The 100 Best Places to Drink and Do in the United States

Julia Momosé's Japanese-inspired dining bar on West Lake holds a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar and the Spirited Awards title for World's Best Bar, which tells you something before you've even sat down. Staff in sharp black uniforms somehow manage to feel genuinely warm rather than stiff, and the tasting menu now matches the cocktail program's precision, leaning into Japanese flavors and technique. Come for the drinks, stay through dinner, and plan to linger longer than you intended.

A brandy crusta in a 19th-century Creole cottage on the edge of the French Quarter sets the tone for this cocktail bar, which took home the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar in 2024. The room is unhurried and genuinely romantic, the kind of place that makes ordering a second drink feel like the responsible choice. The drinks lean into New Orleans' deep cocktail history without feeling like a museum.

The dining room is styled after a yacht interior, which could read as a gimmick but lands as a mood. Providence is a three-Michelin-star seafood tasting menu restaurant on Melrose, where Michael Cimarusti builds multi-course meals around wild-caught American fish and whatever the farmers market offers that morning. The James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality is on the wall, and the front-of-house earns it. North America's 50 Best lists it at number 32.

Jon Yao's tasting menu restaurant lives in the Row DTLA, where polished concrete and an open kitchen set a spare stage for cooking rooted in Taiwanese heritage and San Gabriel Valley muscle memory. The ten courses are not shy about seasoning, and the drinks program, a James Beard winner in its own right, pulls equal weight. Kato holds a Michelin star and a spot on North America's 50 Best, and Yao won the James Beard for Best Chef: California.

Crimson walls, floor cushions, and sculptures that look borrowed from a warehouse no one was using anyway: Schmuck is a cocktail bar on 1st Avenue that landed at number four on North America's 50 Best Bars in its first year open. The Barcelona sibling to Two Schmucks, it splits into a lounge side and a communal kitchen table side, so you can either settle in or make friends faster than planned.

Twelve acres of canyon greenery swallow the Hotel Bel-Air so completely that the spa visit feels less like a city errand and more like a disappearing act. The grounds are famously labyrinthine, with tucked-away paths and canopy cover that make it easy to lose track of both time and, apparently, fellow Beatles. A Forbes Five Star spa in a setting that does most of the work before you even lie down.

The rooftop cold plunge pools look out over the Santa Ynez Mountains, which is a strong argument for skipping the beach one afternoon. Sense is a spa tucked into the second floor of the Rosewood Miramar Beach's Manor House, all gauzy curtains and plush lounge chairs, with six private treatment rooms and the kind of hush that costs what it costs. Forbes Five Star and on Vogue's list of the world's top spas.

A 31,000-square-foot Spanish-style villa tucked among cypress, oak, and olive trees, this spa leans into Ojai's reputation as a healing vortex while keeping things cream-and-white minimalist rather than patchouli-soaked. Treatment rooms, hot tubs, fireplaces, an apothecary, and an artist cottage make up the complex, alongside guided hikes and, yes, GPS-led treasure hunts. It holds a Forbes Five Star and a spot on Vogue's 100 Best Spas in the World.

The spa at this storied Surfside property holds a Forbes Five Star and a spot on Vogue's list of the world's top spas, which tracks once you're inside: hushed, unhurried, a few miles north of South Beach's particular chaos. It's the kind of place where the treatment rooms feel genuinely removed from everything, and the taupe-toned quiet is, against all odds, exactly what you wanted.

Floor-to-ceiling windows on the 35th floor frame Central Park and the Hudson River, which is either a calming backdrop or a reminder of how far you'd fall if you weren't so relaxed. This is a full spa, Forbes Five Star, with Asian-influenced treatments, a vitality pool, an amethyst steam chamber, and an Oriental Tea lounge. The staff consults before treatments rather than just handing you a menu, which makes the difference.

The custom-designed everything, down to the furniture, signals that True Laurel takes itself seriously, which would be more insufferable if the drinks weren't so good. This cocktail bar and restaurant from the Lazy Bear team lands at number 14 on North America's 50 Best Bars list. Small plates rotate with the seasons, and the bar program is tight, inventive, and the clear reason most people show up.

The building was once a carriage house, then a sculptor's studio, and now a three-level Japanese cocktail bar in Gramercy where the drinks are as considered as the history. The team behind it spent years at Angel's Share before going solo here, and it shows in every measured pour. Nikka whisky and yuzu turn up alongside immaculate riffs on classics. Named among North America's 50 Best Bars, and the room earns the quiet confidence.

Waikiki has been pulling people in since Hawaiian royalty claimed it as a retreat, and SpaHalekulani is where you go when the tourist squall gets to be too much. The spa holds a Forbes Four Star and a spot on Vogue's 100 Best Spas in the World list, and it carries both without making a fuss about it. Treatments lean into Pacific traditions, and the whole operation is quiet in a way that Waikiki, bless its heart, generally is not.

The fried chicken sandwich at a cocktail bar is either a cry for help or a statement of intent, and at Service Bar it's the latter. This relaxed U Street neighborhood bar keeps the classics balanced and the housemade drinks genuinely inventive, pulling from ingredients most menus wouldn't dare touch. The Spirited Awards named it U.S. Bartender of the Year in 2025, and North America's 50 Best Bars has it at number 39.

Scotch Lodge is a dark, wood-paneled whisky bar with towering walls of bottles, marble counters, and the kind of lighting that forgives everything. It won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar. Drinks come smoky and layered, the kitchen turns out silky pasta and fried brie sticks, and someone in the corner is usually having a quiet moment with a rare pour. Dress like you've read a book, then decline to mention it.

The cocktail menu at this Mission bar changes twice a year, each edition built around a new theme, the kind of concept that sounds like a gimmick until you're on your second drink and deeply invested in 1960s counterculture. Trick Dog won the Spirited Award for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar in 2025, and the room fills with people who know exactly which round they're on. Loaded fries upstairs hold everything together.

A cocktail bar that calls itself a nerdy cocktail bar, a natural wine bar, and your favorite dive bar, and then has the audacity to be all three. The Old Bay Martini landed it on Esquire's radar and the Spirited Awards named it the top U.S. cocktail bar, but the room itself is the tell: hot dogs share menu space with wine you've never heard of, and nobody in here seems to think that's unusual.

A cocktail bar in Los Feliz that treats the agave category as a field guide rather than a menu category. While most bars stop at tequila and mezcal, Mírate goes deep into hyper-regional Mexican distillates, fermented pulque, tejuino, and tepache, much of it personally scouted by the beverage director. It landed at number 28 on North America's 50 Best Bars. The classics framework keeps things approachable; the spirits list is where things get interesting.

A converted firehouse on Freret Street, bare concrete underfoot and a long bar anchoring the room, Cure is a cocktail bar that made Uptown worth the cab ride from the Quarter. The bottle-green banquettes fill with locals who already know what they're ordering. Food & Wine ranked it the top bar in the country, and North America's 50 Best Bars puts it at number 21. The drinks are the argument; the room just makes it easier to stay.

Perched above Eleven Madison Park and co-conceived by Daniel Humm and painter Francesco Clemente, this cocktail lounge wears its inspirations visibly, with Clemente's murals covering the walls in the spirit of Zurich's Kronenhalle Bar. Every cocktail on the menu is vegan and built with serious technical ambition, fermented ingredients and infused oils included. It landed at number fifteen on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2026.

The ivy-clad château and its Bordeaux-inspired Cabernet Sauvignons have landed Jordan on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, at number thirteen. You visit by touring the 485-acre estate, then settling in for wine and food pairings in the vineyard or the library. The "Paris on the Terrace" experience leans hard into the French fantasy, with charcuterie, bread, estate olive oil, and music included, which is either charming or a lot, depending on your relationship with themed dining.

The tasting room's camera-aperture architecture, all dramatic angles and floor-to-ceiling glass, was designed to pull your eye toward the vineyards outside, which is a neat trick given what's in the glass. Aperture Cellars pours Bordeaux-inspired Sonoma wines across a few tasting tiers, from introductory blends up to a private gallery session with limited releases. A rotating photography exhibition runs throughout. It holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

There's no sign on Eldridge Street, just a faux tailor's shop window with a glowing "A" and a buzzer you'll wait at long enough to second-guess yourself. This is the cocktail bar that opened in the old Milk & Honey space after Sasha Petraske moved on, and it runs on the same no-menu, tell-us-what-you-like philosophy. North America's 50 Best Bars lists it, and the wait outside on any given night suggests people have read that list.

A neon-pink exclamation mark glows above the door of this Michelin-starred contemporary Italian restaurant, wedged between a laundromat and a medical center in Buena Vista. The room is small and forest-green, and the staff seem to be enjoying themselves as much as anyone eating there. The menu calls itself Italian, then wanders somewhere more interesting, with house-made pastas and combinations that raise an eyebrow before they make total sense.

A metal beaded curtain on the fourth floor of a downtown Marriott is not where you expect to find one of the country's better cocktail bars, and yet here we are. The menu arrives illustrated like a small field guide, one drawing per drink. The cocktails run from riffed classics to things you won't find elsewhere, with bar snacks serious enough to anchor a full evening. It won the Spirited Award for Best U.S. Hotel Bar in 2025, and a James Beard semifinalist nod followed.

Pacific-leaning flavors, from calamansi and shiso to li-hing mui, anchor the cocktail menu at this Union Square-adjacent bar that rebuilt itself after a fire and came back more focused. The drinks draw on Asian and island influences without feeling like a theme park about it. A 2026 James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service, and ranked on North America's 50 Best Bars list, PCH draws a crowd that takes its glass seriously but doesn't dress like it.

Dark green walls, framed art, and a room that somehow feels like midnight at noon, ViceVersa is a Neapolitan pizza and cocktail bar tucked just off the lobby of the Elser Hotel. The thin-crust pies are the anchor, but the bar program is the real argument for staying. The affogato martini landed on Esquire's radar, and the place sits on North America's 50 Best Bars list. A James Beard nominee for Best New Bar in 2025, too.

Half of this 532-acre Oregon estate is left deliberately wild, which tells you most of what you need to know about how the Momtazi family thinks about farming. Maysara is a biodynamic winery in the Van Duzer Corridor where Persian philosophy, specifically a 7,000-year-old Zoroastrian framework about nature's elements, shapes every decision in the vineyard. Visits center on five-wine tasting flights from Momtazi Vineyard, and it holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

Live music fills the room most nights at this Cuban cocktail bar and restaurant on Calle Ocho, where the décor slides between Havana and mid-century Miami without quite landing in either. Michelle Bernstein and cocktail veteran Julio Cabrera run the place together, which means the food and the drinks get equal attention. It holds a spot on The World's 50 Best Bars list, and the James Beard Foundation named it an Outstanding Bar Semifinalist.

Velvet booths, globe lights, and wallpaper that belongs in a Left Bank salon set the mood at this Fulton Market cocktail bar, one of the few standalone drinking spots on a street that is otherwise all restaurants. The Paris-in-the-sixties premise runs through everything: French wines, classic martinis, caviar with chips. Named to North America's 50 Best Bars and a James Beard semifinalist, Bisous earns its kisses.

Life-size Buddhas, glowing gold lanterns, and blossoming orchids set the mood at this Forbes Five Star spa inside Encore, where the aesthetic leans more luxury hotel lobby than hushed treatment center. Separate men's and women's wings each come with saunas, steam rooms, and the kind of locker room that makes you forget you're in a casino. The onsite salon covers cuts, color, and full barbershop services, and a day pass unlocks everything without booking a treatment.

Money-green walls and brown leather set the tone at this approachable cocktail bar where Filipinotown, Echo Park, and Downtown all bleed together. The crowd reflects the neighborhood mix, and the bar leans into that, keeping menus short and descriptive so nobody feels lost. Seasonal cocktails share space with a Frozen of the Month, which is exactly the kind of menu that means everyone leaves happy. A James Beard Outstanding Bar semifinalist and on North America's 50 Best Bars list.

A 400-year-old oak grove shades the estate, and somewhere nearby, the former landowner is buried after losing a duel over livestock. This Hill Country winery outside Hye takes its Texas setting seriously, growing estate Tannat vines and running tastings from barrel room visits to guided food and wine pairings. Ranked 31st on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, it draws everyone from serious collectors to families with dogs in tow.

A back-alley cocktail bar from Erik Bruner-Yang and Paola Velez, where the food refuses to stay in its lane. The menu riffs on Taiwan and El Salvador in the same breath, papusas share space with gochujang mayo, and the baked Alaska, a Washingtonian dish of the year, arrives under torched Dominican meringue hiding guava shaved ice and whatever surprises the kitchen buried underneath. Bon Appétit named it one of America's best new bars, and the room earns the fuss.

The oldest vines here went into the ground in 1973, and the estate has been Demeter Biodynamic Certified ever since the current team took the reins. This Willamette Valley winery in the Eola-Amity Hills pours flights and hosts guided vineyard tours, monthly tasting menus, and cooking and gardening classes. Dogs are welcome, which says something about the general vibe. It landed at number 35 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

Polished wood, tattooed bartenders, and leather aprons as far as the eye can see. Bar Leather Apron is a serious cocktail bar tucked into Fort Street Mall, and it won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar in 2023, which is the kind of thing that makes sense once you sit down. The menu leans on local, seasonal ingredients, so the drinks read like a farmers market with a liquor license. Go slow; this isn't a round-of-shots situation.

Insignia, the estate's flagship Bordeaux-style blend, is the reason most visitors make the turn onto Taplin Road. Joseph Phelps is a hillside Napa winery with panoramic vineyard views and several tasting formats, from a current-releases pour to a library session that pulls older vintages of Insignia alongside the newest ones. The World's 50 Best Vineyards ranks it at number 37, which tracks with the crowd, who tend to arrive having done their homework.

The winery that taught Napa Valley it was allowed to take itself seriously, Robert Mondavi sits inside the To Kalon vineyard in Oakville, where cabernet sauvignon and fumé blanc have been the whole point for decades. Tastings, tours, and culinary pairings fill the recently renovated estate, and the place has been doing winery tourism longer than most. It lands at number 39 on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

The sand here is 99% quartz carried down from the Appalachians, which means it stays cool underfoot in full Florida sun and squeaks when you walk on it. Siesta Beach lands at #28 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and it's easy to see why the crowds make the pilgrimage: the water is shallow and glassy, the shoreline wide, and there's no resort wall blocking the view.

A cocktail bar with its own craft distiller's license, which means the team controls everything in the glass from the spirit up. Set in a wildly decorated corner spot in Nob Hill, Happy Accidents runs a sustainability-forward program with a menu spanning tightened-up highballs and martinis to stranger, more playful builds. Food leans New Mexican and Southern. A Spirited Awards Top 4 Finalist and a James Beard semifinalist for cocktail service in 2025.

The keypad combination lives behind a bookcase at the Four Seasons, and the concierge will share it once you've booked one of the twenty seats. Bandista is a speakeasy cocktail bar whose drinks draw from Prohibition's smuggling routes and the tequileros who ran the Mexican border, which gives the menu a Latin angle that the 1920s decor alone wouldn't suggest. North America's 50 Best Bars placed it at number 47.

Chandelier Bar is the glamorous hotel lobby bar at the foot of Canal Street, all marble, crystal, and gold fittings, with a chandelier big enough to have lent its name and its crystal to the martini glass. Cognac shows up in the cocktails, including a fortified sazerac, and the bartenders are nicer than the surroundings strictly require. The potato chips arrive free, so dinner can technically be skipped.

Princess Diana in Eagles gear hangs on the wall, a neon sign says "Never Grow Up," and somehow the kitchen is turning out steak au poivre and egg sandwiches that New York Times critics put on their Philadelphia shortlist. This all-day café runs from thick malted pancakes in the morning through hoagies built with fine-dining precision at lunch, into a full dinner menu at night. Whimsy is the decor; the cooking means it.

A red mirrored hallway leads you down into this speakeasy-style cocktail lounge beneath a north Scottsdale restaurant, which is exactly the kind of entrance that makes people feel they've earned their drink. Inside, gold ceilings, red velvet drapes, and live music set a mood that commits fully to the bit. The cocktails lean sweet-and-savory strange, and small bites keep the evening going. Phoenix New Times named it Best Bar in 2025.

Fancy Jell-O shots and distilled emu neck share a menu here, which should tell you something about the ambitions of this underground cocktail bar beneath the Riggs Hotel. Red plush, silver trophies, and low ceilings give it the feel of a gentleman's club that took a very interesting turn. The bar comes from Ryan Chetiyawardana, Mr. Lyan himself, and it landed on North America's 50 Best Bars list.

Caviar on Bugles with crème fraîche is either the most knowing joke in Seattle or a perfectly sincere snack, and at Roquette it reads as both. This Belltown cocktail bar runs on a French-spirits obsession, armagnac and calvados and absinthe doing most of the heavy lifting while classic shapes get quietly rerouted through Normandy or Cognac. A James Beard Outstanding Bar semifinalist that landed on North America's 50 Best Bars list.