If you have one night, go to the Connaught Bar in Mayfair for a Martini mixed at your table (£30), No. 6 on The World's 50 Best Bars 2025. It takes no bookings, so get there soon after it opens at 4pm. If you'd rather skip the hotel-bar prices and have just as good a night, go east to Satan's Whiskers in Bethnal Green, No. 21 on the same list. And if you only have an hour in the West End, a £9.50 Negroni at Bar Termini in Soho is hard to beat for value. For the rest of the trip, my things to do in London guide covers the sights.
The 19 bars below are sorted by the kind of night you want: the grand hotel bars, the hidden basement bars, Soho, the wine bars, the east London locals, and the late-night bars with live music. Each card uses the same spec sheet: what to drink and what it costs (a few bars don't publish prices, and the card says so), what the room is like, whether you can book, the dress code if there is one, the opening hours, and the nearest station on the Tube (the subway). Prices are from each bar's own latest published menu, checked on 28 September 2026 (the card gives the menu date), and include VAT (sales tax). Many bars add a 12.5% to 15% service charge, which is the tip, so you don't need to add another. London has no tourist tax yet.
This is the all-round guide. For a drink with a view, see my best rooftop bars in London, which covers 20 of them. For a proper pint in a historic pub, see my best pubs in London. Nothing here repeats either of those.
