Nanluogu Xiang

Once neglected and ramshackle, strewn with spent coal briquettes in winter and silent except for the hacking coughs of old timers or the jangling of bicycle bells, the fun-filled north–south alleyway of Nanluogu Xiang (literally 'South Gong and Drum Alley') underwent accelerated evolution from around 2000 when the pioneering Passby Bar served its first customer. In the mid-noughties, money was tipped into a Nanluogu Xiang facelift: the alley is now the model for how an old hútòng haunt can be converted for those in need of decent breakfasts, diverse shopping, appetising lunches, hútòng sightseeing, a round of imported beers with dinner and funky courtyard accommodation (in that order). If you're looking to put a pillow under your head, a mushrooming array of fine courtyard hotels has sprung up.

It's quite a carnival. Crowds of Chinese photograph anything that moves (or doesn't) and the alley is perched precariously between its dwindling charm and commercial overload: the impending arrival of its own underground station may be the final straw. Today you can hoover up a miscellany of food from German waffles to crepes, Mongolian, Tibetan or Qīnghǎi yog- hurt, fish and chips and cheap alcohol or fork out for toys, trendy T-shirts, ceramics and much more. The shop with the eternal queue is the Wěnyǔ Cheese Shop (No 49), flogging Mongolian cheese. Perceiving a lucrative market, several shops have moved in from Shànghǎi, including Feel Shanghai.

Look out for the 1960s slogan on the wall of the Wànqìng Pawnshop, located opposite Plastered T-shirts at 61 Nanluogu Xiang, which exhorts passersby: 'Industry should learn from Dàqìng, agriculture should learn from Dàzhài, the whole nation should learn from the People's Liberation Army'. Just to the north is an earlier slogan from the 1950s, largely obscured with grey paint. Taxis occasionally cruise up the narrow alley, leaving camera-toting pedestrians pinned to the wall.

Do also take time to explore the many hútòng that run off east and west from Nanluogu Xiang, if only to fling off the crowds or do our cycling tour in reverse. Mao'er Hutong is one of Běijīng's most famous old alleys, while Dongmianhua Hutong was poetically renamed Great Leap Forward 3rd Alley during the Cultural Revolution.