How to Find Speakeasies: 9 Ways to Track Down Hidden Bars

The entire appeal of a speakeasy is that you’re not supposed to know it’s there. No sign on the door. No listing in the phone book. Maybe a password, maybe a hidden entrance, maybe just an unmarked door that 99% of people walk past without a second glance.

That’s great for atmosphere. Less great when you’re actually trying to find one.

Here’s the good news: in 2026, no speakeasy is truly secret. The information is out there. You just need to know where to look. These are the nine most reliable methods for finding hidden bars in any city.

1. Use a Speakeasy Directory

Starting with the obvious one — and the reason this site exists.

We’ve built a directory of over 4,700 speakeasies across 60 US cities. Each listing includes the bar’s address, what kind of entrance to expect, dress code info where available, and what makes the place worth visiting. You can browse by city, by state, or just poke around.

The advantage of a directory over random Googling is structure. Instead of piecing together scattered information from blog posts and Reddit threads, you get a comprehensive list for your city with the details that actually matter: where is it, how do you get in, and what’s the vibe.

Browse the full directory here.

2. Ask a Bartender

This is the oldest and most reliable method, and it works every single time.

Walk into any good cocktail bar — not a speakeasy, just a solid cocktail bar — and ask the bartender: “Are there any speakeasies around here?” Every single bartender at a quality cocktail program knows where the hidden bars are. They know the owners, they’ve trained together, they’ve done guest shifts at each other’s spots. The cocktail bar world is small and interconnected.

A few tips for getting the best recommendations:

Go on a slower night (Tuesday, Wednesday) when the bartender has time to chat
Order a cocktail first — don’t walk up and immediately ask for intel; that’s transactional and weird
Be specific about what you want — “I’m looking for a place with great classic cocktails and a cool entrance” gives the bartender something to work with
Tip well — this should go without saying, but generosity with the person who’s about to send you somewhere cool is the right move

Bartenders also know which speakeasies require reservations, which ones have passwords, and which ones are currently hot versus which ones have been around forever and are more low-key. That insider context is worth more than any Google search.

3. Check Instagram

Instagram has become the de facto discovery tool for speakeasies, even though the bars themselves don’t always advertise heavily.

Search Strategies

Location tag search — Search for the speakeasy’s neighborhood and scroll through tagged photos. People love posting from hidden bars.
Hashtag search — Try #[city]speakeasy, #[city]hiddenbar, #[city]cocktails, or #[city]nightlife. For example, #chicagospeakeasy or #nychiddenbar.
Stories and Reels — Speakeasies show up in Stories and Reels more than feed posts. People film themselves discovering the entrance, which is essentially a video guide for finding the place.
The bar’s own account — Many speakeasies have Instagram accounts. They post cocktail photos and sometimes weekly passwords. Follow them.

What to Look For

Posts showing hidden entrances, secret doors, or “can you believe this is behind a ___” captions
Cocktail photos in dimly lit, intimate settings that don’t match any bar you recognize
Low follower counts relative to engagement — speakeasies often have small but dedicated followings
Location tags that seem wrong (a cocktail photo tagged at a barber shop? That’s probably a speakeasy)

4. Look for Physical Clues

If you’re walking around a city and want to spot speakeasies on foot, here’s what to watch for.

Unmarked Doors

The most common giveaway. An unmarked door in an area with other businesses, especially in a nightlife district or a trendy neighborhood. The door might have:

A small, barely visible logo or symbol
A buzzer or intercom with no label
A peephole at eye level (this is a classic)
A doorman standing outside what appears to be… nothing

Businesses That Don’t Make Sense

A tailor shop that’s always busy at 10 PM. A “phone repair” shop with no phones in the window. A bookstore with a line on Friday night. If a business seems to have foot traffic that doesn’t match what it claims to sell, there might be a bar behind it.

Some real examples from our directory:

A bar hidden behind a working barber shop
A cocktail lounge through a freezer door in an ice cream shop
A speakeasy inside what looks like a laundromat
An entrance through a phone booth in a hot dog restaurant

Alleys and Side Streets

Check alleys adjacent to restaurants and bars. Speakeasies love alley entrances — they’re inherently hidden, they feel secretive, and they usually have a back door that can be repurposed as a main entrance.

Basement Stairs

Look for staircases leading down from the sidewalk, especially in older cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. Basement speakeasies are a direct callback to Prohibition-era bars and they’re everywhere.

5. Google Maps (With the Right Search Terms)

Google Maps is more useful for finding speakeasies than you might think. The trick is knowing what to search.

Effective Search Terms

"speakeasy" [city name] — the obvious one, and it works
"hidden bar" [city name] — catches places that don’t use the speakeasy label
"secret bar" [city name] — same idea
"cocktail bar" [neighborhood] — broader, but you’ll spot speakeasies by their photos and reviews

What to Look For in Listings

Low photo counts — a speakeasy with only 30 Google photos when the restaurant next door has 300 might be intentionally under-the-radar
Reviews mentioning “hidden,” “secret,” “password,” or “entrance” — the reviews will tell you what the listing won’t
Vague addresses — some speakeasies list an address that’s technically correct but points to the front business, not the bar entrance
Unusual categories — tagged as “cocktail bar” but described in reviews as having a hidden entrance

Street View Recon

Once you have an address, drop into Google Street View. You can sometimes spot the unmarked door, the alley entrance, or the front business that hides the bar. This is especially useful for places where the entrance is hard to find even when you know the address.

6. Reddit and Local Forums

Reddit is surprisingly good for speakeasy discovery, especially the city-specific subreddits.

Where to Look

r/[cityname] — search for “speakeasy” or “hidden bar”
r/cocktails — people share their speakeasy experiences and recommendations
r/bartenders — industry insiders sometimes drop gems
City-specific food and drink subreddits (e.g., r/FoodNYC, r/chicagofood)

Why Reddit Works

People on Reddit are weirdly generous with speakeasy information. The threads tend to be detailed, with comments that include:

Exact entrance descriptions (“go to the back of the taco shop, there’s a door behind the jukebox”)
Password intel (“they change it weekly, check their Instagram story every Thursday”)
Honest reviews (“the cocktails are great but the wait is brutal on weekends”)
Comparisons between different speakeasies in the same city

The main downside: Reddit posts can be old. A speakeasy recommended two years ago might have closed, changed ownership, or dropped its hidden entrance. Cross-reference with current information.

7. Concierge and Hotel Bartenders

If you’re traveling, the hotel concierge is an underutilized resource. Good concierges in major cities know every speakeasy in the area — it’s one of the most common questions they get. Hotel bartenders are even better. They’re plugged into the local cocktail community and can often get you reservations at places that are hard to book.

This is especially useful in cities with a dense speakeasy scene like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

8. Food and Drink Publications

The major food and drink publications regularly cover speakeasy openings and roundups.

National

Eater — city-by-city guides and new opening coverage
The Infatuation — bar reviews and “best of” lists for major cities
Punch — cocktail-focused publication that covers notable bars
Thrillist — “best speakeasies in [city]” lists for most major metros
TimeOut — city guides that always include hidden bar sections

Local

Every major city has local food and drink publications that cover the bar scene in more detail than national outlets. Look for:

Local alt-weeklies (still publishing great bar coverage)
City-specific food blogs
Local magazine “best of” issues (often annual)

The advantage of publications over random Google results is editorial quality. Someone actually visited the bar and wrote about it. The downside is that publications tend to cover the same well-known speakeasies — if you want the truly under-the-radar spots, combine publication reading with some of the other methods on this list.

9. Word of Mouth

The original discovery method and still the most satisfying.

Tell people you’re looking for speakeasies. Friends, coworkers, your barber, your Uber driver, the person next to you at a cocktail bar. The best speakeasy recommendations come from people who’ve actually been, because they can tell you things that no review or directory captures:

“Get there before 9 or you won’t get a seat”
“Ask for Marcus — he makes this off-menu drink that’s incredible”
“The entrance is technically on the side street, not where Google says”
“Skip the weekend, go on a Tuesday, it’s a completely different vibe”

Word of mouth also leads to the genuinely hidden places — the ones that aren’t on Instagram, aren’t on Google Maps, and rely entirely on reputation. These are rare, but they exist, and the only way to find them is through people.

Signs You’ve Found a Speakeasy Entrance

You’re standing outside what might be a speakeasy. Here’s how to confirm:

No sign, or a very subtle one — maybe just a small symbol or logo, nothing announcing it as a bar
A doorman or bouncer standing outside what appears to be a random door
A buzzer or intercom — press it and see what happens
A peephole — someone might look out before opening
The door is heavier than expected — speakeasy doors are often solid wood or metal, sometimes soundproofed
You can hear faint music through the door or wall
People in nice clothes entering or exiting a building that doesn’t seem to warrant it
A host stand immediately inside — not a hallway to a restaurant, but a dedicated check-in point for the bar

If you hit two or more of these signs, you’ve probably found it. Walk in with confidence. The worst that happens is someone tells you it’s reservation-only and you book for another night.

A Strategy for Any City

Here’s the move if you’re visiting a new city and want to hit speakeasies:

Before you go: Check our directory for the city. Make a shortlist. Make reservations where possible.
On arrival: Ask your hotel bartender or concierge for their top picks. Compare with your shortlist.
First night: Hit a well-known cocktail bar (not a speakeasy). Talk to the bartender. Ask for recommendations. This often uncovers the spots that aren’t well-documented.
Second night: Visit your top speakeasy pick with a reservation. Ask the bartender there where else you should go.
Third night: Follow the breadcrumbs from conversations. By now, you’ll have multiple recommendations from people who actually work in the industry.

This cascading approach — directory, concierge, bartender, bartender at the next place — almost always surfaces two or three speakeasies you wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Start your search in our directory — over 4,700 hidden bars across 60 US cities, organized by city with entry methods, dress codes, and everything you need to walk through the right unmarked door.