6 Bars That Make You Feel Like You're on Vacation

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but in a cup of something strong, brown and stirred could be something so delightful? If you dream of jetting away for a proper vacation but are too chained to the company computer to take one, drink up at these festive locales. 

Otto's Shrunken Head (538 E 14th St., 212-228-2240) 
While it's more dive than exotic vacation, this original kid on New York's tiki scene still keeps the strong drinks flowing (with glow-in-the-dark charms to boot!) 

Zombie Hut (273 Smith St., Brooklyn, 718-875-3433) 
Go for a game of Apples to Apples, stay because the delicious cocktail bowls are at perfect leg-weakening strength. 

Tropical 128 (128 Elizabeth St., 212-925-8219) 
Pool (plus plenty more games), an awkwardly empty dance floor, a wildlife theme and stiff drinks. It's cavernous and strange but if you squint really hard, it might start resembling a Las Vegas bar. 

Russian and Turkish Bath (268 E 10th St., 212-674-9250) 
Now that Spa Castle has taken away the frozen alcoholic beverages, where can you turn for a drink while getting toasty in a sauna? 

Bookmarks at the Library Hotel (299 Madison Ave., 212-983-4500) 
There's a den with a fireplace. There are literary-inspired cocktails. There's a glass-enclosed roof-top bar. Close your eyes and wish you were the Queen at Scotland's Holyrood Palace while you're in a very clearly Midtown hotel bar. 

Empire Hotel Rooftop (44 W 63rd St., 212-956-3313) 
And if the Gossip Girl tour of New York is what you desire, the roof of the Empire Hotel stays open in the winter so you can enjoy those chest-rattling bass notes in the comfort of being under a retractable glass roof. 

Photo: Flickr user flowizm