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The 15 Best Rooftop Bars in the World That Are Worth the Dress Code

Most rooftop bars are the same: overpriced drinks, a view of an air-conditioning unit, and a bouncer who looked at your shoes. These 15 are the ones where the view justifies the queue, the cocktail, and the lie you told about your footwear.

I was once turned away from a rooftop bar in Singapore for wearing the wrong shade of navy. Not the wrong style, not the wrong footwear — the wrong shade. The bouncer, to his credit, explained this with the gravity of someone delivering a medical diagnosis. I went back the next night in a different shirt. The cocktail was R$28. The view was, I must admit, worth every cent of the social humiliation.

Here are the fifteen rooftop bars in the world that have earned the right to be picky.

1. Lebua Sky Bar, Bangkok, Thailand

The one from The Hangover Part II. The circular bar, sixty-three storeys up, with views across Bangkok’s entire glittering mess. The signature Hangovertini is a tourist trap; the Negroni is excellent. Go at sunset, stay past dark. Yes, there is a dress code. No, they will not let you in wearing flip-flops.

2. 230 Fifth, New York City, USA

The rooftop garden on 28th Street with the Empire State Building filling your entire field of vision. Plastic igloos in winter make it year-round. Heated, open-air, and the one New York rooftop that actually rewards the cover charge. Arrive before 8pm to avoid the queue.

3. Aer, Mumbai, India

Thirty-four floors above the Four Seasons in Worli, with views of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link lit at night. A genuinely beautiful spot in a city that has almost no skyline bars worth the trouble. The cocktail menu leans Indian spirits. Go on a clear evening — smog is a real variable.

4. CÉ LA VI, Singapore

On top of Marina Bay Sands, with the infinity pool one floor below and the city-state’s entire skyline arranged as if someone staged it for a competition. The drinks are priced accordingly. The view is every bit as dramatic as the photos suggest.

5. Asha’s Rooftop, Doha, Qatar

A relatively new entry, above a heritage building in Katara Cultural Village. The Doha skyline across the bay is genuinely stunning and still feels undiscovered. The food is better than the bar, but the bar is the reason you go.

6. Bar 1920, Rome, Italy

On top of the Kolbe Hotel in the shadow of the Palatine Hill, with views across the Forum and toward the Colosseum. Rome’s rooftop scene is patchy, but this one delivers the ancient-city panorama with a Negroni in hand. Reservations essential.

7. La Suite West, London, UK

The rooftop at this Notting Hill boutique hotel is small, genuinely hard to book, and has views of the London skyline that include the Shard, the Gherkin, and the Post Office Tower all at once on a clear day. Worth the obscure postcode.

8. Carpe Diem Champagne Bar, Hvar, Croatia

Not a traditional rooftop — more a cliffside platform above the old town — but the perspective over the Adriatic and the islands beyond is extraordinary. Extremely good champagne. Extremely long queue. Arrive at 5pm.

9. The Rooftop at the Standard, Los Angeles, USA

The original Standard Hotel Downtown LA, with the pool and the view of the downtown skyline and the sense that something interesting might happen at any moment. It’s Hollywood without being in Hollywood. The crowd is mixed, the vibes are good, the drinks are California-priced.

10. Vertigo Rooftop Restaurant & Bar, Bangkok, Thailand

At the Banyan Tree, fifty-nine floors up, open-air and narrow — a genuine ledge feeling with no glass barrier between you and the city. More dramatic and less crowded than Lebua. Order the sunset cocktails before the views disappear.

11. Zinc, Cape Town, South Africa

On the roof of the Grand Daddy Hotel in the city bowl, with Signal Hill on one side and Table Mountain on the other. Cape Town is blessed with dramatic geography and Zinc exploits it fully. Unusually good food, not just a bar that happens to have a view.

12. Seen, Lisbon, Portugal

The rooftop at the Tivoli Avenida Liberdade, with a 360-degree view of Lisbon’s terracotta roofscape. The bar is excellent; the Sunday brunch is a whole thing. Get a table on the east side for the Castelo de São Jorge angle.

13. Cloud 23, Manchester, UK

Twenty-three floors above the city in the Beetham Tower, with views across Greater Manchester on a clear day that reach the Peak District hills. The cocktails are genuinely creative and the price point is reasonable by London rooftop standards. A hidden gem.

14. Radio Rooftop Bar, London, UK

At ME London on the Strand, with views toward the Thames, St. Paul’s, and the City skyline. The crowd is younger and louder than some entries on this list. The view is excellent at golden hour. Booking ahead is mandatory.

15. Clouds, Shanghai, China

On the 92nd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center, this is technically an observatory but functions like the world’s highest bar with jaw-dropping views of Pudong and the Huangpu River. Not cheap. Not quiet. Absolutely worth it.

City	Best rooftop	Best time to go	Dress code?
Bangkok	Lebua Sky Bar	Sunset (6pm)	Yes, smart casual
New York	230 Fifth	Before 8pm	Relaxed
Singapore	CÉ LA VI	Dusk	Smart casual
Rome	Bar 1920	Golden hour	Smart casual
Lisbon	Seen	Sunday brunch	Relaxed
Cape Town	Zinc	Sunset	Relaxed
London	Radio Rooftop	6–8pm	Smart
Shanghai	Clouds	Night	Smart

Do I need to book in advance? For nearly all of these: yes, weeks in advance for weekends. Walk-ins exist as a concept; they rarely succeed at the good ones.

Are the drinks always overpriced? Yes, uniformly. Budget for at least one cocktail at twice what you’d pay at a regular bar. Consider it the view surcharge. It is absolutely a view surcharge.

What’s the actual best time to visit a rooftop bar? Forty-five minutes before sunset, stay through the blue hour. You get both the dramatic sky and the lit-up city. The in-between moment when both are happening simultaneously is the one the photos never quite capture.

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