By February in western Massachusetts — when the sky slumps pewter and the sidewalks dissolve into gray slurry — winter stops feeling poetic. It feels endless. The cold pushes people indoors, makes even the hardiest New Englanders question their life choices, and turns a simple drink out into a calculation of how long it’ll take to thaw. But one door in Easthampton opens not into another dim, drafty bar, but into something warmer, louder, and blissfully out of season.
Step inside Gigantic Bar during its annual “Escape the Northeast,” and the air shifts. Blacked-out windows erase any sense of time, and the narrow shotgun room glows with puffer-fish lanterns, vintage rattan shades, and netting draped across the ceiling like a jungle canopy. Vines creep up the walls. Surf bands cram into the front lounge, their twangy guitar lines bouncing off nautical lights salvaged from the legendary mid-century décor house Oceanic Arts. It smells of citrus, rum, and something sweetly tropical, a sensory prank on a body bundled against sleet minutes earlier.
Owner Ned King never set out to become New England’s patron saint of escapism, but the idea sprang from winter’s bleak reality. February and March were his slowest months, so in 2021 he gambled on a month-long tropical takeover. Guests didn’t just come — they poured in. Confused out-of-towners still wander in midsummer asking about “the tiki bar,” unaware it’s a two-month spectacle. Regulars demand the Painkiller, a drink so popular it eclipsed the rest of the menu.
“People would be furious if it wasn’t on,” King says with a laugh. Navy Grogs and Cobra’s Fangs (King’s favorite) follow. Bartenders trade sweaters for vintage tropical shirts. The menu nods to 1940s Don the Beachcomber. Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind” spins on the turntable. “There’s nothing better,” King says, “than going to a tropical bar for a little bit and forgetting things for a while.”
If winter tests the imagination, bars like Gigantic reward it — using tropical ephemera, music, and a well-built rum drink to trick the senses into believing it’s summer. In Providence, Rhode Island, Gather Glass & Café pairs cocktails and small-batch ice cream with front-row views of glassblowers working in 2,100-degree heat, a mesmerizing hot-and-cold duet. In Boulder, Colorado, Jungle Rum Bar keeps the tropical fantasy alive year-round, then transforms into a full holiday wonderland each December, complete with festive mugs and island-inspired winter drinks.
These cold-weather sanctuaries aren’t the only places offering tropical mischief in the darkest months. Here are a few more of our favorite temporary hot spots — no passport required.
Adrift Tiki Bar (Denver, Colorado)
Courtesy of Adrift Tiki Bar
Denver may do winter beautifully, but even mountain people reach a point where they want to pretend the snow isn’t there. Enter Snowdrift: the annual transformation of Adrift into a tropical-meets-tinsel dreamscape. Imagine snow-capped palms, a powdery “beach” that crunches like the real thing, and an igloo bar serving belly-warming holiday cocktails. It’s equal parts tropical mirage and North Pole fever dream, with enough lights and whimsy to make you forget your toes were frozen 10 minutes ago.
Three Dots and a Dash (Chicago)
Courtesy of Three Dots and a Dash
Chicago winters require grit. Three Dots and a Dash requires none — just curiosity and maybe a thirst for rum. This subterranean tropical shrine dives deep into rum culture, with more than 300 bottles and an in-house juice program so intense they’re pressing 30–55 gallons a day. And just when the weather turns its harshest, they launch River North Pole: a holiday takeover with whimsical décor, hot drinks, and themed sippers served in festive mugs, including a snowman that collectors chase like treasure.
Hidden Harbor (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Courtesy of Hidden Harbor
Snow outside, rum inside — Hidden Harbor has the formula figured out. This Squirrel Hill standout refuses the cliché tropi-kitsch and instead honors the tradition born by Donn Beach and Filipino bartenders in the 1930s. Start with a properly punchy Mai Tai. Let the Passa Passa (three Jamaican rums, hibiscus, spices) melt the chill from your bones. Or surrender to the Tokyo Drift with Batavia Arrack and Thai spices. By the time your glass is empty, the snow will feel like someone else’s problem.
Marge’s Lakeside Inn (Rochester, New York)
Courtesy of Marge’s Lakeside Inn
Perched beside Lake Ontario in Rochester’s Sea Breeze District for 80-plus years, this beachfront bar offers firepits, an antique jukebox, live music, and vintage “tiki” charm that predates the wave of modern revival. In the Prohibition era, owner George Magin ran Marge’s as a speakeasy, pouring Scofflaws made with bootleg Canadian liquor. Today, it’s a beloved lakeside haunt where summer energy holds steady even when the shoreline freezes. Snow outside, sand underfoot — just roll with it.
Callisto (Bentonville, Arkansas)
Courtesy of Callisto
Behind a midnight-blue gallery door, Callisto reveals a sleek, moody tropical escape perfect for the crisp winters of Northwest Arkansas. Sip a smooth Tropical Derby or a floral Lehua Flower while nibbling Coconut Shrimp, Hamachi Crudo, or Hurricane Popcorn. Everything feels polished yet playful, like a winter getaway that decided to dress up for the occasion.
Law Bird (Columbus, Ohio)
Courtesy of Law Bird
When December hits, Law Bird goes full holiday-tropical and lets its quirky, joyful side shine. For nearly a month, the bar decks itself out in festive décor, pours cocktails in outrageous mugs, and encourages Hawaiian shirts as if Columbus were suddenly beachfront property. Grab a carrot-cardamom Mai Tai, Christmas at La Casona, or Santa’s Go Go Juice for a little cheeky fun amid the mountains of snow outside.
Porco Lounge & Tiki Room (Cleveland, Ohio)
Courtesy of Porco Lounge
From the outside, Porco looks like any other brick building tucked between Ohio City and Clark-Fulton — quiet, unassuming, probably warm inside. But cross the threshold and you’re suddenly in a lush, rum-soaked portal to parts unknown, a welcome shock in the dead of a Cleveland winter. Filipino bar snacks come from a family-run kitchen, and drinks arrive in vintage mugs inherited from Cleveland’s famed Kon Tiki. Bring some friends because group cocktails are the secret joy here.
Ogie’s Trailer Park (Providence, Rhode Island)
Courtesy of Ogie’s Trailer Park
This West End gem leans hard into mid-century camp: string lights, vintage décor, a firepit, and a patio bar that somehow feels tropical even when you can see your breath. Inside, a big central bar and “Granny Boo’s Kitchen” window feed the crowd, while Ogie’s libations — Blue Hawaiians, Mai Tais, Piña Coladas, umbrellas, and fruit galore — keep the vibes cheerfully unpretentious in tropical drinkware.
Little Jumbo (Asheville, North Carolina)
Courtesy of Little Jumbo
Most of the year, Little Jumbo is Asheville’s charming neighborhood cocktail den. Each February, when the Southern Appalachians get their coldest snap, the Tropilachia Club appears for one month only, turning the former grocery store into a warm, rum-scented escape. The bar keeps the menu secret until opening night, but past hits — like the Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Coconut Martini (neither itty nor weeny but irresistibly coconutty) — show their playful side. Expect something like a spiked Vietnamese Iced Coffee, cozy lighting, and a brief but blissful vacation from winter.
