The Top Bars in the Bahamas

Close to Sandyport Beach on the north coast of Nassau, this craft cocktail bar has more style than Chanel: think statement wallpaper, designer textiles and antique furniture. Apart from a few classics such as manhattans and old fashioneds, the drinks are original. Options include the high tea – made to taste like tea and cucumber sandwiches – and unicorn tears, made with gin, honey and bergamot bitters.

A shiny white grand piano tops the stage at this art deco bar, inside the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar hotel near Goodman Bay. International pianists, sax artists and soul singers perform here regularly, and martinis are the highlight of the drinks menu – flavours include watermelon, lychee, chocolate and even cucumber and jalapeno. Peckish? The bar offers a selection of dips, light bites and sharing platters to keep drinkers’ tummies ticking over.

The Bahamas’ home-grown craft brewery, Pirate Republic, has a taproom near Downtown Nassau, where you can sample the company’s full portfolio of beers, including the Long John Pilsner and Black Beer’d Stout. If you can’t make up your mind, order the beer flight. Or, for something a little different, try a beer-based cocktail like the Gunpowder Plot – it’s made with Black Beer’d Stout and Amarula cream – served on fire.

The paintwork at this waterside bar in Marsh Harbour is more colourful than a bag of Smarties – there are neon yellows, bold limes, bright blues and flamingo pinks everywhere. The drinks are just as bright, with margaritas the speciality, which come in watermelon, mango, strawberry and coconut flavours. Come here on a Sunday to enjoy bottomless mimosas with brunch, or on a Tuesday for the tacos and margarita specials.

This palapa-style bar nuzzles up to an ivory-white beach on the east coast of Eleuthera. Get a seat on the deck and look out over the sand and sea as you sip drinks like Tippy’s sunshine punch. The décor here is quirky – tables are made from old shutters and antique piano keyboards hang from the ceiling. Visit on a Saturday night to enjoy live music as you drink.

Sit on the wooden deck at the front of Pete’s Pub and watch the boats bobbing about in Little Harbour as you drink. Don’t miss the mango daquiris and margaritas – they’re made from fruits grown on Great Abaco. Hungry? The menu is newly inked onto the pub’s whiteboard every day: its contents depend on what the local fishermen catch in the mornings, but you can expect dishes like blackened mahi and ginger tuna.

This happy-go-lucky bar is in Governor’s Harbour – head here on weekends to catch live music and DJ sets that go on way past bedtime. Nights here begin with cold beers and rum punches and end with rows of apple, peach and salted caramel-flavoured shots. For something different, try the peach, strawberry or pineapple wines – they’re imported from Tiny Umbrellas winery in California.

Catch a water taxi from Elizabeth Harbour in George Town and you’ll arrive at Chat ‘N’ Chill – on Stocking Island – in five minutes. The bar here is fronted by a crescent of dove-white beach where you can sip classic Bahamian drinks – like goombay smashes and Bahama mamas – with your feet in the sand. Visit on a Sunday to enjoy the weekly pig roast, live music and liberal cocktail servings.