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Press Club
If Sanlitun is just too sordid for you, seek out the dignified repose of the wood-panelled Press Club in the top-drawer St Regis off Ritan Lu. Its five-star bar has five-star prices, a large-screen sports TV and a lounge with a library-like ambience.
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Propaganda
Loved as much for its meat-market reputation as for its hip-hop soundtrack, this club is a long-time student favourite and is packed with dancers on weekends.
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Q Bar
Unselfconsciously cool, Q has terrific bartenders, the best rooftop terrace in town and is packed with interesting people on weekends. To get here, go to the Eastern Inn Hotel, take the elevator to the 5th floor, turn right and walk up the 6th-floor staircase.
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Red Moon Bar
Arriving at the Red Moon, customers are met by a svelte female attendant and ushered through a looking-glass door to a gorgeous lounge bar blessed with a huge selection of wines. The lighting is subdued, soporific jazz wafts over the chilled-out clientele, and the evening's live music goes down well with those not in a rush to go elsewhere. The overall effect is particularly seductive and the perfect antidote to some of Běijīng's rawer bar spots.
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Reef Bar
A refugee from the old Sanlitun South Bar Street, the Reef Bar has the comforting feel of your local back home. Located in a tiny hútòng house, there's a small bar area, a few sofas and armchairs and a wide selection of foreign beers. Run by a cheerful husband-and-wife team, the place attracts their (many) friends, as well as foreigners who live in the area.
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Ruì Fǔ
In the former home of Qing dynasty royalty, warlords and the occupying Japanese army in the 1930s, this is reputedly one of the most haunted spots in all Běijīng. You'd probably hear the ghosts screaming if it wasn't for the resident DJ (on weekends) and the throng of upmarket locals and expats who come to enjoy properly mixed cocktails around the marble bar or to recline on fancy sofas. VIP cigar lounge, and an outside terrace in the summer.
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Sanwei Bookstore
Opposite the Minzu Hotel, this place has a small bookshop on the ground floor and a teahouse on the second. It features music with traditional Chinese instruments on Saturday night. On other evenings, you can hear live jazz here.
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Star City
This six-screen cinema is the best place to see Western movies released in China because they always have one screening a day with the original, un-dubbed print (though that doesn't mean it hasn't been cut by the scissor-happy censors). It's a plush multiplex that feels no different from its equivalents in the West.
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Star Live
It's a great space but eccentric management make this place a bit hit and miss. Yet it's the only venue in Běijīng where you'll see visiting international bands not big enough to play the stadium circuit.
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Stone Boat Bar
Set up in a real-life stone boat on one of Ritan Park's large ponds, this low-key bar serves all the standard cocktails, spirits, beers and café-style food. To get in after the park closes, just tell the guards at the south gate where you're going and they'll let you in.
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Sundongan Cinema City
Don't expect a huge selection, but this is one of Běijīng's most conveniently located cinemas and there's usually a Hollywood feature showing if you need a two-hour escape.
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Tianqiao Acrobatics Theatre
West of the Temple of Heaven Park, this 100-year-old theatre offers one of Běijīng's best acrobatic displays performed by the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. Less touristy than the other venues, the high-wire display here is awesome. The entrance is down the eastern side of the building.
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Tree
Another refugee from the old Sanlitun South Bar Street, where it was known as the Hidden Tree, the Tree is a long-term favourite of expats, locals and tourists. There's a fine selection of Belgian beers (from around Y40 ), decent pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven (from around Y45 ) and low-key live music by a Filipino band. It gets busy, but has a more chill vibe than some of the surrounding bars. It's off the courtyard of the You Yi Youth Hostel.
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Universal Theatre (Heaven & Earth Theatre)
Around 100m north of Poly Plaza, young performers from the China National Acrobatic Troupe perform their mind-bending, joint-popping contortions. This is a favourite with tour groups, so book ahead. Tickets are pricier the further from the stage you sit. Look for the awful white tower that looks like it should be in an airport - that's where you buy your tickets (credit cards are not accepted).
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Vics
Vics is not the most sophisticated nightclub in the world but it remains a favourite with the younger crowd. The music is mostly standard R&B and hip-hop, but the sounds are not the only reason people come here. There's an infamous ladies night on Wednesdays (around Y30 and free drinks for women before ) and weekends see it rammed with the footloose and fancy-free. If you can't score here, you never will.
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What? Bar
If you like to get up close and personal with the bands you go and see, then this is the place for you. That doesn't mean it's groupie heaven here; rather it's just that this venue is so small that the audience might as well be on stage with the musicians. It's a good place to hear up-and-coming local talent. Just north of the west gate of the Forbidden City.
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World of Suzie Wong
Recently reopened after renovations, Suzie Wong's décor still screams Shanghai opium-den and attracts Beijing's most beautiful people with house, techno, pop and rock. Get here early if you want one of the kang-style, low-level beds stacked with pillows. The club entrance is south of Chaoyang Park. Suzie is on the second floor.
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Zhengyici Theatre
Originally an ancient temple, this ornately decorated building is the oldest wooden theatre in the country and the best place in the city to experience Beijing opera and other operatic disciplines like Kunqu. Restored by a private businessman with an interest in reviving this dying art, the theatre reopened in 1995 after a long period of disrepair.
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