The World’s 50 Best Bars recently published its list for 2024, and two bars in Athens made the cut - making them two of the very best bars anywhere in the world. You’ve always been able to enjoy a drink in Athens, right through to the early hours of the morning, but until a few years ago it wasn’t thought of as a sophisticated cocktail bar/mixology hotspot.
That scene has very much changed, however, and a few years ago another Athens bar made that impressive list - The Clumsies. I’ve been lucky enough to visit The Clumsies and can confirm that their cocktails will knock your socks off. You can read about it here, along with another Athens cocktail bar, MoMix Bar Kerameikos. They’re both still going strong, though I don’t know why The Clumsies has fallen out of favour with the World’s 50 Best Bars judges, but it’s still going strong and I really recommend a visit if you’re in Athens. Here’s a link to their website.
The two new bars to make the Top 50 list are Line Athens (at number 6) and the old favourite, Baba Au Rum (number 17).
Line Athens is housed in what used to be an art gallery at Agathodemonos 37, west of Filopappou Hill, and of it the judges said: “Here, they don’t just mix and serve products, they also make many of them on site. That means back-of-house stainless-steel tanks gently fermenting with the season’s bounty, the latest of them being a strawberry wine, a ferment of yellow and white peach and a winter melon vermouth.”
Baba Au Rum specialises in rum, as the name suggests, with over 400 different bottles to choose from., though of course they have other options too. You’ll find them at Klitiou 6.
So next time you’re in Athens, don’t just go for dinner with a bottle of Greek wine, head to one of these cocktail bars before or after (or both), and find out why they’re among the best bars in the world.
Till next time
Mike and Donna