Best Bars in the World: Where to Drink in Rome, Venice and London

We have been fortunate, my husband and I, to have traveled to some of the best cities in the world. We have lived in some, visited others, but no matter what, we always get asked the same question: Where should I go to drink? What is the best bar in Rome? The best bar in Venice? The best bar in London? The architecture, the art, the history are all very nice, but where is a best place to have a drink?

I get that. After all, everybody knows about the Vatican museum in Roma and the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Tourists, myself included, are careful to map out itineraries that include the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and Via Conditi in Milan, St. Paul's in London and Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. But it is not until you actually arrive in a city, survive a crowded train journey in Munich or a hair raising taxi ride through the steep streets of Lisbon, only to struggle with your luggage up three flights of narrow stairs to your hotel room, that you truly realize what is most important.

Where is the best place to get a drink around here?

The best places to drink in Rome

The tourists- and quite a few Romans- will be nursing espressos at the cafe tables that fill Piazza Navona, sipping a glass of wine in one of the cafes opposite the Pantheon or hanging out around the Spanish Steps. They are nice places and of course you should join them-- after you have visited The Albert.

The Albert is located at Via del Traforo 132, right by the tunnel leading to Via Nazionale and a mere stone's throw from the Trevi Fountain. Roman owned, The Albert is a pub with traditional British décor, fantastic and friendly owners and staff and a sign on the wall that says "Skip the Trevi, Have a Bevvy." I wouldn't go that far, but it is an excellent spot for a drink.

Sip a beer as you watch the Japanese tourists being disgorged from their tour buses, laden down with cameras and video equipment, and trot obediently down the cobbled alley that leads to the Trevi where they will take as many photos as humanly possible in whatever amount of time their tour guide has allotted. There are always one or two that look back wistfully at one of the best bars in Rome as they run down that alley. You can see the longing in their eyes, and it almost breaks your heart.

One day, however, one of those Japanese gentlemen is going to make a break for it, and succeed. He'll spend his precious tourism time gleefully slugging down a whisky or three in one of the best places to drink in Rome until the bus comes back. Wouldn't you hate to miss it?

The best places to drink in Venice

Conventional wisdom says the best place to have a drink in Venice is Harry's Bar, for a Bellini. After all, the famous peach-spiked champagne cocktail was invented there, wasn't it?

Well, I am here to tell you that the conventional wisdom has got it wrong. Harry's Bar is over-priced and over-crowded with over-dressed tourists. Go around the corner and hang out in Piazza San Marco instead. Order an espresso, or a Campari, or even a glass of prosecco and watch the world stroll by. I like Laverna, but Caffé Florian is pretty awesome-- and famous-- too. Don't get me wrong: your drink will still be expensive; the difference is that it will be worth it.

After that, get out of San Marco entirely. Some of the best bars in Venice are found in Dorsoduro and Santa Croce. Wander the historic streets and listen for the music and laughter spilling out of tiny hole in the wall taverns and cafes. Places like these are truly the best places to drink in Venice.

The best places to drink in London

London is the spiritual home of pub lovers everywhere, and there are so many fantastic places to have a drink that it's hard to go wrong. Blackfriars Pub is nice, and so wonderfully outfitted inside and out that it would be a shame to miss it. In fact, you really should stop in for a pint. Even so, unless you require handicapped accessibility, I am going to recommend you continue on to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

Generally, I am vehemently opposed to places with Ye Olde in their names, but when it comes to the Cheshire Cheese, I make an exception. From Fleet Street, turn into the twisty narrow alley called Wine Office Court. The pub itself is just as narrow and twisty, with all sorts of tiny rooms connected by long and narrow hallways. It's an old place: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was rebuilt in 1667, a year after the Great Fire of London. Samuel Johnson drank here, as did Boswell, Dickens, Voltaire and Thackery. Order a pint of bitter, say hello to the stuffed parrot and peruse the condolence cards sent to the pub when said parrot died.

Try to resist the urge to reenact Monty Python's famous parrot sketch: the Cheshire Cheese's patrons are remarkably humorless in that regard, and the parrot in question was not a Norwegian blue. Go on down into the cellars instead; the vaulted room used to be a chapel. It's the best place to drink in the best bar in London.