Eric at the Adventure Travel Logue wrote a great post about the Top 10 Bars of the World, as decided by The Guardian. Do your favorites make the list? If not, what bars would you travel extraordinary distances to visit, and why?
The smallest bar in Ireland with the biggest atmosphere!
That McBrides bar (#2 on the list) can't be the smallest in Ireland it has tables for chrissakes - I've been in places that were just a counter and a door.
Well, ok, they had beer and snacks too, but at what point does a place serving beer become a bar ? - is there lower limit ?
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Posts: 613 | Location: Coventry, UK | Registered: 09 October 2005
Well let’s start here in the states with the #3 bar in the World, San Francisco’s Vesuvio, where we’ll hang out with the leftover remnants of the beat generation until Ken Kesey arrives in a vision
Gah, Vesuvio? I don't know many people other than tourists that go there...last I was there I was bored out of my mind. There are so many better places in North Beach (I mean...go down to Mario's Bohemian Cigar Bar, way better atmosphere). Vesuvio was "the" place during the Beat Gen, but not now.
"we hop into the Futhur van and embark on an amphetamine (or Jolt Cola, depending on your depravity level) fueled trip"
It was a bus not a van. Only the Angels did speed at the time, the Pranksters were into acid and weed. Smoke isn't even the best bar in Clapham, let alone London. Blah blah critical critical.
But - poor, lazy, pointless.
I, on the other hand, have just come back from one of the best bars in Edinburgh, Robbie's, which also happens to be my local
----------------------------- A Møøse once bit my sister ...
Posts: 681 | Location: Edinburgh, UK | Registered: 08 December 2005
The ones outside of the West (all 5 of them) are all Expat bars, why bother, I can just hang out in a pub back home and see the same people. Well, I guess that he doesn’t want his night spoiled by “dirty” locals showing up and ruining the white/white mix of people.
Originally posted by braslvr: The top ten bars in the world could all easily be in Pattaya, Thailand. With over 2000 within walking distance, it IS a good bet.
What are your odds? I'd take them.
----------------------------- A Møøse once bit my sister ...
Posts: 681 | Location: Edinburgh, UK | Registered: 08 December 2005
I've stayed at the Rex and I gotta tell you, it's a nice bar and the view of downtown Saigon is lovely from the patio, but top 10 in the world? No way. It's only made the list because of the Vietnam/US war connection, and the '5 O'Clock Follies' that was broadcast from the hotel, that's where all the journalists hung out.
If you want to go somewhere that has historical/literary significance but with much better atmosphere may I suggest the famed 'Long Bar' at Raffles Hotel, Singapore, where the Singapore Sling was born and the peanuts are free? To find it, simply follow the peanut shells from halfway down the block. Can't miss it.
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Posts: 401 | Location: London, ON. Canada | Registered: 25 January 2006
Oooh, this is a post I can really sink my teeth into. From my very subjective experiences:
10. the dearly departed Loring Bar, downtown Minneapolis.
9. Tap-Tap, Miami Beach. The Argentine bartender there is the most beautiful creature on the planet, and vaults the bar into ninth place.
8. the Raffles Long Bar, Singapore.
7. that place near Stroget in Copenhagen, where I met the Icelandic girls. Yes, that one.
6. Rebuffy, Montpellier, France. Nothing spectacular, other than I practically used to live there.
5. la Floridita, Havana.
4. the Treetanic, Utila, Honduras.
3. Tom's Burned Down Cabin, Madeleine Island, Wisconsin.
2. London Bar, Barcelona. Last time I was there, I got greased on absinthe. By three am, I was trying to take the bartenders' drink orders, a 40-something hooker was pulling her breasts out of her sweater and shoving them in my face, and the sailer with the eye patch sitting next to me was laughing at it all.
I've never been there, but with the amount the locals drink, I'm surprised there are no Australian bars on the list. Is that why they travel so much?
__________________________ "Suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either."
2. London Bar, Barcelona. Last time I was there, I got greased on absinthe. By three am, I was trying to take the bartenders' drink orders, a 40-something hooker was pulling her breasts out of her sweater and shoving them in my face, and the sailer with the eye patch sitting next to me was laughing at it all.
Sounds like a Warren Zevon song.
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Posts: 3626 | Location: Boston | Registered: 16 August 2004
