Since 1981 Leilani’s has watched Lanai and Molokai across the channel every single evening, a Kaanapali ritual reliable enough that returning visitors plan their trips around it.
Every island community needs one proper local bar where the beer is as cold as the welcome is warm, and Lelo’s is Port Aransas’ answer.
Neptune Beach, FL
The World Famous Lemon Bar delivers! Don’t miss this long-time beach bar; it’s a keeper.
Leon’s is the beach-level operation at Malliouhana, at the eastern end of Meads Bay. Unlike most resort kitchens on this bay it does run as a toes-in-the-sand bar as well as a restaurant, with chair service on the sand and a menu the resort describes as Caribbean with an Asian turn.
The central Bahamas’ mangrove coast draws fly fishing enthusiasts from around the world, and LeoRose gives that quiet corner of the archipelago a proper sunset bar to match.
Liar’s Saloon is tucked behind a boatyard at the Montauk marina — dollar drafts, fishermen, karaoke, and zero interest in what the Hamptons crowd is doing.
Kent Island has more going for it than gas stations and Bay Bridge traffic, and Libbey’s is the proof, a serious cocktail program right off Route 50 for commuters who never knew they should stop.
Cameron Parish has rebuilt itself after multiple major hurricanes with the kind of determination only people who truly belong to this land have, and Lighthouse Bend pours drinks for exactly that resilient Cajun coastal community.
Bright green and impossible to miss, Lime sits a bit back from the water on Pinney’s Beach with a rooftop deck that gives it away from a distance. First impressions matter here: a cool, mint-infused towel arrives before the menu, and the welcome only gets warmer from there. The newer ‘Beach Club’ wing puts cabanas and loungers right on the sand near the water, built around its own compact, funky bar – cruise-ship groups from St. Kitts often claim the prime real estate, so plan accordingly. Solid beer selection, a genuinely good top-shelf rum collection, and hearty plates from burgers to fresh lobster. Split your time between the Beach Club buzz and the calmer main restaurant.
You swim or paddle out to order, then float in warm Caribbean water eating tacos. Lime Out anchored in Salt Pond Bay is one of the most photographed and most genuinely unique bar experiences anywhere in the USVI.
On Federal Hill’s waterfront, Little Havana brings salsa music, mojitos, and plantains to the Inner Harbor’s southern shore, a Baltimore institution for date nights and group nights alike.
Lizzy runs the bar and cooks the food herself, and it is Guyanese rather than generic Caribbean. Two loungers and two rum punches, ten dollars.
Speightstown is Barbados at its most genuinely local, a former sugar port with Georgian architecture the tourist circuit regularly skips, and Local & Co pours cold Banks beer for the community that actually lives there.
The Sanctuary’s poolside grill puts the Atlantic right behind every drink, and Kiawah’s pristine beach makes even a basic cocktail feel like a genuine splurge.
Folly Beach, SC
Classic beach bar with lots of local flavor, and a peekaboo view of the ocean to boot!
Don’t be fooled by the ‘Lone Star Garage’ sign – this west-coast Barbados institution started life in the 1940s as an actual garage before cycling through furniture repair shop, bus depot, and nightclub on its way to becoming one of the Platinum Coast’s original chic beach bars. Lone Star basically invented the neighborhood’s now-crowded upscale scene, and it still shows the way: breezy covered seating over a gorgeous beach, a corner bar with automotive prints and imaginative cocktails, and a genuinely excellent kitchen. It’s a place to see and be seen, and it knows it, but the welcome is warm enough that the Kir Royales go down easy either way.
South Padre’s consistent Gulf swells built a real surf community, and Longboard gives it a bar that actually understands the culture instead of just borrowing the aesthetic.
Poke nachos so good one reviewer devoured the whole plate against her own instincts, ocean views and live music on weekends at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club’s signature bar and grill.
Norfolk locals guard East Beach the way Virginia Beach visitors guard the strip, and Longboards fits the quiet, uncommercialized vibe with cold drinks and a longboard-lifestyle attitude that never feels forced.
Islamorada’s mandatory sunset stop since 1952, giant mermaid included.
The Upper Keys’ beloved dock bar and swimming hole, clear Florida Bay water and cold drinks in hand.
Reachable only by ferry, Tangier Island runs on its own accent, its own culture, and complete isolation from the mainland, and Lorraine’s soft-shell crab sandwich is reason enough that boaters and Bay devotees keep making the crossing.
Ocean Springs across the Back Bay from the casino strip built one of the Gulf Coasts most genuinely creative small-city scenes, and Lost Spring Brewing is its liquid version, arts-town craft beer with the Walter Anderson Museum crowd in mind.
Caribbean and Mexican flavors meet at Louie & Nacho’s, the kind of personality-driven bar that only happens when the community behind it is completely genuine.
Forty-five years anchoring Laguna Boulevard, an all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet, and Tuesday fireworks over the bay, Louie’s somehow keeps getting better despite selling more booze during Spring Break than anywhere else on the island.
A brick gate, a gnarled tree, and the Atlantic beyond, Key West’s best-kept not-so-secret bar.
Boat access only, private-island snorkeling, and an exceptional rum program, Lovango Rum Bar is about as private and as good as a Caribbean waterfront bar gets.
Love Shack is on Sandy Ground, the harbour village that is the closest thing Anguilla has to a nightlife strip: boats in the bay, Elvis’ a short walk along the sand, and music most weekends.
Down Harris Creek toward the Choptank sits Lowes Wharf, a marina, inn, and bar combo that has fed Tilghman Island’s watermen and boaters for generations and has the view to justify the drive to the middle of nowhere.
Lucys built its whole brand around retired-surfer energy, and this Biloxi location keeps the formula exactly as consistent and welcoming as every other stop on the Gulf Coast chain.
Perched on a pier at the western edge of the Nassau waterfront, Lukka Kairi overlooks the beach at the British Colonial Hilton closely enough to count. It swapped its old name for its current one when it relocated here in the mid-2010s. The compact octagonal bar delivers harbor views without the boardwalk crowds – a step up in style and price that keeps cruise-day chaos at bay. Kalik and local Pirate Republic craft beer on the beer side; a genuinely creative, Mexican-leaning food menu that outperforms most waterfront spots. Best for a sunset cocktail once the ships have cleared out.
Lucy Buffett’s Destin Harbor playground, Gulf Coast party energy with fun as the whole point.
Lucy Buffett’s legendary Gulf Shores waterfront bar since 2003 — cold Bushwackers, fresh Gulf seafood, zip lines over the water, and live music at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Not one bar but an entire institution, a row of open-air kiosks serving mofongo and cold Medalla Light in the same spot for generations, the definitive Puerto Rican beach snack experience just outside one of the island’s most beloved public beaches.
A privately owned cove north of Newquay where the sand turns into a dancefloor on weekend nights and goes quiet again by Tuesday.
Tucked on the docks off the downtown bayside, M.R. Ducks serves its signature Chug-a-Duck cocktail in a plastic duck decoy, because of course it does, alongside steamers and famous wings with real waterfront character.
Built right over the water on Grand Cayman’s western tip, Macabuca has earned its reputation as one of the island’s most photographed bars purely by getting the sunset math right every single evening.
Turkey’s first beach club, opened in 1977 by the ‘Queen of Spades’ on Türkbükü Bay.
A former fisherman’s cottage on the Tobermory waterfront pouring whisky from the distillery up the road.
At 54th Street on the bayside, Mackys pairs an open-air bar and private beach with crab-stuffed shrimp and Rum Runners, a warm, community-anchored spot that has hosted generations of returning families.
Madeariman sits in the middle of Shoal Bay East, a few steps from Uncle Ernie’s and Olas. It carries more reviews than almost anything else on the beach, which on a stretch this busy mostly tells you it catches the foot traffic coming off the public entrance.
Occoquan’s cobblestone streets already do most of the charm-work, and Madigan’s just adds the part that matters most: a proper waterfront bar worth sticking around for after you have walked the historic district.
Upper King Street is Charleston’s most competitive bar corridor, and Madison Maision has carved out genuine loyalty with quality spirits and an intimate, well-run room.
Mount Constitution rises over 2,400 feet above the water here, and Madrona pours cold Washington IPAs for an Orcas Island community that clearly built its whole identity around that view.
Clearwater Beach’s unpretentious waterfront hangout, cold drinks and boat traffic at your own pace.
Magics belongs to its Kona waterfront community the same way the palm trees do, fresh grilled ahi and genuine Big Island aloha without a hint of performance.
Virginia Beach’s largest oceanfront sushi bar also happens to serve CBD cocktails and a Florida Orange Roll, which is a lot of ways to be different from the standard boardwalk seafood shack, and Mahi Mah’s pulls off every one of them.
A veteran-founded 1969 dive bar reviewers call the best in America, bras on the ceiling and a resident iguana out back.
The Pink Palace of the Pacific has been serving mai tais on its pink terraces since 1927, and hosting everyone from royalty to Hollywood in the process, Diamond Head to the left, the Waikiki surf directly ahead.
One of the last great Grand Polynesian Palaces of Tiki, Mai-Kai has served original Don the Beachcomber cocktail recipes and staged its Polynesian Islander Revue since 1956, a National Register landmark that reopened in 2024 after a 20 million dollar restoration.
The legendary hangover cure here is an authentic Costa Rican seafood soup, and the pina coladas come served in frozen pineapples, which is honestly all the information you need.
Onancock has been a working colonial port since before working ports were a novelty, and Mallards gives the town’s last regular Tangier Island ferry stop a waterfront bar worth detouring off Route 13 for.
Mamita’s is the actual social center of Playa del Carmen’s beach scene, DJs and fresh ceviche with turquoise water close enough to touch from the lounge chairs.
Manchester built a proper pub because its Kitsap Peninsula waterfront community deserved a real gathering place, cold pints and zero pretense, exactly as advertised.
Mandala brings design-forward polish and electronic music to Cancun’s Hotel Zone, the most internationally recognized version of a Mexican Caribbean beach club.
Loungers and table service on the 5 de Diciembre sand, north of the Romantic Zone, with a crowd that skews local rather than cruise ship.
An adults only LGBTQ+ club at the far end of Los Muertos, built around a floating pool, four poster beds and a swim up bar.
Vegetarian and fresh fish by day, Dominical’s hottest nightspot after dark, Maracatu somehow runs both shifts convincingly.
Guanacaste beach experts keep pointing at Maracuya for a reason: a solid cocktail menu and the relaxed Papagayo coast atmosphere that eats an entire afternoon without you noticing.
Mare Island was the Navy’s first Pacific shipyard, and this Benicia taproom turns that history into fresh ales and stouts worth the detour off the Carquinez Strait.
The Jimmy Buffett brand built a global hospitality formula, and the Cable Beach outpost delivers exactly what that formula promises, frozen margaritas by the pitcher and zero surprises.
The full Jimmy Buffett experience on Hollywood’s iconic broadwalk, five o’clock always somewhere.
A water slide straight into the Caribbean is not a subtle move, and Margaritaville’s Mo Bay outpost owns it completely, the reliably loudest, most festive spot on the Hip Strip.
A deck built out over Aruba’s Spanish Lagoon, where the fish swim up to the pilings while you eat. Fried red snapper is the order.
A food truck that grew into one of Seattle’s most beloved brands, Marination pairs spam musubi and kimchi fried rice with an Alki Beach view that most restaurants would kill for.
Elevated above the sand near the west end of the boardwalk, with staff who wade into the water to deliver your order.
Sloths and monkeys occasionally wander by while you eat fried snapper across from Playa Espadilla, which is a very Manuel Antonio kind of interruption to an otherwise reliably good meal.
A Beach Bar, Pier Bar, Raw Bar, Sushi Bar, and Lobster House all under one tiki umbrella, Martell’s calls itself the Jersey Shore Island Getaway and the summer weekend crowds packing the pier prove the description holds up.
Named for the legendary Northern California big-wave break, Mavericks brings surf culture south to Pacific Beach without the actual danger of drowning, cold craft beer, tropical cocktails, zero pretension.
The most-recommended place in a Caribbean village most people have never heard of, Maxi’s pairs authentic Caribbean flavors with a jungle backdrop that Playa Grande does not share with anywhere else.
Began as a 1957 root beer stand, became the harbor snack bar in 1972, and has looked out over the Biloxi Small Craft Harbor since February 1974.
McFaul’s pairs the Chesapeake’s greatest food, the raw oyster, with a waterfront bar setting and a rotating selection that changes with the season and the tides.
A three-story Irish beach pub on A1A, rooftop views and equal parts pub and beach party.
Rappahannock Oyster’s flagship tasting room serves everything either raw or grilled outside, looking directly at the river the oysters came from. The Stuffin Muffin has its own devoted following, and it is, in fact, that good.
Astoria was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rockies, established 1811, and Merry Time serves its Columbia River community with the same direct, honest style that founded the place.
Serious mezcal culture finally has a proper home in the Holy City, artisanal agave spirits and the smoky, slightly mysterious atmosphere that comes with them.
Mezcalito’s runs a proper mezcal program on Cozumel’s most remote shoreline, the kind of beach bar that feels like an actual discovery instead of a tourist stop.
Waterfront dining at Hampton’s Landing Marina, where the burgers are famous, the fish is whatever you just caught, and the view is pure Texas Gulf Coast. Mickey’s is the kind of unfussy marina bar built for boaters coming off the water and locals who’ve been coming for decades, bring your own catch and they’ll clean and cook it for you. Cold beer, big portions, and a patio that doesn’t care what you’re wearing.
Manchac Louisiana’s legendary 1934 catfish institution on Lake Maurepas — thin-fried, shatters like a chip, pulled apart in flakes, served over cypress swamp water since the Depression.
The southernmost taproom of San Diego’s own Mike Hess Brewing sits blocks from the Mexican border, award-winning craft beer with a setting as good as the beer deserves.
Part of the beloved Mike’s brand, this Pasadena outpost brings the same formula that made the original a Riva Road institution: long tables, mallets, Old Bay, and cold National Bohemian on the Magothy.
The original Mike’s on Riva Road basically invented the modern Maryland crab house formula: long tables, newspapers, mallets, Old Bay, cold Natty Boh. Everyone since has just been copying the homework.
Miller’s sits on the Roanoke Sound side, a reminder the Outer Banks is as much sound as ocean, sunsets over the water that have anchored this Nags Head spot for years.
Nearly 45 years running, Kiawah’s Monday-night oyster roast on the river bank is the kind of Lowcountry tradition that outlasts every trend that tried to replace it.
San Francisco is not exactly an umbrella-drink kind of city, but Mission Rock Resort on the China Basin waterfront gets closer than anywhere else, a pub with real range and a marina view that turns Oracle Park game days properly festive.
Put-in-Bay calls itself the Key West of the North, and Mojito Bay backs that claim up completely, cold rum cocktails on a Lake Erie island that makes a whole summer weekend feel like a Caribbean escape without the flight.
The mojito gets the full dedicated-bar treatment here, fresh mint, lime, and white rum in every variation Isla Verde can imagine.
Molly Goodhead’s keeps Tarpon Springs’ sponge-docks energy alive with a proper raw bar, fresh oysters and waterfront seating a short walk from the historic docks.
Cozumel’s western reef is part of the second-largest coral reef system on Earth, and Money Bar gives divers surfacing from that underwater world exactly what they need: a cold cerveza and a beach chair to process it.
Peter Merriman built this place around the honey-lilikoi-foam Mai Tai that regulars swear is the best in Hawaii, 36 craft beers on tap and live music three times a day for the crowd that keeps coming back.
Peter Merriman helped invent Hawaii Regional Cuisine, and Monkeypod treats both the farm-to-table menu and the cocktail program with the seriousness that legacy demands. Live music fills the room seven nights a week regardless.
Wave Chaser IPA started as a strictly local Montauk operation and grew into one of the most recognized craft beer brands in the New York metro, the taproom at the source is still the best place to drink it.
South Beach’s marina-side stone crab and sunset spot, free dockage and happy hour like a local.
Aruba’s flagship Palm Beach bar — breakfast to late night, Friday BBQ buffets, live music nightly, and the island’s best Aruba Ariba cocktail between the Marriott and the Holiday Inn.
Perched on Malibu’s cliffs with celebrity-studded glamour built in, Moonshadows makes even a random Tuesday feel like an occasion. The sunset views alone are worth the reservation.