The main expat and nightlife district in Beijing, east of the Workers' Stadium in Chaoyang District. Sanlitun has shifted considerably since its heyday as a grubby strip of expat bars in the 1990s — it now hosts a sprawling outdoor mall (Taikoo Li), a dense concentration of bars, restaurants, clubs, and boutiques, and some of the most interesting restaurant openings in the city. The area around Gongti (the Workers' Stadium) remains the densest concentration of nightlife.
For bars, the lanes north and east of the main Sanlitun strip are more interesting than the main road itself: independent cocktail bars, small live-music venues, and craft beer spots mixed in with the larger clubs. The area is most alive from Thursday through Saturday night; daytime is busy with the shopping crowd.