Tianzifang

田子坊

A lane maze of workshops, tea shops and bars under tangled wires

Hours

Lanes open around the clock; most shops roughly 10am–9pm, bars later.

Tickets

Free

Address

Lane 210 Taikang Road, Huangpu; tell a taxi driver Taikang Lu at Jianguo Zhong Lu

Lanes so narrow you turn sideways to pass, power lines strung overhead like a cat's cradle, and every doorway a leather workshop, tea shop or cocktail bar. This was a jumble of shikumen houses and small factories until artists started renting studios here in the late 1990s, and the maze grew from there. Look up and you'll still spot laundry poles on upper floors — some people do still live here. Get deliberately lost in the afternoon, then claim a terrace for a beer as the light goes.