Skipper’s Pier has anchored the West River waterfront for so long it knows exactly what its regulars want before they order it, crabs, live music, and a pier that stretches right out over the water.
Skull Creek, Port Royal Sound, and the Intracoastal all converge in view of this multi-level complex, one of the most active waterfront settings anywhere on the South Carolina coast.
Ocean City’s rooftop option, Skye Bar trades street-level crowds for elevated views over the resort town’s roofline to the Atlantic beyond.
A 50-year Amelia Island beach bar institution, oceanfront tiki and a sand-side playground for the kids.
Hemingway’s legendary Duval Street bar since Prohibition ended, still the loudest party on the strip.
The beachfront cousin of Key West’s legend, serving conch fritters and frozen drinks on Gulf sand.
Not really a bar in the conventional sense, Wednesday nights at Smith’s Point are an open-air fish fry tradition that predates the tourist industry entirely, fresh cracked conch and the genuine community spirit of Grand Bahama.
Flip flops required, frozen cocktails cold, ocean never out of sight, Smuggler’s keeps the rum shack formula exactly as simple as it should be.
The tiki side of Snapper’s goes by The Turtle Club, and it has been a Top 10 Florida beach bar contender since it opened in 1989, three separate bars for whichever mood the evening calls for.
Key Largo’s Grand Tiki over Florida Bay, built for long lazy afternoons and better sunsets.
The BVI bar that invented the Painkiller — no dock, no problem. Just swim ashore with your soggy dollars and let this Caribbean legend do the rest.
Soles does not overthink the Dominican tourist-coast formula, cold drinks and Caribbean water that turn an afternoon into evening without anyone noticing or minding.
The name commits fully to the bit, cold craft beer and a genuinely welcoming crowd in a Capitol Hill scene that never needed to advertise itself.
The name captures the exact feeling of arriving somewhere perfect and refusing to leave, and Grace Bay’s water makes that instinct completely rational.
Locals just call it the taco and expect you to already know they mean South Beach’s legendary Mahi fish taco, 22 tequilas, no Wi-Fi, and a sunset deck that has been making Ocean Beach glow orange since 1992.
South Beach Grill keeps St. Augustine Beach supplied with cold drinks and casual seafood a short walk from the sand.
South Shore Tiki Lounge provides genuine warmth instead of manufactured aloha, a Kihei neighborhood bar that actually serves its neighborhood.
The closest bar to Cuba in the continental U.S., with sunsets to match the bragging rights.
A nautical Intracoastal dive since 1973, raw bar staples and free dockage for boaters.
A middle Keys tiki bar with wood-fired pizza, BOGO mimosas, and a former mayor on the mic.
The view across the Narrows to Nevis from Cockleshell Bay is one of the most beautiful in the entire Eastern Caribbean, and Spice Mill pairs it with a genuinely serious cocktail program.
On the Caribbean side of Frigate Bay Beach — Spinnakers delivers consistent rum punches, grilled seafood, and weekend live music to the Saint Kitts crowd that knows better than to leave.
Panama City Beach’s beachfront party bar where Spring Break energy never checks out.
The clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Splash Cafe has been pulling PCH road-trippers off the highway for decades, and it is every bit as good as the reputation suggests.
St. Croix is the USVI’s largest and most undervisited island, Frederiksted even more so, and Spratnet captures the genuinely local character that comes from staying that way.
Jupiter, FL
With sand, cold beers, great bartenders and Jimmy Buffett street cred, it’s hard to argue whether or not this is a beach bar.
A treehouse-style deck over the Banana River, wood-fired seafood and sunsets built in.
Stan and Joe’s is not trying to be anything other than exactly what it is: cold beer, fresh crabs, and a dock on the Rhode River, which is precisely why the community is fiercely loyal to it.
James Bond filmed Thunderball Grotto scenes right next door, and the swimming pigs of Big Major Cay are a short boat ride away. Staniel Cay sits at the actual social center of one of the world’s most spectacular boating destinations.
Wildwood Crest is the quieter, more residential end of the Wildwoods, and Star Beach Bar still bottles the essential Jersey Shore summer spirit without the northern strip’s full-volume chaos.
Mullet is what put Cortez on the map, and Star Fish Co still serves it at picnic tables in one of the last working fishing villages left in Florida.
The Wildwoods have been perfecting the family-friendly-meets-adults-only balancing act for seventy summers running, and Starboard Swim Club pours cold drinks right in the middle of that seventy-year tradition.
Boiled shrimp pulled straight from the same tidal waters you can see from the table, Stingray’s runs on the kind of direct Low Country hospitality that never needs to try hard.
At the southern edge of Baltimores harbor, Stoney Creek Inn is a true locals bar by the water, cold beer, seasonal crabs, and South Baltimore character the Inner Harbors polished venues left behind.
The Clarke’s Landing outpost of the beloved Stoney’s brand puts the Patuxent right in your lap, steamed crabs, oysters, rockfish, and a big-deck party atmosphere that does the rest of the work for you.
The Elizabeth River sits right in your lap at Stony’s, a Norfolk dock bar with a loyal boating crowd that has kept coming back for reasons that become obvious the second you sit down.
New Buffalo is the unofficial gateway to Harbor Country, where Chicago weekenders and Michigan’s year-round lake community both claim the Stray Dog as their own.
Watching Navy ships move across the world’s largest naval base while eating striped bass off the Elizabeth River is a genuinely singular Virginia experience, and Stripers has built a whole restaurant around that view.
Drinking rum cocktails among the ruins of an actual sugar estate turns Jamaica’s plantation history into a setting instead of a museum piece, a distinctly Ocho Rios experience found nowhere else in the Caribbean.
Named for the old lift bridge above the draw, Suicide Bridge sits on a quiet Choptank tributary far enough off the main roads that finding it feels like the whole point of the trip.
Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like It Hot here, and the Sun Deck still pours cold cocktails above the same red-turreted Victorian silhouette that has been standing since 1888.
The rooftop perspective changes the whole equation, the Caribbean horizon in front, the San Juan skyline behind, a view the beach-level Isla Verde bars simply cannot compete with.
Arriving jets pass so low over this beach that guests get literally blown off their feet by the blast, watching a 747 descend at rooftop level with a cold drink in hand is unlike anything else on Earth.
The western light drops over Bahamian water here every single evening, a daily event worth showing up early for at this Nassau beach club.
A Treasure Island cafe angled perfectly to catch Pinellas County’s spectacular Gulf sunsets.
Cocoa Beach’s boat-accessible sunset spot, dolphins and manatees included with the view.
Vera’s has been a Southern Maryland pilgrimage for decades, Patuxent sunsets, boisterous crab feasts, and live music that turns a summer visit into an annual tradition whether you planned on that or not.
A cinematic Seven Mile Bridge backdrop, oceanfront pool, and Jimmy Buffett on loop all day.
Duck represents the quieter, more refined end of the Outer Banks spectrum, and the sunset over Currituck Sound from this deck is legitimately one of the best reasons to believe it.
Ohio’s oldest summer resort has been drawing visitors to this exact lakefront strip since the 1870s, and the Sunset Grille has 150-plus years of Lake Erie sunset tradition to lean on.
Marco Island’s most sought-after sunset spot, fresh grouper facing the Gulf’s western shore.
The best seat for Key West’s Sunset Celebration, minus the Mallory Square street performers.
Anguilla has the finest beaches in the Caribbean and some of its most genuine bars to match, and Sunshine Shack proves both claims with cold Carib beer and zero pretense.
The home of the Killer Bee cocktail on Pinney’s Beach, Nevis — Sunshine Meade’s legendary rum drink and warmth have made this unassuming beach shack a Caribbean institution.
Llewellyn Daniel, known simply as Sunshine, has been mixing the legendary Killer Bee on Pinney’s Beach since 1989, Nevis Peak rising behind a bar that has become an essential Caribbean stop purely through one man’s personality.
Fresh fried clams and cold Maine beer, Surf 6 knows exactly the crowd it serves on the OOB beach bar circuit and never overthinks it.
Conch fritters and a killer rum punch on the Coral Bay waterfront, Surf Club Cantina makes it clear from the first sip that you are already part of the crew.
Hampton’s working harbor and serious naval traffic provide a dramatic backdrop most restaurants would kill for, and Surf Rider Bluewater gets it for free along with the fresh seafood and Orange Crushes.
The bay side of Virginia Beach trades the oceanfront hustle for sailboats and calm water, and this Surf Rider outpost at Marina Shores is the peaceful counterpoint to the strip’s louder energy.
Poquoson is fiercely independent and sits right at the marsh’s edge between two rivers, and this Surf Rider location matches that energy: cold drinks and fresh crab at the literal edge of the world.
South Shore Long Islanders get a proper coastal escape without ever leaving Nassau County, frozen cocktails and fish tacos with genuinely cheerful flip-flop energy.
Narragansett’s breaks are genuinely well-regarded on the East Coast, and Surf Shack gives the surfing crowd a proper bar to anchor the afternoon after the session.
Dancing right on the sand under the stars during reggae nights, Tabanuco is the local favorite for turning one drink into a full evening out.
Jacques Cousteau called the Sea of Cortez the aquarium of the world, and Taboo sits right where it meets the Pacific at Land’s End, Cabo’s famous arch rock included at no extra charge.
Orange Beach’s beloved Tacky Jack’s on the Intracoastal Waterway — cold Bushwackers, fresh Gulf oysters, live music, and the Sunday brunch oyster bar most visitors have never heard of.
The Intracoastal boat traffic provides the entertainment and Tacky Jack’s provides the cold Bushwackers, live music filling the deck every single summer weekend.
The original Tacky Jack’s location has watched dolphins swim past Cotton Bayou since the 1980s, and the Bushwacker here has been voted best on the whole Alabama coast.
Louise Marston opened this in 1963 and the sheer force of her personality turned it into north shore Kauai’s social center, still family-owned, still exactly what it has always been, Hollywood celebrities included.
The quintessential pre-Crab Island stop on Destin Harbor, oysters and harbor views included.
The 1968 World Surfing Championships put Rincon permanently on the global surf map, and Tamboo has the best seat in the house above Sandy Beach to watch exactly why.
A Caribbean-hipster vibe on Playa Cocles that makes you forget what day it is, killer tacos and a crowd that all feel like they found the same secret.
A Collins Avenue hangout for mango margaritas, hookah, and easy South Beach fun.
The name is a promise and Tequila Sunset delivers on it nightly, live music while the sky over the Laguna Madre actually explodes orange on cue.
Ocean Springs’ community bar in the Gulf Coast’s most artistically vibrant city — cold drinks, fresh Gulf oysters, and the creative warm energy of the Walter Anderson Museum town.
Great Egg Harbor Bay’s boat traffic provides the entertainment while the Anchorage handles cold beer and fresh catch, direct South Jersey hospitality with zero pretense.
The Andrea’s slightly time-worn charm has been welcoming summer visitors to Misquamicut for generations, a vintage beach hotel bar that never bothered updating what already works.
Destin’s oldest beachfront restaurant since 1974, birthplace of the Amberjack sandwich.
Duck grew from a small fishing village into one of the Outer Banks’ most desirable addresses without losing its soul, and the BackBar serves the permanent community as faithfully as the summer visitors.
Lemongrass cocktails and Southeast Asian flavor bring genuine international character to the Holy City’s increasingly diverse bar scene, bold and distinctly its own thing.
Mandeville’s lakefront craft beer destination — 150 global beers, Lake Pontchartrain seawall views, and the best tap list on the Northshore.
Sand, cold drinks, and a tropical escape mindset, The Beach Bar knows its whole job is convincing Glen Burnie its somewhere better than a suburb south of Baltimore, and it delivers.
Steps from the Cruz Bay ferry dock, The Beach Bar earns its blunt name honestly, a pie-shaped bar wrapped in ocean views with picnic tables right in the sand. The Beach Bar Bum tried, and failed, to find a single flaw.
A community-anchored Estero Island bar that’s weathered booms and hurricanes with the same easy-going warmth.
The Hawaii Calls radio broadcasts beamed Waikiki’s surf sound to the mainland for decades from under this exact banyan tree, over 120 years of hotel history wrapped around a cold drink and Diamond Head in the distance.
Siesta Key’s high-voltage nightlife hub, DJ nights and themed parties on an otherwise laid-back island.
A preserved 1930s beach cottage inside a state park, right on the sand at Crystal Cove, the Beachcomber is the closest thing California has to a time machine that also serves cocktails.
A grandfather clause protected this exact spot when JFK created the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961, making the Beachcomber the only oceanfront bar left on the Atlantic side of the Cape, a Great White-patrolled beach and a Goombay Smash that Esquire once ranked among the best bars in America.
On Virginia’s Northern Neck, water is not scenery, it is the entire point of daily life, and The Black Duck fits right into that with fresh local seafood and a dock you can actually pull a boat up to.
Bay St. Louis built one of the Souths most artistically vibrant small coastal scenes, and the Blind Tiger outpost here serves that creative community with the same genuine Gulf Coast warmth as the original.
The Blind Tiger keeps Biloxi Beach honest, burgers and shrimp with a laid-back, semi-dive energy that locals genuinely swear by.
Flagler Beach’s quieter oceanfront bistro, intimate coastal dining down the road from the Golden Lion.
Suspended right over the Atlantic on Cocoa Beach Pier, the natural stop before or after Kennedy Space Center.
Part of the Anchored Inn complex on Rockhold Creek, the Boathouse keeps things approachable: cold drinks, casual food, and the quiet marina-town charm Deale has somehow protected better than its Bay-side neighbors.
Locals call it Hendry’s Beach, and the Boathouse sitting right on its sand, dog-friendly and laid-back, is the Santa Barbara beach experience residents actually cherish over the postcard version downtown.
A complete Naples Bay waterfront destination, boat-up dock access and Gulf Coast seafood done right.
Destin Harbor’s beloved unpretentious institution for 30+ years — dollar bills on every surface, legendary gumbo, fresh Gulf oysters, and live music over the harbor every night.
The daily 4pm tea dance on the pool deck has been a Provincetown summer institution for generations, DJs and a joyful crowd against Provincetown Harbor at the heart of one of the East Coast’s most welcoming beach communities.
On Carlisle Bay in Bridgetown, The Boatyard is open every single day of the year — because when your backyard is this turquoise, why would you ever close?
This is where the band Alabama got its actual start, and the Bowery’s house band has been rocking the same rowdy honky-tonk since 1944, decades of Southern rock and cold beer in one dive that refuses to slow down.