The Oldest Bar in the World Isn’t Where You Think It Is

Forget all those scenic Irish pubs, all those ancient Crusader pubs, and all those Scandinavian hostelries that might have seen a Viking or two. If you’re one of those travellers who collects superlatives, then you’ll almost certainly want to drink in the oldest bar in the world.

Now, given humans have been making booze for many millennia – some even argue that the only reason human beings settled down and gave up hunter-gathering was to farm grain for beer. And, no, none of those ancient Levantine sites are open to visitors.

One thing that is, though? The Cave Bar at Petra in Jordan.

You’ll know Petra from that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where they gallop up the narrow canyon until a gigantic temple-type affair is revealed. That’s the Treasury, a vast funeral monument built by the Nabateans, a trading people who occupied this strategic site before the Romans displaced them: and the canyon (AKA The Siq) is every bit as dramatic as it looks on film (the interiors of the Treasury were shot elsewhere).

What does this have to do with bars?

Well, archaeologists might want to look away now, but Petra is full of rock-cut tombs from 2,000 years ago or more. (In fairness, many of them were thoroughly asset-stripped and fire-scarred by centuries of Bedouin camping.) And today one is home to the aptly-named Cave Bar – the world’s oldest bar. Here it is.

I’d love to say they mix a mean Martini and an outstanding Negroni. They don’t. And (archaeologists, please cover your eyes), you can even smoke inside. But if you’re ticking superlatives off your travel bucket list, you’ll likely want to head to Petra – and have a drink in the world’s oldest bar while you’re there. Cheers!