Greece finished as the top-performing country on Europe’s 50 Best Bars list, placing six bars in the ranking unveiled in July at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam. The rankings were decided by a vote of more than 300 drinks industry figures from across Europe.
‘Line,’ ranked first, operates out of a former gallery space in the Kato Petralona district of Athens. It comes from the team behind ‘The Clumsies’ and combines a restaurant, winery, brewery, cafe and cocktail bar under one roof.
The concept centers on fermentation, with most ingredients, including wines, beers, vinegars and bread, made on site, and leftover produce reused wherever possible. The bar also bottles its own line of fruit-based wines called Why-Ins, made using ingredients other than grapes.
Runner-up bar and ‘Barro Negro’ expand Athens’ presence
‘The Bar in Front of the Bar,’ which finished second, began as a pop-up in 2021 after its original indoor venue closed temporarily, with cocktails served through a hatch on the street.
No.2 is The Bar in Front of the Bar in Athens! #Europes50Best #50BestBars @Perrier pic.twitter.com/83iOIb5Q3F
— 50BestBars (@50BestBars) July 1, 2026
The idea proved popular enough to become permanent, and the bar now runs two operations side by side, an indoor lounge and an outdoor hatch that still serves a changing menu made from surplus ingredients. The indoor lounge sources ingredients from local farms and producers for its cocktail menu.
‘Barro Negro,’ ranked 13th, opened in 2019 in Athens, founded by Stelios Papadopoulos and George Kavaklis. The bar focuses on agave spirits and Mexican drinking culture, an approach shaped by the founders’ research trips to Mexico. Its back bar includes more than 200 tequilas alongside a wide selection of mezcal, with margaritas remaining a core part of the menu.
‘Baba au Rum’ and ‘The Clumsies’ secure two more spots
‘Baba au Rum,’ ranked 14th, has operated in central Athens since 2009, when it was founded by Thanos Prunarus. The bar is built around rum, with a back bar of more than 400 bottles and an interior styled after the 1960s.
It has appeared on The World’s 50 Best Bars list for 12 consecutive years through 2026 and won the Rémy Martin Legend of the List Award in 2025.
‘The Clumsies,’ ranked 30th, occupies a restored neoclassical townhouse in central Athens. It was opened in 2014 by industry veterans Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis and has remained on The World’s 50 Best Bars list since, reaching No. 3 in the 2020 edition.
The bar operates across several connected rooms, serving food during the day and cocktails built around Mediterranean ingredients and regional botanicals at night.
‘Gorilla’ confirms Greece’s standing among Europe’s best bars
‘Gorilla,’ ranked 33rd, is located in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, and was founded by Achilleas Plakidas. The bar combines a high-energy setting with a technique-focused menu and includes a photobooth as part of its space. Its recognition on this year’s list reflects Thessaloniki’s growing profile within Greece’s wider bar scene.
Greece’s six placements made it one of the most represented countries on the list, though not the largest. London had the most entries overall with seven bars, followed by Barcelona with six and Paris with five.
Even so, no other country matched Greece’s showing at the very top of the rankings, where Athens held both the first and second spots.
Here is the full top ten list of Europe’s best bars in 2026:
10. Connaught Bar, London
9. Paradiso, Barcelona
8. Mirror Bar, Bratislava
7. The Cambridge Public House, Paris
6. Moebius Milano, Milan
5. Bar Nouveau, Paris
4. Himkok, Oslo
3. Sips, Barcelona
2. The Bar in Front of the Bar, Athens
1. Line, Athens
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