Shanghai is one of Asia's great cocktail cities. Most of its best bars sit in the leafy streets of the former French Concession, around Fuxing Road, Fenyang Road and Xiangyang Road, with more in Xintiandi and Jing'an. This guide covers 19 bars, mostly cocktail bars, from the speakeasy that started it all to bars on Asia's 50 Best Bars list, plus a few of the city's best craft beer bars, with our top picks, a map and a walking route.
Last checked 14 November 2026. No bar paid to be included.
If you only have one night, start here.
The speakeasy behind a bar tools shop.
The former French ConcessionNo. 19 in Asia in 2026.
ChangningFrom the team behind The World's Best Bar.
Xintiandi and Fuxing ParkCoffee, cocktails and izakaya in one.
Xintiandi and Fuxing ParkFour floors of agave.
The former French ConcessionAmerican classics and the Shanghai Breakfast.
The former French ConcessionThe bartender is always right.
The former French ConcessionZero-waste cocktails on Nanchang Road.
The former French ConcessionThrough the trapdoor.
The former French ConcessionNo menu, behind a hidden door.
Jing'anTap a pin for the bar. Numbers match the list.
Tree-lined streets and lane houses around Fuxing Road, Fenyang Road and Xiangyang Road, with the city's densest cluster of cocktail bars.
Swipe to see all 10 bars →
Speakeasy
No. 10, The World's 50 Best Bars 2017
Shanghai's original speakeasy, hidden behind a bar tools shop since 2014 and led by Shingo Gokan's SG Group. Classics downstairs, rare spirits and refined cocktails upstairs, plus private rooms. It has been No. 2 in Asia and No. 10 in the world.
📍 579 Middle Fuxing Road, Huangpu, Shanghai
🕒 Daily 6pm to 1.30am (OpenStreetMap; check before you go)
American cocktail bar
Founded by champion bartender Yao Lu, an unpretentious bar honouring the golden age of American cocktails, with seasonal specials and the signature Shanghai Breakfast. A regular on Asia's 50 Best Bars lists. It has moved from Fenyang Road to Hengshan Road.
📍 306 Hengshan Road, Xuhui, Shanghai
🕒 Daily 6pm to 2am (OpenStreetMap; check before you go)
Cocktail bar
Sam Kuan's bar with marble counters, a lofted second floor and two house rules, the first being that the bartender is always right. Custom cocktails from more than 100 ingredients, plus tributes to Dick Bradsell.
📍 51 Fenyang Road, Xuhui, Shanghai
Sustainable cocktail bar
Brings the Hong Kong bar's sustainable approach to Nanchang Road, with fermentation, zero-waste methods and a lab upstairs pouring cocktails, fermented drinks and alcohol-free options.
📍 Nanchang Road, Huangpu, Shanghai
Speakeasy
By day a shop called Tiger's Bite. At night you enter the bar through a hidden trapdoor for classic cocktails.
📍 108 North Xiangyang Road, Xuhui, Shanghai
Experimental cocktail bar
From the Flask Group: a futuristic bar with a menu styled like a lab notebook and experimental drinks with fresh seasonal ingredients, served in unusual vessels.
📍 17-2 North Xiangyang Road, Shanghai
Speakeasy
A speakeasy hidden inside an old barber shop, with a retro American feel, creative cocktails, single malts, a small garden and Cuban cigars.
📍 615 Yongjia Road, Xuhui, Shanghai
Cocktail bar
An intimate bar opposite Wukang Mansion with about a dozen seats, all about classics and gentle twists.
📍 Opposite Wukang Mansion, Xuhui, Shanghai
🕒 Daily 11am to 2am (OpenStreetMap; check before you go)
Agave bar
Jay Khan's Shanghai bar in a lane house over four floors, each with its own mezcal or tequila concept. Expect a wait.
📍 Middle Fuxing Road, Xuhui, Shanghai
Listening bar
A Japanese-style vinyl listening bar founded by Gary Wang, with a slanted, atmospheric room and cocktails made for sipping.
📍 Shanghai
🕒 Daily 7pm to 1.30am (OpenStreetMap; check before you go)
Sinan Mansions, Fuxing Park and Xintiandi, where some of the city's best-known bars have moved in.
Swipe to see all 3 bars →
Italian cocktail bar
From the team behind Hong Kong's Bar Leone, The World's Best Bar in 2025 and 2026. A polished Italian sports bar downstairs and a 1970s Italian living room upstairs, in Sinan Mansions. The queue starts at 5pm.
📍 Sinan Mansions, Huangpu, Shanghai
Cocktail bar
A bomb-shelter themed bar inside Green and Safe in Xintiandi, using sustainable local ingredients. The best-selling Pear Tekken comes in a magnifying-glass vessel.
📍 2F, 22 Beili, Xintiandi, Lane 181 Taicang Road, Huangpu, Shanghai
Multi-concept bar
No. 39, The World's 50 Best Bars 2021
SG Group's coffee bar, cocktail bar and izakaya, now in INS near Fuxing Park. Low-alcohol drinks downstairs and a livelier upstairs around Tipsy. It peaked at No. 5 in Asia and No. 39 in the world in 2021.
📍 INS, near Fuxing Park, Huangpu, Shanghai
Hidden doors and Japanese-style whisky bars north of the French Concession.
Swipe to see all 5 bars →
Hidden cocktail bar
A discreet hideaway behind a hidden door, founded by Joseph Boroski, with a mahogany bar. It was known for having no menu, though one is now there if you want it. Pricey.
📍 Jing'an, Shanghai
Cocktail and whisky bar
Opened in 2015 by award-winning bartender Naoji Oji, with no fixed menu: drinks are made to suit you, alongside rare Japanese and Scotch whiskies.
📍 3F, Building A, 99 Taixing Road, Jing'an, Shanghai
Craft beer bar
Fifty-six taps of local staples and new brews on the fourth floor of Star Plaza, looking over Jing'an Temple.
📍 4/F Star Plaza, 1718 Beijing West Road, Jing'an
Craft beer bar
The Copenhagen beer brand's first bar in China, hidden down an alley, with over 20 taps.
📍 98 Yanping Road, Jing'an
Brewery bar
A small-batch brewery by the Suzhou River whose name means Tomorrow's Brew. Founder and head brewer Jin Fan has won many international awards.
📍 356 Xinzha Road
🕒 Daily 11am to 2am (OpenStreetMap; check before you go)
Further west, home to one of the city's most talked-about neighbourhood bars.
Cocktail bar
No. 19, Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026
A small, community-minded bar founded by Dre Yang, with smart twists on the classics, a baijiu Piña Colada, a Sichuan peppercorn G&T and a patty melt. It rose to No. 19 in Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026.
📍 925 Huangjincheng Avenue, Changning, Shanghai
One route in walking order, with the time between each bar. See them all on a map.
6 bars · about 80 minutes on foot in total
Start with Speak Low and Pony Up, then Bar Leone Shanghai. Our top 10 above covers the rest.
Start with Speak Low, Shanghai's original speakeasy, then Pony Up, No. 19 in Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026.
The former French Concession, around Fuxing Road and Fenyang Road, where many of the best bars are a short walk apart.
Yes. Speak Low is behind a bar tools shop, Flask is through a trapdoor and Barber Shop hides inside an old barber's.
Many venues accept international cards, but carry a mobile payment app or some cash as a backup.
This guide is written by the team at M.AD Agency. We run Cocktail Week, the ten-day cocktail festival held town by town across the UK and Ireland. Since 2022 we have taken it to more than 20 towns and cities and worked with hundreds of bars. We put this guide together from our own research, Asia's 50 Best Bars results and trusted local guides.
No bar paid to be included and nobody can buy a place. We check the guide regularly as bars open, change and close.
Run a bar in Shanghai that should be here? Get in touch at hello@cocktail-week.com and tell us about it.
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