A historic pier bar in Lake Worth Beach, famous for pineapple-cup coladas and the best table over the Atlantic.
Technically the small bar attached to the hotel’s fine-dining Bagatelle restaurant, but close enough to the sand and charming enough to count as a proper beach bar in its own right. Funky bamboo-and-dark-wood construction, a soundtrack of gentle reggae and lounge, and a compact footprint that fills fast at lunch and pre-dinner. A short walk delivers you to the hotel’s excellent white-sand beach. The crowd skews toward hotel guests and dinner visitors – a bit more polished (and priced) than the typical beach-side joint – with regular evening entertainment that makes it worth a return visit after dark.
New Hampshire’s only ocean beach gets exactly twelve weeks of real summer, and Bernie’s never wastes a single one of them, shoulder-to-shoulder energy the whole season.
Port A has kept its working-fishing-village soul despite the growth, and Bernie’s matches that honesty with cold Texas beer and zero pretense.
A simple beach shack on one of the Caribbean’s most strikingly beautiful beaches, Big Bamboo rewards anyone who actually made the sail out to this remote flat island with the freshest lobster you will find anywhere.
Big Beach gives Gulf Shores visitors a genuine craft beer option beyond the endless Bushwacker circuit, fresh brews inspired by the sugar-white sand right outside.
Bethany calls itself one of the Quiet Resorts for a reason, and Big Chill delivers the beach club experience at a lower decibel level than Dewey next door, exactly as advertised.
Three separate bars, Rooftop Terraza, Dockside, and Lanai Lookout, keep Big Chill running from brunch straight through an Intracoastal sunset at Barefoot Landing.
Big Daddy’s commits fully to the idea that a summer beach vacation requires cold drinks and volume, exactly the party energy Old Orchard Beach has always done best.
If you looked up beach bar in a dictionary, Big Dean’s on the Santa Monica boardwalk would have a real shot at the photo: cheap drinks, real bar food, and people-watching the Third Street Promenade crowd never quite finds.
At Kent Narrows, Big Owl brings the tropical drinks and dock views while Harris Crab House and the Jetty next door handle the serious crab feasting, cold Painkillers and live music all summer long.
Big Sam’s still does the raw bar the old way, cold oysters by the dozen and zero interest in the polish that has crept into the rest of the strip.
Orient Bay is one of the Caribbean’s longest, most beautiful stretches of white sand, and Bikini Beach Bar operates with the relaxed French sensibility that has made this beach a genuine institution.
LBI regulars know the difference between a real neighborhood bar and a seasonal tourist production, and Bird & Betty’s has earned its loyal following by being the former, year-round.
Getting to Bitter End is half the story: boat, tender, taxi, shuttle – sailors have it easier. Born in the late ’60s as a jetty and a handful of cottages, it grew into one of the BVI’s top sailing destinations before Hurricane Irma erased it completely in 2017. It reopened in December 2021, rebuilt around a beach bar fashioned from a converted boat, overlooking the North Sound with views across the other Virgin Islands. Mostly well-heeled, repeat-visit yachters, but the vibe is loose and unpretentious despite the upscale surroundings. Local Leatherback Brewery drafts, a proper Painkiller, and a bar sampler menu that overdelivers. Worth the trouble.
This 1874 Life Saving Service station sits a mile from where the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight in 1903, eating fresh mahi with the Atlantic in your face and the birthplace of flight down the beach is a genuinely singular OBX experience.
The blue marlin is the Gulf’s trophy fish, and the Blue Marlin Saloon is where the people who actually chase them come to drink, no pretense, no performance, just an honest Coastal Bend bar.
A relaxed Key West poolside bar, classic cocktails without the Duval Street crowds.
Norfolk’s craft beer crowd has already made up its mind about Blue Moon, an exceptional rotating draft list on the waterfront that rewards the kind of person who reads the whole chalkboard before ordering.
Tucked deep in the Back Bay wetlands away from the resort strip entirely, Blue Pete’s rewards the drive with fresh Chesapeake seafood and a kind of peace the boardwalk simply cannot offer.
Cambridge finally got tired of the crab-deck formula, and Blue Point Provision answered with a raw bar and cocktail program that treats the Choptank’s bounty like it matters, which, shockingly, it does.
Tres Palmas has measured 25-foot swells that Kelly Slater himself has surfed, and Boardriders pours cold Medalla for the global surf community that has been converging on this one small town since 1968.
Chesapeake Beach’s answer to a proper boardwalk hang: cold drinks and Bay views without the PG County traffic you had to drive through to get here.
Built by sailors, for sailors, the Boatyard has the raw bar and the tap list to back it up, and enough salt in the air that even landlubbers start talking about knots.
A genuine neighborhood bar hiding in South Beach’s sea of rooftop pretension.
Ospreys nest along the same Great South Bay shoreline this shack belongs to, and Bodhi’s knows exactly what its South Shore community needs, fresh bay oysters and zero pretense.
Boqueron is famous for its oysters and its extraordinary southwest coast sunset light, and Boho Beach Club gathers the whole village here every weekend with the easy communal spirit that makes this one of Puerto Rico’s most genuinely local beach towns.
Sydney’s most famous beach club bar since 1929, perched above the legendary Bondi tidal pool.
Curacao’s calm, crystal-clear leeward water made the island one of the Caribbean’s premier diving destinations, and Bonita gives the non-diving crowd a proper way to enjoy the same water with a cocktail in hand.
Randall Grahm has been making California’s most eclectic, most philosophical wines since 1983, and tasting them on the Davenport cliffs makes even the weirder labels make sense.
Bonny Moon Beach Club on Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach — beachfront bar, wood-fired food, live DJs, and Saturday fire dancers where Calico Jack’s once ruled.
The Keys’ biggest tiki structure, complete with mini golf you can play beer in hand.
Destin Harbor’s Gulf-to-table seafood house, family-run for over 40 years.
Three Mile Harbor’s boat traffic provides the backdrop, and Bostwick’s provides the freshest Long Island oysters, a mandatory East Hampton ritual that has earned its reputation year after year.
Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan both played this small Delaware beach town venue, and the Bottle and Cork has been booking legends since the 1960s in a room that never got any bigger.
Reggae stars have played this exact stretch of sand for decades, and Bourbon Beach still turns the Negril bar scene into an outdoor concert hall with the Caribbean as the stage.
On Middle River in Baltimore’s northeastern harbor country, Bowleys pours cold beer and steams crabs in season with the honest, century-old working-waterfront character the neighborhood built its name on.
The Meatpacking District has completely transformed around it, and Brass Monkey has somehow kept a neighborhood-bar soul intact through every wave of gentrification, rooftop drinks included.
Key Largo’s low-key tiki alternative, an empty stool and a water view when the famous spots are packed.
The only dress code here is bare feet and a good attitude. Pull up an actual swing at the bar on Jabberwock Beach and watch kitesurfers carve up the bay while the trade winds do the rest.
Four decades overlooking the surf at Brennecke’s Beach, this Poipu institution has been getting the fresh fish and the South Shore warmth right since 1983.
A Middle River-area waterfront bar in Essex where boaters and regulars know the bartender by name, Brewers Landing keeps Baltimore’s northeastern harbor tradition of cold drinks and fresh crabs alive.
Bradenton Beach’s dockside boater hangout on historic Bridge Street, live music seven nights a week.
Brogen’s has anchored the Golden Isles social scene for decades, live bands and cold Georgia craft beer for a St. Simons community that treats the place as a genuine gathering spot, not just another bar.
Down-to-earth where Annapolis a few miles south gets polished, the Broken Oar serves cold beer and seasonal crabs with Anne Arundel County’s no-reservation, no-dress-code waterfront character.
Bubba’s has been quietly doing the genuine Bay-side seafood house thing on Lynnhaven Inlet for decades, steamed crabs pulled from the same water you are looking at, no boardwalk theatrics required.
Buccaneer leans into Sint Maarten’s maritime pirate heritage with a wink, Kim Sha Beach giving it one of the island’s best stretches of sand to back the theme up.
Seaside’s most enduring culinary institution since 1986, a rooftop Taco Bar over Choctawhatchee Bay.
A small-production Oregon winery steps from Seaside’s famous Turnaround, cold Pinot Noir poured with genuine seriousness in a resort town that mostly gets credit for its beach.
One of the very few spots in town with actual direct beach access, Buena Vista pairs that rare real estate with cold tropical cocktails and umbrella rentals for the whole day.
Perched at the end of De Palm Pier over the Caribbean, Bugaloe serves double daily happy hours, legendary fish tacos, and Aruba Ariba cocktails with 180-degree water views.
Perched on a coral bluff above Five Cays Bay, Bugaloo’s serves local conch with the Caicos Bank’s electric turquoise stretching to the horizon in every direction.
Swings hanging in the sand at Buho’s are a great idea right up until a few cervezas complicate the physics involved. Sand floors inside the palapa mean you never really leave the beach even when you are hiding from the Mexican sun.
Hampton’s revitalized downtown waterfront runs on Bull Island’s rotating seasonal beers, a craft brewery that actually feels like it belongs to the city instead of just occupying real estate in it.
The only way across the Wicomico here is a free cable ferry, which means the drink you order at Bull Lips arrives with genuine adventure points attached.
The Andaz Maui’s infinity pool alone would be worth the visit, and Bumbye adds a genuinely refined cocktail program with Kahoolawe visible across the channel.
Bummz works best when Myrtle Beach stops trying to be a resort and just remembers it is a beach town, cold beer and live music in season, no pretense required.
Rockaway Park, NY
The USA Today Best Beach Bar for 2026 is tucked away in Howard Beach, Queens — and yes, we went to check. Jamaica Bay views, cold beer, and a layout that actually uses the water. Bungalow Bar earns it.
The brewing tanks are visible through the floor grates here, the Columbia actually flows beneath your feet, and sea lions haul out on the docks below while you drink a fresh-poured IPA, genuinely one of the Pacific Northwest’s strangest and best brewery settings.
A hidden Marathon marina bar famous for hand-cut fries and legendary fried key lime pie.
King Street is an extraordinary bar corridor, and Burns Alley carves out its own honest neighborhood pub niche in the middle of it, cold drafts and good company over polish.
It is called Bar Under the Sun and it does, in fact, deliver cold drinks under the sun. Sometimes truth in advertising is all a Corpus Christi waterfront bar needs.
Musicians from around the world have recorded at Geejam and then wandered straight into the Bushbar carved into the hillside above it, Port Antonio’s bohemian legacy fully intact.
Ocean Citys home away from home for Pittsburgh sports fans, Buxys pours cold beer and pierogis on Philadelphia Avenue with the kind of unpretentious local-bar energy the tourist strip sometimes forgets to have.
A no-nonsense Key Largo dive with dock space, cold beer, and irreverent Keys confidence.
ByWater keeps it simple for the sugar-white sand crowd, fresh Gulf shrimp and oysters with zero unnecessary polish.
Shaded, breezy, water right there, the cabana format suits Grace Bay’s aquamarine backdrop about as well as any bar setup possibly could.
The Madeira Beach outpost of the beloved Caddy’s chain, white sand and weekend beach party energy.
Treasure Island’s rowdiest beachfront bar, where you can wiggle your toes in the Gulf and hold your drink.
Treasure Island’s ritual beach party bar, cold drinks and live music on the sugary white sand.
Locals call it the best place to bid the sun goodnight in Coco, and Cafe de Playa builds an entire experience around that one moment, hammocks and string lights included. Plan for an hour and stay for three.
Ibiza’s original sunset bar since 1980, birthplace of chillout music and José Padilla’s legendary DJ sets.
Named for the pirate who sailed with Anne Bonny and reportedly lost his ship because the crew was drunk — Calico Jack’s island bar on Runaway Bay captures that same spirited energy.
The Calypso name makes a promise, frozen cocktails and reggae energy on the VB oceanfront, and it actually delivers instead of just decorating the walls with parrots.
Rincon has a statue of a surfer in its town center, which tells you everything, and Calypso Cafe pours the cold Medalla that goes with watching the waves that made the town famous.
Cannonball does Japanese-Peruvian fusion on the calmer bay side of Mission Beach, proof that San Diego’s beach bar scene has range beyond margaritas and mai tais.
No reservations, no pretense, just bushels of steamed blue crabs and cold Natty Boh on Mill Creek since 1974. Come by car or paddle up and tie off, Cantler’s does not care which.
The first (and likely only) beach bar on Maundays Bay – one of the Caribbean’s most photographed stretches of sand – opened in 2019 as part of the Belmond Cap Juluca resort. A converted vintage Citroen food truck marks the spot, backed by a small thatched bar and a scatter of egg-shaped loungers. Non-guests are welcome, prices are resort-premium, and the view back along the bay to Cap Juluca’s white buildings is genuinely stunning. AXA – Anguilla’s self-proclaimed first local beer – is on the menu. Creative small plates round out an elevated but still relaxed resort-bar experience.
Cap’s on the Water pairs Intracoastal views with fresh seafood on one of St. Augustine’s most reliable waterfront patios.
FDR, Churchill, and Al Capone all reportedly dined here, a Prohibition-era rum-running speakeasy accessible only by boat that has been the oldest restaurant in Broward County since 1928.
An honest working-waterfront fish house on Isle of Capri, stone crab straight off the boats.
Oxford spent a century letting the Robert Morris Inn hog the waterfront-dining spotlight, and Capsize finally showed up with craft cocktails and a deck view to fight for a share of it.
Getting to Saxis is most of the experience, crab pots and workboats the whole way there, and a cold tropical drink at Capt. E’s is the entirely earned reward at the end of it.
The name alone earns Captain Chuck-A-Muck’s a visit, and the Pagan River dock, live music, and decades of loyal locals justify sticking around.
On the beach in Grand Case – St. Martin’s self-declared gourmet capital – Captain Frenchy looks like a classic down-and-dirty beach shack until you notice the kitchen’s actually running a legitimate restaurant program. Wooden deck seating, loungers on the sand, and a crew that looks like they stepped off a pirate ship in the best way. Order a cold beer, a rum drink, or – since you’re in Grand Case – a properly chilled rose or glass of champagne. Family-friendly, well-placed for a beach-stroll break, and busy enough that dinner reservations are wise. The location and the classic beach-bar energy are still the draw.
You swim or kayak out and climb aboard an actual anchored boat, Captain Oak’s turns a cold rum cocktail into one of the most uniquely fun bar experiences anywhere in the Caribbean.
Florida’s oldest bar, a former morgue turned Hemingway hangout with gravestones under the pool table.
Named for a lifeguard tower, Tower 13 sits directly on the sand with Swami’s surf break up the road and the finest free sunset show in North County included at no extra charge.
Clearwater Beach’s elevated Gulf-front dining option, named for the loggerhead turtles just offshore.
Where Bogart drank in Key Largo since 1938, and the sunsets still win awards.
Hvar’s famous beach club on the Pakleni Islands since 1998, ranked among the world’s top beach clubs.
On a quiet creek off Middle River, Carsons Creekside is the kind of neighborhood bar that never needs to advertise because its regulars bring everyone they know.
Tulum went from backpacker hideout to global fashion destination almost overnight, and Casa Banana somehow held onto the intimate, genuinely warm version of the town that most places forgot.
A Gulf-front perch at the base of Pensacola Beach’s pier, built for sunsets and fresh seafood.
Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket sit visible across the Sound from Falmouth Heights, and every table at Casino Wharf fills early for exactly that view.
Castaway keeps Kaanapali’s extraordinary setting genuinely accessible, fresh fish tacos and cold drinks for locals and visitors in equal measure, no velvet rope required.
Marathon’s unlikely combo of dockside tiki bar and legit sushi, lionfish dishes included.
The Saginaw River connects Bay City to Lake Huron, and Castaways serves its working waterfront community with the honest character every Great Lakes season demands.