Beijing Pub Crawls

The Beijing Nightlife Scene

Beijing's nightlife geography is shaped by its history of clearing things out. Sanlitun, around the Worker's Stadium area, survived and remains the main international zone: Taikoo Li mall with bars on every level, the courtyard venues behind it, and the cluster of rooftop spots on Gongti North Road. Gulou, the drum and bell tower area, is the slower alternative: hutong lanes with low-lit bars and jazz places where the music is the reason you're there. Between these two exists a mid-range of underground clubs — D-22's successor venues — that come and go and require following local listings to find.

What You'll Pay

Beer at a Sanlitun terrace bar: ¥40–70. Cocktails at a rooftop: ¥80–120. Imported spirits run ¥100–150 per drink in international venues. The hutong bars around Gulou are cheaper, often ¥30–50 for a local beer. A club night with entry (typically ¥50–150 depending on the venue and night) plus five rounds lands at ¥400–600. Beijing is not Hong Kong prices, but it's also not cheap.

Best Nights

Sanlitun Friday and Saturday from 10pm: this is when the area reaches capacity and operates as advertised. Thursday is the night for Gulou's jazz and folk music bars — the musicians are there and it's not a weekend crowd. Club nights in Beijing consistently programme Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; Tuesday and Wednesday are essentially dead in most venues.

Practical

Beijing Metro closes at 10:30pm–11pm depending on the line, which is early enough to be genuinely inconvenient for a night out. This means taxis or DiDi (the Chinese equivalent of Uber) after 11pm, which are cheap and plentiful. DiDi requires a Chinese phone number to set up; arrange this on arrival or use a card-registered international account. Cash is largely replaced by WeChat Pay and Alipay in Beijing — international Visa/Mastercard works at most bars but not everywhere. Have a payment solution sorted before you go out.