This Shanghai 'hood was just ranked one of the world's coolest
Photograph: Elena Robidoux
We've always known it's cool and it's about time the rest of the world did too: Shanghai's beloved FFC, or Old Xuhui district, has been named one of Time Out's 50 coolest neighbourhoods in the world. Deserved recognition for its charming cafés, forward-thinking restaurants, hidden cocktail dens, designer boutiques and endearing plane tree-lined streets.
In honour of Time Out magazine's 50th anniversary this year, 15,000 people around the world were surveyed and 50 local Time Out editors and experts put together a list of the planet’s top cultural and culinary hotspots, which (after crunching the numbers) placed Shanghai's Old Xuhui district at number 29. The top five coolest neighbourhoods were the ultra-hip Embajadores (Madrid), Euljiro (Seoul), Nueva Villa de Aburrá (Medellin), Metaxourgeio (Athens) and Princípe Real (Lisbon), while Tangba Jie (Chengdu) and Sanlitun (Beijing) were the other two Chinese neighbourhoods to make the list, ranking 19th and 49th respectively.
To us, Old Xuhui making the list makes perfect sense. From globally renowned bars such as Speak Low (which just placed 20th on The World's 50 Best Bars 2018 list) and Union Trading Company to incredible places to grab a bite like RAC Coffee and Bird, not to mention cosmopolitan streets packed with things to do – Anfu Lu and Xiangyang Lu to name but two – it's a neighbourhood blending past and future, local and foreign and new and familiar that creates a vibe that is uniquely Shanghai.
More from Time Out Shanghai
In photos: crazy crowds and queues during Golden Week in China
Escape SH: daring theatre and ancient canals at Wuzhen festival