Five Must-visit Courtyard (Siheyuan) Hutong Bars in Beijing
Wanna explore some real taste of Beijing? Courtyard (Siheyuan) Hutong bars is one of the best choices. Stepping into the Beijing Hutongs hidden in the green trees and staring at the clear sky out of the ancient brick walls, we seem to have entered the blood vessels of the this ancient capital and melted into it and no longer just a traveler.  

1, Free As a Bird, Bar & Café

“Building a resting place for the flying hearts.” The Chinese name of the “Free As a Bird” means “the place for wings to have a rest”. This tourism-theme bar is very popular among the backpackers who often gather here to share their experience in backpaking.

If you want to find the standard Beijing Siheyuan residence and have a booze there, Free As a Bird is a good option. The building of Free As a Bird keeps the exquisite structure of the traditional court-yard style residence with black bricks, grey tiles, red-and-green doors and windows and two old dated trees in the yard. At a breezy summer night when the exotic music plays in the oriental capital, you can bring your loved one to meet your best friends here which are music, travel, wine and delicious food.

Free As a Bird is always filled with legendary travel stories which are projected on the big screen on varieties of activities. The shy boy beside you is probably talking about his experience of climbing the Haba Snow Mountain, while the elegant girl drinking wine over there has some stunning adventures to share. And maybe in next journey you can join and travel with them together.

It looks like a tiny cafe hidden in the mountains when it is quite, and sounds like a joyful journey sometimes as well. The environments, settings and even the cuisines there including both eastern food and western food all have a strong sense of travel. Meanwhile, there are some Hutong hostels, budget backpackers and tourist sites nearby, which are very convenient for travelers.

Business time: 11:00 am to 3:00 am
Tel: 8610 - 64010979，64011126
Address: No. 30 Beixin Bridge Toutiao,Ghost Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Website: http://www.FreeAsaBird.cn

2. Eje bar

Known as the hardest-to-find bar in Beijing, Eje bar is also a Siheyuan bar like Free As a Bird with a comparatively complete structure.

It is a decent place to escape from the sunstroke in summer with some old fashioned wooden tables, tile-made ashtrays and bamboo chairs. Lying down in the cool bamboo chair with a palm fan in your hand, feeling the bits of sunlight spraying at your face from the exuberant leaves above, it must be a most comfort experience in summer.

The owner “Ya Qian” (Toothpick) is an enthusiastic bicycle outdoor fan. If you are interested in bicycle sports, it adds another reason for you to visit here. “Eje” is an adjective word in Beijing dialect, which stands for the perseverance of people!

Business time: 2:00 pm to 0:00 am
Tel: 010-84044424
Address: No. 2, Houhai Jiadao, Gulou Xidajie, Xicheng District, Beijing

3. Passby Bar

“We are passerbys who need sincere communications and traveling is a means of in-depth communication.” Passby Bar is also a tourism-theme bar whose owner “XiaoBian’Er” is a famous character among the travelers. It is said that the ornaments in this bar all came from the dismantled old houses, and are turned into artworks here. It is also said that XiaoBian’Er is very “ Niu” ( it’s Chinese word meaning proud) cause he refuses to learn from any other bars, but on the contrary, other newly-opened bars in Houhai have to steal experience from Passby Bar.

With an old fashioned residence style, Passby Bar is a typical Hutong bar in Beijing. The interior decoration is especially impressive with plenty of sunshine and greenery. There are a wooden door, wooden beams, a wooden bar counter, wooden tables, wooden chairs, even wooden wall surface and wooden separating boards. The wooden bookshelves are piled with books.

The souvenirs from the different tourist sites are another feature of this bar. In addition, Passby Bar provides delicious Italian food with standard cheese and varieties of dishes. The pizza here tastes almost the local Italian ones.

Business time: 9:30am to 2:00 am
Address: No. 108 South Luogu Alley, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Website：www.passbybar.com

4.  Bed Tapas & Bar

There is a cool bar hidden in those Hutongs in Old Gulou Street, called “The Bed”. As its name indicates, there are many wooden Chinese style furnitures in the house of this bar with bed as the most distinguished one.

With an unvarnished feeling, there are no delicate decorations here. You can come here with several friends and have a nice talk lying in the big old-fashioned bed. If you like it, you can also dance in the bed to the Lounge music played in the bar. 

Have an entire relaxation here in the free atmosphere! Most of the customers visiting here are foreigners. And there are also a few local Chinese. Of course there are beautiful wines including the home-made Santa Rita120 Chardonnay from a valley in Chile, and the Two Oceans Cabernet Merlot from South Africa. What should be also specially recommended is Mojito from Cuba which tastes like a taste of mint and preferable for summer nights.

Business time: 14:00 pm to 2:00 am (16:00 pm to 2:00 am on Monday and Tuesday)
Address: No. 17 Zhangwang Hutong, Old Gulou Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Tel: 84001554

5. PASO

PASO is wonderful private venue for friends gathering, whose biggest weak point is the location is hard to find. Walking from the south end of the Baochao Hutong and going ahead for several minutes, you will arrive at PASO. It will take you some adventures when you visit it for the first time. In Spanish language, PASO means “clapping hands”, which echoes with the idea of “Rock and roll pizza” of the owner.

Since the owner is a formal designer, this bar is very well decorated which takes some wild and aggressive style. The unadorned cement floor, silver sofa, white tables and scarlet leather couches all look really uncommon. Even the bathrooms look very artistic. There plays rock and roll all day long but is not very noisy.

Addrrss: No. 52, Baochao Hutong, Gulou East Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing,
Tel: 8610-64044478

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