If you visit enough of Asia’s Forbes Travel Guide Star-Rated hotels and resorts, you’ll notice some commonalities: the properties’ designs will feel fabulous without being fussy; service will be anticipatory but never overbearing; and, many times, the signature bars will feature memorable drinks that are full of color and creative backstories.
Forbes Travel Guide’s incognito inspectors sipped their way through the region and found the hotel bars that are must-visits. These spots are part of Forbes Travel Guide’s 2025 Star Bars, an inaugural list of the world’s best hotel bars. To find the 58 honorees — the number pays tribute to FTG’s 1958 founding as Mobil Travel Guide — expert inspectors visited each one multiple times. The winners were determined by data collected as part of FTG’s 2024 and 2025 Star Ratings, based on several exacting standards. The top publicly accessible bars achieved the highest scores for their beverage program and presentation, as well as providing seamless service and an exceptional guest experience.
Whether you have a taste for tequila in Tokyo or an inspired concoction in Chengdu, these top hotel bars will deliver:
The St. Regis Bar
The St. Regis Macao, China
The glamorous hotel bar’s signature drink, the Macao Egg Tart, sounds good enough to eat. The egg tart is a staple in Macau, a former Portuguese colony, and it inspired mixologist Kevin Lai’s creation. The rum elixir blends rich advocaat (a custard-like liqueur) and cream with delicate citrus notes. It gives off a spiced caramel aroma, like the pastry’s scorched tops.
If that leaves you hungry for more, order Boston lobster sliders, 24-karat-gold fried chicken or Australian Black Angus beef char siu.
The Bamboo Bar
Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
The hotel’s Bamboo Bar feels timeless, strumming the line between tradition and modernity. Opened in 1953 as Bangkok’s first jazz bar, this institution continues to showcase jazz singers and bands Mondays to Saturdays and pianists on Sundays. It serves classic cocktails alongside newer creations like Mango Sticky Rice, a play on Thailand’s beloved dessert with Belvedere vodka, Chalong Bay rum, coconut water, Silpin jasmine rice syrup and a light foam topping made from mango, honey and orange juice, then sprinkled with puffed yellow mung beans.
BKK Social Club
Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River
Latin America comes to Bangkok in this striking Buenos Aires art nouveau bar at Four Seasons Bangkok. BKK crafts its own version of the paloma called La Capilla, named after the Tequila, Mexico, bar of the cocktail’s creator, Don Javier Delgado Corona. The heady mixture of Strawberry Cenote Blanco tequila, Se Busca peach mezcal, citrus, sea salt and Fever-Tree sparkling pink grapefruit manages to taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty.
Mexican-inspired snacks, like guacamole, mini burritos, tacos and empanadas, round out the offerings.
The Capitol Bar
The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, Tokyo
This quiet hideaway at The Capitol Hotel channels a library, but the flowing water at the entrance, the koto (Japanese zither) music and a ceiling that mimics the nearby Hie Shrine reveal that this place is much more.
An ode to Japanese artistry, the Origami blends Japanese craft gin with fresh mandarin juice, and it arrives in an eye-catching Edo Kiriko glass embellished with traditional kumadori kabuki-style patterns.
Pair it with the fried chicken basket. The basket’s napkin is artfully folded into a crane for another touch of origami elegance.
Le Bar
Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li
Shanghainese charm marries French romance at this intimate bar at Capella Shanghai. There’s also fusion in the drinks, which highlight seasonal, local ingredients. One of the most creative concoctions is the Rabbit Gin Fizz. For this whimsical take on the classic sour, the beloved Shanghai rabbit candy — a milky, chewy treat — is slow-cooked with gin. Bartenders then add in Cointreau, lemon juice, lemon sherbet and soda water.
Enjoy the frothy sip with cashews, breadsticks with garlic and basil and Belazu Spanish mix olives.
Limited Edition Sip Bar
Waldorf Astoria Chengdu, China
On the Chengdu hotel’s 51st floor, this bar hovers above Tianfu Avenue’s glittering skyline and the green expanse of Jiaozi Park. After gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the leather-and-wood-filled space, order one of its top cocktails, the Pink Gin & Tonic. The traditional G&T gets a fruity update with strawberry gin and an attention-grabbing pink hue.
Some snacks also get revamped. The regional staple “cold rabbit” — hare meat in a spicy sauce — receives a plant-based makeover: bold, Sichuan-style chilled bean curd.
The Loft
Waldorf Astoria Bangkok
A melding of art deco and art nouveau in The Loft recalls a bygone NYC era. But the skyline panoramas from the hotel’s 56th-floor windows give away that the bar is, in fact, in Bangkok.
The offerings also betray the location. The Illusion adds complexity to a gin and tonic by injecting Thai notes of lemongrass (thanks to a syrup) and pandan leaf (from a housemade soda). And the accompanying snacks embrace Bangkok flavors, including tom yum-spiced peanuts and crispy banana chips.
The Lounge & Bar
Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto
Peering out over the hotel’s 800-year-old Heritage Pond Garden, this bar specializes in Japanese culture and hospitality. Witness it in cocktails like the Oyasumi (which means “goodnight” in Japanese), a distinctly local take on a classic sour. Okinawan rum serves as the base, and black sesame syrup lends a nutty richness and layered depth, balanced by the bright acidity and vibrance of lemon and ripe mango. Smooth, subtly sweet and a touch exotic, the nightcap is an elegant way to say farewell to the evening.
The Lounge & Bar
The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
Drink in spectacular views of Victoria Harbour and the cityscape from this sky bar on the 102nd floor. During the day, the modern, window-lined venue serves breakfast and afternoon tea, then at night, it shifts to innovative cocktails, like the Kagoulevardie, a Japanese reinterpretation of the classic Boulevardier. The after-meal cocktail swaps in a smooth, rich whiskey from Kagoshima and adds in The Ritz-Carlton’s coffee blend and sweet Okinawa black sugar.
The decadent snacks range from the Iberian charcuterie board to the pan-seared foie gras with caramelized apple compote.
MO Bar
Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
This inventive hotel bar overlooking Marina Bay is constantly remaking itself. You read the latest menu, “Volume Six: The Echoes of Singapore,” through a viewfinder with a tinted reel disc. Seek out the Reclaimed Sling 2.0, a crystal-clear version of the country’s most famous red cocktail. Bartenders strip away the pigmentation to unveil a rich, nuanced profile. After distillation, gin and Cointreau add a flavor boost, and a red housemade lollipop crafted from the drink’s ingredients lends a fun garnish.
MOBO Bar
JW Marriott Hotel Seoul
Fragrant sprigs of rosemary, lemon twists and crushed basil guide this botanical bar, as does the other produce growing in the adjacent greenhouse. Get a taste of the ingredients in the made-for-sharing San Martini. Served in a sleek, disc-shaped bottle, the Bombay Sapphire, dry vermouth and yellow Chartreuse mix gets infused with rosemary, and Goldcrest Wilma and lemon peel enhance the freshness.
Of course, the best place to sip the martini is the Gangnam hotel bar’s verdant seventh-floor terrace, where flickering fire sets the mood at night.
Rooftop Bar
Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills
East and West collide at Andaz Tokyo’s bar. In the Kiyohime Amazake, the subtle sweetness of pear-infused Grey Goose La Poire Vodka melts into the creamy amazake — an ancient, fermented rice elixir. Matcha brings some bitterness, and yuzu adds brightness.
Then nosh on deviled eggs topped with salmon roe and lime or crispy chicken karaage with wasabi mayo.
Take your treat and tipple outside: the vistas from the 52nd-floor bar’s semi-open-air terrace stretch from Tokyo Skytree to Rainbow Bridge to Tokyo Bay.
The Study
Four Seasons Hotel, Macao, China
Traverse the cocktail world with the hotel bar’s Explorers’ Menu — A Tribute to Global Pioneers. The drinks reimagine the journeys of legendary adventurers. Navigator’s Delight honors intrepid Portuguese voyager Vasco da Gama with an intoxicating blend of vodka, triple sec, vanilla syrup, tangy sour mix and Portuguese red wine.
Teetotalers also can embark on liquid expeditions. The City of Langholm — the Scottish town claims moon-stepping astronaut Neil Armstrong as its native son — contains alcohol-free whiskey, floral lavender, velvety vanilla, chocolate bitters and sour mix.
VIRTÙ
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi
French spirits get the Japanese treatment at the Four Seasons’ inviting art deco-influenced bar. The Yuzu Nagi, a bright, citrus-forward hit among both guests and bartenders, incorporates Japanese craft gin infused with yuzu and sansho, fresh yuzu juice, yuzu syrup, yuzu bitters and cognac for depth.
For the Smoked Ume Fashioned, the bar makes a sweet, tangy plum liqueur, or umeshu, with nanko plums from Wakayama and combines it with whisky and hinoki bitters. For a fragrant finish, a bartender performs a tableside smoke using cherry wood chips.
Wing Lei Bar
Wynn Palace, Macau, China
Luxuriate in the opulent interiors — including an emerald and gold color palette, walls with mirrors and inlaid semi-precious stones and a bohemian crystal chandelier — as you peruse the impressive gin collection at Wynn Palace’s bar.
But don’t overlook the Yuenyeung. Inspired by the Cantonese cha chaan teng classic, a fusion of milk tea and coffee, the drink is a tropical spin on an espresso martini. Pineapple rum is shaken with made-in-house black tea pineapple syrup to counteract the dark roast espresso’s bitterness.
