New Sanlitun Area Guide

This being Beijing, sometimes even the best of bars and restaurants survive only a season or two, and what was popular last October has now crumbled into rubble. Sanlitun venues, especially, are as short-lived as flies – and that’s where our newly updated Sanlitun Fall 2007 area guide comes in. We’ll help you avoid embarrassing situations like taking your best out-of-town buddies to a show at the old Yugong Yishan – now a yawning pit swarming with hard hats and cranes – or to a wild night at Brown’s, whose demise was almost as fast as its rise.

And of course, it’s not all about destruction. The new Kro’s Nest and creatively named Tree sibling Nearby the Tree have popped up to tempt our taste buds – perhaps they’ll help us stop missing Carthage, which virtually disappeared overnight during the making of this map. Though the parking lot home of Nanjie and Bus Bar is now a hive of construction, both Bus Bar and Nanjie have moved on to cool new locations. And Sanlitun keeps on changing and growing, as proven by the new China View – surely everyone’s noticed that big Hooters sign by now. More discerning palates might enjoy the second location of Purple Haze, or Shine*, a high-end designer boutique. New bars Paddy O’Shea’s, Toper Beer House and yet another Pure Girl proves that Sanlitun will always be coming up with new places to sell us more booze, whether real or fake.

With a fresh new look, the Sanlitun map is cleaner, sleeker and easier to use than ever. It also covers more area, stretching from Xinzhong Jie in the west to beyond the Third Ring in the east, so that your night can take you from Rumi to Gongti West Gate and back again – perhaps to a rousing finish at Bus Bar.