Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing

Any hard rock cafe fan will tell you that any hard rock cafe is worth visiting in any city or country! The only bad thing in Beijing is that because the place is so big, you might be staying in an area which is really quite a distance away and if you're on a tight schedule, there might be no time to make a trip there. It is situated about half an hour from the airport.

Cheapest Hard Rock merchandise in the world , but drinks are very expansive by China standard, good atmosphere.
But I personally prefer Sunlitou Bar Street, cos I speak Chinese and I get to know a lot of locals who are very friendly and nice.

Hot night spot in Beijing. In Shanghai they told me Beijing has completely different feel 'very conservative'. So the first night in Beijing I end up dancing to 1 AM with a chinese student. Definitely worth a visit.

I walked for miles past numerous ring roads, construction and highways until I found this place. The map I had wasn't exactly to scale! All for the sake of collecting a guitar pin! However a cold beer at the end of a very hot and tiring day was very welcomed. The food wasn't bad either and there was an Australian band playing.

The restaurant entrance features a bright red 1960 vintage Cadillac, a huge neon-lit guitar, and marble piano keys that pave the way to the Cafe. The interior offers an 8-metre-wide dome, painted with images of Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and popular tourist spots such as Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven. The guitar-shaped bar, measuring 11.5 metres, is truly a masterpiece. The centre stage is set against a huge stained glass wall measuring 4.6 metres by 4.8 metres

It was interesting to see a table of American couples nearby who had obviously just adopted new Chinese babies.. all comparing notes and just enjoying a 'new family' night out.

The Hardrock café Beijing is an institution and is located close to Lufthansa center. It is definitely not like other Hardrock cafés around the world: inside it's a real strange combination of american food, disco music and mongolian ladies! Worth to visit and feel the unique ambiance...

There is also a german bierstube at the center which is more close to traditional ones.

A very lively place is also a tiny street between Sanlitun and Xindong avenue; there you can find among many others a Belgian beer pub, Irish pub with live U2 music played by locals and other local ones.

Close to the workers stadium there is Lily´s place, one of the nighttime clubs open during the whole night and where all the westerns are welcomed. No fear here, all the scandinavians and europeans visit here.

Perhaps the trendiest nightspot for the young locals and tourists alike. The entrance fees are rather expensive though but if you are into good food and late nights, this might just be the place for you.

Dress Code: Smart casual.

There are several interesting options. (P.S. The Beijing of today is very different from the Beijing during your mother's time!).

We managed to get tickets to the Beijing Acrobatic Show at the Chaoyang Theater, located at the corner of Dongsanhuan Beilu. Although I personally don't dig such shows, I found the performers amazing. They could contort their bodies into all sorts of things. Hm...

We also checked out the Hard Rock Cafe joint at Landmark Towers. For the avid Hard Rock Cafe merchandise collectors, you may like to know that the products sold here are really dirt cheap! For example, a denim HRC jacket that would cost you US$100 in London (if I can remember correctly), costs only US$25 here! Alot of foreigners and expats frequent the Hard Rock Cafe here.... And for the party-animals, there are lots of good discos too... (usually located within the premises of a 5-star hotel).

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Nice crowd, great friends and various merchandise, and cheap ones !