*** If you are a girl, or look a bit like a girl, you have the chance to get free drinks every night of the week in Shanghai. We’re not talking about hanging out at the bar waiting for some douchey guy to buy you a drink. No, we’re talking about ladies' nights, that exquisite mix of awkward guys, over-made-up girls, cheapo drinks and dashed hopes that most bars like to put on at least once a week. Most cities just pick one night (or none, if you're talking about somewhere real classy) and keep all their ladies' nights on that night. Here in Shanghai there's a ladies' night on, somewhere, literally every day of the week. That's just how things are done here. We go the extra mile. So, here's the what, when, where and why of how to get pished up every night for free.

Monday: Zapata’s

The Deal: free frozen margaritas for girls, 9-12pm.

Ladies' night starts at 9pm. We got there at 9:30pm and walked in ready to make some noise but it was pretty empty. If you’ve been to Zapata’s you know how big this place is so there would have to be a lot of people to make it seem crowded. When we arrived we got served frozen margaritas right away. "Keep your glass," she said and stamped our arms with some kind of red symbol that looked like a rash. Cheers. Ladies, don’t expect to be served hand-shaken margaritas by a sexy bartender at this place. Everything comes out of a frozen slushy tank. The crowd: one table filled with "girls' night" girls. They had strategically placed themselves far off in the corner and seemed more into their margaritas and phones than getting any male action. Some older bald guys were hanging out waiting around for some lady action, but they didn’t get any so they left after about 30 minutes. At 10pm the room woke up when the laowai DJ guy started playing his Kanye tunes. A few more people arrived but there was no interaction between the sexes. We bailed at about 10.30pm and by this time the DJ was playing some sweet Jamaican tunes, Sean Paul/Kingston-style. Just as we left some younger guys arrived and looked all smiles. Too bad for us, maybe we could have had ourselves some meat. So… Zapata’s ladies' night is good for a few free drinks with your girlfriends and that’s about it. If you are looking for men, definitely don’t arrive before 10pm. More on the night here.

Tuesday: My Wine Club

The Deal: Free wine by the glass from 6-9pm.

Unfortunately, we arrived at this lovely little wine bar just 15 minutes before the ladies' night was over. We still got our free wine, though. We were served by this friendly Chinese girl who seemed excited for us to be there. She asked whether we like our wine red or white. The mood was pleasant and we sat down with our glasses and we even got served some snacks. This place looks quite small and cheap from the outside but once you step inside you walk into a great atmosphere with cozy little tables and soft lounge music. 
 The crowd: On our right side there was a group of four Chinese women in their late 30s who seemed to by on to a great time chatting each other up and drinking wine. To our left there was a Chinese couple out on a date. They'd had far too much to drink and were ready to go home to continue the fun. Smiles all round. OK, so it's not a traditional ladies' night with throwing up and drunken fondling, but if you want to catch up with your girlfriends on someone else's dime, it's an excellent little bar. Find more details here.

Tuesday: Window Scoreboard

The Deal: Free drinks (choice of eight shots and cocktails) for girls from 9pm-1am.


We arrived at 10pm, one hour after the free drinks started. On the way up in that glass elevator we got hit on by some drunk older Chinese men who fortunately weren’t going to the same place as us. Think they were going to that place on the floor below… You know, that place. So, Window Scoreboard is a big bar and it was probably only filled to 10% when we arrived so the place felt totally dead. The table service doesn't extend to the ladies' night freebees, for those you have to go to the bar and pick your drink from a list of eight choices. Cuba libre, tequila sunrise, couple of others… zerp, can't remember — we were drinking, OK? 
Crowd: Very young; 80% male, 20% female; 70% laowai. All the Chinese guests were there as couples, and the laowai were in larger groups. There were only two girls there who looked like they had intentions of hooking up that night, and I’m not talking about us. They were hanging out next to a table with four white guys. The free drinks were pretty shitty. My tequila sunrise tasted more like bubblegum than alcohol. We stayed for about an hour and just before we left the two girls started playing beer pong with those four white guys. Two girls vs. four guys, looks like good odds to me. Overall, the lack of real men was just way too obvious and we found ourselves glued to the TVs watching sports rather than spying the field. We won’t go back for another ladies' night but maybe to watch a game if my TV happened to break... or probably not. More on that night here.

Wednesday: Jade on 36 Bar

The Deal: Free sparkling wine 8.30-10.30pm.

We arrived at the Jade Bar at 8.40pm, 10 minutes into the ladies' night. Jazz singer Micky Brown was doing some soft covers. We wanted to sit close to the stage but sitting costs a minimum of 500rmb, and we were looking for a free night out, so we took our glasses and stood by the tall window tables, instead. Girls started arriving and soon the place was filling up. The free champagne was real champagne, Taittinger. Most ladies there were in their late 20s, or early 30s. A lot of these girls looked like they came straight from work with a quick fix in the bathroom. The girls looked sophisticated, stylish but not too dressed up. With the exception of one girl in sweatpants, everyone looked pretty good. The girls didn’t look like they had any real intention of hooking up with any of the men at this place but who knows what a busy working girl will do after a few glasses of free champagne. One table of American guys wouldn’t stop starring at us but since we live in 2013 where women need to pick up men on their own, nothing happened there. At 9.30pm, Jade was getting lively and the champagne kept flowing, the waiters even came to our table as soon as our glass started getting empty. A tall Russian guy started playing saxophone and everyone seemed to be having a great time except for one lonely girl who sat waiting for her date at the bar for more than 30 minutes… more champagne please. We really enjoyed ourselves at this spot but it was time to get moving to the next place. More on the deal here.

Wednesday: 100 Century Avenue

The Deal: Free champagne 8.30-10.30pm.

Park Hyatt's ladies' night has been going for about five years and they've not changed the formula: free-flow champagne and some of the best views in town. To get up there it's a bit of a maze but once you’re in, you’re there to stay. Wow, this is what I call a ladies' night. The music was banging, there were lots of hot girls and boys ready to play. The crowd was about 70% girls and 90% laowai. At 10.30pm it was packed. Girls were drowning at the bar getting their refills every other second like they couldn’t get enough. Since there was a slight lack of men, girls were kind of sharing their victims, but sharing is caring right? The girls went nuts when the DJ started playing "We Found Love", probably wishing they could find their prince in this hopelessly overcrowded bar. Five minutes before the free flow was over some girls actually started doing shots of champagne. Why not, it’s free right? More on that night here.

Wednesday: The Geisha

The Deal: Free-flow sparkling wine and martinis, 10pm-12:30am.

We arrived at The Geisha around midnight. LMFAO’s "Party Rock Anthem" was playing like it was a 14-year-old's birthday party in 2011, but the crowd didn't seem to care. Two shirtless bartenders were serving girls their free drinks. This place was packed and it was quite the hassle to get our free booze. Finally we got served some orange vodka thing that looked a bit like a cosmo. Not actually sure what it was but it was, perhaps a mango martini, but nevertheless it was quite yummy. If you've been to Geisha you know this place is something of a porn-joint. Half naked girls were shaking their behinds to Britney tunes and the men could do nothing but stare. This is definitely the place to hit up if you're looking to get some easy action on a Wednesday night. Get there a bit early though because as soon as the free-flow stopped flowing, half the crowd left. Some of the girls clearly wanted to take the bartenders home and I’m pretty sure at least one of them got lucky. Some actually took matters into their own hands and wrote their numbers down on the bartenders' arms. Hey, why not? All's fair in love and war. Full details of that pretty little shitshow here.

Thursday: Bar Rouge

The Deal: Free cocktails, 9.30-11.30pm.

At 10pm this joint was already busy. As usual, Bar Rouge was packed with men in suits hoping to chat up girls. Ladies had to get their free drinks at the end of the bar. At 10.30pm it was packed like a regular Bar Rouge night. Good music, nice vibe and most girls were walking around with sensual red feather boas, Moulin Rouge-style. I think this place was overrepresented with men, but hey that’s a first, but still there wasn't enough interaction between the sexes in our opinion. What’s wrong with these guys? Too spoiled, I think. The free-flow was still flowing at 11pm and the girls were flocking around the bartenders like their life depended on it. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see what all these drinks eventually led to as it was time to hit up the next spot, Apartment. Do we work for our free drinks, or what? Find full Bar Rouge ladies' night info here.

Thursday: The Apartment

The Deal: Free Absolut cosmos, bellinis, and two other cocktails, 9pm-midnight.

OK, we got to this one late, like 20 minutes before ladies' night was over. The place was packed and the final free drinks were being served. You had the option to choose from a list of four drinks. I picked the sparkling wine but got served some bad tasting carrot cosmopolitan. Wha? There were lots of young girls and older guys filling this place. Looked like people had been drinking for a few hours and some drunken interaction was going on. We got picked up by some Aussie guys wearing ugly looking golf hats, to cover their bald heads. OK, the accent is sexy but the rest wasn’t, so we declined their drink-offer. This place is a meat market; it's hunt or get hunted. The crowd is far too young for my taste. It's less impressive than the lux Pudong places, but it was clearly popular with both sexes. Fill your pipe here. When Friday arrived we were so fed up with all these free fucking drinks, we couldn’t take it anymore. But if you got more balls than us, there are plenty more places to check out. Here are a couple of Friday ladies' nights: one at Bar Mini, one at Le Royal Meridien which gives you free sparkling wine and a really high view from their bar — that sounds pretty good. Then there's this one at Vint and that one at The Spot. All those get you, ah, I don't know… some free booze and maybe a bit of attention from an OK guy if you're really lucky. Might be good. Might be a bit rubbish. Either way. Up to you. By Vicky Tsitlidou and Nina Lindahl. Images taken at The Apartment's, Geisha's and Bar Rouge's ladies' nights. *** For the last SmSh Guide to Ladies' Nights, go here. For a full list of all the ladies' nights on our site, go here, and for bar owners and promoters who'd like to list their own ladies' night, they can upload them here.