Best Bars in Shanghai for a Smart Night Out

At Local China Tours, we do not treat a Shanghai bar night as a race through every famous venue. The better plan is to choose one serious drink, one skyline or heritage moment, and one flexible backup nearby.

This best bars in Shanghai guide is built for visitors who want a good night out without losing the next day. It uses recent award lists, current travel coverage, and local planning logic. Opening hours, booking rules, minimum spends, and door policies can change quickly, so confirm directly with each venue before you go.

Bar	Best for	Area style
Epic	Serious cocktail drinkers	Award-listed cocktail room
Sober Company	Polished cocktail night	INS and central nightlife
Coa Shanghai	Agave and mezcal focus	Cocktail destination
Pony Up	Lively drinks with edge	Late-night cocktail stop
Penicillin Shanghai	Sustainable cocktail design	Nanchang Road
Speak Low	Speakeasy history	Cocktail 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 to use this list

The best Shanghai bar for you depends on the type of night you want. A cocktail enthusiast should prioritize award-listed bars such as Epic, Sober Company, Coa Shanghai, and Pony Up. A first-time visitor who wants the city to feel cinematic should choose Flair or Long Bar.

If you only have one night, do not cross the whole city for three different bars. Shanghai is large, and late-night transfers can break the rhythm. Choose one neighborhood cluster and keep the night tight.

Good first-night plans look like this:

• Bund dinner, Long Bar, then a short riverside walk
• Former French Concession dinner, Penicillin Shanghai, then a casual second stop
• Lujiazui sunset, Flair, then back to your hotel
• Jing’an or Xintiandi dinner, Union Trading Company or The Odd Couple

If your Shanghai stay is short, pair this guide with our Shanghai layover guide so nightlife does not crowd out the next day’s route.

What Rednote bar posts added

A fresh Rednote sample pulled through TikHub on June 16, 2026 gave a useful correction to this list. Local social posts are less focused on formal rankings and more focused on mood: hidden doors, courtyards, fruit-flavored drinks, floral cocktails, terrace photos, and whether a place feels relaxed enough for a date.

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

This is why the list below mixes two sources of truth. Award lists help with cocktail credibility. Rednote helps with what local users actually save: atmosphere, value, photo angles, and whether the night feels easy.

Epic

Epic is the strongest pick when your priority is cocktail quality rather than only views. Asia’s 50 Best Bars listed Epic among its 2025 extended 51 to 100 ranking, placing it at number 74 and naming Shanghai as the city.

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 another Shanghai name that appears in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 extended list. It also has a wider nightlife context because Sober Company reopened inside INS, the large Fuxing Park entertainment complex that 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 your group likes agave spirits or wants something different from a classic hotel martini room. Asia’s 50 Best Bars lists Coa Shanghai in its 2025 extended ranking, which gives it a clear reason to be on a visitor shortlist.

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 another Shanghai venue included in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 extended ranking. It is a good pick when you want the night to feel more energetic and less formal.

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.

A smart one-night Shanghai bar plan

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

Mood	Route
Skyline	Lujiazui dinner, Flair, hotel
Heritage	Bund walk, Long Bar, late dessert
Cocktail	Dinner near Nanchang Road, Penicillin Shanghai, Union Trading Company
Awards	Epic or Sober Company, then stop
Social	Union Trading Company, then The Odd Couple
Rednote mood	Kaisha, The Tuxedo, or one Julu Road/Fumin Road small 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 bars in Shanghai for a first visit?

The best bars in Shanghai for a first visit are usually one skyline bar, one award-listed cocktail bar, or one Bund heritage bar. Flair, Long Bar, Epic, Sober Company, Penicillin Shanghai, and Union Trading Company are useful starting points for different travel styles.

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 cross-checks award and travel signals from Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025, Food and Wine’s coverage of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2019, Wallpaper’s Penicillin Shanghai review, public information about the Shanghai Club Building, and recent Rednote venue signals. Before booking, verify each venue’s current hours, address, reservation method, and minimum spend.