Twenty-five bars across rooftops, cocktail rooms and speakeasies, hotel classics, the beach and the pubs. Which building each one is actually in this year, what the award lists say, and what we could not confirm.
Photograph: https://pixabay.com/users/bulletrain743-3598825/, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
A Dubai bar list has two problems that a London one does not. Every bar is inside a hotel or a licensed development, so the venue is part of the address, and the venues keep changing: Iris is no longer on the Oberoi rooftop, Cove Beach is no longer at Caesars, Barasti closed in June 2026, Gold on 27 shut with the Burj Al Arab in April, and the Cloud 22 pool deck has been closed since spring. This page names the building each bar is in as of this week, and lists the famous ones that are gone.
What we could verify and what we could not. Venues and areas are resolved for all twenty-five. Award claims are checked against the lists themselves: Mimi Kakushi is thirty-sixth on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2025, LPM sixtieth, Galaxy Bar was fiftieth in 2023, and the rank everyone quotes for Salmon Guru belongs to Madrid. Opening hours, dress codes and signature drinks are almost entirely unverified, because Time Out and the trade press block automated reading and most bar sites publish none of it; the cards leave those fields empty rather than guess.
Grouped by the kind of evening: rooftops, cocktail rooms and speakeasies, hotel classics and wine, the beach, and the pubs.
Six, from Cé La Vi on the 54th floor of Address Sky View to Iris at its new Meydan home. Attiko at the W Mina Seyahi is Time Out’s number one rooftop for 2026; Level 43 was highly commended at the What’s On awards.
Level-54 terrace with an infinity pool and Burj Khalifa filling the view. Asian-leaning cocktails, a DJ programme and a strict door make it the see-and-be-seen rooftop of Downtown.
2 of 2 roundups read rank it among the top Dubai rooftops for 2026
All-outdoor lounge that moved from the rooftop of The Oberoi in Business Bay to the Meydan Grandstand, trading a close-up Burj Khalifa view for a wider skyline panorama across the racecourse. Sunset sets first, DJs later.
3 of 3 listings read place it at Meydan Grandstand
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com, corner.inc, zomato.com, resy.com.
Japanese-Brazilian-Peruvian restaurant on the 51st floor of The Palm Tower with a bar and terrace that look straight down the Palm fronds. Drinks at the bar are the affordable way in.
Sources read 20 September 2026: sushisamba.com, therooftopguide.com.
Thirty-first-floor terrace with a pool, DJ decks and views over the Palm and Ain Dubai; sunset drinks that turn into a party. Cocktails reported in the AED 80-120 range.
3 of 3 roundups read rate it Dubai's leading rooftop for 2026
Wraparound 43rd-floor terrace with a 360-degree view from Burj Khalifa to the coast, at hotel-bar rather than club prices. A sundowner staple for Sheikh Zayed Road.
Sixteenth-floor pool terrace at FIVE Palm Jumeirah with the Marina skyline as the backdrop and a party crowd from sunset onwards.
Mimi Kakushi is the city’s highest-ranked bar in the world. Galaxy Bar, hidden inside Avli in DIFC, is the speakeasy that made the 50 Best three times. Ergo at the EDITION, Salmon Guru at the ME, the bars at Zuma and COYA, Flashback behind the Paramount and Seven Tales inside Grosvenor House.
Forty-five-seat space-themed lounge behind an unmarked door in the DIFC courtyard, with a constellation-inspired cocktail list. Quiet at opening, a DJ-led late-night room from about 11pm.
4 of 4 sources read place it in DIFC Gate Village; official site lists the awards
Sources read 2026-09-24: galaxy-bar.com, thepinnacleguide.com, flawless.life, zomato.com.
Dubai outpost of the Madrid bar that sits at No. 37 on The World's 50 Best Bars 2025, mixing a sixties tropical speakeasy, an Asian night market and comic-book visuals. Theatrical serves; the ranking belongs to the Madrid original, not this branch.
3 of 3 sources read place it at ME Dubai / The Opus in Business Bay
Sources read 2026-07-24: melia.com, thenationalnews.com, timeoutdubai.com, theworlds50best.com.
Cocktail-led bar and restaurant on the mezzanine of The Dubai EDITION on Dubai Fountain Street, with a chef-driven menu and a serious drinks list; reported to have cut bar-menu prices by 22 percent.
3 of 3 sources read place it at The Dubai EDITION
The bar and lounge of Zuma's DIFC restaurant, a financial-district fixture for after-work drinks and sake-led cocktails with a smart crowd.
Sources read 2026: zumarestaurant.com, nightlifeofdubai.com.
Pisco-led bar attached to the Peruvian restaurant at the Four Seasons Restaurant Village, with a long list of house infusions and a terrace.
Sources read 20 September 2026: coyarestaurant.com.
Japanese restaurant and bar styled on 1920s Osaka, with a cocktail programme strong enough to sit at No. 36 on The World's 50 Best Bars 2025, the highest-ranked Dubai venue on the list.
Sources read 2025-10: theworlds50best.com.
Hidden behind a bookcase in the Paramount Hotel lobby, a retro speakeasy that Time Out counts among the city's top secret bars for 2026.
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com.
Jason Atherton's hidden bar inside City Social at Grosvenor House, on Time Out's 2026 list of Dubai's top secret bars.
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com.
Vault on the 71st floor of the JW Marriott Marquis, the Library Bar at the Ritz-Carlton JBR, and Bar Buci for wine at Al Qasr.
Bar on the 71st and 72nd floors of the JW Marriott Marquis with a cigar lounge, live DJs and a view across Business Bay to Burj Khalifa. Classic cocktails and a smarter crowd than the rooftops.
Sources read 2026: marriott.com.
Antique-furnished drawing-room bar at the Ritz-Carlton on The Walk, with smoked cocktails, house-finished whisky and a long whisky list. The quiet, grown-up alternative to JBR's beach bars.
Lobby-level bar at Jumeirah Al Qasr with a vintage jazz mood, sea views and a European wine and cocktail list; the sedate Madinat alternative to the rooftops.
Sources read 2026: jumeirah.com, dubainight.com.
Drift, back from its summer pause on 19 August; Nikki Beach; WHITE Beach at Atlantis, with a caveat about which Atlantis; Cove Beach at its JBR address; and Bar du Port on the Dubai Harbour promenade for the sundowner.
Ibiza-born bar on the Dubai Harbour promenade with a long wine list, cocktails and a terrace facing the superyachts and Ain Dubai. The area's default sundowner.
Sources read 20 September 2026: bardu-port.com.
Mediterranean-style beach club at the One&Only Royal Mirage with an infinity pool, a kilometre of private beach and views to the Marina. Daytime only.
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com, driftbeachdubai.com.
Global white-and-teak beach club brand at its own resort on Pearl Jumeirah, with a pool, beach, DJ sessions and weekend parties.
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com, dubai.nikkibeach.com.
Beach club on the Atlantis beach with an infinity pool facing the Dubai skyline, beach brunches and a DJ-led programme after dark.
Sources read 2026: timeoutdubai.com, atlantis.com.
Mediterranean-style beach club with long seaside terraces, calm music by morning and a livelier afternoon; it has moved sites over the years so confirm the current one.
McGettigan’s in JLT, Bull & Bear at the Waldorf DIFC, and Long’s Bar at the Towers Rotana, the longest bar in the Middle East by its own account.
Dubai's flagship Irish pub, with live sport on big screens, live music and a Friday brunch; the group has several branches but JLT is the original.
Sources read 2026: mcgettigans.com, dubaisbest.com.
Waldorf Astoria's DIFC gastropub with a sports-bar edge, craft beers and a terrace; a financial-district after-work default.
Sources read 20 September 2026: hilton.com.
Sheikh Zayed Road institution that claims the longest bar in the Middle East, with pub food, quiz nights and a no-frills crowd.
Sources read 20 September 2026: rotana.com.
Both checked trading in September 2026. The two we also went looking for, Little Black Door at the Conrad and El Chiringuito at Rixos The Palm, are permanently closed and are on the tracker instead.
Feet-in-the-sand beachfront lounge on the Royal Mirage's private beach – bean bags on the sand plus a designed main lounge, chill-out music and Gulf sunset views.
Treated as one of Dubai's most dependable sundowner spots rather than a cocktail-programme destination – the setting does the work, not the drinks list. Because almost all seating is outdoors it reads as a cool-season venue and is far less pleasant at the height of summer. Booking is not required but is widely advised around sunset.
Rooftop bar and social-dining lounge with a double aspect – Burj Khalifa and the skyline one way, the Arabian Gulf the other – serving Mediterranean plates and temari sushi alongside cocktails and shisha.
BRIEF CORRECTION: this is NOT at Four Seasons DIFC – it is on the roof of the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, and it was renamed Mercury Rooftop after a 2024 redesign. It trades on view geometry, being one of very few Dubai rooftops facing both the Burj Khalifa and the sea, and the refit pushed it towards a dressed-up, music-led late-night room. It is a panorama-and-scene venue, not a critically recognised cocktail bar – it does not appear on the World's 50 Best Bars 2025 list, where Mimi Kakushi was Dubai's only top-50 entry and La Petite Maison placed 51-100.
Checked 20 to 24 September 2026.
By the only global list that ranks them, Mimi Kakushi at the Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach, thirty-sixth on the World's 50 Best Bars 2025, then LPM at sixtieth. For a speakeasy, Galaxy Bar in DIFC. For a rooftop, Time Out's 2026 pick is Attiko.
No. It is inside the Burj Al Arab, which closed in April 2026 for an eighteen-month restoration.
No. It closed in June 2026 and is expected back in 2027.
Meydan Grandstand in Nad Al Sheba. It left the Oberoi rooftop in Business Bay; most guides have not updated.
No. It left in March 2024, and Caesars became Banyan Tree Dubai in December 2023. Cove Beach now trades at La Vie in JBR.
Alcohol is served in hotels and in licensed developments such as DIFC Gate Village, Bluewaters and Dubai Harbour. Every bar on this page names its venue.
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