The Best Cocktail Bars in Sofia: 9 Bars and 3 Speakeasies

Sofia is known for cocktail bars that hide behind a door you open with the right key, behind a bookcase in a bookshop or inside a candlelit barn with no electricity. Below are the 9 cocktail bars in Sofia I rate highest, plus the 3 speakeasies worth finding, with what to order, what a drink costs and when you need to book.

Sofia's cocktail bars at a glance

The best cocktail bars in Sofia

1. 5L Speakeasy

At 5L, on 15 Tsar Shishman Street, getting in is part of the night. A set of keys hangs beside an ordinary-looking door, and you try them until one opens the lock, with staff stepping in if a minute goes by. The bar runs over two levels, and on weeknights only the lower one opens, so head downstairs if the front room looks empty.

The bartenders work to order: tell them you want something sweet with rum or bitter with gin, and they build a drink around it. For a local twist, order a rakia cocktail such as the Belegzija. Cocktails cost about €10 to €14, it opens daily from 4 PM to 2 AM, and in summer an outdoor space opens too. This is the best cocktail bar in Sofia for me.

2. Sputnik

Sputnik shares 17 Yanko Sakazov Boulevard with Raketa Rakia Bar, and a door inside joins the two. The decor is Soviet space nostalgia: honeycomb-patterned carpets, cosmonaut posters, retro fridges and staff who sometimes wear space suits. It has made The World's 50 Best Bars discovery list and won Sofia's Best Cocktail Bar every year from 2017 to 2020.

Sputnik puts rakia into modern cocktails, along with Bulgarian rose and yogurt, and its menu runs from €7.10 to €10.15. Most rakia cocktails cost €8.10, and I'd start with the Kuma Lisa, a rakia drink, or the Moonwalker. Saturday is the busiest night, so book a table, and you can order from Raketa's Bulgarian menu without moving.

3. The Cocktail Bar

The Cocktail Bar sits in a glass pavilion at the corner of Solunska and Angel Kanchev streets, in a small park. By day it works as a cafe, and at dusk it turns into a cocktail bar, with its terrace out in the park. From May onward the outdoor terrace is full by 6 PM, so arrive early or take a seat inside.

It opens from 9 AM to 2 AM, and cocktails cost about €7 to €11. 5L and Hambara are both under 15 minutes away on foot, so I'd make it the first stop of a summer cocktail night.

4. Magic Bar

Magic Bar at 51 Otets Paisiy Street pairs cocktails with professional close-up magic performed at your table. It opens Thursday to Saturday from 5 PM. The English-language show is on Friday at 8 PM and lasts about 35 minutes, Saturday shows are in Bulgarian, and Thursday is comedy.

Show tickets cost about €13 and cocktails €8 to €12, billed separately. The bartender, Hristo, makes custom drinks if you tell him your spirit and the flavors you like. It is my pick for a date or a birthday.

5. One More Bar

One More Bar fills a former kindergarten at 12 Tsar Ivan Shishman Street, a colorful house that opens at 8:30 AM for coffee and pours cocktails until 2 AM. Its menu includes some of the first organic and vegan cocktails in Sofia, and in winter it adds mulled wine.

Cocktails cost about €8 to €14, and in summer its garden is one of the best seats in the center. It is on the same street as 5L, so the two make an easy pair, and walk-ins are the norm here.

6. Bar Me

Bar Me hides behind a small side door, and the room inside feels like a secret aviary: bird illustrations, taxidermy and green-tinted walls. The cocktails are theater, with smoke-filled bowls and elaborate presentations.

The drink to order is the Hemingway daiquiri, and cocktails cost about €10 to €14. It is tiny, so book for the weekend, and I'd go for one special cocktail before moving on.

7. V Bar

V Bar has run since 2017 on General Parensov Street, over two levels. The ground floor is the cocktail bar, where drinks are made to order, and the basement is a restaurant built around a living green wall. There is outdoor seating, and it opens daily from 9 AM to 12:30 AM.

Expect to spend about €10 to €15 a person. It closes at 12:30 AM, earlier than most bars on this list, so I'd book it as the dinner stop of a cocktail night.

8. Memento

Memento is the one cocktail bar on Vitosha Boulevard I'd use. It opens from 8 AM to 2 AM and serves cocktails for about €6 to €9, which makes it an easy meeting point before you head into the side streets.

The rest of Vitosha Boulevard is better for coffee and people-watching by day, and the bars with more character are a few blocks east, along Tsar Shishman Street.

9. The Scene

The Scene, on top of the Hyatt Regency on Vasil Levski Square, is the rooftop with the best cocktails. Everything is made from scratch with no artificial ingredients, and the menu draws on Sofia, the rest of Europe and the Middle East, at about €10 to €14 a drink. It opened in 2020, runs from about 5 PM to 1 AM, keeps a smart casual dress code and is 18 and over after 10 PM.

From the terrace you can see Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Sense, the other cathedral rooftop, has the closer view at the same €10 to €14, and the two lead the rooftop bars in Sofia for a sunset drink.

Speakeasies in Sofia and how to get in

5L is the cocktail speakeasy; these three are the other hidden bars worth finding.

Hambara

Hambara is the hidden bar I'd find first. Walk down the dark passage at 22 6th September Street, behind a residential building, knock firmly on the unmarked wooden door and wait for someone to open it. Inside is a former barn with no electricity, lit by hundreds of candles. The story goes that intellectuals met here during communism to speak freely.

The drinks are simple: beer, wine, rakia and basic mixed drinks at about €3 to €9. It opens from about 9 PM to 3 AM, Monday to Saturday, takes no bookings and allows smoking inside.

Secret Room

Secret Room is a speakeasy behind a bookcase in an antiquarian bookshop in central Sofia, and finding the door is the game. Inside it is dim and vintage, and later in the night come live singers, guest performers and DJs. It also hosts private parties.

Bar Kolo

Bar Kolo is a UV-lit basement under a residential building, and the most tucked-away of Sofia's hidden bars. The crowd is mostly from the neighborhood, and it takes cards but prefers cash. It stays open until 5 AM, the latest close on this list, so I'd keep it for the last stop of the night.

Bulgarian flavors in Sofia cocktails

Rakia, the fruit brandy that runs at around 40% in commercial bottles, is the Bulgarian ingredient you will meet most: Sputnik and 5L both make rakia cocktails, and a cocktail is the gentlest first taste of it. The other Bulgarian drinks behind the bar include mastika, the anise spirit that turns cloudy white over ice, and menta, a green spearmint liqueur.

For a slower night of Mavrud and cheese, the wine bars in Sofia pour Bulgarian wine for about €4 to €8 a glass.

What a cocktail costs in Sofia

Round up at the bar, or leave about 10% at a table, the normal rate for tipping in Bulgaria.

Booking, cards and opening hours

Most cocktail bars open between 5 and 6 PM and close around 2 AM. One More Bar opens at 8:30 AM and The Cocktail Bar at 9 AM, while Hambara does not open until around 9 PM. The rooms warm up around 10 PM and are at their best from about 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM, so a cocktail bar at 8 PM can feel empty.

On weeknights you can walk in almost anywhere. On Friday and Saturday, book 5L, Sputnik and Bar Me, buy Magic Bar tickets ahead, and get to Hambara early, because it takes no bookings. Most bars take cards; Hambara is cash only and Bar Kolo prefers cash. Jeans and a decent top work everywhere, and smart casual is the safer bet at the rooftops.

A cocktail night across central Sofia

Most of Sofia's cocktail bars sit east of Vitosha Boulevard, in the Oborishte and Sredets neighborhoods, and nearly all of them are less than 15 minutes apart on foot. This is the Friday I'd plan for a first-timer.

Hambara comes before 5L because it takes no bookings, so an earlier arrival gives you a better chance of a seat. For a rakia-led version, swap the second half for Raketa and Sputnik, about 10 minutes' walk beyond Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. For craft beer and dancing until dawn, the best bars in Sofia include Kanaal, with around 38 taps, and Bar Petak, open until 5 or 6 AM.

The cocktail bars are the early part of Sofia's nightlife, which runs from dinner at 8 or 9 PM to clubs that close at 5 or 6 AM. When the bars wind down around 2 AM, Sofia's clubs such as Yalta are at their peak, and a 4 km ride home on the night tariff costs about €5 in a licensed taxi in Sofia ordered by app.