication of caring about.

1. The 50 #79 · North America's 50 Best Bars
2. Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada

A cocktail bar in the back of a bodega in Inglewood, Business & Pleasure is a little harder to find than your average drink. The nostalgic bent runs deep: the After School Special riffs on cola and tonic but builds it out with shōchū, a Nanaimo-made quinquina, and umeshu. The single malt program is quietly obsessive. Ranked among Canada's 100 Best Bars, it draws a crowd that knows the difference between familiar and basic.

1. Canada's 100 Best #21 · Best Bars

Down a staircase beneath a Chinatown restaurant, red lanterns mark this below-street Vietnamese cocktail bar as something worth finding. The drinks lean tropical but take detours, like a Vietnamese iced coffee built with cold brew, condensed milk, and coconut. Small plates of bánh mì and shaken beef have a way of appearing at tables where nobody ordered food. It landed on Canada's 100 Best Bars list, which tracks, given how often people seem to lose track of time here.

1. Canada's 100 Best #33 · Best Bars
2. AAA Approved

The ceiling-height backbar comes with a library ladder, which tells you everything about how seriously this cocktail bar takes its inventory. The menu is organized by spirit, playfully named and genuinely long, so the half-sized classics are a smart way in. It ranks on North America's 50 Best Bars, yet the neighborhood vibe keeps it from feeling precious, and first-timers browse alongside the regulars hunting 25-year Macallan.

1. The 50 #78 · North America's 50 Best Bars

A loft-style beer bar in Inglewood where the list is organized by style and vintage, the way a serious wine shop might do it. The team behind it includes Alberta's first Certified Cicerone, and the draft and bottle selection runs from rare Trappist ales to hard-to-find natural fermentations from brewers most people haven't heard of yet. Charcuterie and conservas fill the gaps. It ranked 36th on Canada's 100 Best Bars list for 2026.

1. Canada's 100 Best #36 · Best Bars

Named for Oscar Wilde's famously vain antihero, this Autograph Collection hotel in downtown Calgary leans into the reference with Art Deco lines, Victorian flourishes, and enough knowing winks to keep an English Lit graduate busy. The rooms are thoroughly modern underneath all that period cosplay. Restaurants lean on Alberta beef, which is the right call given the address. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

The grand lobby here has been greeting Calgarians since forever, and it shows in the best way: the bones are historic, the rooms have been quietly updated to feel neither fussy nor sterile, and the whole place carries the easy confidence of a hotel that has never needed to reinvent itself. The Michelin Guide selected it. Hawthorn Dining Room handles food and drinks all day, leaning on Alberta farmers and ranchers for what ends up on the plate.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Bow River and the Calgary skyline from most rooms, which sets the tone for this clean-lined hotel in East Village. The public spaces shift easily between laptop sessions and idle afternoons, and the design has texture without trying too hard. Galleries, riverfront paths, and a strong stretch of restaurants are all a short walk out the door. The Michelin Guide includes it among its selected hotels.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Nineteen rooms on the Bow River in Kensington, which already tells you this boutique hotel has a point of view. Ten-foot ceilings, curated art, and lighting that doesn't make you feel like you're being interrogated. Some rooms come with fireplaces or balconies. Outside, the neighborhood delivers independent cafés, galleries, and riverside paths, the kind of blocks that make a city feel like itself. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Oak walls and polished concrete set the tone in the lobby, where the furniture arrangements shift to suit co-working or a quiet sit-down. It's a design-forward hotel in Calgary's University District, built to LEED standards and stocked with Canadian-made furnishings throughout the guest rooms. Large windows and bold graphics keep things lively without tipping into try-hard. The Rockies are a reasonable drive out, and the neighbourhood handles most other needs on foot.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada