Hooks are way better! No need to fold or arrange the towel--just hang it up, and a few hours later, check if it's dry. And you can hang 6 towels where maybe two would hang on a bar.

I'm with kce3, hooks present more storage capacity and let the towels dry better.

Freestanding to keep wet towels away from walls if the room is big enough.

I've got a large airing cupboard in my bathroom and on the inside of the door we have fixed four rails for the towels, so no damp towels.

i use hooks, and hammam towels that dry very fast.

Both - towel rail for me and my partner's towels, and hooks for any guests (or dressing gowns) as the towel rail isn't that big!

Towel hooks ruin towels and they end up falling off half the time. Rubbish! Rails for me every day.

Towel bars are great if you are actually going to fold the towels and hang them properly every time you put the towels away. Otherwise if you get a good hook, the towels should dry faster.

more drying power from bars. possibly hooks for small hand towels.

We prefer the hooks over here but it depends on the space. In small spaces hooks can be too much. annetteabroad has a good point about it ruining the towels though!

Hooks are sure great and so easy to use, while bars need a bit more effort and definitely take more space. Nevertheless bars for me.

Depends on the room, some designs really suits towel bar, especially when the accessories are intrinsic to the design. Other times you just want to hide things on the back of a door, so both have their place.

What about a radiator with horizontal bars

I like to use old quilt racks rather than towel bar. I found this great old brass one in a boot sale.

Towel Bars look more organized for large bath towels

I've had a change of mind since I've had a tall radiator with horizontal tubular bars fitted in my bathroom-it acts as a heated towel rail and looks good too!

Hooks are a bit different!

I think towels dry quicker on bars than hooks, especially if they're heated.

looks great

Towel hooks, they're neat and compact

both towel hooks and towel bars are great. towel hooks are ideal if there is limited space on the wall, but towel rails are great and can dry a towel faster if they are heated!