A guide to Shenzhen's nightlife

Live music

For indie bands and underground DJs, Shenzhen is becoming a mandatory China tour stop, after Beijing and Shanghai. If you happen to be in town in May or October, cross your fingers that your visit coincides with the city’s two excellent home-grown festivals, OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival and Tomorrow Music Festival.

No matter the time of the year you can catch live house bands at venues all over town (especially in hotel bars).

Nightlife areas

Shenzhen’s best bars are spread far and wide, but there are several areas with a high concentration of bars, pubs and clubs, where you can stroll, stagger or crawl from one venue to the next.

OCT-LOFT

Offering a grown-up, civilized vibe, OCT-LOFT is more suited to savoring a cocktail or craft beer than embarking on a bar crawl. Serious live music fans gravitate here to watch jazz, alternative, and experimental electronica at B10 Live.

Shekou Sea World

Set around the Minghua cruise ship is an internationally-minded enclave of bars, clubs and live music venues, alongside plenty of restaurants and cafes. Sea World doesn’t party as late as COCO Park does, and tends to attract an older crowd, so it’s a good place for a more chill evening, or to get a night started.

Nantou Ancient Town

An emerging nightlife hotspot, Nantou Ancient Town (now rebranded as Nantou Ancient City) has an artsy atmosphere and offers craft beer pubs, cocktail bars, and Chinese-style tarvens, particularly on Zhongshan East Street near the east gate.

Clubbing

Shenzhen’s clubland is a see-and-be-seen party of laser light shows, mirrored surfaces, big room EDM music and champagne by the bucket load. Most venues expect you to pay for a table by shelling out for a bottle of spirits and mixers and a platter of fruit, but you can usually also perch at the bar, or just flit between tables like a boozed-up butterfly. The go-to club for all of the above at time of research was Superface. If you’re more about the music, try Oil or Vinylhouse.