Libertine
By ΩIII
Every good hotel needs a living room, and Libertine is Casa Bonay’s – the ground-floor lounge of a restored 1869 neoclassical townhouse on Gran Via, where dim lighting, gothic flowers and vintage furniture lend an autumnal calm at any hour. Tables sit well apart, made for conversations you’d rather keep private, and a dark wood bar runs the length of the room under money-green neon.
The cocktails are the reason to cross town: American bar consultant Eric Stephenson writes the menu, which wanders from aperitivos and sours through fizzes to a section literally titled tropical and mysterious – form enough to earn the bar its 50 Best Discovery listing. In 2024 the team canned the house style as Libertine Blends, a line of ready-to-drink cocktails born behind this bar. Alongside run natural wines, highballs and snacks borrowed from sibling Bodega Bonay – fried artichokes, chicken croquettes, tempura sardines.
The room works the full day, and daylight hours belong as much to laptops as to lunch – it’s a favorite spot for free coworking, with side tables where you’re welcome to set up, free wifi and power plugs at hand. Then from Thursday to Saturday local DJs take over with vinyl sets that push the lobby deep into the night.