We’re not sure if it’s the rum-soaked cocktails or the kitschy splashing mermaids and swaying hula girls that make us love Tiki bars, but our love affair with these Polynesian-themed watering holes goes way back.
Starting in Los Angeles in 1931 with Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s, where the first mai tai was made, to the Sip ’n Dip Lounge in Great Falls, MT, where mermaids still swim behind the bar, Tiki bars clearly aren’t a fad just for the coastal areas. In fact, some of the best Tiki bars we’ve seen are homebrewed—like these seven spots.
Address: 28 Kalaka Pl, Kailua, HI
Price: $2,888,000
Under the grass roof: This property makes perfect use of space by incorporating the adorable Tiki bar into the fence, leaving you plenty of poolside real estate to bring in a band and hula dancers.
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Address: 437 Amanda Cir, Tiki Island, TX
Price: $899,000
Under the grass roof: If you’re going to have a spot on Tiki Island, you’d better have a killer Tiki bar, and this covered, beachy paradise answers the call. With a thatched roof, plenty of seating, and wall-to-wall bar signs, you have everything you need for endless theme parties. Conga!
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Address: 333 5th St, Atlantic Beach, FL
Price: $1,275,000
Under the grass roof: You don’t have to bring Hawaii into the backyard to make a great Tiki bar. Part Craftsman, part seaside stand, this outdoor minibar has colorful shutters to match the house and plenty of poolside seating.
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Address: 2702 Snowberry Ct, Vienna, VA
Price: $874,900
Under the grass roof: This Tiki bar—complete with separate seating (for serving hurricanes tableside) and a flat-screen TV—might just be the best basement ever.
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Address: 1007 Oak Hill Ln, Possum Kingdom Lake, TX
Price: $1,395,000
Under the grass roof: This eclectic space perched over Possum Kingdom Lake is just the kind of spot where we imagine Ernest Hemingway would have ordered a painkiller. With a covered seating area, a heaping dose of kitsch, and even a parrot, this might be the perfect lakeside Tiki haunt.
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Address: 242 Barefoot Beach Blvd, Bonita Springs, FL
Price: $2,995,000
Under the grass roof: With its bushy thatched roof and bamboo backdrop, you might mistake this spot for a Tiki bar right on the beach, but it’s actually a home bar under a massive glass dome. This means you could blend up drinks under the Florida sunshine in any kind of weather.
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Address: 3 Bellevue Dr, Treasure Island, FL
Price: $1,000,000
Under the grass roof: With a classic thatched roof, this 10-seat oceanfront Tiki bar is the perfect spot to sip a zombie cocktail and watch the sunset.
