The 9 Best Rooftop Bars in Beijing
If there’s anything more pleasant than a glass of wine after an exhausting day, it has to be a glass of wine on a rooftop with a broad vision. Culture Trip selects the nine best rooftop bars in Beijing with the top-quality drinks, snacks, and views.
YIN on 12 Rooftop Bar
Bar, Restaurant, Pub Grub
This bar, with a spacious 1,100-meter lounge on the top floor of the New World Beijing Hotel has a great view of commercial Beijing, especially during sunset and evening. The relaxing atmosphere and chill-out music make the bar suitable for a small group of friends or lone guests.
Arrow Factory Taproom
Gastropub, Pub, Pub Grub, German
Arrow Factory Taproom is a craft beer bar in a Siheyuan (traditional Chinese courtyard). Here you can try the local craft beers named after slangs from the Beijing dialect while pigging out on the Stuff’d homemade sausage that cannot be found anywhere else. While the front door and windows of the bar were bricked up in Beijing government’s urban appearance transformation campaign, you’ll have to make a detour through the back door.
V Plus Lounge
Bar, Gastropub, Bistro, Nightclub, Pub Grub
The bar owned by the Chinese pop diva, Na Ying, is known for its award-winning drinks, views of the dynamic Gongti and Sanlitun area from the rooftop—especially at night—and impressively thoughtful services—you can literally ask for blankets if it’s too chilly on the rooftop.
Toast at The Orchid
Boutique Hotel Restaurant, Restaurant, Bar, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Imagining yourself having a beer on the rooftop of a two-floor building in one of the most robust hutong areas in Beijing, closer to the cloudless autumn sky than the crowds down in the alley That’s not a dream, thanks to Toast at The Orchid. The restaurant and boutique hotel’s owner, Joel, is a chef from Canada. He designed the menu to make sure the guests’ dining experiences are top notch.
Very Siam
Restaurant, Thai
The reason this restaurant is recommended is, firstly, its amazing food, then the rooftop dining environment. The Thai food here is so good and authentic that Very Siam is dubbed by many as the best Thai restaurant in Beijing. Located in a fairly concealed position in an alley, the restaurant is for guests who attach importance to privacy.
Migas Sanlitun
Bar, Restaurant, Spanish
No foodies in Beijing are unfamiliar with the Nali Patio in Sanlitun, the patio packed with the best western restaurants and bars in town. The Spanish restaurant Migas is the top restaurant of them all—taking up the top floor all by itself. How about a Sangria to go with the night view of Sanlitun from above?
Migas Mercado
Bar, Restaurant, Spanish
The other branch of Migas also has a rooftop bar, but with a very different view—you can see the spacious view of the Guomao CBD area, with the iconic building of China Central TV Station, nicknamed “Big Pants,” so close to you that it feels like it’s within an arm’s distance. The Spanish food at the Mercado branch is, of course, as good as the Sanlitun one.
Xiu
Bar, Pub Grub
The bar on the rooftop of the Yintai Shopping Center has a stunning architectural style inspired by the Song Dynasty. It might be a fresh experience for rooftop lovers as the bar on the sixth floor is literally circled by a group of skyscrapers instead of a spacious city view. The bar provides various kinds of cocktails along with BBQ and Roast Lamb.
China Grill
Restaurant, Steakhouse
Located on the 66th floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel, China Grill is nevertheless the most popular top-quality rooftop bar in town. Enjoy dining in the surrounding of artificial water features and indoor plants with a 360-degree view of the vast Beijing city. As if it’s not classy enough to have dinner at China Grill, the restaurant also prepares, for their VIP guests, a dining area on a mezzanine level from where they can overlook other guests in the main dining space.