Expect a lot of places to be closed from Feb 11-13, when venues have to pay their staff 3 times the regular salary. Contrary to what one may think, more places are open than usual throughout this holiday week.
Clubbing
Fortunate for the partygoers of Shanghai, these clubs will be open as usual: Bar Rouge, The Apartment, Celia 702, Revolucion Cocktail, Master, TAXX 2, Forté, and WHYFRI. You still haven’t been to Master? It’s open every day, go check it out, it’s quite something. Opening up later on are Punch Cage (from 13), Le Baron (from 14, with DJs every day, see our listing) and Elevator (from 15, has events too).
Drinking
These places are staying open for the duration: Spectres (hosting a Star Trek Quiz Night on Monday), The Rooster still does their 180rmb weekend free-flow brunch (11am-3pm). The Fellas on the Bund doesn’t close, 8PINTS doesn’t stop serving those craft beers, and most places down in Found 158 (including Le Café de Stagiaries and Cyclo) stay open too. Zapfler has a German Carnival on the 13. Mikkeller Tasting Room stays open throughout and has deals every day. Roller Disco bar RIINK is open daily.
These places are only taking a short break: The Camel still has an event on the 11, Baijiu Takeover, and then reopens on the 13. Other members of the Camel Group family include Found 158 native El Santo, who have adjusted times from February 11-16 (5pm start), and Irish pub The Blarney Stone, who are open throughout the holiday. Popular Dagu Lu watering hole The Hop Project re-opens on the 15 from 5pm. The cute cocktail bar, Chameleon, and the patio-brother of The Rooster, Perch, are both closed from February 11-13. Quality wine boutique Pudao Wines re-opens on the 15.
Cocktails
Most of Shanghai’s top cocktail bars are taking a short break too. J. Boroski is closed until the 16 (except for Valentine’s Day). Speak Low and Sober Company are shut from February 11-15. Union Trading Company is out from February 10-14, while Senator Saloon will only take a break from February 11-12. Atelier by Taste Buds, Daniel An's cocktail shrine, inside More Than Eat, is closed on February 11.
Live Music
Super sparse. Basically, all the Shanghai live music bars are closed for CNY or are hosting reduced hours and no bands. Yuyintang & Yinyintang Park - Both are closed until the 21, Blue Note won’t even open until the beginning of March. The Pearl is closed until the 15. Harley's Underground, who now do live DJ nights, will be open everyday throughout CNY.
On the jammier and jazzier side of things, Shake and Heyday are closed. Wooden Box is closed. Ya like jazz? Awesome, because Found 158’s JZ Club is only closed on February 11.
Brunch
Most of the larger chains and hotel restaurants close on Feb 11, but will then open with reduced opening hours, call ahead to confirm. For Chinese brunch, both Sense 8 at Xintiandi and Sense 8 in Joy city are open over the holiday. For western, O'Mills at Kerry Center is open daily, as well as the Cannery, Mr. Willis, Abbey Road and Calypso at the Jing’an Shangri-la.
The fine-dining German restaurant, if that's even possible, known as Kafer will be serving both a Chinese New Year special brunch, as well as Valentine's Day dinner.
Tomatito, La Scala at the Sukothai, and both Chez JOJO on Fumin Lu and Chez JOJO on Yongjia Lu all re-open in time for Valentines day. Hakkasan opens on the 15.
You still haven’t been to Something? It re-opens on the 14. Eduardo Vargas Colcas (one located on Hengshan Lu and the other at Sinar Mas Plaza) will be closed from February 11-13.
Activities
The weather forecast at the beginning of the holiday is mostly cloudy, with sunny days shining towards the end of the week. For those dark days, a museum visit sounds nice. Most Shanghai Museums are only closed on Feb 11, but some will remain open, like the excellent Natural History Museum where you can easily spend half a day. The Beethoven Experience, which we wrote about last week, will be closed from February 11-12. TeamLab is shut only on February 11. Madame Tussauds is open as usual.
The madhouse that is Jump 360 is sharing the break between the two parks. Jump 360 in Baoshan is off from February 11-15, while Jump 360 in Gubei will only adjust their time on February 10 (close at 5pm). The palace of smash called Demon&Angel, where people, well…smash things, is not closed at all.
CNY may be called the Spring Festival, but it’s still cold. People needing some powder to sleigh down on can head to the indoor ski centers of Snow 51. All branches will close early on February 11 (10am-6pm) and have adjusted times from February 12-21 (10am-10pm). Sadly, avid fans of summer will have to wait a bit longer because UKong Surfing, the sea-fearing equivalent of Snow 51, is closed until March.
Disc Cart Indoor Karting is a go-karting place where people can sip on some drinks before hopping into the motorized four-wheeled smack-machine. The venue is only closed on February 11.
There are several activities where you wouldn’t need to coordinate the holiday around. These venues aren’t planning on stepping down on the gas pedal and will be open throughout the holiday: Shanghai World Financial Center’s Observation Deck, the Jinmao Tower Observation Deck and Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.
Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum is closed from February 11-16 (we recently published an article about it).
Shanghai Film Park is planning on hosting special CNY-events for the holiday, from February 12-27. Happy Valley Amusement Park is going to do fireworks from February 12-14, an activity that has sorely missed in this city.
Jack into the Matrix! People hoping to catch a break from reality can head to one of the many virtual reality centers that will be available in the next seven days. Mofamen VR will be closed from Febraury 11-13 and Chuangyi Zhigu VR will be shut from February 11-14. VR+ Amusement Parl, RU Kidding on Wuning Lu and RU Kidding on Mengzi Lu will all be open, with no plans to close. We here at SmartShanghai had checked out these places a few years ago, so if interested in knowing what to expect, just click here to read about it.
For the sunny days ahead: Shanghai Disney is open. The suspension jungle gym, where people hang by cables and cross several suspended pathways, known as Magic Jungle is closed only on February 11. Or why not go for a run?
Art
The HOW Art Museum (closed 11-15) is currently hosting the mixed media exhibition The Fall into a Trance by Jin Shan & Zhao Yang. LONG Museum (closed 11-13) at West Bund is always worth a visit with multiple ongoing shows, currently noteworthy being Chinese Colours, a group exhibition of five contemporary Chinese artists and Yin Zhaoyang’s solo show A Vast History. The Shanghai Mass Art Center (open throughout the holidays) has an exhibition giving insights into Chinese New Year Customs in Shanghai. Ming Contemporary Art Museum (closed 2-17) has the Player of Beings exihbit. It explores the development of the human gaming experience of more than 70 years, from Toys R Us and Famicom to both arcade and online game and even E-Sports.
Probably popping up on your WeChat moments a lot recently is the Three-Body Immersive Exhibition based on the novel that the New York Times called, "a milestone in Chinese science fiction history”. It’s at the Shanghai Tower Exhibition Hall, opening throughout the holidays.
Island 6 Art Center (closed 11-17) at M50 is well known for their electronic art installations, and this is the last chance to see their current exhibition Food as Art as Food; it explores the relationship between people and food (exhibition ends Feb 19). Food is also the topic of Culinary Anthropology from Chile to China, where Chilean photographer Nicolás Santa María Cea presents images of Chilean and Chinese culinary ingredients at the Miguel de Cervantes Library (closed 8-20). If photography is your thing, then it’s not too late to go for the National Geographic exhibition at Zhonghai Huanyuhui (open during the holiday)
Power Station of Art opens during the holiday with several exhibitions. Soon coming to an end and very well worth seeing is the Centre Pompidou’s (open during the holiday) excellent The Shape of Time, the first of three thematic selections of major works from that collection that are to be shown at the West Bund Museum in the next few years.
Shopping
The rule of thumb is to get enough groceries for the first few days of the holidays.
The City Supers across the city will all be closed at 6pm on February 11, with their Eleme closing earlier at 5pm.
City Shops are also closing at 6pm on February 11, with adjusted hours form February 11-18 (shut at 8pm). Purchasing online will be limited to what is in stock.
American super-chain Costco is open on February 11, but from 9am-5pm. They are shut only on February 12.
Aldi, the German supermarket guys, have altered times on February 11 (9am-5pm) and February 12 (10am-10pm).
Epermarket is not doing any online delivery from February 11-12 and are doing limited orders form February 12-18.
Got guests over and want to do a cocktail night without the hustle of making drinks? Drink delivery services DrinKuaidi and Whiskey Rabbit are not closing over the holiday. Be aware, the timing on delivery can be slow.
Opens and Closes of Other Venues
Urban Planning Exhibition Hall - closed recently
Shanghai Ocean Park - Special times: Feb 11 (9am-3pm), Feb 12-17 (9am-8pm), Night shift (3pm-8pm)
Yuz Museum - Closed for the CNY (until Feb 15)
O'Mills on Yongjia Lu - Closed Feb 11-15, reopen Feb 16
UP Shanghai - Open late at 9pm on Feb 11, Open regularly (which means Monday is usually off, but the rest aren't)
Owner Play - Closed for the CNy holiday (until the 15)
Owner Circle - Closed for the CNY holiday (until the 15)
Ce La vi - closed for the CNY holiday (until the 15)
XBar - Open as usual
Atelier Izakaya - Closed Feb 11-13
Atelier by Taste Buds - Closed Feb 11
Taste Buds - Closed all of CNY, open on Feb 16
Pierogi Ladies - Closed Feb 11-12, Open 13-17 (11.30am-10.30pm)
Saffron - Open everyday
Barrio - Closed 11-13
Long - Closed Feb 11-12
Heartland - Closed Feb 11-14. It has been fully booked Feb 15-18. Available from Feb 18 onwards
Shanghai Botanical Gardens - Open as usual
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Happy New Year to everyone, from all of us here in SmartShanghai!
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Needing a place to take your date for Valentine's Day? We have a page full of events for the celebration. Click here to be redirected to the Valentines Day Events Page.