Best-of list · City Guide
The best bars in Stockholm right now: from the cocktail bars of Sodermalm to the hidden gems of Vasastan. Sofia Reeves picks 10 essential Stockholm.
The short answer
10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
The best bars in Stockholm carry a particular quality that is hard to find elsewhere. The Swedes approach drinking with the same design intelligence they apply to everything else, which means the rooms are considered, the menus are edited rather than exhaustive, and the cocktails reflect a genuine engagement with Nordic ingredients that goes beyond garnish. Stockholm is expensive. It is also, in our experience, among the most reliably excellent bar cities in Europe at any price point. These are the 10 bars we return to.
Sodermalm is Stockholm's most interesting drinking neighbourhood: dense, walkable, and home to the majority of the city's independent bars. Gamla Stan, the old town, is more tourist-adjacent but contains a handful of bars that earn their place on this list regardless of their postcode.
How we picked
The best bars in Stockholm share a commitment to place that makes them feel genuinely Swedish rather than internationally generic. Start at Himkok, which represents everything the city does well. Add Pharmarium for atmosphere, Nook for intimacy, and Linje Tio if you want to see Stockholm after midnight. For the craft beer side of the city — and Stockholm's scene is genuinely world-class, led by Omnipollo and the Södermalm tap room circuit — our Stockholm craft beer guide gives the full picture. For elevated outdoor drinking, our Stockholm rooftop bars guide covers Gondolen, Tak, and seven more elevated options. Budget for the prices: a cocktail costs around 160 SEK and the quality is commensurate. The city does not do budget drinking well. It does serious drinking very well indeed.
Sofia has been visiting Stockholm three times a year since 2017 and considers it the most design-consistent bar city in the world. She was at Himkok on the opening weekend and has been tracking its influence on Nordic bar culture ever since.
Last reviewed 2026-05-23 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.