Copenhagen’s cocktail scene is deep rather than tall. Only one bar in the city currently holds a place on either the World’s or Europe’s 50 Best list, and it is not the one everybody names. Expect to pay 110 to 175 DKK a drink, expect almost nothing to open before 16:00, and expect to walk in rather than book, which is unusual for a city of this standard.
This sits under our wider guide to drinking in Copenhagen neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
First, Two Bars Every Other Guide Still Recommends Are Closed
1105 has permanently closed. For fifteen years it was the answer to this question, the formal, dark room on Kristen Bernikows Gade that gave its postcode as its name and invented the Copenhagen cocktail. Its Google listing reads permanently closed, its website now serves a blank hosting placeholder, and its Instagram has been wiped. It still appears on VisitCopenhagen’s own list, on half the travel blogs and in several 2026-dated roundups.
Salon 39 in Frederiksberg has also closed. Its domain has been sold and now redirects to an online casino affiliate site.
We mention both not to be morbid but because it tells you how much of the advice you will read about Copenhagen bars is recycled without checking. Prices and opening hours below come from each venue’s own website, September 2026.
The 14 Best Cocktail Bars in Copenhagen
1. Bird — the one with the actual ranking
Gammel Kongevej 102, Frederiksberg. A small vinyl listening bar with hand-built speakers, a jazz core and a menu split into highballs, lowballs and negronis. It is number 24 on Europe’s 50 Best Bars 2026 and was named the Best Bar in Denmark, and it sat at number 66 on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2025. It is the only Danish bar on either list.
Around 120 to 140 DKK. Roughly 16:00 to midnight Sunday to Thursday, to 02:00 Friday and Saturday. Book ahead for weekends. The one bar in Copenhagen with a world ranking behind it, and it is a neighbourhood room with a record player rather than a temple.
2. Ruby — the most beautiful room, no longer the best drink
Nybrogade 10, behind an unmarked door in a 1740 canal-side townhouse opposite Thorvaldsens Museum. Opened in June 2007 and effectively started Denmark’s modern cocktail scene. Apartment-style rooms, a cellar bar and a courtyard.
Cocktails 130 to 175 DKK, most around 140; alcohol-free 80. Open seven days: Sunday to Wednesday 17:00 to 01:00, Thursday 16:00 to 01:00, Friday and Saturday 16:00 to 02:00. Strict 21+ door.
The honest note: Ruby appeared on the World’s 50 Best Bars list every single year from 2011 to 2023, peaking at number 22 in 2013. It has been absent in 2024 and 2025 and did not make Europe’s 2026 list. Locals say so too. Still the most beautiful room in the city and the one everyone names, but the trophy cabinet stopped filling in 2023.
3. Curfew — the only speakeasy that earns the word
Vesterbrogade 20. You ring a bell and a bookcase wall swings open, a nod to the bookshop that occupied the site. Behind it is a prohibition-era room and, genuinely unusual, a collection of antique hand-crank shakers still used in service, including a restored 1880s Coles used to make the Ramos Gin Fizz at 125 DKK.
Autumn and winter: closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 18:00 to 01:00, Thursday 18:00 to 02:00, Friday and Saturday 17:00 to 02:00, Sunday 19:00 to 01:00. In June and August it runs daily from 19:00. It closes for the whole of July, plus Christmas and New Year, which catches out a lot of summer visitors.
Book. Google now flags reservations as required, tables run on two-hour slots with a two-drink minimum, and there is a 100 DKK per-head no-show fee. It is also the one bar on this list with a real dress code, described as casual smart: no sportswear, beachwear, football shirts or heavily ripped clothing. 21+. The theatre is real and so is the 1880s shaker, but book, and do not turn up in July.
4. Balderdash — the most experimental drinks in the city
Valkendorfsgade 11, in a 1732 house in the oldest quarter. Two levels, with just twelve seats upstairs, a secret door through to a small assembly room, a spirits lab and a rotating pop-up kitchen. Founded by Geoffrey Canilao. Expect things like a strawberry and foie gras Old Fashioned, or a clarified coconut and horseradish daiquiri.
Around 110 to 140 DKK. Broadly Wednesday to Sunday from 18:00 until 03:00, closed Monday and Tuesday, though sources disagree on the exact closing day and the bar publishes no hours of its own, so check before you cross town. Walk-ins are the norm; reservations only for six or more. The most genuinely inventive cocktails in Copenhagen, in a room that seats a dozen. Go early or do not go.
5. Lidkoeb — three bars in one building
Vesterbrogade 72B, down a courtyard passage in an 1886 pharmacy warehouse. Ruby’s sister bar. Ground-floor oak bar with a fireplace, an upstairs cocktail room, and an attic whisky bar with over 200 bottles that opens on Friday and Saturday only. Heated courtyard year-round.
The pricing is the clearest on this list: cocktails are a flat 120 DKK, zero-proof 80, the house slushie 100. Monday 18:00 to midnight, Tuesday 16:00 to midnight, Wednesday to Saturday 16:00 to 02:00, closed Sunday. The attic whisky room is the reason to come, and it exists two nights a week.
6. Duck and Cover — the locals’ pick
Dannebrogsgade 6, on a quiet Vesterbro corner. Note it is a street-level room, not the basement several guides describe. The interior is modelled on the owner’s grandmother’s home, all 1960s Copenhagen mid-century, and the house style is savoury and Nordic, including martinis built on akvavit in place of vermouth.
Around 115 to 140 DKK. Open seven days: Monday 18:00 to midnight, Tuesday to Thursday 16:00 to 01:00, Friday and Saturday 16:00 to 02:00, Sunday 18:00 to midnight. It took both Best Bar and Best Menu at the 2017 Bartender’s Choice Awards. No theatre, no door gimmick, and the most consistently good drinks per krone in Vesterbro.
7. Brønnum — the grandest room
August Bournonvilles Passage 1, beside the Royal Danish Theatre’s Old Stage on Kongens Nytorv, in what was the theatre’s ticket office. A 125-year-old building of six interconnected rooms, run by the Ruby team, where the atmosphere changes as you move through and one room turns into a dance floor.
Cocktails 130 to 135 DKK from its own menu. Champagne by the glass from 125 DKK to 385. Oysters at 25 DKK each, or six for 120, on Thursdays from 17:00 to 19:00. Monday to Wednesday 16:00 to midnight, Thursday to 01:00, Friday and Saturday to 02:00, closed Sunday. You are paying for the room, and the room is worth it. Book around curtain times.
8. Strøm — the fast one
Niels Hemmingsens Gade 32. Art Deco, opened in 2012 by two Swedish brothers, and the first bar in Europe to put hand-crafted cocktails on draught, which means a proper drink in under ninety seconds. The menu is navigated by a compass and changes roughly quarterly.
105 to 150 DKK; the signature Clipper is around 120. Closed Monday, Tuesday to Thursday 18:00 to 01:00, Friday and Saturday 16:00 to 02:00 or later, Sunday 18:00 to midnight. Walk-in. Won Best Atmosphere at the 2019 Bartender’s Choice Awards. Unpretentious and quick, and the best bet when everywhere else has a queue.
9. TATA at Hotel Sanders — and a name correction
Tordenskjoldsgade 15. If you have read that the bar at Hotel Sanders is called Kingdom, that is wrong: the hotel lists Sanders Kitchen, TATA Cocktail Bar and Sanders Rooftop, and TATA is the one you want. Styled on a nineteenth-century European theatre, a minute from the Royal Theatre.
110 to 165 DKK. Open seven days: Sunday to Tuesday 17:00 to midnight, Wednesday and Thursday to 01:00, Friday and Saturday to 02:00. Named Best Cocktail Bar in Denmark at the 2019 Bartender’s Choice Awards. The best hotel bar in Copenhagen and the one that does not feel like a hotel bar.
10. K-Bar — the martini specialist
Ved Stranden 20, canal-side in Indre By. Copenhagen’s oldest true cocktail bar, founded by Kirsten Holm, a pioneer of the Danish cocktail movement. Around thirteen martinis on the menu, including the Monster Martini. Tuesday to Saturday from 16:00, to 01:00 midweek and 02:00 at weekends, closed Sunday and Monday. Walk-in. The specialist everyone forgets. Order a martini and ignore the rest of the list.
11. Bar DECO — the current award-winner
Ny Adelgade 5. Took Best Cocktail Menu in Denmark at the 2026 Bartender’s Choice Awards, which makes it the most decorated new-ish room in the city and the one least likely to appear on anyone else’s list yet. Monday to Wednesday 16:00 to 01:00, Thursday to Saturday 16:00 to 02:00, Sunday 15:00 to midnight.
12. 1656 — the scruffy door
Gasværksvej 33, Vesterbro. A graffiti-covered exterior hiding a seasonal cocktail menu and a plush back lounge. Around 125 DKK, and one of the highest-volume review counts in the city. Hours were not published at the time of writing, so check. The bar locals name when you ask them twice.
13. Blume — for when everything else has shut
Studiestræde 14A, in a basement. A late cocktail bar with a dance floor: disco, funk, neo-pop and electronic, explicitly not chart anthems. Their own site tells you to wear shoes you can dance in. Friday and Saturday only, 20:00 until 04:00 or 05:00, and a 23+ door. Where you go at one in the morning, two nights a week.
14. Nimb Bar — beautiful, and check first
Bernstorffsgade 5, in the Moorish Nimb palace inside Tivoli: a historic ballroom with crystal chandeliers, an open fireplace and a fairytale-themed menu. Two caveats. It requires Tivoli admission during park hours, and it has been closed for the summer in 2026 while the separate Nimb American Bar stayed open. The most theatrical room in the city, with the ticket price and seasonal shutdown to match.
What It Costs and When It Opens
| Tier | Price per cocktail |
|---|---|
| Bodega or neighbourhood bar | 50–90 DKK |
| Standard good cocktail bar | 110–140 DKK |
| Top-tier craft | 125–175 DKK |
| Hotel and luxury | 160–220 DKK |
| Alcohol-free | 60–80 DKK |
Budget around 130 DKK a drink and you will not be surprised often.
Opening hours are the practical fact nobody publishes. 16:00 is the earliest common opening, at Ruby, Lidkoeb, Brønnum, Duck and Cover, Bird and Strøm at weekends. 18:00 is the midweek standard at Strøm, Balderdash, Curfew and Lidkoeb on Mondays. Nothing serious opens for lunch. Closing is midnight to 01:00 midweek and 02:00 on Friday and Saturday, with Balderdash and Strøm running to 03:00 and Blume to 04:00 or later.
Closed days catch people out: Strøm and Balderdash on Mondays (Balderdash on Tuesdays too), Lidkoeb, Brønnum and K-Bar on Sundays, K-Bar on Mondays as well, and Blume open only Friday and Saturday.
Booking, Dress and the Door
Copenhagen is walk-in-first, which is genuinely unusual for a city at this standard. Ruby, Strøm, Balderdash, K-Bar, TATA and Duck and Cover midweek all expect you to turn up. Book Curfew, Bird at weekends, Lidkoeb’s whisky attic and Brønnum around theatre times. Reservations run through the venues’ own sites and Danish systems rather than OpenTable, and arriving before 20:00 is worth more than any booking.
Dress code is effectively nonexistent everywhere except Curfew, which publishes and enforces one. Clean trainers and jeans pass across the city.
Age limits are the real door policy, and no other guide prints them. Danish law says 18 to be served in a bar, but individual doors are stricter: Ruby is 21+, Blume is 23+. If you are travelling with someone under 21, check before you plan the evening.
Tipping is not expected. Service is included in the menu price. Rounding up ten or twenty kroner for good service is polite and entirely optional. Do not tip 15 to 20 per cent; see our note on how tipping works in Denmark. Card is standard and several bars are card-only.
The Speakeasy Problem
Copenhagen now has enough hidden doors that concealment has stopped meaning anything. Curfew has its bookcase, Balderdash a secret door, Blume a basement, 1656 a graffiti front, Ruby an unmarked entrance. When five of the fourteen best bars in a city are hidden, hiddenness is a decorating choice rather than a signal of quality.
The genuinely useful filter in Copenhagen is not whether you have to find the door. It is whether the bar opens before six, whether it takes a booking, and whether anyone has won anything this decade. On that test, Bird, Duck and Cover and Lidkoeb outperform their reputations, and the most famous room in the city is coasting on a very good decade that ended in 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best cocktail bar in Copenhagen?
By any external measure, Bird on Gammel Kongevej. It is number 24 on Europe’s 50 Best Bars 2026, was named Best Bar in Denmark, and is the only Copenhagen bar on either current 50 Best list. Ruby is the more famous answer and the more beautiful room.
How much does a cocktail cost in Copenhagen?
Budget around 130 DKK. Good bars run 110 to 140, top-tier craft goes to 175, and hotel bars reach 220. Lidkoeb charges a flat 120 across its menu, which is among the better value in the centre.
What time do cocktail bars open in Copenhagen?
Rarely before 16:00 and often not until 18:00 midweek. Nothing serious opens for lunch. Most close between midnight and 02:00, with a few running to 03:00 and Blume to 04:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Do you need to book a cocktail bar in Copenhagen?
Usually not, which is unusual for a city with this quality of bars. Curfew effectively requires a reservation and Bird is worth booking at weekends; almost everywhere else is walk-in, especially before 20:00.
Is 1105 still open?
No. 1105 has permanently closed, though it still appears on many guides including the official tourist board’s. Its website is gone and its Google listing shows it as permanently closed.
Is there a dress code in Copenhagen cocktail bars?
Only at Curfew, which publishes a casual smart policy and enforces it. Everywhere else, clean trainers and jeans are fine. Age limits matter more: Ruby is 21+ and Blume is 23+.
Do you tip in Copenhagen bars?
No. Service is included in the price and tipping is optional. Rounding up a note is a friendly gesture, not an obligation.
If it is the setting rather than the drink you are after, the rooftops are a different proposition — better light, worse cocktails, and about 20 to 30 kroner a drink more. We rank them in our guide to the best rooftop bars in Copenhagen.
Planning a night out for two? Our guide to Copenhagen for couples builds a whole city break around evenings like these.
Related Reading
- What else to do after dark goes beyond the bars to the rest of the Copenhagen evening.
- Doing Copenhagen cheaply matters when a round of four drinks costs over 500 DKK.
- Vesterbro, where half these bars are covers the district that has quietly become the drinking centre of the city.
- Indre By and the old centre holds Ruby, Balderdash, Strøm and K-Bar within a few streets.
Final Thoughts
If you have one night, go to Duck and Cover early and Balderdash late, and you will drink better than most people who queued at Ruby. If you have two, add Bird, because it is the only bar here with a current international ranking and it is a twenty-minute walk from the centre. If you have three, book Curfew, unless it is July, in which case it is shut and half the internet will not have told you.
Last verified: September 2026 against venue websites and menus. Copenhagen bars change hands quickly; two on most published lists have closed outright.
