Best Cocktail Bars in Shanghai for Drinks and Views

The best cocktail bars in Shanghai depend on what you want in the glass. Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026 places Pony Up at No. 19, while the official 2026 extended list places Coa Shanghai at No. 95. Penicillin Shanghai is the sustainability-led design choice; Speak Low is the history stop; Union Trading Company is the approachable social room. Epic, Sober Company, and The Odd Couple cover other established or playful styles.

This page owns cocktail quality, style, and venue comparison. If your main question is language, payment, transport home, hotel bars, or an easy first night, use the separate Shanghai bars for foreigners guide. Opening hours, addresses, booking rules, minimum spends, and door policies can change quickly, so confirm directly with each venue.

Bar	Best for	Evidence or style
Pony Up	Drinks, food, and energy	No. 19 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026
Coa Shanghai	Agave and mezcal focus	No. 95 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026
Penicillin Shanghai	Sustainable cocktail design	Nanchang Road
Epic	Serious cocktail drinkers	Established Shanghai cocktail room
Sober Company	Polished cocktail night	INS and central nightlife
Speak Low	Speakeasy history	Influential Shanghai classic
Union Trading Company	Easy first Shanghai bar	Social neighborhood drinks
The Odd Couple	Playful retro cocktails	Small group night out
Flair	Skyline views	Lujiazui rooftop
Long Bar	Bund heritage	Historic hotel bar

How should you use this cocktail-bar list?

Start with the drink style. Choose Coa Shanghai for agave spirits, Penicillin for sustainable techniques, Pony Up for a livelier drinks-and-food experience, Speak Low for Shanghai cocktail history, or Union Trading Company for an easier social room. Choose Flair or Long Bar only when the view or setting matters more than a pure cocktail comparison.

Do not cross the whole city simply to collect names from a ranking. One well-chosen bar, water, food, and a confirmed ride home create a better night than three rushed reservations.

Useful pairings look like this:

• Nanchang Road dinner and Penicillin Shanghai
• Former French Concession dinner and Union Trading Company
• Pony Up as a single later drinks-and-food stop
• Coa Shanghai as the destination when agave is the reason to go

For logistics and visitor comfort, continue to the Shanghai bars for foreigners guide. If your stay is short, use the Shanghai layover guide before committing to a late night.

How did we select and verify these Shanghai bars?

We separated four different signals: current award lists for industry recognition, official venue information for identity and status, specialist reporting for concept and history, and saved Rednote posts for atmosphere and traveler fit. A Rednote sample collected through TikHub on June 16, 2026 and re-reviewed on August 19 gave a useful correction to formal rankings. Local social posts focus more on hidden entrances, courtyards, fruit-led drinks, floral cocktails, terrace photos, value, and whether a room works for a date or small group.

The useful bar names and patterns from the sample were:

• Kaisha for fruit-led drinks, food-inspired cocktails, and harder-to-book inner seats
• The Tuxedo for a serious cocktail menu connected to the Coa team orbit
• INS for a multi-floor, ticketed nightlife complex rather than a quiet bar
• Aohana, BLACKGLOVE, BOTANIC LAB, NEO TOPIA, Lieben, Tribeca, and Bar Blanc as names appearing in a multi-bar drinking route
• Julu Road and Fumin Road as useful nightlife streets for smaller, mood-led bars
• POP terrace, North Bund, and Bund-adjacent rooftops as photo-led drink stops rather than cocktail destinations

Award lists help with discovery and industry recognition. Rednote helps identify atmosphere and traveler questions. Neither replaces the venue’s current menu, address, booking channel, or operating status.

Epic

Epic is a strong pick when cocktail quality matters more than views. It has appeared in past Asia’s 50 Best Bars coverage, but it is not one of Shanghai’s two entries on the verified 2026 list. Treat that history as context, then judge the current menu and reservation fit directly.

That does not automatically make it the right bar for every traveler. It does mean Epic belongs near the top of a serious cocktail list. Choose it when you want a bar-led night and are comfortable booking ahead.

Best for:

• cocktail travelers
• couples who want one focused drink stop
• visitors who would rather spend on craft than on a rooftop view

Check the current reservation channel before you go, especially on weekends.

Sober Company

Sober Company is an established Shanghai name with past Asia’s 50 Best Bars recognition. Its current setting inside INS gives it a wider nightlife context because the Fuxing Park complex includes multiple venues.

That makes it useful for visitors who want a polished cocktail stop but also want the option to continue the night without a long transfer. It is not the same as a quiet hotel bar. Expect a more social, city-night feeling.

Best for:

• visitors who want a recognized Shanghai bar
• small groups
• travelers staying near Xintiandi, Huaihai Road, or the former French Concession

Coa Shanghai

Coa Shanghai is useful when agave spirits are the reason to go. Asia’s 50 Best Bars places it at No. 95 in 2026, describing a three-floor Shanghai outpost focused on mezcal, tequila, and agave cocktails.

Choose it as a destination bar rather than a casual fallback. If your group is split between cocktail people and casual drinkers, check the menu first.

Best for:

• mezcal and tequila drinkers
• visitors who already know cocktail bars in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Tokyo
• a focused second stop after dinner

Pony Up

Pony Up is No. 19 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026, the highest-ranked Shanghai entry on the current list. It is a good pick when you want drinks, food, and a more energetic room rather than a formal tasting-style experience.

For travelers, the value is not only the drinks. It gives a more current nightlife signal than a purely classic Bund bar. This is the kind of stop that can make Shanghai feel young, fast, and local.

Best for:

• friends
• later evening drinks
• travelers who prefer lively bars over quiet lounges

Penicillin Shanghai

Penicillin Shanghai is one of the most interesting recent additions to the city’s cocktail scene. Wallpaper described it as a sustainable, closed-loop bar on Nanchang Road, connected to the award-winning Hong Kong Penicillin team.

The appeal is concept and design. This is a better pick for adventurous drinkers than for someone who only wants a familiar gin and tonic. Nanchang Road also works well as a compact evening area, especially if you plan dinner nearby.

Best for:

• design-minded visitors
• adventurous cocktail drinkers
• couples who want something more memorable than a generic lounge

Speak Low

Speak Low is part of Shanghai cocktail history. It appeared on The World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2019, when Food and Wine reported it at number 35. Awards age, and bar scenes change, but the name still matters because it helped define Shanghai’s speakeasy reputation.

Choose Speak Low if you want a classic Shanghai cocktail reference. For a first visit, it is often more useful as a history stop than as the only bar of the night.

Best for:

• cocktail history
• visitors who like speakeasy formats
• a Shanghai nightlife classic

Union Trading Company

Union Trading Company is one of the easiest cocktail bars to recommend to mixed groups. It tends to feel less intimidating than a high-concept bar and less formal than a hotel lounge.

This is a practical traveler pick. Use it when you want good drinks, a social room, and a bar that works for people who do not all have the same cocktail knowledge.

Best for:

• first Shanghai bar night
• mixed groups
• travelers staying near the former French Concession

The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple works best when you want a playful cocktail stop. It is not the most obvious skyline choice, but it is useful for people who want the bar itself to carry the mood.

Shanghai has a lot of serious rooms. A lighter, more colorful bar can be a better fit after a long sightseeing day.

Best for:

• small groups
• visitors who like retro style
• a second cocktail after dinner

Flair

Flair is the straightforward skyline choice. It sits high in the Ritz-Carlton Pudong and has long been one of the most recognizable rooftop bar names for visitors. Vogue’s older Shanghai guide described it as a high-floor Ritz-Carlton rooftop with a strong Oriental Pearl Tower view.

You go to Flair for the city, not for a hidden local discovery. That is fine. For first-time visitors, one skyline drink can be worth more than chasing three obscure bars.

Best for:

• first-time Shanghai visitors
• skyline photos
• a premium but simple night out

Check weather before booking. A rooftop is only as good as the view that night.

Long Bar

Long Bar is the heritage pick. It sits inside the Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund, in the historic Shanghai Club Building. The building is known for its long mahogany bar and old Bund club history.

This is not where you go for a loud night. It is where you go when you want Shanghai’s foreign-settlement history, Bund architecture, and a calmer drink before or after dinner.

Best for:

• Bund heritage
• older travelers or parents
• a polished low-risk bar stop

For a smoother night, combine it with our Shanghai travel guide and keep your dinner within the Bund or Huangpu area.

How do you compare bars without overplanning?

If you have one night only, choose one of these routes:

Priority	Start with
Current 2026 list	Pony Up or Coa Shanghai
Sustainability and design	Penicillin Shanghai
Shanghai cocktail history	Speak Low
Social neighborhood room	Union Trading Company
Skyline rather than cocktails	Flair
Bund heritage rather than cocktails	Long Bar

Do not schedule a big bar night before a high-speed rail morning. If you are leaving Shanghai by train, read our China train guide and keep the evening moderate.

FAQ

What are the best cocktail bars in Shanghai?

Pony Up and Coa Shanghai are the verified Shanghai entries on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026. Penicillin Shanghai, Epic, Sober Company, Speak Low, Union Trading Company, and The Odd Couple offer different concepts and histories outside that current ranking signal.

Should I choose a rooftop or a cocktail bar?

Choose a rooftop if you want the Shanghai view. Choose a cocktail bar if you care more about the drink program. For a short trip, do not try to force both into the same night unless they are close together.

Do Shanghai bars require reservations?

Some do, especially on weekends and for hotel rooftops or award-listed cocktail rooms. Check the venue’s current booking channel before going because policies can change.

Source and verification notes

This guide was reviewed on August 19, 2026. Current ranking checks use the official Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026 list and its 2026 51–100 announcement. Venue context also uses the Penicillin Shanghai website, Wallpaper’s Penicillin Shanghai review, historical reporting on Speak Low, public context on the Shanghai Club Building, and a saved TikHub/Rednote sample. Rankings are third-party editorial signals, not guarantees. Verify every venue’s current address, hours, booking method, menu, minimum spend, payment options, and entry policy directly.