Beijing Nightlife: Places and Districts to Go Out in Beijing

  Forbidden City Wall at Night

What Beijing lacks in a sophisticated modern club scene, it more than makes up for in sheer enthusiasm. The city's bar scene is varied, with a number of hip clubs and a growing list of places that will stay open all night, if you can last the pace!

For an agreeably mixed crowd, there are plenty of places worth exploring to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Sanlitun Lu. Here, along the imaginatively titled ‘Jie Ba Jie’ (Bar Street), you can move from one lively bar to the next.

Just to the east of Tian’anmen Square there are also a number of good venues near the lakes of Shicha (also known as ‘Houhai’). A short stroll away, on Nan Luo Guo Xiang, a cluster of bars have sprung up to meet the increasing demand.

In a strange way, the scene neatly mixes what nightlife in the city used to be with what it’s becoming. While travelers in the city are attracted by the bars, locals – young and old – are just as likely to go for a civilized row on the lake.

It’s with live music that Beijing comes a little unstuck, though. Jazz fans don’t do too badly and traditional Chinese music can be heard in the concert halls and larger arenas, but those of other musical persuasions get something of a rough deal.

But if karaoke were to be considered a live music form, the city is certainly well catered for. Raucous little bars where crowds sing baffling versions of well-known songs can be found right across town.

Ultimately, when it comes to nightlife, Beijing is a city that’s doing its best to make up for lost time. And if this explains the gusto with which the locals are throwing themselves into their nightly revels, it doesn’t necessarily prepare you for it.

On most nights, the city ripples with excited activity as locals and increasing numbers of visitors make the most of the heightened sense of freedom that’s hit the city. It’s a seductive feeling, and one that’s difficult not to get swept along by.

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