shanghai travel wiki

1.1 Downtown
1.3 Inner suburbs
1.4 Outer suburbs
1.5 The islands
2.1 Economy
2.2 History
2.3 Climate
3.1 Chinese speakers
3.2 Non-Chinese speakers
4.1 Visa-free transit
4.2.1 Pudong Airport
4.2.2 Hongqiao Airport
4.3 By train
4.6 By boat
5.1.1 Shanghai Jiaotong Card
5.1.2 China T-union
5.2.1 Metro lines
5.2.2 Metro stations
5.2.3 How to use
5.4 By taxi
5.5 On foot
5.6 By ferry
5.7 By bicycle
5.9 By motorcycle and scooter
6.1 Museums
6.2 Art galleries
6.3 Temples
6.4 Water towns
7.1 Shopping
8.1 Universities
8.2 Other classes
10.1 Books, CDs and DVDs
10.2 Antiques
10.3 Electronics
10.4 Photo equipment
10.5 Clothing
10.6 Groceries
11.1 Shanghai cuisine
11.2 Western food
14 Stay safe
15 Stay healthy
17.2 Operator assistance
17.3 Etiquette
17.4 Work permits and visa extensions
17.5 Consulates

Shanghai (上海; Zånhae in Shanghainese, Shànghǎi in Mandarin) is the most developed city in China , the country's main center for finance and fashion, and one of the world's most populous and important cities. There are several ways to rate the size of cities; by the one Wikipedia uses, based on UN numbers, Shanghai is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Delhi . By any measure, it is in the top ten for the world and either the largest in China or second to Chongqing .

Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River (黄浦江 Huángpǔ Jiāng ), which divides the city into Puxi (浦西 Pǔxī ), west of the river, and Pudong (浦东 Pǔdōng ), east of the river. Both terms can be used in a general sense for everything on their side of the river, including various suburbs. However, they are more often used in a much narrower sense where Puxi is the older (since the 19th century) city center ( #Downtown below) and Pudong the mass of new (since 1990) high-rise development right across the river from there ( #Pudong below).

Shanghai is one of four cities in China that are administered as municipalities (市), meaning that it is not part of any province, and its government instead reports directly to the central government in Beijing. This is an overview article for the entire municipality. For the central districts which have most of the tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and nightspots , see #Downtown and #Pudong below.

The municipality covers quite a large area — 6341 km 2 or 2,448 square miles — and has a population over 25 million, about the same as Australia and more than all but two US states and all but six EU member countries. Its GDP is larger than that of many countries, and it has the world's busiest container port. Shanghai is the main hub of the East China region, all of which is densely populated, heavily industrialized, prosperous, well supplied with migrant workers from poorer parts of China, and still growing.

Shanghai Municipality has 16 administrative districts, all with at least a few hundred thousand people, and Wikivoyage has separate articles for most of them. Here we try to split them up in a way that will make sense for travellers.

The historic core of Shanghai , it includes both the old Chinese city and the area of the International Settlement which began in the 1840s and lasted until the 1930s. It can be called Puxi (浦,西), downtown Shanghai (上海市区) or the city center (市中心). Today this area is still the core of the city. Most of the tourist attractions and many hotels are here, and many metro lines run through it.

The four downtown districts are:

Of course "downtown" is not precisely defined; the four districts we have above are clearly the most central, but some definitions would include others which we list under inner suburbs below, and some would include parts of the Pudong New Area , perhaps everything within the outer ring road.

Directly across the river from (east of) downtown, Pudong has been a major center of development since about 1990, becoming a skyscraper-filled financial center. Pudong is listed here separately from the older downtown area on the Puxi side, but it might be described as an extension of the downtown core or even as the new center of the city.

Inner suburbs

The inner suburbs all (except Yangpu) have direct borders with the downtown core, all are quite built up, and all have good metro service. All are primarily residential areas, but most have considerable industry and many offices as well and all have some large shopping malls.

These districts have some tourist attractions and several have hotels that are cheaper than those downtown but still convenient for sightseeing or shopping. Several have universities, and nearby areas tend to have many low-priced restaurants and bars catering to the student market; see #Learn below and the district articles for details.

Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station are in this area, on the border between Changning and the northern tip of Minhang.

Outer suburbs

The outer suburbs wrap around the southern, western and northwestern sides of the city. The sea is on the east and south, while the Yangtze River is on the northeast.

All of these areas still include some farmland but large parts of them are already covered with residential and industrial suburban development and the trend shows no sign of stopping. What were once rural villages serving nearby farms have become towns, often fairly interesting ones preserving traditional buildings while hosting new high-rises and malls.

As of 2021, all of these outer suburbs have metro connections and bus services; see the district articles for details.

The beaches along the seacoast at the southern edge of the municipality — Fengxian, Jinshan and Nanhui — are popular as a weekend getaway for Shanghai residents.

The islands

Shanghai is a fascinating mix of East and West. It has historic shikumen (石库门) houses that blend the styles of Chinese houses with European design flair, and it has one of the richest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world. There were concessions (designated districts) controlled by Western powers in the late 19th and early 20th century, so many neighbourhoods have buildings in various Western styles.

History has shaped Shanghai's cityscape significantly. British-style buildings can still be seen on the Bund , while French-style buildings are still to be found in the former French Concession . What was once a horse racing track on the edge the British area is now People's Park , with a major metro interchange underneath. Other metro stops include the railway station at the edge of what was once the American area, and Lao Xi Men and Xiao Nan Men, Old West Gate and Small South Gate respectively, named for two of the gates of the old Chinese walled city .

Shanghai is definitely a cosmopolitan city by Chinese standards, although it is less diverse than many western cities. The population was 23 million as of the 2010 census; 9 million (almost 40%) of those were migrants, people from elsewhere in China who have come to find work or to attend one of Shanghai's many educational institutions. There is also a substantial international contingent: 208,300 foreigners lived in Shanghai as of 2010, slightly over a third of the national total of 594,000. There are services catering to these migrants — restaurants with food from anywhere in China for the migrants (in particular, much good cheap Sichuan food and West-of-China noodles) and a variety of grocery stores, restaurants and bars that cater to the foreigners.

Groups of refugees from other parts of the world have sometimes arrived in Shanghai. One group were White Russians fleeing the 1917 revolution; in the 1920s the French Concession had more Russians than French (and of course more Chinese than both of those together). Another group were Jews leaving Germany in the 1930s; they mainly settled in Hongkou , a district that already had many Jews. After Japan took over Korea in 1910 and Manchuria in 1931, Shanghai received refugees from both regions.

There is an Encyclopedia of Shanghai , in English, that is available both as a book in local bookstores and online at the municipal government site. Much of it is rather boring — statistics, photos of the officials in charge of each development project, and project descriptions that give much financial and engineering detail — but there is also some quite useful material. For example, it has detailed descriptions of every museum and park in the city.

Shanghai is strategically positioned: near the geographic center of China, at the mouth of the great Yangtze River and surrounded by fertile delta land. It has been a trading city for a thousand years and one of China's main centers of trade since the 1840s; today it is a major transport hub. It has the world's busiest container port and additional port facilities are under development. Shanghai's Pudong Airport is a global air hub and ranks third on a list of China's busiest airports, behind Beijing and Guangzhou . Shanghai's other airport, Hongqiao, ranks fourth. The city is also very well connected by both road and rail.

Shanghai is also one of the main industrial centers of China, and the municipal government has set up a number of industrial zones to encourage additional development. 2011 GDP was $300 billion, which is just ahead of the entire country of Malaysia.

According to a saying, "Shanghai is heaven for the rich, hell for the poor." People from all over China flock to Shanghai — everyone from farmers seeking jobs in manual labour to university graduates seeking to start a career or wanting to live in a cool up-tempo city. About 40% of the population, 9 million out of 23, are migrants from other parts of China. Real estate prices, especially in central areas, have skyrocketed in the past few years; rents are among the highest in the world and even well-off people complain that buying a home is becoming impossible.

The surrounding East China region is populous, prosperous, highly developed, and still growing. Shanghai plays an important role as the center of that region.

While the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times and there has been a town at least since the Song Dynasty, a thousand years or so ago, Shanghai only rose to prominence after China lost the First Opium War in 1842. Shanghai was one of the five cities which China was forced to open to Western trade as treaty ports . Shanghai grew amazingly after that; until then nearby cities like Hangzhou , Suzhou and Nanjing had been far more important, but since the late 19th century Shanghai has been the center of the region.

By the early 20th century, Shanghai was the largest and most prosperous city in the Far East, and one of the wildest. With the opening up of China since the late 1970s, Shanghai has regained much of its former glory and has surpassed it in many ways; the pace of development being absolutely furious. Today, Shanghai is again one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Asia, though not nearly as wild as it once was. It is now a very attractive city for travellers from all over the world, and a major destination for both tourism and business. A Forbes article ranks Shanghai as the world's 14th most visited city, with 6.5 million visitors in 2012.

From the early 1840s to the late 1930s parts of Shanghai were concessions , areas administered by foreign powers. Eight nations—Britain, France, the US, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Japan—had concessions in Shanghai, areas that they controlled and where Chinese law did not apply. Most of these were jointly administered as the "International Settlement", but the French ran theirs separately. In all of them, the population was mainly Chinese but there were also many foreigners, and the government and legal system were foreign. The police included many Sikhs and some French gendarmes.

Many important Chinese lived in the concession areas. Chairman Mao's Shanghai house is now a museum in Jing'an District, while both the houses of several other leaders and the site of the first national meeting of the Communist Party are now museums in the French Concession .

Today most of the former concession areas are parts of downtown Shanghai, listed at #Downtown above.

"Central District" on the old map was British and the center of colonial Shanghai. It corresponds roughly to the modern district Huangpu .
The horse-racing track on the edge of that area is now People's Square , considered the center of modern Shanghai.
"Western District" was mostly British but also included the Italian Concession. It corresponds roughly to Jing'an .
"French Settlement" on the old map corresponds roughly to Luwan District; the Concession later expanded westward to include Xuhui District, and our French Concession article covers both.
"The Bund" was mostly British, though parts of it were in the American concession.
Hongkou was the site of the former Japanese concession.

The "Chinese City" was the walled city of Shanghai for hundreds of years before the modern city developed around it. It has its own Wikivoyage article, Old City .

"Northern District" and "Eastern District" were once the American Concession; today they are parts of Zhabei and Hongkou , respectively. They receive fewer visitors than the districts mentioned above, but they do have some attractions and the Shanghai Railway Station is in Zhabei. These are listed under #Inner suburbs .

Shanghai reached its zenith in 1920s and 30s and was at that time the most prosperous city in East Asia. On the other hand, the streets were largely ruled by the triads (Chinese gangs) during that period, with the triads sometimes battling for control of parts of Shanghai. That period has been greatly romanticised in many modern films and television serials, one of the most famous being The Bund , which was produced by Hong Kong's TVB in 1980. Shanghai also became the main center of Chinese entertainment during that period, with many films and songs produced in Shanghai.

Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese in 1937 after a bitter battle lasting several months; see Pacific War#China for the context. Japan and its puppet regime remained in control until 1945 and, as with elsewhere in China, life in Shanghai at that time was very difficult.

The foreign concessions were removed after the war, and trade resumed. After the Communist victory in the civil war in 1949, many of the people involved in the entertainment industry, as well as much of the upper class and intellectuals, fled to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Shanghai's days of glory were — temporarily as it turned out — over. That said, during the planned economy era, Shanghai was still a major industrial hub producing goods from milk candy to cargo ships, and was a major tax contributor among the provinces.

Since China's "reform and opening up", starting under Deng Xiaoping around 1978, Shanghai is once again a great industrial city and trading port, and in many ways has surpassed the old glory days. In the 1990s, the Shanghai government launched a series of new strategies to attract foreign investment. The biggest move was to create a Special Economic Zone called Pudong New Area with a range of government measures to encourage investment. This includes nearly all of Shanghai east of the river.

The strategies for growth have been extremely successful; in twenty years downtown Pudong changed from a predominantly rural area to having more skyscrapers than New York, including several of the tallest in the world. Pudong is now home to many financial institutions which used to have their main offices across the Huangpu river on the Bund.

Today, Shanghai's goal is to develop into a world-class financial and economic center, and it is already well on its way. In achieving this goal, Shanghai faces competition from Hong Kong , which has the advantages of a stronger legal system and greater banking and service expertise. However, Shanghai has stronger links to the Chinese interior and to the central government, in addition to a stronger manufacturing and technology base. Shanghai has increased its role in finance and banking, with many international corporations having built their Chinese or even Asia/Pacific headquarters in the city, fueling demand for a highly educated and cosmopolitan workforce.

Shanghai has a humid subtropical climate. Cities at roughly comparable latitude (just over 30°) include New Orleans , Cairo and Perth .

Spring can feature lengthy periods of cloudy and rainy weather.

Summer temperatures often surpass 35 °C (95 °F) with very high humidity, which means that you will perspire a lot and should take lots of changes of clothing or plan on shopping for clothing during the visit. Thunderstorms also occur relatively often during the summer. There is some risk of typhoons in their July–September season, however they are not common.

Autumn is generally mild with warm and sunny weather.

During winter, temperatures rarely rise above 10 °C (50 °F) during the day and often fall below 0 °C (32 °F) at night. Snowfall is rare, typically occurring only once every few years, but transportation networks can sometimes be disrupted in the event of a sudden snowstorm. Despite the fact that winter temperatures in Shanghai are not particularly low, the wind chill factor combined with the high humidity can actually make it feel less comfortable than some much colder places that experience frequent snowfalls. Also, back in Mao's era the official rule was that north of the Yangtze buildings were heated in winter but south of it they were not; Shanghai is on the south bank so many older buildings do not have heating.

Chinese speakers

The native language of most locals, Shanghainese or Wu dialect , is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese, Minnan (Taiwanese/Hokkien) or any other forms of Chinese. The use of Shanghainese as the de facto 'first' language of the city has been decreasing both due to the use of Mandarin in mass media and education, and because Shanghai has many migrant workers from other parts of China who do not speak Shanghainese. As with elsewhere in China, Mandarin is the lingua franca . As Shanghai has been China's main commercial centre since the 1920s, all locals who can speak Shanghainese can also speak Mandarin, so you will have no problems speaking Mandarin to locals. Nevertheless, attempts to speak Shanghainese are appreciated, and can help endear you to local people.

Wu speakers have a particular accent when speaking Mandarin. Mandarin is heavily tone-based and speakers from Beijing can easily be understood (most textbooks are based on their accent or an approximation). Shanghainese speakers have appropriated some of the features of Wu onto their Mandarin. While in other languages this would not be a problem, given the phonemic and tonal nature inherent to Mandarin, the slightest shift in pronunciation can make it much more difficult to understand. The best thing to do is say "说慢一点" ( shuō màn yī diǎn ) which means "speak a little slower".

Non-Chinese speakers

As English is compulsory in Chinese schools, an increasing number of people know at least basic English. You will probably find that most people in the tourist industry have a rather good command of it, and so do many in service positions, i.e. in shops, gastronomy and even sales clerks at metro stations. English is probably better understood than spoken by many, and the Chinese are notoriously afraid of shaming themselves in public, so make sure your questions are clear and can be easily answered.

Two traits of Shanghai residents are of assistance - one is the traditional Chinese hospitality, with most people genuinely wanting to help when asked, and the Shanghainese robustness. When necessary, do not be afraid to approach even the unlikely elderly person with an arsenal of well-thought-through and clear hand gestures, notes in Chinese, maps or photos. In the worst case, look for a younger person and/or somebody in a senior position, as both are more probable to have better English knowledge and will feel more confident when dealing with a foreigner.

Everyday spoken Chinese is a rather simple language, so most people will not be offended if you dispose of pleasantries in your English as well and focus on the most important parts of your message, e.g. "Where is subway station?" will probably work better than "Would you be so kind and direct me to the nearest subway station if you will?".

For bargaining in stores, calculators are often used to "discuss" prices. Savvy shop owners in tourist-frequented areas equip their personnel with them, but do not be afraid to pull up one (or a calculator app on your phone) for the purpose if the other party doesn't. Remember that "4" is an unlucky number and prices containing it should be avoided, which you can use to your advantage (e.g. proposing "39" instead of 40-whatever).

Do note that taxi and Uber drivers are often either elderly or recruited from the working class or migrant populations, and thus, as a group, have lower-than-average knowledge of English. Therefore it is recommended to have your destinations and hotel address written in Chinese for them. Some hotels even provide small brochures with both the hotel name and address and those of the key landmarks written in both English and Simplified Chinese for the purpose.

Shanghai is one of China's main travel hubs and arriving from pretty much anywhere is easy.

Visa-free transit

Visitors from 53 countries who are transiting to a third country can get a 144 hours visa waiver to visit Shanghai municipality, as well neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. You must arrive and depart mainland China via the airports in Shanghai, Nanjing , Hangzhou or Ningbo , or via the sea port in Shanghai. At immigration, you will need to present an onward ticket to a country other than the one you arrived from. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate countries with regard to this scheme.

The following countries are included in the transit program:

24 Schengen Agreement Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
15 Other European Countries: Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Belarus, Monaco
6 American Countries: the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile
2 Oceania Countries: Australia, New Zealand
6 Asian Countries: Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar

Shanghai has two main airports , with Pudong being the main international gateway, and Hongqiao being the main domestic airport, but also serving some international destinations in East Asia. Transfer between the airports takes about 1 hour by taxi. There are also direct shuttle buses.

You can travel between the two airports in about two hours by metro. The airports are opposite ends of line 2 , the main East-West line through downtown Shanghai. You can reduce the time by taking the Maglev train (described in the next section) part of the way. A traveller making that transfer with a few hours to spare and a desire to get a quick look at Shanghai (and not too much luggage) might get off at Nanjing Road East and walk a few blocks to the Bund .

Free tourist maps of central Shanghai, with major sights labeled in English, are available in little racks as you enter either airport. These are worth grabbing as you walk by since, except at some hotels, free maps are unavailable elsewhere.

Both airports also have direct bus service to major nearby cities such as Hangzhou , Suzhou and Nanjing , though the new fast trains may be preferable, especially from Hongqiao Airport which has Hongqiao Railway Station quite nearby (one metro stop or about a km on foot, indoors and level).

Domestic airplane tickets are best booked in advance at one of the many travel agencies or online, but can also be bought at the airport on the day of departure. Fares are generally cheap, but vary depending on the season; figure on ¥400-1200 for Beijing-Shanghai. The low-cost airline Spring Airlines is based out of Shanghai with routes to most major Chinese tourist destinations, and frequently offers large discounts for tickets booked through its website. For budget travellers, it is often cheaper to book a flight on a heavy-traffic route (Shanghai-Beijing, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Shenzhen, etc.) and travel the rest by bus or train.

The city of Hangzhou , about a 45-min high-speed train ride from Shanghai, should also be considered if having a difficult time finding tickets to Pudong or Hongqiao. Also if coming in from South East Asia, since Air Asia has a cheap flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou. See Discount airlines in Asia .

Pudong Airport

The airport is on metro line 2 , many of the better hotels provide free airport shuttles for their guests, and there are six airport bus lines connecting to downtown. There are also buses to other cities nearby such as Suzhou and Hangzhou .

If you have heavy luggage then almost certainly a taxi will be more convenient; expect cost in the ¥200-500 range.

The most interesting way to arrive in Shanghai is on the former world's fastest train , the magnetic levitation train or Maglev. It was running 430 km/h till 2021; as of December, 2023, the maximum speed is capped at 300 km/h. Single tickets are ¥50, discounted to ¥40 if you have an airline ticket that day, or use Shanghai Public Transportation Card (detailed below). Return tickets (return within a week) are ¥80.

The Maglev terminates at Longyang Road station in Pudong which is still some distance from the city centre and may not therefore be close to your ultimate destination. Here you can connect to metro lines 2 , 7 and the new line 16 , 18 . Longyang Road station also has a Maglev train museum for those interested in how magnetic levitation trains work.

Hongqiao Airport

T2 is served directly by metro line 2 , which connects the airport to People's Square and, further east, to Pudong Airport . Trains operate from 05:35 to 22:50 (service to and from Pudong Airport has limited hours). Line 10 , which also goes to central Shanghai but on a different route, serves both T1 and T2.

Line 17 opened on 30 December 2017, and connects Hongqiao Railway Station (near the Airport) with Zhujiajiao .

Eventually Line 5 , the main line through the southern suburb Minhang , will be extended to the airport at the north end and into Fengxian to the south. Line 20 will extend north from the airport. As of early 2018 this is not in service.

A taxi can manage the 12 km trip to the city in 20 minutes on a good day, but allow an extra 30 minutes for the taxi queue, especially when arriving after 19:00. Be sure to determine from which terminal your flight departs before you go to the airport as the English signage is confusing, taxi drivers will not be able to help you, and the shuttle between the terminals leaves on a half-hourly schedule with another twenty minute drive.

Due to the metro line extension, the Hongqiao Airport Special Line bus (机场专线) has now been replaced with a night bus (虹桥机场T2夜宵巴士) that goes to Jing'an Temple , People's Square , and Lujiazui every 10-30 min from 22:30 (when the metro closes) to 45 minutes after the last inbound arrival of the day for ¥10 (to Jing'an Temple or People's Square) or ¥16 (to Lujiazui). It leaves from Door 1 of the Arrivals level of Terminal 2. Tickets are purchased inside the bus shortly before it departs.

Although Hongqiao airport has fewer airport bus lines than Pudong, more public bus lines are linked to Hongqiao. Buses below run to T1, take the free shuttle to connect to T2 if needed or use Metro Line 10 if in a hurry.

No. 806: These buses run from Hongqiao airport to the Lupu Bridge between 06:00-21:30 at intervals of 5-15 min. The line also has a stop at Xujiahui, and the whole trip costs ¥5.
No. 807: These buses operate between 06:00-22:30 from Hongqiao airport to the Zhenguang New Village in Putuo District, stopping at the Shanghai Zoo and some other places of interest. ¥2.
No. 1207: This bus only runs between the airport and Shanghai Zoo. ¥2.

With the opening of Metro service to the airport, only the above two routes serve the airport.

One public bus line has now been moved to T2. The reverse applies- take the free shuttle or the Metro to T1 if needed. Bus service to T2 splits boarding and exiting- all passengers arriving at T2 get off at the Departures level of the airport, but those wishing to board must board the bus at the bus hub on 1/F of the airport/metro station complex.

No. 941: Linking Hongqiao airport and Shanghai Railway Station, the line runs from 06:30–22:30 to the airport/23:00 from the airport. ¥4. Interval between services is 10-12 min. Look for Waiting Room 1.

Additionally, the following night bus runs from T2 between the hours of 23:00 and 05:00 for anyone arriving late at night and needing to stop at destinations not covered by the T1 night bus:

No. 316: Links the airport to the Bund, following Metro Line 2 until Zhongshan Park, then makes stops near Changshou Road (Line 7), Xinzha Road (Line 1), and East Nanjing Road (Line 2/10) before terminating at the Bund.

An additional night bus from the train station side is also available.

No. 320: Links the train station to the Bund via a different route. This bus stops near the tourist part of Hongmei Road, then follows Metro Line 10 until Jiaotong University, stops in Xujiahui, continues along Line 10, then starts following line 1 around the Changshu Road stop until it reaches the Xintiandi area, then makes one final stop in Yu Gardens before terminating at the Bund.

Shanghai has a few major train stations including:

Shanghai East Railway Station is under construction as of May 2024 and will serve Pudong Airport.

Self-serve automated ticket booths are prevalent and can be used for checking train times in the English mode, but you can only buy tickets from them if you have a Chinese ID card. Tickets are also conveniently booked in advance at one of the many travel service agencies, or the ticket office of any railway station. See the train tickets section of the China article. Note that Hong Kong tickets go on sale 60 days in advance, and the Hong Kong–Shanghai segment sells out quickly.

Beijing (北京) — Beginning in June 2011, an all-new express line service from Beijing started, with the quickest travel time option ringing in at 4 hours and 18 minutes (G17/G22). Additionally, there are a number of fast night sleeper trains running daily. These trains have D-prefix codes, take just over 10 hours from Shanghai to Beijing. Fare is around ¥730 for a soft sleeper lower berth or ¥655 for upper berth; the trains are clean and the four-person cabins are comfortable. Two-person rooms are also available on some of these trains, the price is about ¥1470 for a lower berth or ¥1300 for an upper. Two-person rooms on D trains do not have private baths. In the same new train, normal second-class seats are available for around ¥327. For a regular normal sleeper in a standard train, which takes 13 hours from Shanghai to Beijing, expect to pay ¥306 to ¥327 for a hard sleeper or around ¥478 to ¥499 for a soft one. Two-person sleepers are available on T-series trains, with private bath and a sofa, price is ¥881 for upper berth or ¥921 for a lower. But tickets for these cheaper normal sleepers are usually very tight.
Hong Kong (香港) — The high-speed G99/G100 day trains run daily between West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and Shanghai Hongqiao station, taking about 8 hours to complete the journey. Tickets cost about ¥1008 one way in economy class. Overnight high-speed sleeper services, numbered D907/D908 run on the same route 4 times a week and are scheduled to take 11 h 40 min. Both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong immigration procedures are conducted at the station in Hong Kong. The old conventional sleeper trains from Hung Hom station have been terminated.
Lhasa (拉萨) — The train to and from Lhasa , Tibet runs every day from Shanghai Railway Station. It takes just under 50 hours to arrive at Lhasa. A hard seat costs ¥406 and a hard sleeper priced around ¥900, soft sleeper costs around ¥1300. Oxygen is available for each passenger in the Golmud–Lhasa section. A Tibet travel permit is required for non-Chinese citizens.

The new fast (200+ km/h) CRH trains from Shanghai go southwest to Nanchang and Changsha , or north to Beijing, Zhengzhou and Qingdao . These are very comfortable and convenient. Train route codes begin with D in this instance. High-speed trains (300+ km/h) to Nanjing and Hangzhou have a G prefix.

Good modern highways link Shanghai to nearby cities in East China , including Nanjing , Suzhou , Hangzhou and Ningbo . Other highways, many of them as good, go to more distant cities anywhere in the country. It only takes about an hour to reach Shanghai from Suzhou, 2 hours from Hangzhou or 2½ hours from Ningbo, the latter via the 36 km long Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the world's longest sea-crossing bridge.

There are several long-distance bus stations in Shanghai. You should try to get the tickets as early as possible.

Beiqu Long-distance Passenger Station , 80 Gongxing Lu .
Hengfeng Road Express Passenger Station ( 恒丰路客运站 ), 270 Hengfeng Lu . This is one of the largest and is just north of the main railway station. It serves most destinations in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and some more distant cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou. It's well organized but can be a little hard to find — particularly with the major rebuilding of the North Station Square. From Shanghai Railway Station (North) metro station (Lines 3 & 4) take exit No. 1. You'll come out in the middle of a construction site. Head left and keep walking straight and eventually (after an unpleasant 10-minute walk) you'll find it. Motorcycle-taxis will loiter around the station exit and will take you there for around ¥5 if you bargain hard — however they can be pushy and aggressive.
Zhongshan Beilu Long-distance Passenger Transport Station , 1015 Zhongshan Bei Lu .
Xujiahui Passenger Station , 211 Hongqiao Lu .
Pudong Tangqiao Long-distance Passenger Station , 3842 Pudong Nan Lu .

There are ferry services from Kobe and Osaka ( Japan ) weekly.

Shanghai has an excellent public transport network with the world's most extensive metro (subway and elevated train) system as its backbone and buses that go more-or-less everywhere else. Taxis are plentiful, and cheap by international standards, and getting around on foot is often practical. Metro, taxi and walking will be the main means of transport for most travellers. The city is huge (24 million), though, and all transport methods sometimes have problems with congestion.

Metro cards

Shanghai jiaotong card.

If you intend to stay in Shanghai for more than a few days, a metro card — also called a Shanghai Jiaotong Card (上海公共交通卡) or Shanghai Public Transportation Card — is a must. You can get these cards at any metro station, as well as some convenience stores like Alldays and KeDi Marts.

You can load the card with money and use it in buses, the metro and even taxis , saving the hassle of buying tickets (sometimes with long queues) and keeping change for buses and taxis. Also, the card allows you to change lines at some stations where without the card you would need to get another ticket, and gives a ¥1 discount for each bus↔bus or metro↔bus transfer.

These cards do not require contact with the card reader to work. It is quite common to see someone just pass a purse, wallet or shoulder bag over the reader without taking the card out, and this almost always works. The card can be used once after it runs out of money; up to a ¥8 "overdraft" is allowed.

Cards come in several sizes — regular (credit card size), mini, and "strap" (for hanging on mobile phones) — and special editions with interesting pictures are available for each. New machines that can load money to any size of card are replacing older machines, but they do not take cash, generally only accepting Alipay or UnionPay/Discover cards. Service counters in most metro stations will recharge any type of card in multiples of ¥10, but a few stations are no longer staffing their service counters, while others are experimenting with requiring recharges to be done at the self-service machines, so it is advised to make sure sufficient funds are available for your return trip if you are going to a less-populated part of town.

There is a ¥20 deposit for the card; regular-sized cards can be returned for a deposit refund, but mini or strap sizes cannot. For any card type, the balance on the card can be immediately returned if it is less than ¥10. If the balance is between ¥10 and ¥2,000, an invoice should be taken to ask for the return of money; however, a 5% handling fee will be charged. Some metro stations have special offices for returning the cards. These stations include:

Line 1 - Hanzhong Rd, Hengshan Rd, Jinjiang Park;
Line 2 - Jiangsu Rd, E Nanjing Rd, Century Park, Songhong Rd;
Line 3 - Dongbaoxing Rd, Zhenping Rd, Caoxi Rd, North Jiangyang Rd;
Line 4 - Yangshupu Rd.

You can also use the Shanghai Public Transportation Card Service Center, No 609, Jiujiang Rd, M-F 09:30–18:30, Sa Su 09:30–16:30.

China T-union

As of 2024, you can now use your China T-union card. China T-union covers all bus, metro and ferry lines in Shanghai, as well as taxis. Like the Jiaotong Card, you save the hassle of buying tickets (sometimes with long queues) and keeping change for buses and taxis. Also, the card allows you to change lines at some stations where without the card you would need to get another ticket, and gives a discount for each bus↔bus or metro↔bus transfer.

China T-union tickets are not valid on high-speed rail lines, the Shanghai Maglev, regional trains, Hong Kong , Macau and Taiwan .

The Shanghai Metro network (see map [ dead link ] at its official website [ dead link ] ) is great — clean, fast, cheap (¥3-10 depending on distance), air-conditioned, and fairly user-friendly with signs and station arrival announcements in both Mandarin and English, while announcements on Lines 16 and 17 are trilingual in Shanghainese, Mandarin and English. The drawbacks are that trains are packed during rush hour, trains do not run late at night (the last train is usually around 22:30, with some lines going until around midnight on Friday and Saturday nights), and the network does not go everywhere yet, though it is continually being expanded.

In central areas most lines (but not line 3 and 4) run underground. Out in the suburbs, most are above ground and many on elevated tracks. Shanghai Metro is the busiest metro system in the world. There are over 500 km (250 miles) of line and over 250 stations. Usage averages about 6 million rides a day.

Metro lines

Each metro line has a particular colour on all maps and signs, and often in station decor. As of mid-2024 lines 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , Pujiang and Jinshan are in service.

Three of the most important lines are line 1 north-south, line 2 east-west, and line 4 which encircles all of the city centre.

Many metro lines ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ) run through downtown.

Lines that do not come downtown are line 5 which serves the southern suburb Minhang , line 17 which runs from Hongqiao Railway Station to the western suburb Qingpu , and lines 6 , 16 and Pujiang whose routes are across the river in Pudong New Area .

Metro stations

Important metro stations include:

The most convenient way to pay is with a metro card; see previous section. There are also one-day cards available which can be purchased for ¥18, good for 24 hours after their first use. Automatic ticket-vending machines take notes and ¥1 or ¥0.5 coins, have instructions in English, and can give change. Most stations on lines 1 , 2 , 3 will also have staff selling single-use ticket cards, but on the newly-completed lines 6 , 8 , and 9 ticket-purchasing is all done by machine, with staff there only to assist in adding credit to cards or if something goes wrong. With the single-use cards, you select your destination and pay by distance, then swipe before boarding and insert the ticket into a machine when you exit.

If there are seats available, then be prepared for a literal mad dash as passengers shove and wrestle for the available seats. You can try and do the same, but bear in mind that everyone else will have a lot more experience than you! Also, be mindful of pickpockets who may use this rush to their advantage.

Transfers between lines can involve a very long walk in some stations. In most places you can transfer between lines freely with a single ticket. But there are exceptions, where two or more lines have stations with the same name, but the stations are separate so you need a second ticket for the second train (unless you have a metro card).

The separate stations with the same name are:

Shanghai Railway Station - lines 3 / 4 and line 1 are separate stations
West Nanjing Road Station - lines 2 , 12 and 13 are in separate stations a few minutes apart from each other.
Pudian Road (Pudian Lu) - lines 4 and 6 ; these stops are on the same street but are not close to each other. Use the free transfer one stop in either direction (Century Ave or Lancun Road) instead.

Most stations include some retail facilities; in many, these are limited to a few snack vendors, but some (e.g. Xujiahui and People's Park) have substantial food courts and shopping areas right in the station. From many stations — including Xujiahui, South Shaanxi Road, Nanjing Road East and Zhongshan Park — you can walk directly into large department stores or malls without going outdoors. For stations with souvenirs and cheap clothing, see #Clothing below.

The bus system is cheaper and much more extensive than the metro, and some routes operate after the closing time of the metro (route numbers beginning with 3 are the night buses that run past 23:00). It is however slower in general, and all route information at bus stops is in Chinese, but here is a handy list of bus routes and stops in English. Once inside the bus, there are English announcements.

Some rural bus services in Shanghai are not numbered, and are instead referred as XX line (XX线), in which XX are the initial of the origin and destination. Rural bus services referred as XX special line (XX专线) are usually faster services. Other special bus services are numbered with a descriptive Chinese word, or a description of the origin and destination and a Chinese number, such as "Bridge line 1" (大桥一路), "Tunnel line 2" (隧道二路), or "Shanghai-Chongming line 3" (申崇三路).

Some buses have a conductor; get on, sit down and he or (more often) she will come around; pay him or her and you'll get a paper ticket and change, if any. Fares depend on distance and conductors rarely speak any English, so you must either know your destination and be able to pronounce it in Chinese, or have it written down in Chinese characters.

Other buses do not have a conductor, only the driver; there is a fixed price for the route, usually ¥2 if the buses are air-conditioned and ¥1.5 on increasingly rare routes running on old buses without. Check the bus itself as on some routes the fare varies from bus to bus; typically there is a sign showing the fare on the outside next to the door and/or on the fare box. Exact fare is required unless you have a metro pass; prepare exact change beforehand and drop it into the box next to the driver.

If you change buses with a metro card, you get a ¥1 discount on your second bus fare and all subsequent transfers. There is a 90-minute window to do this. So if you're not spending too much time at the destination, the discount will apply to the start of your return journey, too.

Several companies offer sightseeing buses with various routes and packages covering the main sights such as the Shanghai Zoo, Oriental Pearl Tower, and Baoyang Road Harbor. Many of these leave from the Shanghai Stadium's east bus station. You can also pick one up downtown on Nanjing Road near the park between People's Park and Nanjing Road West metro stops or at the Shanghai History Museum. The buses usually have an audio guide in the world's major languages. The company that has the lowest tariff offers a one-day ticket for ¥60, covering the main attractions in downtown Shanghai and Lujiazui (AKA Central Pudong).

Taxi drivers typically do not speak any English, so unless you speak Mandarin, be sure to have your destination written in Chinese characters to show the driver. Get a business card for your hotel or any restaurant or shop you like; that makes it easy to return there. As Shanghai is a huge city, try to get the nearest intersection to your destination as well, since even addresses in Chinese are often useless. If you have a mobile phone, you can also use the phone number displayed in the back of the taxi. Dial the number and tell the agent in English where you want to go. Hand the phone to the driver and the agent will tell him in Chinese where you wish to go. The agent will even find out the addresses of bars and other spots for you if required.

Try to avoid using ¥100 notes to pay for short journeys; either use a metro card or have change available; taxi drivers are not keen on giving away their change. Also, the ¥50 note is a favourite of counterfeiters and a foreigner unfamiliar with the money is an obvious person to foist a bad one on, so you should try to avoid getting a fifty in your change. Additionally, one trick used by unscrupulous drivers is to claim you passed them a bad ¥100, when you in fact gave them a good ¥100 and they swapped it for a bad one.

Taxis are very hard to come by during peak hours and when it's raining, so be prepared to wait for a while or walk to a busy pick-up location. Foreign visitors might be surprised at the almost compete lack of courtesy or lines while waiting for a taxi, so don't be afraid to "jump in" and get one — it's first come, first served. There are some taxi stops where attendants maintain a well-ordered line; this may be the fastest way to get a taxi in a busy part of town, but there are few of them, so expect a long walk to find one.

Drivers, while generally honest, are sometimes genuinely clueless and occasionally out to take you for a ride. The drivers are very good about using the meter but in case they forget, remind them. It's also the law to provide a receipt for the rider, so if your fare seems out of line, be sure to obtain one as it's necessary to receive any compensation. If you feel you have been cheated or mistreated by the driver, you (or a Chinese-speaking friend) can use the information on the printed receipt to raise a complaint to the taxi company about that particular driver. The driver will be required to pay 3x the fare if ordered by the taxi company, so normally they're very good about taking the appropriate route. The printed receipt is also useful to contact the driver in case you have forgotten something in the taxi and need to get it back.

If you come across a row of parked taxis and have a choice of which one to get in to, you may wish to check the driver's taxi ID card, posted near the meter on the dashboard. The higher the number, the newer the driver, so there may be more chance that the driver will not know where he or she is going. Those with numbers between 10XXXX and 12XXXX are the most experienced drivers; a number above 27XXXX indicates a new driver who may get you lost somewhere. Another way is to check the number of stars the driver has; these are displayed below the driver's photograph on the dashboard. The number of stars indicates the length of time the driver has been in the taxi business and the level of positive feedback received from customers, and range from zero stars to five. Drivers with one star or more should know all major locations in Shanghai, and those with three stars should be able to recognize even lesser-known addresses. Remember that it takes time to build up these stars, and so don't panic if you find yourself with a driver who doesn't have any — just have them assure you that they know where they are going and you should be fine.

If you need to cross from one side of the Huangpu River to the other by taxi, especially from Pudong to Puxi, you may want to make sure your driver will make the trip, and knows where he or she is going; some drivers only know their side of the town and may become lost once they cross the river. Taxis are notoriously difficult to get on rainy days and during peak traffic hours, so plan your journeys accordingly. As the crossings between Pudong and Puxi are often jammed with traffic, taking a taxi may be more expensive and slower than the metro. It may be better to take the metro across the river and then catch a taxi.

Taxi colors in Shanghai are strictly controlled and indicate the company the taxi belongs to. Turquoise taxis operated by Dazhong (大众), the largest group, are often judged the best of the bunch. Other good companies include Qiangsheng (强生), uses gold-colored taxis and Jinjiang (锦江), which uses white taxis. Watch out for dark red/maroon taxis, since this is the 'default' color of small taxi companies and includes more than its fair share of bad apples. There are also privately owned taxis (easily recognized as they have an 'X' in their number plate and may not be the standard Volkswagen Santana used by most taxi companies). The dark red/maroon taxis will also go "off the meter" at times and charge rates 4x-5x the normal rate — especially around the tourist areas of the Yuyuan Gardens. Bright red taxis and blue taxis, on the other hand, are unionized and quite OK, furthermore there are more 3-star and above taxi drivers working for these companies. The bright orange taxis cover suburban areas only and are not allowed within the "city" area, but their meters start at ¥11 and count at ¥2.4/km no matter how long the journey, so they're somewhat cheaper if you're not trying to get downtown (rule of thumb — if you're trying to go somewhere within the Outer Ring highway, don't get one, but if your journey ends just within it you may be able to find a driver willing to bend the rules).

Using the Smart Shanghai app (about £2.00 from App Store) or the Smart Shanghai website will help you take taxis. Find the sight, restaurant, hotel or bar you are looking for on the app or website and click on the 'Taxi Directions' button for the address written in Chinese. Just show this to the driver and you'll be on your way!

Shanghai is a good city for walking, especially in the older parts of the city such as the Bund, but be aware this city is incredibly dynamic and pavements can be obstructed or unpleasant to walk through when near construction areas. If there is a metro entry at a busy street, the station can usually be used as a pedestrian underpass to another metro exit across the way.

Some distances in Shanghai are huge, so you will need to use other means of transportation at some point. However, quite a few people navigate well with just a metro pass plus their feet and perhaps the occasional taxi.

See #Do below for some suggested walks that combine shopping and sightseeing.

The Bund "sightseeing tunnel" is very strange, and doesn't actually show you any sites of the city at all. It is an unusual ( albeit pricey ) way to get across the river however. See Shanghai/Huangpu#Do for details.

As with all of China, right-of-way is effectively proportional to weight: vehicles trump motorbikes, which trump pedestrians. Motorbikes and bicycles rarely use headlights and can come from any direction. They are the main users of curb-cuts for sidewalks, so don't stand at these. Avoid unpredictable movements while walking and crossing streets: the drivers see you and predict your future location from your speed. See Driving in China for further discussion.

A useful ferry runs between the Bund (from a ferry pier a few blocks south of Nanjing Road next to the KFC restaurant) and Lujiazui financial district in Pudong (the terminal is about 10 minutes south of the Pearl TV Tower and Lujiazui metro station) and is the cheapest way of crossing the river at ¥2 per person. The ferry is air-conditioned and allows foot-passengers only (bikes are not allowed except for folding models). Buy a token from the ticket kiosk and then insert it into the turnstile to enter the waiting room — the boats run every 10 minutes and take just over 5 minutes to cross the river. This is a great (and much cheaper) alternative to using the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. However, the ferry stations are not directly connected to public transport so you need to walk a bit.

For locals, bicycles are slowly being eclipsed by electric scooters. But they still remain an easy means of transportation for visitors who may be hesitant to communicate with drivers or board crowded mass transit — or simply want to soak up some sunshine. Beware of the driving habits of locals : the biggest vehicles have the priority and a red light does not mean you are safe to cross the street. Bicycles and mopeds are not allowed on many major roads (signs designate this), or in the tunnels and on the bridges between Pudong and Puxi (the only way to cross is by ferry).

Some hostels have bikes for rent and many department stores sell them, starting around ¥200. Alternatively, go to Baoshan Metro station and get a vintage bicycle for about ¥300. Bikes for sale are also easily found on the street around Suzhou Creek or in the residential part of the old town.

There is a city-operated system of free bicycles, but the stands are card-operated and as of 2012 the cards were available only to registered Shanghai residents; even migrant workers from other parts of China were excluded. There are many stands around town, each with a few dozen bikes; with a card, you can take one. If you return it to any stand within four hours, there is no charge.

However, since around 2017, commercially-run dockless rideshare bikes have surged in popularity and are now basically ubiquitous. Many locals, especially the younger generation, no longer own bikes and instead prefer these shared bikes due to their "start anywhere, park anywhere, leave and forget" nature. As of 2020, two major operators have a quintessential duopoly on the market: the yellow bikes backed by Meituan, and the blue bikes backed by Alipay. Both require a phone app to use. The initial setup could be a little tedious - you have to download the app, register, and most likely pay a deposit around ¥200, but afterwards it's a simple scan of a QR code and the bike will unlock. Dockless rideshare bikes combine particularly well with Shanghai's extensive metro system. You can often find many bikes at the metro station, and just take one to cover the last kilometre to your final destination. Therefore it is highly recommended for anyone who intends to stay longer than a few weeks. Each ride will cost you ¥1-2 which is certainly not a lot, and you can even purchase a weekly or monthly pass for very cheap and enjoy unlimited rides.

Driving is definitely not recommended in Shanghai for a variety of reasons, even for those with driving experience in the country. Drivers have to cope not only with a very complex road system and seemingly perpetual traffic jams, but also with Chinese driving habits and ongoing construction. In addition, parking spaces are rare and almost impossible to find. Bicycles, scooters and pedestrians are also all over the place — it is not unheard of for cyclists, motorcyclists or pedestrians to suddenly dash in front of a car without any warning. In short, do not drive if you can help it and make use of Shanghai's excellent public transportation network instead.

By motorcycle and scooter

While motorcycle rental is practically non-existent, for long-term visitors e-bikes and scooters are a cheap, fast, practical way of getting around. E-bikes don't require a driving license and are cheaper, but only have a short battery range (about 50 km) and a low top speed, and are a frequent target of thieves. A cheap e-bike can be picked up from any major supermarket — expect to pay around ¥1500-2500 for a new model. Small shops also sell converted e-bikes (motor scooters converted to run on electricity) which are more expensive but are faster, more comfortable and have longer battery ranges. 50cc motorcycles require registration but don't require a drivers license, whilst anything bigger will require a driving license. Motorcycles can be bought from used-bike dealers mostly located in residential working-class neighbourhoods — a used 50cc moped will be about ¥2000 whilst a 125cc will cost much more depending on condition and mileage. If you plan to ride a motorcycle, stick to automatic transmission scooters as they are much easier to ride in dense traffic than a manually-geared bike.

For motorcycles above 50cc, a special yellow license plate and drivers license is required, both of which is independent from a car's licenses. These motorcycles are subject to the same laws that apply to cars and ride in car lanes, but with additional restrictions. All elevated roads, tunnels, and bridges crossing Huangpu River ban motorcycles with the exception of Nanpu Bridge, Xupu bridge, and Fuxing Road Tunnel. Motorcycles can also use ferries.

Motorcycles below 50cc are expected to use the bicycle lane and cross intersections via pedestrian traffic lights, which is often quicker when car traffic reaches a standstill. Be careful, particularly at night, of people riding with their headlights off or riding on the wrong side of the road — remember that e-bikes don't require any driving license and therefore drivers often flout traffic laws and take creative but dangerous paths through traffic. Parking is easy — most sidewalks serve as bike-parking, although in quiet streets your bike may be stolen, so use a couple of good locks. At busy places, attended bike parks charge around ¥0.5-1 per day.

Vintage motorbikes with sidecars are used by mainly by expats and tourists. Most expatriates and Shanghainese are too embarrassed to use what many consider a particularly "uncool" form of transport. Changjiang sidecars were used by the Chinese army until 1997. There are a few sidecar owners clubs in Shanghai (Black Bats, People's Riders Club), shops (Yiqi, Cao, Fan, Jack, Jonson, Leo) and a tour operator ( Shanghai Sideways [ dead link ] ) which are worth checking out. See also Driving in China — Sidecar rigs .

Where to go in Shanghai depends largely on available time and your interests. For the areas with most of the main tourist attractions, see the Downtown and Pudong sections above and the district articles they link to. You can also download some apps like Meituan, or use the local search engine Baidu to find more information; if prices and locations have changed recently, the apps are more likely to be up-to-date than many online listings.

Many of Shanghai's main tourist sights are in Huangpu District :

The Old City (老城厢; Lao Chengxiang, also known as 南市, Nanshi) is the original Chinese city going back about 1000 years, now a major tourist area. The center of that area is Yuyuan Gardens .
The International Settlement was built North and West of the Old City, starting in the 1840s. In colonial-period Western books, "Shanghai" means that settlement.
The Bund ( 外滩 Wàitān ). The riverside avenue that was the center of 19th century Shanghai and is now a major tourist attraction.
People's Square ( Renmin Gongyuan ). What was once the horse-racing track on the edge of the British district is now a large and busy downtown park. The old track's clubhouse now houses a museum and a fine restaurant. Under the square at the edge of the park is a metro station that is one of the hubs of the Shanghai system and one of the busiest subway stations on Earth; lines 1 , 2 and 8 meet there. Nearby are several large high-end malls and department stores.

Nanjing Road was the main street of the old British Concession; today it is a major upmarket shopping street. Line 2 runs under it for some distance and has four stations along it; listed east-west they are Nanjing Road East, People's Square , Nanjing Road West and jing'an Temple . The road extends across two districts.

Nanjing Road East in Huangpu District extends from the Bund to People's Park, and most of it is a very busy pedestrians-only strip.
Nanjing Road West is the continuation into Jing'an District . Part of it runs along the north side of People's Park. A landmark beyond the park is Jing'an Temple , a beautiful ancient building with a metro station named after it.

For a taste of 1920s Shanghai, with much classic Western-style architecture, head for the stately old buildings of the Bund and nearby parts of Huangpu ; this is still a major shopping area as well. If your taste runs more to very modern architecture, remarkably tall buildings and enormous shopping malls, the prime districts for skyscrapers are Pudong and Jing'an . See the linked articles for details.

Other major sights are in the former French Concession . This has always been a fashionable area—even in the colonial period, many famous Chinese lived there—and it remains so today with much of Shanghai's best entertainment and shopping. We treat it as a single district and give it its own article. Within it are:

Xujiahui , the center of Xuhui District, with a metro interchange (lines 1 , 9 and 11 ), major roads, huge malls including many electronics stores, and high-end residential and office buildings.
Huaihai Road , an upmarket shopping street which many Shanghai people prefer over Nanjing Road.
Hengshan Road , which runs from Huaihai Road to Xujiahui, has Shanghai's largest cluster of restaurants and bars.
Xintiandi , an area of old shikumen ("stone gate", a unique Shanghai style) houses, redeveloped with shopping malls, trendy bars and restaurants, and a lot of tourism.
Tianzifang , another area of shikumen housing that has been redeveloped. It is newer than Xintiandi and emphasizes arts, crafts and boutique shopping where Xintiandi stresses brand-name goods and entertainment.

Overall, the French Concession is Shanghai's best area for boutique shopping, small galleries and craft shops, and interesting restaurants.

Huangpu has the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum , on opposite sides of People's Square , and the Bund Historical Museum , in a park at the north end of the Bund .
The Shanghai Railway Museum is near Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei .
The Chinese Martial Arts Museum is on the campus of Shanghai Institute of Physical Education; see the Yangpu District article for details.
There is a Yuan-Dynasty Water Sluice Museum in Putuo District , an interesting example of medieval engineering.
The Shanghai Municipal History Museum is across the river, below the Pearl Tower in Pudong .
The Shanghai Natural History Museum is in Jing'an District next to the metro station named after it on Line 1 .

Art galleries

The gallery areas are rather scattered, many of them away from the center and in former industrial buildings that have been renovated and re-purposed.

M50 art district is Shanghai's main center for contemporary Chinese art, with dozens of studios and galleries. It is in a former factory in Putuo District.
1933 Shanghai is in a former abattoir; it has a theatre, shops, cafés and studios. See Hongkou for details.
The Power Station of Art is on the Huangpu River, in an old power plant converted first to a pavilion for Expo 2010, and then the first state-run contemporary art museum in China. It is in Huangpu .
The Shanghai Propaganda Poster and Art Centre is on the west side of the French Concession . A fine collection of Mao-era posters and other memorabilia, a bit hard to find but worth the effort.
The Shanghai Gallery of Art is a commercial gallery in a shopping center called 3 on the Bund .
The Tianzifang area in the French Concession has many galleries and studios.
The West Bund in the French Concession is one of the city's newest art districts. In 2019, French art museum Centre Pompidou established its first Chinese outpost here at the West Bund Museum .

Shanghai many temples, churches, mosques and synagogues.

Jing'an Temple is a large Buddhist temple in Jing'an District , next to the metro stop (Lines 2 and 7 ) named after it.
Longhua Temple is a Zen Buddhist temple down on the southern edge of the French Concession .
The old town has both the Taoist Temple of the Town God ( Chenghung Miao ) and the Shanghai Confucian Temple ( Wen Miao ).
St. Ignatius Cathedral is a major Catholic church built by the French near Xujiahui .
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican cathedral on the east side of People's Square in the old British district.
Jade Buddha Temple is in Putuo , a small Buddhist temple with some fine statues.
Xiaotaoyuan Mosque is Shanghai's largest mosque, with a separate women's mosque next door. It is in Huangpu .

Of course there are many smaller religious buildings—Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Muslim and Christian—scattered around the city.

Water towns

There are water towns in the Western suburbs, popular with both Shanghai residents and visitors. They are quite scenic with canals as the main method of transport and many traditional-style bridges and buildings.

Zhujiajiao is right out at the Western edge of the municipality in Qingpu district, and can be reached on Line 17 from Hongqiao Railway Station, or by bus. It is quite popular with Shanghai residents, both Chinese and expatriates. There are some bars run by expats.
Qibao is closer to downtown in Minhang district, and can be reached by metro line 9 , Qibao station, then walk a block south). It is smaller than Zhujiajiao and gets a higher proportion of tourists.
Fengjing in Jinshan district has many artists, even its own fairly well-known "Jinshan peasant" style of painting. Metro line 22 will get you to Jinshan, but you will need a local bus or a taxi to reach Fengjing.

This type of town is found all over the Yangtze Delta area. In particular, there are several in the Suzhou and Hangzhou regions as well as in Shanghai.

The municipal government runs the Shanghai Cultural Information website which has good listings of current events (special exhibits at museums and galleries; shows such as acrobatics at the circus, touring musicians, and plays; sporting events).

If you like shopping or window shopping , a walk along either of Shanghai's major commercial streets takes an hour or two (or up to several days if you visit many stores and explore side streets) and can be quite interesting:

Nanjing Road , starting from the Bund (Nanjing Road East metro station, line 2 or 10 ) and heading west toward People's Park, Jing'an Temple and perhaps beyond
Huaihai Road in the French Concession, starting at South Huangpi Road metro station on Line 1 and heading west. At the cross street just past the Changshu Road station, turn left (past the Starbucks) to reach a whole district of bars and restaurants along Hengshan Road to end your journey in comfort.

See #Buy below for more on these streets and nearby areas.

Almost every district in Shanghai has some parks. Some of the major ones are:

People's Park , very central and with a major metro interchange below it (lines 1 , 2 and 8 )
Jing'an Park , across the street from the temple and metro station (lines 2 and 7 )
Fuxing Park in the French Concession
Lu Xun Park in Hongkou is named for a famous writer. It has kids' rides and a lake with boats for rent.
Gongqing Forest Park in Yangpu also has rides and boats. (Hongkou Stadium station, line 8 and 9 )
Zhongshan Park in Changning. (Zhongshan Park metro station, lines 2 3 & 4 )
Daning Tulip Park , north of the railway station in Zhabei
Shanghai Expo Park is in two parts, the larger in Pudong and the smaller in Puxi, toward the south of Huangpu. The Power Station of Art (listed under #Art galleries ) is in the Puxi part of the park.
Jinjiang Action Park , an amusement park in the southern part of the French Concession. Has a large ferris wheel with a good view over much of the city. Metro line 1 to Jinjiang Park Station.

If you play the game called wei qi in Chinese, or " Go " in English, you are likely to find locals playing it in Fuxing Park or Jing'an Park.

Drink at a tea house . Visit one of Shanghai's many tea houses. Be careful not to order amazingly expensive teas or too much food. Beware of friendly-seeming strangers wanting to take you to a tea house or bar; this may be a scam .
Take a boat on the river . Many companies operate river tours. Look for one of the cheaper ones. This is a great way to see the striking Shanghai skyline and river banks and shoot some good photos. Some of the boat companies offer sightseeing tours lasting several hours and covering quite a bit of the river and/or Suzhou Creek. A cheaper, but less scenic, alternative is to take one of the many ferries that cross the river for a couple yuan.
Double-decker buses run through much of downtown and can be boarded anywhere on their route.
China Odyssey Tours , ☏ +86-773-5854000 . Tours of the city, for couples and families.
Formula One . Grand Prix motor-racing is in April at the International Circuit in Jiading district.
Shanghai International Film Festival . The event takes place during a period of ten days in June with a showing of 400 Chinese and international films in cinemas across many districts of Shanghai.

Universities

Shanghai has at least a dozen universities, many with several campuses. Most employ foreign English teachers and many have foreign students .

Two are part of the C9 League , a group prestigious universities, roughly the Chinese equivalent of the "Ivy League" in the US. These two are generally considered to be behind only Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing as the most prestigious universities in China.

Fudan University (复旦大学 Fùdàn Dàxué ) is among China's top general universities. The main campus is in Yangpu .
Shanghai Jiatong University (上海交通大学 Shànghǎi Jiāotōng Dàxué ) is among the best for technical subjects. It has five campuses in different districts, and has over 40,000 students including about 24,000 graduate students. The new main campus is in Minhang . The original campus in the French Concession is now used mostly for continuing education; it has an MBA program and Chinese-language courses. Metro line 10 has a Jiaotong University Station, at the original campus.

There are also many non-C9 universities:

East China Normal University (ECNU) also has its main campus in Minhang , next to Jiaoda.
New York University in Shanghai is a joint venture between the American school and ECNU, with its campus in Pudong .
Zhabei has the main campus of Shanghai University.
Baoshan has another Shanghai University campus.
Yangpu has four universities: Fudan, Tongji, Finance & Economics, and Physical Education; the last has a martial arts museum.
Fengxian has Shanghai Business School.
Sonjiang has an entire University town with many universities
Nanhui has eight campuses with around 100,000 students.
Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong has a Fudan campus and the Shanghai Tech University (opened in 2016).

Most of these have substantial contingents of foreign students , and some employ foreigners as English teachers or in other faculty roles. All of them have nearby areas with cheap food, bars and shops that cater to a student market; these can be among the best places in Shanghai to look for low costs and lively nightlife with a young crowd.

Some universities have metro stops named for them, Jiao Tong University and Tonji University stations on line 10 , Shanghai University on line 7 , and Sonjiang University Town on line 9 .

Other classes

There are also schools for various Chinese arts or crafts including cooking, martial arts and painting. Many are in the French Concession , though other districts have some.

There are also schools offering training in the Chinese language. Several of the universities provide such courses and there are other possibilities:

Mandarin House ( 美和汉语 ). Established 2004; the Shanghai campus is in People's Square.
LTL Mandarin School Shanghai , [email protected] . In the French Concession. For those who are interested, they also conduct Shanghainese lessons for foreigners. ( updated Mar 2017 )
31.19995 121.43129 5 Meizhi Mandarin ( two locations: Xujiahui next to Jiaotong University, and Hongqiao-Gubei ), ☏ +862152300140 , [email protected] . 09:00-21:00 . Courses in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese, including business and conversational courses, and test preparation. There are short-term intensive classes (group or individual) and longer-term programs, and customized courses can be provided. The school is an official test centre for the HSK Chinese proficiency test and for TCSL (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language).
Hutong School Shanghai [ dead link ] offers a range of Chinese courses including intensive, HSK preparation courses, business Chinese and Chinese classes for children. Group and private classes are available with experienced native teachers. Email: [email protected] Tel: [Tel: (+86) 21 3428 0099]
That's Mandarin School offers a variety 1-on-1 and group Chinese language courses including intensive, part-time, HSK preparation. Various summer and winter immersion programs for kids and teens as well as online Chinese classes are also available.

Shanghai has over 200,000 foreign residents, most of whom are working, and the range of jobs and professions is huge. The largest groups are English teachers and expatriate employees sent by foreign companies to work in Chinese branches or factories, or to deal with suppliers or partners. There are also significant numbers of other teachers at every level from kindergarten to university, foreign employees of Chinese companies, contractors doing design work on anything from clothing to automobiles, diplomatic staff at the various consulates, artists and musicians, independent professionals such as lawyers and architects, and people running their own export businesses or even factories.

As a general rule, the English teachers are paid less than the other groups, though still quite well by local standards. To some extent the range of Western bars and restaurants reflects this; some of the high-end places cater mainly to expatriates with high salaries or generous expense accounts. These places also get some tourists and wealthy Chinese, but the typical foreign teacher (let alone most Chinese or low-budget backpackers) cannot afford them.

See below for information on visa extensions if required.

See Working in China for additional information.

Much of the shopping in Shanghai is either downtown or (mostly for big malls) across the river in Pudong. Many clothing shops are downtown, but others are scattered citywide; see #Clothing for details. There are also many shopping opportunities in the big malls of Pudong , and all the suburban areas have malls as well. Two of the largest malls on the Puxi side of the river are:

31.2207 121.4122 1 Cloud Nine shopping center ( Zhongshan Park Station, lines 2 and 3 , Exit 1 ). In Changning. Nine flours above ground (hence the name) and two below. Metro line 2 has an exit on one of the underground floors. ( updated Jun 2016 )
Wanda Plaza ( Wujiaochang ) ( line 10 , Wujiaochang ). In Yangpu. Wanda Group is a huge company with many properties in China and some elsewhere. This is the largest of their 14 malls in Shanghai.

With those exceptions, most of the shopping is downtown

The park divides Nanjing Road into two parts:

Nanjing Road East ( Nanjing dong lu ) in Huangpu District , mostly pedestrians-only and a major shopping area since the mid-19th century. It is a 1-km long pedestrian boulevard running inland from the Bund, lined with busy shops. The wide boulevard is often packed with people on weekends and holidays. The shops are often targeted to domestic tourists, so the prices are surprisingly reasonable. The Nanjing Road East station (lines 2 and 10 ) is near the center of that pedestrian area. The People's Park station (lines 1 , 2 and 8 ) is at the inland end, furthest from the Bund. Beyond that station the road is no longer pedestrian-only; it runs along the north side of People's Park (人民广场), which is often considered the center of Shanghai.

For high-end international brands, go to Nanjing Road West (南京西路 Nanjing xi lu ) near Jing'an Temple station (line 2 or 7 ). Several large shopping malls (Plaza 66 aka Henglong Plaza, Citic Plaza, Meilongzhen Plaza, and others being built) house boutiques bearing the most famous names in fashion.

The French Concession is another major shopping area. Huaihai Road is a busy boulevard with upscale stores; well-off locals tend to shop there in preference to the more touristy Nanjing Road. For boutique shopping, head to the smaller streets just off it — Xinle Lu (新乐路), Changle Lu (长乐路) and Anfu Lu (安福路) — starting from east of Shaanxi Lu (陕西路); the nearest Metro station is South Shanxi Rd on Line 1 . This area of low-rise buildings and tree-lined streets bustles with small boutiques of clothing and accessories, where young Shanghainese seek the latest fashion shops. A renovated but still picturesque older area called Tian Zi Fang also has boutique clothing, plus much arts and crafts.

The Bund is mainly office buildings but does have some hotels, restaurants, and a few multi-storey high-end shopping centers. No. 3 on the Bund has, among other things, Giorgio Armani's flagship store in China. No. 18 has many stores including an art gallery.

Yuyuan Bazaar in the old town is well provided with Chinese crafts and jewellery. See Shanghai#Clothing for other tourist shopping areas.

Books, CDs and DVDs

Fuzhou Road runs from the Bund on the east to People's Square on the west, and is the first major street south of Nanjing Road. In colonial times it was Shanghai's main red-light district; today it is the best place to look for books and is also a good street to wander around and find stationery and art supplies, especially for Chinese calligraphy and painting. Some of the art is sold there as well.

Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore (Shanghai Book Traders) at 390 Fuzhou Rd offers many books in English and other major languages, especially for learning Chinese. Just around the corner at 36 South Shanxi Rd is a small but well-stocked second-hand foreign-language bookshop. If you're searching for computer or business related books, head to the biggest store in Fuzhou Rd: Shanghai Book Town (上海书城). You'll find special editions targeted at the Chinese market. The only difference to the original version is the Chinese cover and the heavily reduced price.

Those interested in music CDs or DVDs of movies and television shows have a wide variety of options. The bookstores all carry some, people sell DVDs out of boxes on street corners, and there are local DVD shops in most neighborhoods. Costs go from about ¥6 per disk to about ¥40; you pay a bit more for DVD-9 format disks. See also discussion in the China article .

There are also some shops popular with the expatriate community; these tend to have English-speaking staff and a better selection of merchandise appealing to Westerners, though sometimes at slightly higher prices. One is the Ka De Club with two shops: one at 483 Zhenning Rd and the other one at 505 Da Gu Rd (a small street between Weihai and Yan'an roads). Another popular DVD shop is on Hengshan Road about halfway between two expat bars, Oscar's and the Shanghai Brewery. There are several more along Jiaozhou Road, which runs north from Jing'An Station.

Perhaps the best way to score a deal with a shop is to be a regular. If you provide them repeat business they are usually quite happy to give you discounts for your loyal patronage. It is also worth asking for a cheaper-by-the-dozen discount if you are making a large purchase.

There are a number of markets in the city selling antiques, jade and Mao-era China memorabilia:

31.2233 121.476 3 Dongtai Road Antique Market ( Metro line 8 or 10 to Laoximen station, then walk a long block north looking for the market on side streets to your left. ). The largest antique market in the city, and the cheapest provided you bargain hard .
Yuyuan Gardens is another good option for antiques and all manner of cheaply made and priced souvenirs (teapots, paintings, "silk" bags, etc.) Walk a few hundred meters East from Dongtai Road.
There are more upmarket antique markets between Fuzhou Road and the pedestrian part of Nanjing Road.

As with any market in China, don't be afraid to haggle ; it is usually the only way to get a fair price.

Exporting anything made before 1911 is now illegal. See the China article for discussion.

Electronics

Shanghai offers the opportunity to buy electronic products, and you may be able to find exotic gadgets and phones that are only available in China. Foreign electronics are expensive with a high sales tax. It can be helpful to buy online with clear cheaper prices and with delivery often possible the same day with payment in cash on delivery. Games consoles are expensive and import restrictions extensive. Xujiahui is the place to go if you're after computer accessories and other electronics, but the mobile phone selection is a bit lacking. Try to go during the week; it is hectic on weekends.

Bu Ye Cheng Communications Market ( 不夜城 ) ( Shanghai Railway Station, exit 4 from line 1 side, turn left and it's the large gold building ). 10:00-18:00 . This is the one of the best-known open-style markets for mobile phones in Shanghai. 1F/2F for new phones (two-way radios, too), 3F for second-hand including various collectibles. Any reputable vendor that sets up shop here will allow you to try before you buy—if they don't then leave. Best way to get a good or unusual phone at low cost. The selection is a mixed bag; you'll find Chinese off-brands mixed with reliable big-name brands as well as cutting-edge Japanese phones. If you live in North or South America be careful about buying the off-brand phones as most do not support the necessary frequencies for use there. Also, in the secondhand section of the market some of the phones are of dubious origin; CDMA phones may have their ESNs blacklisted in their home countries, but for GSM/3G phones the only issue is an ethical one.

There is a giant electronics mart at the Baoshan Road line 3 / 4 station, which offers a huge range of miscellaneous electronics and mobile phones, however some are fake. Be sure to bargain hard. If you want to buy a mobile phone here, make sure you have a SIM card before you purchase, and test the SIM card in the phone by making a call, perhaps to the vendor, since some of the phones are non-functional but still turn on. It's best to negotiate as low as possible first, and then try out your SIM card.

Photo equipment

Shanghai is rather an odd market for photo equipment. As in any major city, more-or-less everything is available somewhere, including high-end items of interest mainly to professionals and unusual things that only a collector might want. China was relatively isolated for decades, from the Japanese invasion in 1937 until the "reform and opening up" of 1978, so imported items from that period are not common. However Shanghai was a very prosperous and cosmopolitan city in the 1920s and early 30s so some collectors' items are in good supply.

As a general rule, prices on photo equipment in Shanghai are roughly comparable to US prices and a bit higher than Hong Kong, but there are various exceptions including some real bargains and some seriously overpriced items. Check prices abroad before making any major purchases.

For consumer products such as point-and-shoot cameras or low-end interchangeable lens devices, Xujiahui is a shopper's paradise. Any of the large consumer electronics stores scattered around the city, and many of the general department stores, will have these as well, but selection and price are usually better at Xujiahui.

For more specialised needs, there are two large buildings full of camera stores in Shanghai. Both have plenty of consumer products, usually at good prices. However they also have lots of products for the enthusiast and professional markets, services such as printing or camera repair, and a large selection of used equipment from cheap-and-usable to collectors' items.

One is Huanlong Photographic Equipment City (环龙照相器材) on the 2nd through 5th floors of a building near the Shanghai train station in Zhabei District . Exit the station into the South Square, and the building is diagonally left. Fast food on ground floor. Second floor and above is mostly camera shops. The higher you go, the more used equipment you see.
An even larger clump of shops is Xing Guang Photographic Equipment City (星光摄影器材城) 300 Luban Lu, corner of Xietu Lu. Metro Line 4 to Luban Road South, go out exit 1, turn left onto Luban Lu, and you are walking North. Xietu Lu is the first cross street. The camera center is on the NW corner. It has 7 floors. The top one is offices, the bottom two mostly new cameras. One floor is mostly studio equipment—lights, reflectors and so on—and includes some unusual cameras such as 4x5-inch view cameras and 6x17 cm Chinese-made panoramic cameras. Another is mostly wedding studios, wedding clothes rental, etc. Used equipment is from 2nd to 6th floors and dominates a couple of floors. One camera repair shop, a few accessories shops—memory, bags, tripods, etc.

These two groups of shops are on Line 4 so it is easy to visit both in a day. However, Line 4 is roughly circular and they are on opposite edges (Railway Station on North, Luban Lu on South) so it is a fairly long ride between them.

Shanghai has a number of markets which combine cheap clothing (including lots of knock-offs of famous brands) with tourist stuff like souvenir T-shirts and higher-grade Chinese stuff like silk (?) scarves and robes. Nearly all of these also have a few stores selling luggage, and many have some consumer electronics as well. In any of them there are quite a few touts; just entering the buildings can bring a horde of people upon you trying to sell you bags, watches, DVDs and all sorts of goods. You also need to haggle to get good prices in any of them. Dodging touts and haggling can be fun, but those sensitive to the pressure might want to steer clear.

Rather than pursuing knock-offs of Western brands, one of the more interesting things to do in Shanghai is to check out the small boutiques in the French Concession area. Some of these are run by individual designers of clothing, jewellery, etc., so the items on sale can truly be said to be unique, and the area is generally free of touts. Both prices and quality are generally higher than in the markets described below.

Many visitors from overseas encounter problems finding larger sizes in China. Also the sizes may be different; one Canadian reports that he takes XL at home but needs XXXL in China. This will be less of a problem in tourist areas, and the many fine tailors can make garments to fit anyone, often at attractive prices.

The horrendously crowded Qipu Lu clothing market (Tiantong Road metro station on line 10 one stop North of Nanjing Road East, and line 12 ) is the main place where Shanghai people look for cheap clothing. It is a mass of shops — including a huge number of small ones, many about 18 m 2 (200 ft 2 ) — jammed into several multi-storey warehouse-sized buildings; exploring even one would take the casual stroller most of a day. You can walk into the basement of one building from inside the subway stop. You'll find the cheapest clothes in the city here, but even the trendiest styles are clearly Chinese. Bargain hard , in Chinese if you can, and make friends with the shop owners. Many of them have secret stashes of knock-offs in hidden rooms behind the stall "walls." Avoid this place on weekends at all costs .

While Qipu Lu is best known for cheap clothing, and that is indeed the market most shops target, it also has some rather fine upmarket shops. For example, the top floor of the building by the subway has a women's clothing place specialising in silk dresses and tops, including many with good embroidery. Prices start around ¥300, high but not outrageous by Chinese standards. Compared to prices in Western countries they are a real bargain.

Another large market is next to the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (上海科技馆) metro station on line 2 in Pudong ; there are actually two markets, one on each side of the station. The place has more foreign customers than Qipu Lu, and the asking prices for clothes are higher. However, there is a wider selection here of other products: software, games, electronics, etc. This market also has a number of tailor shops for made-to-order clothing.

A smaller but more accessible market with similar merchandise (but no tailors) is attached to the largest and most central metro station in town, People's Park . This is less hectic than either Qipu Lu or the Science & Tech Museum, and probably has enough variety for most travellers.

It is fairly common for travellers to stop at either the Science & Tech or the People's Park market to pick up gifts just before flying out of Shanghai, since both are on line 2 which goes to both airports, and both are all on a single level so it is moderately convenient to wander about with luggage in tow. Prices may not be the best in town but they are generally much better than airport shops and selection is good.

The area around Yuyuan Gardens in the old town has similar merchandise, with more emphasis on souvenirs and handicrafts rather than clothing, and often with somewhat higher asking prices.

Another option is the Pearl Plaza located on Yan'an Xi Lu and Hongmei Lu (line 10 , get off at Longxi Rd stop, go south on Hongmei Lu out of the station past Yan'an elevated road). See Minhang for more on that area. Another, more for day-to-day clothing than anything fancy or touristy, is near Shanghai Ikea; take line 3 to Cao Xi Road, walk toward Ikea and it will be on your left.

The largest group of tailor shops is at Shanghai South Bund Material Market: 399 Lujiabang Rd (陆家浜路), open 10:00-18:00. Three floors of tailors and their materials including silk, cashmere, and merino wool. Have items measured, fitted and finished within two days or bring examples, samples or pictures. Prices here or in the smaller cluster of such shops at Science & Tech are often better than at standalone shops in town because the competition for customers is fairly intense, but you should bargain for the best price.

You can take bus #802 or #64 from the Shanghai Railroad Station and stop at the final stop: Nanpu Bridge Terminal or you can take metro line 4 to the Nanpu Bridge (南浦大桥) Station (exit from gate #1, make a left from the exit and then left again on the light. You will see it to your right after walking about 200 to 250 m.

For high-end clothing that is (mostly) not Chinese knock-offs, generally at somewhat higher prices than outside China, the main areas to look are Nanjing Road right downtown and Huaihai Road in the French Concession. Both have many stores with trendy styles and major international brands. See the Shopping in China article for discussion of difficulties buying brand-name goods in the country, but note that the high-end Shanghai shops are probably less risky than anywhere else.

Major supermarket chains such as Carrefour, Metro, Auchan, Tesco and Walmart are scattered around the city and have cheap groceries and household products, and are generally crowded at weekends. The most centrally located 'big chain' supermarket is Carrefour located in floors B1 and B2 of Cloud 9 shopping mall (metro: Zhongshan Park, lines 2 , 3 and 4 ). Tesco has a store in Zhabei district close to the main railway station and there is a huge Lotus supermarket in Top Brands mall in Liujiazui (Liujiazui, line 2 ). There is also a large supermarket with much imported food at Xujiahui (lines 1 and 9 ); leave the station via at exit 12, which puts you in the basement of a major mall, then walk all the way across the open space at that level.

Whilst many stores around the city sell imported products at fairly high prices, Metro Cash'n'Carry is by far the cheapest place to buy imported goods. There are two stores:

The Pudong store is at Longyang Lu, Lines 2 , 7 , 16 and Maglev.
The Puxi store is at the intersection of Zhenbei Rd and Meichuan Rd, reachable by bus #827 from Line 2 Beixinjing station, Line 10 Shuicheng Rd station or Jiaotong University station, or bus #947 from Line 2 Zhongshan Park station and lines 3 and 4 Jinshajiang Rd station. Alternately, it is a five-minute walk from Jinjiang Park station on line 1 .

As Metro caters primarily to businesses, you will either need a Metro membership card or take a temporary guest pass from reception when entering the store (Puxi store offers no guest passes but most members are willing to lend their membership card at the check-out line). Some items are available only in large packages or are much cheaper bought that way; for example, 1-kg (2.2-lb) packs of New Zealand cream cheese or 5-kg (11-lb) blocks of Irish cheddar are about half the cost per gram of small quantities.

City Shop has a number of locations around Shanghai, plus an online store . Prices are mostly noticeably higher than Metro, but their selection is good and locations are often convenient.

Ubiquitous FamilyMart 24-hour convenience stores can be found around the main central districts and inside major metro stations — these stores sell magazines, snacks, drinks and Japanese-style hot bento-boxes although prices are high by Chinese standards. Chinese chains such as KeDi and C-Store can be found in residential districts and are marginally cheaper and also stock cigarettes. 7-Eleven and Lawson convenience stores are less common but can be found around the Nanjing Road area.

Many food options in Shanghai are much as anywhere else in China. A lot of the street food is cheap and interesting; roasted sweet potatoes are a common and low-risk item. Hole-in-the-wall restaurants, especially West-of-China Muslim noodle places or spicy Sichuan places, often have good cheap food as well. The local bakeries are generally reasonably priced and the coffee houses have Western-style baked goods for not much more.

For excellent Sichuan food in classier surroundings, Spicy Joint on Huaihai Road is extremely popular; do not go at a peak time unless you are willing to wait for a table.

While there are some good Indian and Thai places, there are also many Japanese curry places in Shanghai. A popular chain is Coco Ichibanya with about a dozen locations from Pudong to Suzhou , mostly downtown. One is in the mall attached to Jing'an Temple metro station, another in Metro City mall at Xujiahui , and another on Huaihai Road.

The Wagas chain has restaurants offering coffee and a mostly western menu—mainly light choices like sandwiches, soups and salads—at mid-range prices and "Baker & Spice" places which combine a café and bakery. They offer free WiFi and are a popular spot for locals and digital nomads working on laptops as they sip coffee. Downtown Shanghai has at least one Wagas location in each of the eight #Districts covered in this article, including at least two in Jing'an . The ground-level strip of restaurants behind Grand Gateway Mall at Xjiahui has a Wagas with a Baker & Spice shop next door.

There are plenty of places with various sorts of international cuisine, mostly at higher prices than those mentioned above. The largest group are in the French Concession, mostly along Hengshan Road or streets running off it, but there are also many in Jing'an , Huangpu and Pudong , and some elsewhere.

As anywhere in China, Brazilian all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurants are common; one is on Hengshan Road. There is also an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet above the Dutch department store on Huaihai Road.

Huanghe Rd (黄河路), off Nanjing Road has upmarket Chinese-style seafood.

Much western fast food is available: McDonald's, Starbucks and KFC are ubiquitous, while Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and Burger King are fairly common. Shanghai has a few you might not find (yet?) in smaller cities, such as a Papa John's Pizza on Hengshan Road and a Carl's Jr. burger place at Xujiahui .

Shanghai cuisine

Shanghai's cuisine, like its people and culture, is primarily a fusion of the forms of the surrounding Jiangnan region, with influences sprinkled in from the farther reaches of China and elsewhere. Characterized by some as sweet and oily , the method of preparation used in Shanghai emphasizes freshness and balance , with particular attention to the richness that sweet and sour characteristics can often bring to dishes that are otherwise generally savoury.

The name "Shanghai" means "above the sea", but paradoxically, the local preference for fish often tends toward the freshwater variety due to the city's location at the mouth of China's longest river. Seafood , nonetheless, retains great popularity and is often braised (fish), steamed (fish and shellfish), or stir-fried (shellfish). Watch out for any seafood that is fried, as these dishes rely far less on freshness and are often the remains of weeks-old purchases.

Shanghai's preference for meat is unquestionably pork . Pork is ubiquitous in the style of Chinese cooking, and in general if a mention refers to something as "meat" (肉) without any modifiers, the safe assumption is that it is pork. Minced pork is used for dumpling and bun fillings, whereas strips and slices of pork are promulgated in a variety of soups and stir-fries. The old standby of Shanghainese cooking is "red-cooked (braised/stewed) pork" (红烧肉 hóng shāo ròu ), a traditional dish throughout Southern China with the added flair of anise and sweetness provided by the chefs of Shanghai. Another signature Shanghainese dish is sweet and sour ribs (糖醋排骨 táng cù pái gǔ , literally sugar and vinegar pork ribs).

Chicken takes the honorable mention in the meat category, and the only way to savour chicken in the Chinese way is to eat it whole (as opposed to smaller pieces in a stir-fry). Shanghai's chickens were once organic and grass-fed, yielding smaller but tender and flavourful birds. Today most chickens are little different from what can be found elsewhere. Still, the unforgettable preparations (drunken, salt-water, plain-boiled with dipping sauce, etc.) of whole chickens chopped up and brought to the table will serve as a reminder that while the industrialization of agriculture has arrived from the West, the preservation of flavour is still an essential element of the local cooking.

Those looking for lower-cholesterol options need not fret. Shanghai lies at the heart of a region of China that produces and consumes a disproportionately large amount of soy. Thinking tofu ? There's the stinky version that when deep-fried, permeates entire blocks with its earthy, often offensive aroma. Of course there are also tofu skins, soy milk (both sweet and savory), firm tofu, soft tofu, tofu custard (generally sweet and served from a road-side cart), dried tofu, oiled tofu and every kind of tofu imaginable. There's also vegetarian duck, vegetarian chicken and vegetarian goose, each of which looks and tastes nothing like the fowl after which it is named but is rather just a soy-dish where the bean curd is expected to approximate the meat's texture. Look out also for gluten-based foods at vegetarian restaurants. If you are vegetarian , do be conscious that tofu in China is often regarded not as a substitute for meat (except by the vegetarian Buddhist monks) but rather as an accompaniment to it. As such, take extra care to ensure that your dish isn't served with peas and shrimp or stuffed with minced pork before you order it.

Shanghainese people have 4 special preferences for breakfast dishes (or rather to say dishes, just those simple and quick-to-eat) which are given the name sì dà jīn gāng (四大金刚, lit. four heavenly kings, a term in Buddhism). They are the followings:

dà bĭng (大饼, lit. large pastry). A kind of large flat bread. Fried dough in oil-greased frying pan with water (which eventually evaporates). A variation of this is cōng yóu bĭng (葱油饼, lit. green onion oil pastry), which has green onion and salt and pepper on the surface of the dough before frying.
yóu tiáo (油条, lit. oily strips). Stretchy while crispy fried hollow strips. Often served with some sugar to dip on.
cí fàn (粢饭). Glutinous rice and Japonica rice mixed and steamed, then used to wrap up a yóu tiáo .
dòu jiāng (豆浆, soybean milk). Simply soybean milk, often sweetened with sugar. Best when served with yóu tiáo .

Some other Shanghainese dishes to look out for:

xiǎolóngbāo (小笼包, lit. buns from the little steaming cage; fig. steamed dumpling). Probably the most famous Shanghai dish: small steamed buns — often confused for dumplings — come full of tasty (and boiling hot!) broth inside with a dab of meat to boot. The connoisseur bites a little hole into them first, sips the broth, then dips them in dark vinegar (醋 cù) to season the meat inside.
shēng jiān mántóu (生煎馒头, lit. raw, fried buns). Unlike steamed buns, these larger buns come with dough from raised flour, are pan-fried until the bottoms reach a deliciously crispy brown, and have not made their way to Chinese menus around the world (or even around China). Still popular with Shanghainese for breakfast and best accompanied by vinegar, eat these with particular care, as the broth inside will squirt out just as easily as their steamed cousins.
Dàzhá xiè (大闸蟹), or Shànghǎi máo xiè (上海毛蟹; Shanghai hairy crab), a type of small freshwater crab famed for its taste. Best eaten in the winter months (Oct-Dec) and paired with Shaoxing wine to balance your yin and yang. Roe and meat from this type of crab goes into the famous xiaolongbao (above) and meatballs (below)
xièfěn shīzitóu (蟹粉狮子头; lit. crab meat pork meatballs), found in various Yangzhou- and Zhenjiang-style restaurants, such as the Yangzhou Fandian located near Nanjing Road.

Western food

Having been home to concessions of various European countries and the United States for much of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Shanghai has developed its own unique style of Western food known as Haipai cuisine (海派西餐 hǎipài xīcān ). It is broadly divided into five different styles, namely German, French, Italian, Russian and British. Among the more popular Haipai dishes include Shanghai-style borscht (罗宋汤 luósòng tāng ), fried pork chops (炸猪排 zhá zhūpái ), potato salad (土豆色拉 tǔdòu sèlā ) and baked clams (烙蛤蜊 lào gélí ).

Most of the places mentioned under #Eat above also serve booze, and the rest have coffee and tea.

The traditional alcoholic drink of choice for the Shanghainese is Shaoxing rice wine , and this can still be found in most restaurants.

Prices of drinks in cafés and bars vary like they would in any major metropolis. They can be cheap or budget-busters, with a basic coffee or beer costing ¥10-40. In a high-end hotel bar, one basic beer may cost as much as ¥80. Western-style cafés and bars have also become commonplace. There are internationally-known chains, like Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as well as popular domestic and local java joints to satisfy those looking to relax. Hong Kong-style tea cafés are also common, as are Asian "pearl milk tea" or "bubble tea" bars. Some traditional tea houses can still be found, especially in the Old City.

Tsingtao, Snow and Pearl River beer are widely available. Major foreign brands are produced domestically and smaller brands are typically imported. There is also a local brew known as REEB (beer spelled backwards). A large bottle (640 ml) of any of these costs anywhere from ¥2-6.

Shanghai is filled with amazing nightlife , complete with both affordable bars and nightclubs that pulsate with urban energy. There are plenty of bars in all areas, with the biggest concentration in the French Concession . Xintiandi in particular has many upmarket bars and nightclubs, many with live music.

There are many magazines for expats available at hotels and expat eateries, listing and reviewing events, bars, clubs and restaurants in Shanghai. The most popular are That's Shanghai , City Weekend , and Time Out [ dead link ] . Shanghai also has an English newspaper, Shanghai Daily , and an English-medium TV channel, International Channel Shanghai or ICS; most expats find these better than the corresponding national media outlets, People's Daily and CCTV channel 9.

[ dead link ] Pub Crawl Shanghai , Various locations , ☏ +86 187-2100-4614 . 17:00-03:00 . In addition to a plethora of watering holes ranging from bars, lounges, dives and world-class clubs, there is a pub crawl that arranges transportation to various popular venues. For non-Mandarin speakers or those in town for just a few days, this service takes the guesswork out of finding the hippest, most interesting spots that bustle with expatriates and locals. ¥150 .

Accommodation in Shanghai can be rivaled by few cities in China, in terms of both variety and services. There are establishments for all types of travelers, from backpacker options for the weary to top-of-the-line hotels and serviced apartments for those wishing to be spoiled. Puxi has both new and old hotels with classy architectural styles and charm, some of them described in stories when Shanghai may have been the only place in China known to much of the rest of the world, while modern amenities commonly found in Pudong rival many hotels in Asia and beyond.

For clean, safe, budget accommodation, three reliable options are the Jin Jiang Star (website in Chinese) , Motel 168 (website in Chinese) [ dead link ] and Motel 268 chains, all of which have locations in most districts of Shanghai.

For long-term accommodation, be prepared to splurge as Shanghai's real estate prices are among the highest in the world, rivaling even those of major Western cities.

If your budget allows it, all the downtown districts except the Old City have high-end hotels, and Pudong across the river has many others. Prices are near international levels, anywhere from around ¥700 a night to several times that. Most of the big international chains have at least one location in Shanghai, and many have hotels in both Pudong and central Puxi; Hilton has those plus a third one at Hongqiao Airport . Many of these hotels are in very convenient locations; Les Suites and Hyatt are on the Bund , Le Meridien is just off Nanjing Road , and Radisson is on People's Square ; see Huangpu for listings. In Jing'an , the Shangrila is right next to the temple and metro station, and in the French Concession , the Langham Xintiandi is close to Xintiandi and the old town .

Shanghai also has some grand old hotels built in the art deco style during the city's glory days (1840s-1930s). The Peace Hotel and Astor House are on the Bund and the Park Hotel is across from People's Park on Nanjing Road; all are listed in the Huangpu article. These are often somewhat cheaper than the newer luxury hotels.

Quite a few low-priced and mid-range places are in the area north of Jing'an Temple, in Jing'an , Zhabei and Putuo districts. For a more central location the Captain's Hostel is a backpacker place just off the Bund. Backpacker dorms are under ¥100 in most places, while many hostels and most of the plainer hotels can provide private rooms with private shower in the ¥250-600 range.

Shanghai, despite its size, is a very safe city, and violent crime is incredibly rare; it is generally not a problem for women to roam the streets alone at night. Petty crimes like pickpocketing and bike theft can sometimes occur, though they are not as common as they used to be with the ubiquity of CCTVs these days. Sexual harassment occasionally occurs on crowded public transport. Pay extra caution before the Chinese New Year (in Jan or Feb depending on lunar calendar), as thieves may be more active in looking for new-year money.

Although pickpocketing is not as rampant as in major European cities, it pays to be prudent, especially in crowded public transport and the main shopping streets. Pickpockets often work in groups, sometimes including women carrying babies.

Beware of this taxi scam : first you agree on price (e.g., ¥300 for a taxi shared with someone else from Hongqiao Airport to Suzhou) then after a short taxi ride they ask to get out and a group of people say that you need to pay agreed money right now. Then you are transferred to a shared bus where other people cheated like yourself wait until the bus departs, then the bus finally gets to its destination. Most taxis belong to a taxi company, with the company telephone number printed in the taxi that you can call in English. There is also a common Shanghai help-line number that can help you, call 962288, with English service.

The notorious tea house scam , long practised in Beijing, is unfortunately spreading to Shanghai as well. Be cautious of overly friendly strangers, probably well-dressed, speaking good English, and look innocent like a student. They will invite you to an art gallery, tea shop or karaoke bar, and after accepting they will leave you to foot a large bill. In this case, you should call 110 (emergency hotline). The con artists may tell you that calling the police does not work and claim to have connections with police, but the police in China tend to be helpful in these cases, especially when innocent foreigners are involved. These scams can be found around People's Square near the entrances/exits of the museums and art galleries. Actual physical harm to yourself is unlikely. Just walk away.

A temple scam in various big cities and also Tibet is when your guides may ask you to make a wish and burn a stick of incense which ends up costing a hundred to more than a thousand. Another trick is to ask you how much you want to "donate". After you said ¥10, they will tell you that ¥10 is for a one-day blessing but the monk has already turned an incense to bless you for 1 year, so you have to pay 365 x ¥10. This scam has caused significant backlash because of blasphemy since no legitimate temples in China ever charge followers in this way.

Male travellers may attract attention from female sex workers at nightspots. Around the Old Town and the Science Museum in Pudong, hawkers are sometimes also eager to sell. Saying wǒ búyào ("I don't want it") may help. Also be cautious of people who approach and offer to polish your shoes . Make sure both of you agree on the price before anything is put on your shoes. The same rule also applies to the commercial photographers at the Bund area. They will offer to take your picture with the scenic background (and sometimes with costumes) for ¥50, but once you have contracted their services, several cohorts will arrive to "assist" the photographer. They may force you to buy all the snapshots and try to gather crowds to increase pressure.

Don't rush into or out of Shanghai metro trains at the last moment. Despite the safety barriers on the platform, the train doors sometimes close before all passengers have boarded; people squeezed between closing doors is a common sight. Apparently, the failsafe that is supposed to block trains from running with open doors isn't foolproof: In 2010 a woman died after being smashed against the safety barriers as she was hanging half out of the closed doors of a train leaving Zhongshan Park Station.

By Chinese law, foreigners are required to show their passports when requested, although this is rarely enforced. Most hotels will help you keep the passport in the safe, and then you can carry a photocopy along with your hotel's name card.

See the Chinese Money Counterfeiting article for details about fake notes that you may encounter.

Stay healthy

Do not drink Shanghai's tap water unless it is boiled or goes through a reverse-osmosis filter. Drinking the water is relatively safe when it has been boiled; however, tap water is also said to contain high amounts of heavy metals which are not removed by boiling. When buying bottled water you will come across a whole range of foreign and domestic mineral water brands, with the cheaper domestic brands costing ¥1–2.50 available in all convenience stores and from street vendors. Most hotels provide domestic mineral water for free in your room.

Individuals with asthma or respiratory issues should be prepared when visiting due to the air pollution.

Public hospitals in Shanghai are generally not up to the standard that foreigners from Western countries would be used to, and most of the doctors and nurses working there are unable to communicate in English. Ambulance services are unreliable, and in the event of an emergency, the quickest way to get to a hospital would usually be to take a taxi. Many private hospitals and medical clinics around the city mainly cater to foreigners and expatriates. The doctors and nurses working at these places will be able to speak English, and the standard of care is usually on par with what you may be used to at home, though their services are usually very expensive. Many of these medical services will take travel insurance if your insurance company is partnered with the hospital. Generally speaking you will likely have to pay ahead of time, however these facilities tend to be far superior in equipment and cleanliness to the ones that Chinese locals are forced to deal with.

A popular chain of western medical clinics is Parkway Health [ dead link ] . There is a 24-hr hotline in English (6445 5999) to arrange an appointment in the clinic nearest you. This service is expensive: basic medical consultations start at ¥1,200. Check with your insurance beforehand to see if you are fully or partly covered.

Note that because these services are pay services, they are paid more when they conduct more tests. Furthermore, Chinese doctors, even Western-trained ones, tend to be overly thorough compared to Western doctors. However since you are a customer, they are not usually too insistent on unnecessary tests. Use your common sense to determine if you need the ordered tests (e.g. blood tests, x-rays etc.).

International Medical Care Center of Shanghai First People's Hospital , 585 Jiu Long Road, near Haining Lu, Hangkou (九龙路585号，近海宁路) ( in Building 1 ), ☏ +86 6324 3852 . M-F 08:00-17:00 . Provides "VIP Service" for ¥300, then you pay for any services beyond the basic examination .

Shanghai's area code for landlines is 21 , adding a "0" at the beginning if calling from outside of the city. For international calls add 86, the country code for China.

Shanghai seems to have far fewer Internet cafés than other Chinese cities, but there are some; see the district articles for details. Most of the bars that cater to the expatriate community and many of the foreign-based fast food chains — Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and likely others — offer free WiFi. Many hotels also provide WiFi service at prices from free to exorbitant; it is moderately common to find free service in one part of a hotel, such as a coffee shop, but substantial charges elsewhere, such as from the rooms.

Shanghai Daily . English-language newspaper and website.
Shanghai International Channel . English-language TV channel

Expatriates generally find these Shanghai-based media outlets preferable to the China-wide People's Daily and CCTV-9.

There are also several English-language papers consisting mainly of listings, reviews and advertisements for restaurants and nightlife. These are given away free in most of the Western-style bars and some restaurants and hotels.

Operator assistance

An amazingly helpful resource for visitors and expats alike is the Shanghai Call Center. Established prior to the Expo and maintained as a public service, the call center is a free-of-charge phone number that provides information regarding bus, metro, and taxi directions, business hours, attractions, and can even be utilized as a free translation service. If you are having trouble communicating with your taxi driver or a vendor, don't hesitate to call the number and pass the phone back and forth, having the operator translate.

The so-called "Magic Number" can be reached at 962288 from Shanghai cell phones. Chinese cell phones from other cities should dial 021 962288, and international phones should dial +86 021 962288. A short message in Mandarin will greet you, followed by a set of English instructions. Service is available in several European languages such as English and Spanish.

The service itself is free of charge, but you pay the cost of the phone call.

According to Smart Shanghai, the city has another English-language help hotline that offers almost the same services as the Shanghai Call Centre. For anyone seeking English-language assistance, call 12345, then for English press 7; you will be asked to press the 'number sign', which means the pound key (#). Services are only offered in Chinese and English, however, they claim to be able to connect to volunteers speaking French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Russian and Arabic. The hotline is run by the city government as a service for residents to help with anything related to either public or civil services, while also answering general questions about the city such as how to deal with registrations and licenses, as well as the opening hours of venues.

See the China article for discussion of some Chinese behaviours that may irritate visitors, but note that most of these are less problematic in Shanghai than elsewhere.

Crowding in, rather than queuing, is a problem you are likely to encounter; indeed this can be worse in busy Shanghai than elsewhere. Whether at a ticket booth, at a busy fast food counter, or even at the grocery store, everyone jockeys for position by crowding around a staff member, and will do whatever possible to get in first, and get out. If at all possible, avoid the situation in the first place; for example, recharge your metro card a bit early if you see a quiet ticket counter.

Pushing in the metro is normal, especially at the chaotic People's Square Station. Just dig in and push; don't feel sorry. However, compared to public transport in other Chinese cities, the Shanghainese are better at letting people alight first and the mad rush for empty seats is not quite so bad — your behaviour should follow the situation: if the station is crowded then pushing is acceptable, but if not then you are more likely to be looked upon as an 'uncivilised foreigner'. Also, outside of busy times you should stand to the right on escalators, to allow people to pass.

Note that Shanghai Metro drivers will close the train doors and depart when the schedule says so, even if people are still boarding. When you hear the 'door closing' alarm (usually a series of beeps), stand back from the doors (particularly on the old Line 1 and 2 trains as the doors close very quickly and may not re-open if blocked).

Work permits and visa extensions

Please refer to Working in China for general information about Chinese work visas. For specific information on the process in Shanghai, see the article for Pudong where the Entry and Exit Bureau is located.

Most consulates can be found in the Jing'an area of Shanghai.

Several other major cities are near Shanghai and conveniently reachable on the new CRH high-speed (over 300 km/h) trains. These are comfortable and reasonably priced and, except at holidays, are not too crowded since other trains are cheaper. Look for the separate ticket windows with "CRH" on the signs.

Hangzhou — 45 minutes away by high-speed train, is one of China's top domestic tourist destinations, featuring the famous West Lake, a fine silk market, and Buddhist caves. The popular times of year to go are spring and fall. An information booth at the train platform exit provides a useful booklet with maps.
Suzhou — a historic town half an hour away from Shanghai by high-speed train, is also a major destination for Chinese tourists. Traditionally a city of scholars and poets with many fine classical Chinese gardens and enough canals that it has been called the "Venice of the East". It has also become a major center of hi-tech manufacturing.

There is a Chinese saying along the lines The sky has heaven; the Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Nanjing — about 1.5 hours away by high-speed train, is a great place to get a Chinese history lesson. Nanjing was the capital of China under several dynasties, and of the Nationalist government in the early 20th century. From the city walls to the Presidential Palace, it's a walkable, friendly place with a variety of hotels for all budgets. Well worth the effort. It is also home to the tombs of three prominent figures in Chinese history.
Wuxi — roughly halfway between Suzhou and Nanjing, known for the Grand Canal , Lake Tai , the giant Buddha at Lingshan, and delicious local cuisine.
Ningbo — is two and a half to three hours away from Shanghai, across the 36 km-long Hangzhou Bay Bridge. The train, via Hangzhou, is faster.

There are places that serve as the somewhat rural escapes for Shanghai residents. These are near cities mentioned above, and probably neither would seem at all rural to someone from a less densely populated country.

Mount Putuo , a very scenic island with an important Buddhist temple, near Ningbo. One of China's "Four Great Mountains of Buddhism".

See East China for other cities and attractions in the area around Shanghai.

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Shanghai Travel Guide

Shanghai is the largest commercial and financial center in China, with a fascinating fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. It’s a vibrant megacity where you’ll find an endless range of delicious food, modern architecture, cultural sites, and shopping at every corner. From the glitzy skyscrapers of Lujiazui to hipster microbreweries in the Former French Concession, its many central neighborhoods are wonderfully diverse and offer a new Shanghai experience for every day. — Jenna Ohrnberg

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Destinations

Your Trip to Shanghai: The Complete Guide

Best Time to Visit
Weather & Climate
Shanghai Pudong International Airport Guide
Public Transportation
Neighborhoods to Know
48-Hour Itinerary
Day Trips From Shanghai
Top Things to Do
Free Things to Do
Temples to Visit
Best Markets
Where to Shop
Annual Events and Festivals
Food to Try
Top Restaurants
Best Cocktail Bars

Shanghai is both historic and futuristic, fashion- and food-forward, and full of cultural sights to explore. The food scene (of local, regional, and international variety) is strong, and some of Asia’s (and the world’s) top ranked bars and restaurants can be found here. The city’s wealth of museums and exhibition halls chronicle the country’s history and house its art. The skyscrapers of Pudong district vie for world records of height and luxury, and the Shanghai Fashion Weeks are two of the most important events of the year for the fashion industry. Plan some of your days here, but allow yourself time to wander and discover its diverse neighborhoods. You might find yourself at a jazz show, discover an amazing xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) restaurant, or even stumble into a 400-year-old garden. Make a few plans, but also keep your schedule somewhat open to let Shanghai surprise and delight you.

Planning Your Trip

Best Time to Visit: Fall is the best time to visit Shanghai. The plum rains (heavy showers) are over, and the weather is temperate with a mix of warm and cool days. Visitors can take advantage of the clear skies to sightsee outdoors, as well as enjoy the views from Shanghai’s famous rooftops.
Language: Mandarin and Shanghainese (Shanghai dialect)
Currency: Yuan. The currency is also called renminbi (RMB).
Getting Around: The Shanghai Metro is cheap, fast, reliable, and easy to navigate. All signs are in Chinese and English.
Travel Tips: Always carry a tissue pack and hand sanitizer; restrooms at more local places might not have toilet paper or soap in the bathrooms. And download WeChat, called "Weixin" in Chinese. You can pay for pretty much everything in China using the wallet feature, and it also has a great written translation function.

Things to Do

Ascend some of the world’s tallest buildings. Shop for the latest pieces from local designers or some of the best knock-offs on the market. Wander active religious sites. Stroll through historic neighborhoods that show off European grandeur, art deco design, and Shikumen houses (a style of Shanghainese architecture). See live jazz, independent, or orchestral music in different venues throughout the city. Attend a tea ceremony, and buy your favorite brews. Go clubbing with live sharks—Shanghai has a vast and evolving list of activities, but here are a few of our favorites to get you started.

Head to the Bund to see the sunrise (known locally as “Bundrise”). Here you can observe or join in local tai chi classes, run along the river, and see the city slowly wake up.
Go shopping on Nanjing Road, one of the world’s most famous shopping streets. This three-mile (five kilometer) strip has high fashion malls, specialty stores, street vendors, and historic jewelers. If you get tired, swing into the Shanghai Museum or Jing’an Temple, also both found along the road.
See Shanghai from the top of the Shanghai Tower, the world’s second tallest building. Take some of the fastest elevators in the world (at a speed of 46 mph) to its observation deck on the 118th floor, the highest observation deck in the world.

Explore more attractions with our full-length articles the 20 best things to do in Shanghai and the top activities for kids .

Getting There

Shanghai has two international airports: Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Hongqiao International Airport (SHA). Most international flights from outside of Asia will fly into Pudong. Most domestic flights will fly into Hongqiao. High-speed trains are another popular and quick form of long-distance travel, connecting Shanghai to Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and other cities in China.

What to Eat and Drink

Shanghai is famous for its regional cuisine, which capitalizes on its proximity to the coast. Dishes are known to be sweeter and oilier than other regions in China. Their most famous culinary claims to fame are xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), which were invented in a village just north of the city. Other Shanghai specialties include si da jin gang (the four warriors of breakfast), yellow croaker noodles, and hairy crab. A large number of highly skilled chefs and restaurateurs have also shaped the culinary scene and made the Bund area the epicenter of creative and fine dining in Shanghai. However, for street food, head to Fangbang Xi Lu by Yuyuan Garden.

Microbreweries, wine bars, speakeasies, and rooftop bars can all be found in Shanghai. For a drink with a view, head to the Bund. For hip haunts, head to the Former French Concession. Baijiu is the national cheap spirit, but in recent years, it has received a makeover by being used as a base in cocktail bars, featuring higher-end varieties from different regions. Healer in the FFC is particularly known for their baijiu creations.

Tea culture is pervasive throughout China, and Shanghai is no exception. Go to a teahouse to experience a traditional Chinese tea ceremony in which you can see the tea prepared in front of you by a tea master. A tea ceremony will have several varieties of tea for you to taste and the tea master will explain not only about the properties and qualities of tea you are sampling but also how they are important to Chinese culture as well.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the tap water is not safe to drink. Instead opt for bottled water which is readily available at most hotels.

Explore our articles on the 10 best dishes to try in Shanghai , family-friendly restaurants , and the best cocktail bars .

Where to Stay

Unless you have business in Pudong, stay on the Puxi side of the river. Neighborhoods here include the Bund, People’s Square, the Former French Concession, Jing’an, and Xujiahui. For central, more affordable areas well-connected to the rest of the city by the metro, stay in Jing’an and Xujiahui. Jing’an in particular is known for its historic sites, and both Xujiahui and Jing’an are known for their extensive shopping options. The Bund and People’s Square have luxury hotels, superb restaurants, high-end nightlife options, and are easily accessed by public transport. The Former French Concession offers pleasant avenues good for walks, lots of greenery, French colonial and old Shanghainese architecture, and excellent bars and restaurants.

Explore the different neighborhoods you can stay in, and our recommendations for the best hotels.

Culture and Customs

Tipping is not a typical practice in Shanghai. In the fancier hotels and high-end restaurants, a tip might be included (10 to 15 percent), but most restaurants, taxis, and other services will not include or expect a tip. If you try to tip people at a local restaurant, they might actually be offended, as it could be seen as a loss of face (embarrassment, but the concept of “face” goes deeper than that).

It might be hard to flag down a waiter in more local Chinese restaurants. Should you need to get their attention, it’s perfectly acceptable to belt out “ Fuwuyuan! ” (meaning “waiter” in Mandarin) to get their attention while raising your hand. Keep in mind that whoever is paying for the meal is the person that orders the dishes.

If someone hands you something like cash or a business card with two hands, you should receive it with two hands as a sign of respect. Also, if you receive a business card you should take a minute to carefully look over the front and back, before putting it in your wallet. Again, this is a sign of respect.

There are some scams in Shanghai targeting tourists, but they can be easily avoided. Should anyone approach you and ask for you to buy art, go to a tea ceremony, or get a drink, it’s best to decline. If you think their offer is genuinely made though, you can test it by suggesting to go to another bar or teahouse. If they insist on going to one of their choosing, just walk away. Also, always use official taxis and insist on the meter being used. If a driver is unwilling to comply, hop out and get another one.

Read more about why not to tip in China and how to save face .

Money Saving Tips

Take a metro over the taxi. Shanghai has the most expensive taxi fares in all of China.
Visit in the low season (November to March) for cheaper accommodations, flights, and entrance fees to some attractions.
Instead of taking the Maglev train to or from the airport, take metro line 2 the whole way.
Shop at markets and not malls.
Most of the museums and parks in Shanghai are free or have a low entrance fee.
Many of the main attractions in Shanghai are free to visit: the Bund, Nanjing Road, the Former French Concession, and more.
Buy a one-day or three-day pass for the metro, or one- or two-day hop-on-hop-off pass for a bus, if you know you will be taking several rides a day.
Shanghai is famous for its delicious and varied street food that doubles as a super cheap breakfast, lunch, or dinner option.
Pulling money out of an ATM will give you a better exchange rate than exchanging cash in person.
Get on a promoter's list to get into clubs for free. (Usually just as simple as asking for their WeChat).

Learn more about the cheapest ways to have fun by exploring free things to do in Shanghai .

Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism. " Q & A: What are the languages and dialects spoken in Shanghai? "

Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism. " Q & A: Is it safe to drink water directly from the tap? "

Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism. " Q & A: What is the etiquette of having dinner in Shanghai? "

Shanghai Travel Guide: What to Know Before You Visit Shanghai

1. Shanghai Travel Guide - China Highlights

2. shanghai transportation: flights, 3. shanghai transportation: trains, buses, taxis, 4. best times to visit shanghai, 6. great dishes you can get in shanghai, 7. shopping in shanghai, public security, food & water safety, sustainability.

Show More 

Shanghai Travel Guide: What to Know Before You Visit Shanghai

Shanghai, known as the "Pearl of the Orient," is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city located on the eastern coast of China . As one of the world's largest and most populous cities, Shanghai is a global financial center and a bustling hub of culture, commerce, and innovation.

With a rich history dating back thousands of years, Shanghai seamlessly blends traditional Chinese heritage with modern architecture and technology. From its iconic skyline adorned with towering skyscrapers to its picturesque waterfront promenade, the city offers a captivating mix of old-world charm and contemporary allure.

Shanghai's dynamic atmosphere, diverse culinary scene, world-class shopping, and thriving arts and entertainment make it a must-visit destination for travelers seeking an unforgettable experience in China.

The Bund is one of Shanghai's most famous attractions

If you're exploring Shanghai on foot, be extra careful when crossing streets. Vehicles can turn right even at a red light, and chances are they may not stop to give way to pedestrians.

Don't be alarmed when you're pushed in the metro. Taking public transport in Shanghai is a definitely an experience of its own, especially if it's your first visit in China. Just note that you should stand back from the doors the moment you hear the "door closing" alarm.

West Nanjing Road Station

You'll realize that mobile payment is the most popular way of paying for meals and goods. There might even be instances where your CNY100 bill gets refused during payment because the cashier doesn't have enough change for your payment. If you're paying your way through Shanghai with cash, consider breaking your larger notes at any of Shanghai's convenience stores.

To avoid the busiest seasons in Shanghai, be sure to check China's holiday calendar for when Spring Festival and Golden Week - China's biggest national holidays - occur.

We recommend choosing a hotel in Shanghai closest to the Shanghai Metro, especially the metro station has multiple lines. People's Square, West Nanjing Road, Xujiahui, and Century Avenue are some Shanghai's hubs, offering 3 lines of the Shanghai Metro within their respective stations.

If you're looking to travel neighboring cities around Shanghai, China's high-speed rail system can get you to cities including Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Ningbo in less than an hour. Popular railway stations include Shanghai South Railway Station, Shanghai Railway Station, and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station.

Shanghai is served by Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA).

If you're traveling to Shanghai internationally, chances are you'll land at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). The airport is located approx. 40 km (25 miles) from downtown Shanghai. The most convenient way to get to downtown Shanghai from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) is by taxi. Taxis are located outside the Arrivals Level of both terminals. The journey takes around 40–50 minutes, and costs between CNY150–200 (US$23–30). Consider landing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) after 19:00 to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport

The quickest way of getting from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) to downtown Shanghai is via Maglev Train - known for being the fastest train journey in the world. The Maglev Train takes 8 minutes to get from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road station, where passengers can then transfer onto Line 2 of the Shanghai Metro. The entire journey would take approx. 35 minutes. The Maglev Train runs every 15–20 minutes, from 07:02–23:42 daily. One-way tickets cost CNY50 (US$8), and round-trip tickets cost CNY80 (US$13).

If you're flying into Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA), the most convenient way of getting to downtown Shanghai is via taxi. The airport is located approx. 12 km (8 miles) from downtown Shanghai. Taxis can be found outside the Arrivals Level of both terminals. The journey takes approx. 20 minutes, and costs between CNY65–97 (US$10–15). For a cheaper way of getting from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) to downtown Shanghai, both Line 2 and 10 of the Shanghai Metro are available at Terminal 2 of the airport. It takes around 20 minutes to get downtown by metro, and costs between CNY3–5 (US$0.45–0.80).

Shanghai's extensive public transport system has made getting around the city fuss-free. The most recommended way of getting around Shanghai is via the Shanghai Metro. With over 17 metro lines already open, and a few more under construction, one would never have to worry about being stuck in Shanghai's notorious traffic. One-way tickets cost between CNY3–9 (US$0.45–1.40) depending on distance traveled. Alternatively, One-Day Passes are available for CNY18 (US$2.80) at all Shanghai Metro stations.

Shanghai's bus system is more extensive than the Metro, with several routes operating past the closing time of the Metro. All buses are air-conditioned, and costs a flat fee of CNY2 (US$0.30). Consider having exact change ready for the bus conductor, as most of them do not speak English. Once inside the bus, stops are announced in Mandarin, English, and Shanghainese, over the P.A. system.

On-demand taxi services in Shanghai are fairly affordable, and are a convenient way of getting around the city, especially during off-peak hours. What some might find intimidating is communicating with the taxi drivers. A great tip is to have the address of your destination in Chinese written down, or displayed on your phone, to show the driver upon boarding. If you're getting in a taxi from your hotel in Shanghai, get one of the hotel's service staff to help communicate your destination with the driver.

Shanghai experiences a humid subtropical climate.

Spring is Shanghai's busiest period for tourism, and lasts from March through May. The months of March and April are cool, with highs averaging at 17°C (approx. 62°F), and lows averaging at 8°C (approx. 46°F). Shanghai starts getting warmer in May, with comfortable highs of 26°C (approx. 79°F), and temperate lows of 17°C (approx. 62°F). We recommend bringing a coat with you if you're visiting between March and April, but if you're visiting in May, a light jacket will suffice.

Summer lasts from June through August, with average highs of 32°C (approx. 90°F). Shanghai also experiences its ""Plum Rain"" monsoon season for a month, seeing significant rainfall. If you're traveling to Shanghai during the summer, expect heat and humidity. We recommend you pack an extra change of clothes.

Autumn is one of the busiest seasons of the year in Shanghai, falling between September through November. Temperatures feel comfortable, with warm highs averaging at 23°C (approx. 74°F), and cool lows averaging at 16°C (approx. 61°F). Consider packing a light jacket for those cool evenings.

Winter in Shanghai typically lasts from December through February, and is usually the quietest time of year for tourists. It rarely snows in Shanghai, but winters can still get quite cold and damp. Shanghai is coldest in January, with lows averaging at 1°C (approx. 34°F), and a possibility of below freezing temperature. If you're visiting Shanghai in December and February, temperatures will still be cold, but won't go below freezing. Highs average at 10°C (approx. 50°C), and lows average at 3°C (37°F).

5. Top 3 Things to Do in Shanghai, China

How much you'll get to see and do in Shanghai depends on the duration of your visit. Here are some of our favorite sights to see in Shanghai.

First built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty, Yu Garden, also known as Yuyuan, is Shanghai's oldest green space. The area consists of an outer and an inner garden. Located on Anren Road, next to the City God Temple, the gardens are accessible from Yuyuan Garden metro station via Line 10. Yuyuan Bazaar leads visitors into Yu Garden, featuring a variety of souvenir stores and eateries. The Outer Garden consists of Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Hujing Hall, and Yuhua Hall. The Inner Garden features rockeries, ponds, pavilions, and towers.

Around a 20-minute walk from Yu Garden is one of Shanghai's most famous attractions, The Bund - or Waitan. The promenade stretches 1.5 km (approx. 0.9 miles) along the western bank of the Huangpu River, and faces the modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui, located across the river in Pudong District. The colonial-style historical buildings along The Bund once housed several banks and trading houses, as well as the Russian and English consulates. We recommend visiting The Bund right before sunset, to await the spectacular lighting-up of the buildings that surround the promenade.

Lujiazui, the central business district of Shanghai, is home to the city's tallest, and most iconic, skyscrapers. For a bird's eye view of Shanghai, the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower, and the Shanghai World Financial Center are just some of the skyscrapers equipped with top-floor observatories. To get the highest view of Shanghai, head over to the Shanghai Tower - the second-tallest building in the world. The tower stands 632m (2,073 ft), with an astonishing 127 floors above ground. The Shanghai Tower Observation Deck is located on the 118th floor of the tower, and requires you to take the world's fastest elevator. Enjoy panoramic views of the Huangpu River, Puxi, and several other surround skyscrapers from there.

Shanghai cuisine is famous for its sugary and oily local cuisine. Street food in Shanghai often come in the form of hole-in-walls, with limited options to choose from. Must-try local Shanghainese dishes include Xiaolongbao - a soup dumpling, Shengjianbao - a fried breaded dumpling, and Hongshao Rou - red braised pork belly. If you're visiting in the fall and winter, get your pincers on some Dazhaxie - hairy crab.

If you don't speak the language, what helps is simply pointing at the food item, and indicating how many you'd like with your hand. A number of local restaurants also have images of their dishes on the menu, which helps with food ordering. Our top recommendation for experiencing local fare is to head over to People's Square, where you'll find hundreds of establishments lining the streets of - and adjacent to - Huanghe Road and Guizhou Road. Alternatively, tour agencies including UnTour Food Tours, provide hassle-free food tours around the city in English - they even offer dumpling-making classes!

The dining scene in Shanghai has gotten increasingly international, offering a wide range of cuisines from around the globe at affordable prices. In the Former French Concession, you'll easily find an Italian Pizzeria next to an American sports bar, adjacent to a Turkish restaurant. Xintiandi offers a complex of higher-end restaurants in their Shikumen-style complex. Celebrity chefs including Jean-Georges Vongeritchen, Umberto Bombana, and Jason Atherton are a few of the many chefs who've received tremendous success in Shanghai.

Shanghai truly is a shopper's paradise. Mid-range to upscale malls flood the central districts of Jing'an, Changning, Huangpu, and Xujiahui. Small boutiques fill the Former French Concession streets.

Nanjing Road is famed for its shopping mecca. The world-renowned 6-mile-long road spans across the Jing'an and Huangpu Districts, offering high-end shopping malls in the west, and a pedestrian street of small specialty stores in the east.

Described as the "Champs Elysees of the Orient", Huaihai Road's international shopping street stretches over 3 miles, and is divided into 3 parts. Find luxury brands and stylish boutiques in the upscale malls - Xintiandi Plaza and Hong Kong Plaza, connected to South Huangpi metro station via an underpass. Specialty food stores and lifestyle brands occupy the storefronts of old European-style buildings on Huaihai Middle Road. Down the South Sha'anxi Station end, you'll find Parkson Mall and IAPM.

For a more curated shopping experience, explore the alleyways of Tianzifang - a shopping and café area in the Former French Concession. The French-colonial compound, located outside Exit 1 of Dapuqiao metro station, is filled with hundreds of crafts shops, design studios, boutiques, novelty stores, bars, and cafes. The preserved Shikumen-style buildings are still inhabited with residents, making for quite the shopping experience!

8. Local Lifestyle of Shanghai

Shanghai is one of the safest cities in China, where violent crime is rare, and streets are safe to walk about at night.

Tap water in Shanghai is safe for teeth brushing, but not safe for consumption, unless boiled. Bottled water is widely available in all convenience stores, supermarkets, and dining areas.

Chinese Yuan (元/¥), otherwise known as Renminbi (RMB)

Religion is not widely practiced in Shanghai, but you'll find Buddhist temples, Protestant and Catholic churches, and mosques around the city.

Modern day Shanghai fuses Western cultures with the local Wuyue culture.

Since 2018, the local Shanghainese government has stepped up their environmental protection efforts. To date, most hotels in Shanghai have stopped providing disposable toiletries, most vehicles are electric, and the use of plastic bags and containers have been banned.

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Shanghai Travel Guide

Shanghai, Hu for short, also known as Shen, is a multi-cultural metropolis with both modern and traditional chinese features. The city has a status equivalent to a province, and reports directly to the central government.

Serving as the largest base of Chinese industrial technology, one of the most important seaports and China's largest commercial and financial center, Shanghai draws the attention of the whole world. Click to read more for facts . For shanghai maps click here

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Shanghai is a famous shoppers’ paradise, known for the last couple of centuries as "the Paris of the Orient”.

One can find high-end shopping malls on Nanjing Road and stylish stores on Hengshan Road while interesting stuffs can be expected to see on different night markets and other local markets. Antiques in Dongtai Road attract numerous foreigners.

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As the most metropolitan city in china, shanghai is very accessible. shanghai can be reachable by air, by land and by water.

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As China’s most populous city, and one of the largest in the world, Shanghai is alive with an energy quite unlike any other municipality in the Middle Kingdom.

Home to the world’s second tallest building, Shanghai's futuristic skyline is instantly recognizable. However, it is not only the innovative infrastructure that makes the city such a unique destination; Shanghai’s undeniably turbulent history has also left its mark on the metropolis, which boasts a unique blend of eastern and western culture.

Things to Do and Travel Advice

Shanghai visually and culturally represents the complicated relationship between China and the West. Having been subject to British, American, French, Italian, and Japanese influence throughout the years, the city’s history is inescapably tainted with war and oppression, and the results of this arrangement can be seen in its architecture and local culture.

Puxi (the area west of the Huangpu River) is Shanghai’s cultural heart. Here you will find the Bund , the city's famous waterfront promenade and the embodiment of colonial Shanghai. The Bund features dozens of beautiful old colonial buildings, including imposing banks and exquisite hotels. At night, an impressive display of China’s modern development presents itself on the other side of the river, with bright and colorful neon lights illuminating tightly packed skyscrapers. The best way to see both sides of the river is to simply take a stroll around or take one of the many sightseeing cruises that travel along the Huangpu River.

Pudong New Area (east of the Huangpu River) is the site of the city's iconic modern skyline and fast-paced financial district. Here, you can stroll amongst a veritable forest of skyscrapers, including the 632-meter Shanghai Tower, the second tallest building in the world. At 546 meters, Shanghai Tower’s observation deck is not only the highest in the world, but you can also reach it via the world’s fastest elevator, traveling at a record-breaking 74 km/h! In Pudong New Area, you can also enjoy a leisurely drink among the clouds on the 87th floor of Jin Mao Tower, or gaze at pedestrians far below through the glass floors of the futuristic Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

Although Shanghai’s skyline screams “modern,” the city is by no means lacking in more traditional Chinese elements. The famed Yuyuan Garden , home to classical Chinese rock gardens and mesmerizing landscaping, is a prime example of Shanghai’s rich Ming Dynasty heritage and offers a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city.

No visit to Shanghai is complete without exploring the tree-lined lanes and winding alleyways of the Former French Concession , yet another example of Shanghai’s unique intersection of cultures and influences. Today, the French Concession’s streets boast fantastic modern shopping and entertainment areas housed in old, colonial buildings with loads of European charm.

Within the French Concession, the zigzagging alleyways of Tianzifang, lined with traditional shikumen-style buildings, are populated with a fantastic combination of trendy cafes, art galleries, and quirky boutiques. Xintiandi, while more commercialized, is also home to several great shops and restaurants.

Shanghai is also a great launchpad for exploring the nearby ancient water towns of Tongli , Zhouzhuang , and Zhujiajiao . The residents of these charming villages use the local waterways like other cities use alleys, much like the Venetians (giving the water towns the collective nickname of the “Venice of the East”). Small boats transport visitors along the meandering rivers through the old low-rise houses and under arched step-bridges. Don’t miss the chance to dine on local dishes in one of the open-air restaurants along the banks of the canals.

For visitors who want to experience the best Shanghai has to offer, 1 or 2 days is usually enough to check off its highlight attractions. If you have more time for Shanghai, please check out more of the many available sights and activities here or simply ask us to tailor a tour for you.

Eating in Shanghai

Although technically the youngest of China’s eight major regional cuisines, Shanghai’s gastronomic history dates back 400 years. The defining characteristic of Shanghai food is balanced sweetness, and seafood is one of the staple ingredients. The city is home to a number of famous food streets, such as Huanghe Road (close to People's Park) and Qibao Old Food Street. If you tire of the local cuisine, you can find restaurants serving almost any cuisine from across the world.

Shanghai’s most iconic snack is xiaolongbao, also known as soup dumplings. Found all over China yet allegedly invented in Shanghai, these small dumplings are traditionally filled with pork and jellied pork broth, which melts into a flavorful soup during steaming.

Popular Nighttime Activities in Shanghai

From high-end rooftop bars to microbreweries, and everything in between, Shanghai has something to suit all nightlife tastes. Cocktails, in particular, are everywhere. This range of drinking options, coupled with the city’s multicultural food scene, makes for an exciting sensory experience.

The Lujiazui skyline and rooftop bars really were a match made in heaven. For the quintessential Shanghai experience, head to Bar Rouge, the famous rooftop bar that lives up to its reputation.

Make sure to head to the Bund during the evening hours to take in the stunning sight of Shanghai’s iconic skyline illuminated with bright lights. Another fascinating nighttime display is the array of colorful neon signs that light up Nanjing Road.

Best Time to Visit Shanghai

Shanghai experiences four distinct seasons, with a significant difference in temperature between the hottest part of summer and the depths of winter. In summer, temperatures can reach 90°F (mid-30°C). In the hottest months of July and August, humidity is around 80% and most of Shanghai's rainfall occurs during this period. In winter, temperatures can sometimes drop below freezing and conditions tend to be gray and dull, though no snowfall occurs. Spring (March to June) is perhaps the best time to travel to Shanghai, with moderate yet variable weather conditions. Autumn (September to November) also tends to be moderate, with sunny, dry weather. The odd typhoon can hit the city between July and September.

Transportation

As China’s largest city and business capital, Shanghai is very well connected to the rest of the country, and the world, by land and air. For this reason, Shanghai usually serves as the departure/arrival city on most China tours .

Flights: Pudong International Airport (PVG), located around 45 km from the city center, is Shanghai’s hub for international flights. The majority of domestic flights depart from Hongqiao Airport (SHA), which is closer to downtown and is served by Metro lines 2 and 10. A taxi to the airport will take about 50 minutes, depending on traffic. A flight to Beijing takes 1 hour 30 minutes, Guangzhou and Xi’an take roughly 2 hours, and Chengdu takes about 2 hours 30 minutes.

Trains: There are three main train stations in Shanghai, Shanghai Railway Station (trains to most major destinations depart from here), Shanghai South Railway Station, and Hongqiao Railway Station (the hub for Shanghai-Beijing high-speed trains). The high-speed train to Beijing takes roughly 5 hours and stops in Nanjing en route. Note that the Shanghai-Beijing flight route is notorious for delays so it is often more efficient to take the train, which usually runs on time.

Within Shanghai itself, the best way to navigate the city’s sometimes overwhelming streets is the Metro. The Metro connects all major areas and attractions, and the transport card you can purchase for the subway can, very conveniently, also be used to pay for taxis and buses (as well as in some convenience stores).

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Shanghai Facts

Shanghai basic facts.

Top 10 Shanghai Facts You Should Know

1. china’s largest city, 2. a world financial center, 3. a multi-cultural metropolis of history and modernity, 4. 144-hour visa-free transit is implemented in shanghai, 5. shanghai owns a well-developed transportation system., 6. spring and autumn are best time to visit , 7. a sleepless city , 8. a shopping paradise.

Hailed as the Shopping Paradise, Shanghai offers consumers a variety of products to choose, from high-end international brands to cheap local products. The famous shopping areas include Nanjing Road, Huaihai Road , North Sichuan Road, Middle Tibet Road, Yuyuan Bazaar , Xujiahui Shopping City , New Shopping City and Jiali Sleepless City, from either of which, visitors can always get a satisfactory good. In addition, shopping malls are worth a visit, like Department Store and World Daimaru Department Store.

9. Shanghai is surrounded by ancient water towns.

10. shanghainese tend to have a sweet-tooth. , you may like.

10 Facts Travelers Should Know About Shanghai

Shanghai is known as "The Pearl of Asia" and "The Paris of the East" . It's a city of youth, commerce, and an international beat that runs through each side street and riverwalk.

Here are 10 facts you should know before visiting Shanghai.

1. Shanghai is the world's largest city.

China is known for its crowds, and Shanghai is possibly the best example of this. Shanghai's city proper population was 24 million people in 2014, and it is continually rising. Shanghai's extensive metro service is necessary to cover its many districts and keep this thriving city running each day.

When the Chinese government set out to make Shanghai the New York of Asia, they certainly took the motto of "city that never sleeps" to heart.

Shanghai tops the list of world cities by population within an administrative area (city proper), and comes third in the world in terms of commuter zone population as well (metropolitan area pop.: 35 million).

See more on China's Largest Cities .

2. Shanghai is a world finance and cultural center.

The city has boomed in the last two decades because of China's desire to see it become an international center of finance and culture. Many businesses are thriving in Shanghai and offering new opportunities to China's growing middle class and foreigners looking to broach the Chinese market.

The city has seen a constant rate of growth and is the center for many international companies working within China. It has also become a hub of culture with notoriety in fashion, art, and design. Shanghai is also known as the birthplace of Chinese cinema, which is gaining popularity around the world.

3. Shanghai is a transportation powerhouse.

The longest metro system in the world spreads beneath the city of Shanghai with 400 miles (644 km) of tunnels and track. The Shanghai metro has 393 stations spread throughout the city and connecting major attractions, making it easy to navigate for international visitors. Shanghai boasts the world's fastest train, the Shanghai Maglev , which connects Pudong International Airport to downtown Shanghai.

Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao international airports are also powerhouses of transportation, servicing a combined total of more than 110 million passengers annually.

4. Shanghai is close to some beautiful water towns.

Located between 20km and 100km to the west of Shanghai are several ancient towns that use waterway like roads. In these picturesque towns, locals and tourists alike travel around on canal boats. A visit to one of these towns is an ideal day-trip from Shanghai. Check out our guide to the top 10 water towns near Shanghai .

Get some inspiration from our 2-Day Shanghai Water Town Tour .

5. Shanghai is the most attractive China city for expats.

In 2016, Shanghai was named the most attractive city for expats for the fourth time in six years by International Talent Magazine. 48,000 expats were polled and asked to rank their city on categories such as living environment and policies for foreign professionals. Shanghai was home to more than 170,000 expats as of 2015.

6. Millions of travelers enjoy Shanghai's top sights each year.

Modern : The Bund, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, The Shanghai Tower...
Ancient : Yu Garden, Jade Buddha Temple, City God Temple...
Museums : Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Shanghai Municipal History Museum...
Amusement : Shanghai Disney Land

7. Shanghai boasts a fantastic blend of history and modernity.

When it was a colonial territory in the mid-nineteenth century, Shanghai was divided into British, U.S. and French concessions and a Chinese walled city. Many Chinese lived in the foreign concessions, which caused a blending of cultures that brought Shanghai a unique variety of architectural styles and a fascinating history.

As a thriving metropolis, Shanghai also has a very modern feel. The city's modernity is most apparent when nighttime falls at the Huangpu River, where visitors can see a stunning light display and enjoy great views of the city's skyscrapers . See How to Spend a Night in Shanghai: Top 10 Things to Do .

8. Shanghai's foreign concessions are now foreigner attractions.

The French Concession is the most well preserved and well known of the former foreign concessions. Filled with European architecture and art-deco styles, the French Concession is a popular place for tourists and locals alike.

Many areas in the city center were influenced by foreign planners and architects, which gives the city its unique international feel. Areas like the Concession and the Bund are still popular areas to find expats who call Shanghai home.

9. The best times to visit Shanghai are the middle seasons.

The best times to visit Shanghai are in the spring and autumn . Summers have temperatures in the 90s °F (32°C+) and high humidity levels. Winter temperatures hover around freezing, and it becomes damp.

The spring and autumn offer mild temperatures and clearer air , which are coveted travel conditions in China. Visiting in the spring means prime viewing of Shanghai's many flower gardens and green spaces, which offer a brief respite from the built-up feel of the city itself. Autumn offers mild temperatures with less humidity and rainfall to interfere with your excursions.

Of course, when traveling in China be sure to consult the calendar of national holidays to ensure you avoid the crowds.

10. Shanghai is now 144-hour visa-free!

For citizens of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and others, Shanghai offers a 144-hour (6 day) Visa-Free option for Shanghai and the neighboring areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Travelers who wish to avoid the hassle of applying for a visa may choose this option as long as they are willing to limit their transit to these areas. See How to Make the Most of Your 144-Hour Visa-Free Stay in Shanghai .

Visiting Shanghai with Us

If you are looking to experience the heart of modern China, let us help you plan a tour that is perfect for you!

2-Day Shanghai Classic Tour is best for 1st time visitors. It will take you to see the highlights of Shanghai in a in-depth way.
Interested in specific aspects of Shanghai life? We can create a custom tour of China with your unique ideas and requirements.

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Shanghai: few cities in the world evoke so much history, excess, glamour, mystique and exotic promise in name alone.

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Yuyuan Gardens & Bazaar

Shanghai Old City

With its shaded alcoves, glittering pools churning with fish, plus pavilions, pines sprouting wistfully from rockeries, and roving packs of Japanese…

Jade Buddha Temple

One of Shanghai’s few active Buddhist monasteries, this temple was built between 1918 and 1928. The highlight is a transcendent Buddha crafted from pure…

Shanghai Tower

China’s tallest building dramatically twists skywards from its footing in Lujiazui. The 121-storey, 632m-tall, Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower topped out…

People at ShanghART art gallery, Moganshan Road, Shanghai, China, Asia

Shanghai may be known for its glitz and glamour, but it's got an edgy subculture too. The industrial M50 art complex is one prime example, where galleries…

Jing'an Temple

With the original temple dating back to AD 1216, the much-restored Jing'an Temple was here well before all the audacious skyscrapers and glitzy shopping…

SHANGHAI, CHINA - MAY 28: Oriental Pearl Tower over river on May 28, 2012 in Shanghai, China. The tower was the tallest structure in China excluding Taiwan from 1994~2007 and the landmark of Shanghai.; Shutterstock ID 126669962; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; Project no. or GL code: 56530; Network activity no. or Cost Centre: Online-Design; Product or Project: 65050/7529/Josh Vogel/LP.com Destination Galleries

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

This 468m-tall globe-on-a-tripod tower is the most iconic contemporary building in the city, and its image is omnipresent around town – from postcards to…

Shanghai Natural History Museum

It's not quite on the same scale as Washington, DC's Smithsonian, but this sleek space is nevertheless as comprehensive as it is entertaining and…

Aurora Museum

Designed by renowned Japanese architect Ando Tadao, the Aurora Museum is set over six floors of the Aurora building and houses a stunning collection of…

Latest stories from Shanghai

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Last year, Josh Reid ordered a new bike from Shanghai. Instead of having it delivered to the UK, he traveled there and cycled all the way home.

Jan 11, 2021 • 2 min read

SHANGHAI, CHINA - MAY 05: Tourists at Disney town on May 05, 2020 in Shanghai, China. After decades of growth, officials said Chinas economy had shrunk in the latest quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. The slump in the worlds second largest economy is regarded as a sign of difficult times ahead for the global economy. While industrial sectors in China are showing signs of reviving production, a majority of private companies are operating at only 50% capacity, according to analysts. With the pandemic hitting hard across the world, officially the number of coronavirus cases in China is dwindling, ever since the government imposed sweeping measures to keep the disease from spreading. Officials believe the worst appears to be over in China, though there are concerns of another wave of infections as the government attempts to reboot the worlds second largest economy. (Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images)

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Travel Guide To Shanghai

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Shanghai is hipper than Hong Kong and more alluring than Beijing. After forty years of stagnation, the city dubbed the Pearl of the Orient and the Paris of the east is undergoing one of the fastest economic expansions the world has seen - the pace of growth is electrifying. In this capitalist mecca it is easy to forget the city's communist past, although an after-dinner stroll round Xintiandi (a new pedestrianised quarter which at night becomes a street party), serves as a surprising reminder when you see the site of the Communist Party's first Congress next to Starbucks. With decadent new bars, the stately colonial building Three on the Bund which houses Armani's flagship store in China, three exclusive restaurants, an art gallery and a spa, the city seems set to recapture its position as East Asia's most thrilling metropolis.

Where to stay in Shanghai

88 XINTIANDI 380 Huangpi South Road (00 86 21 5383 8833; www.88xintiandi.com ). The decor in the 53 suites is East-meets-West: pale walls, cream sofas and dark-wood cabinets. ASTOR HOUSE HOTEL 15 Hang Pu Road (00 86 21 6324 6388; www.pujianghotel.com ). Just off the top of the Bund, the Astor is off the main track but still within walking distance of most attractions. The Astor first opened in 1846 and is being renovated to its Old World glory. There are 116 rooms including Celebrity Rooms (where names such as Einstein and Chaplin stayed) and four-bed rooms. Richard's Restaurant offers Huaiyang and Szechuan dishes, and the décor is typically Chinese. The hotel offers great value-for-money, the rooms are huge, the staff helpful, and the location is fantastic. £ FOUR SEASONS 500 Weihai Road (00 86 21 6256 8888; www.fourseasons.com ). The first Four Seasons development in modern China, this 37-storey hotel sits between two major shopping streets, Nanjing and Huaihai. The rooms are beautiful, huge and airy, the beds almost impossible to get out of and the lobby café luxurious. £ GRAND HYATT SHANGHAI Jin Mao Tower, 88 Century Boulevard, Pudong (00 86 21 5049 1234; www.shanghai.grand.hyatt.com ). The Grand Hyatt is part of Jin Mao Tower in Pudong, overlooking Shanghai's famous landmark, The Oriental Pearl Tower. There are 510 rooms and 45 suites, and a total of 88 floors, making it the world's tallest hotel. Like the rest of the hotel, rooms are simple and elegant, with Chinese inscriptions on the walls. Shanghai's jeunesse dorée has made The Hyatt its own. There are 12 restaurants, all with views, but the star attraction is Cloud 9, the cocktail bar on level 87, for its Star Trek interiors and mesmerising views. PUDONG SHANGRI-LA 33 Fu Cheng Road, Pudong, Shanghai (00 86 21 6882 8888; fax: 86 21 6882 6688; www.shangri-la.com ). Pudong Shangri-La Hotel is located on the famous Huangpu River, and has lovely views of Shanghai's riverfront - the Bund and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. In 2005, the hotel added an extra 375 luxurious rooms and suites in its Grant Tower. The ones to book are the spacious Premier rooms, the largest in the city, many of which have lovely views of the river. Yi Café serves international cuisine in a market-style design with stalls showcasing food from around the world. Fook Lam Moon serves excellent Cantonese food. Chi Spa has luxurious private spa suites, a jacuzzi, sauna and herbal steam rooms. There are also two swimming pools. ££££ RAFFLES BEIJING HOTEL 33 East Chang An Avenue ( www.Beijing.raffles.com ). Neoclassical Raffles Beijing Hotel reopened in June 2006 after a year's restoration. Its 171 rooms and suites include nine Personality Suites named after Sun Yat Sen, George Bernard Shaw and others. Jaan serves excellent French food and East 33 offers 33 kinds of dumpling. ££ RBL 53 Dong An Men Street ( www.rbl-china.com ). Handel Lee's all-white RBL features traditional sushi and inventive Japanese-Western dishes such as teriyaki, duck breast and sushi wrapped in daikon (Japanese radish). ST REGIS HOTEL 889 Dong Fung Road, Pudong (00 86 21 5050 4567; www.stregis.com/shanghai ). In the heart of Pudong, Shanghai's futuristic financial centre. All modern metal and an orgy of marble within: this is luxury on a grand scale, with 274 rooms and 44 suites. The St Regis attracts a cosmopolitan mix to match the décor. Standard rooms are decked out in subtle browns, giving the feel of a gentleman's club. Have drinks at the Mezanine Lounge and Bar, all-day dining at Saints and modern Italian food at Danieli's. There is 24-hour butler service with female butlers provided for female guests. THE PORTMAN RITZ-CARLTON Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Road (00 86 21 6279 8888; www.ritzcarlton.com ). The Ritz-Carlton is smack in the centre of Shanghai's smartest shopping street, Nanjing Xi Road, with everything you need at hand. The décor is bold and modern, with traditional Chinese overtones. It attracts local and expat businessmen. 518 rooms and 60 suites are styled with muted tones, not especially innovative, but restful. ££

Where to eat out in Shanghai

BAO LUO 271 Fumin Lu (00 86 21 6279 2827). This dim sum establishment is so popular that locals will wait for two hours for a table. Go at lunch and enjoy the family outings and hubbub around you. CREEK ART CENTER 101 Chang An Road (00 86 21 6380 6002; www.creekart.cn ). The hippest hang-out in the up-and-coming Suzhou Creek warehouse district. Seven storeys of wooden floors and stripped brick, the former mill has a cool bar and spacious top-floor restaurant. FACE Rui Jin Hotel, No.4 Building, 118 Rui Jin 2 Road (00 86 21 6466 4328). A small room in a large chateau within a walled garden in the French quarter. The bar is warm and cosy, filled with Chinese artefacts. GARDEN OF DELIGHTS 53 Dong An Men Dajie ( www.gardenofdelights.com.cn ). Antonio Ochoa-Piccardo, the architect of Cantilever House at Kempinski's Commune by the Great Wall hotel, has opened the Latin American restaurant Garden of Delights with a menu by consulting chef Edgar Leal of Cacao in Miami. Try the salmon ceviche and Argentine matambre. HAZARA Rui Jin Hotel, No.4 Building, 118 Rui Jin 2 Road (00 86 21 6466 4328). Also in the building is Hazara which serves north Indian cuisine. An outside table, if you can get one, is the ultimate breezy spot from which to smell the flowers. LAN NA THAI Rui Jin Hotel, No.4 Building, 118 Rui Jin 2 Road (00 86 21 6466 4328). In the same building is Lan Na Thai, a buzzing and beautiful Thai restaurant. SI JI YUAN Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, 500 Weihai Road (00 86 21 6256 8888; www.fourseasons.com/shanghai ). In Shanghai, just as there is no shame in eating in chain restaurants or shopping malls, or even chain restaurants in shopping malls, so too there is no stigma attached to hotel dining. The menu at the Four Seasons high-ticket Cantonese restaurant, Si Ji Yuan, is extensive, there are, for example, 12 types of tea on offer). Opt for a mix of the traditional Cantonese dishes and the restaurant's cutting-edge signature dish, a plate of carefully fried scallops each sitting on a plinth of barely cooked pear and topped with a tiny lozenge of crispy bacon, all washed down with Fujian Silver Needle white tea. SOUTH BEAUTY 28 Taojiang Lu, Xuhui District (00 86 21 6445 2581; www.qiaojiangnan.com ). Szechuan cooking is the Indian of China: the nation's favourite hot and spicy cuisine. And South Beauty is considered Shanghai's best Szechuan restaurant - or restaurants, to be more accurate, as it is a mini-chain. Lunch begins with delicate chrysanthemum tea. Then the heavy artillery arrives in the form of a large glass bowl filled with hot stones and sub-boiling oil. Shredded beef is then plunged into the oil, producing an outstanding flavour and chewy but not tough texture. Be warned: the cold shredded chicken with spicy Szechuan sauce contains enough chilli to make a grown man weep. The 'waterboiled' fish is a fabulously aromatic concoction of fish plunged into hot oil with a large number of peppercorns. Light relief comes in the form of a pak-choi type vegetable covered in a thick chicken soup and shrimp in a sweet pineapple sauce served with crispy rice. Expect really excellent food. Forget the wine list. THAI GALLERY 127 Datian Road (00 86 21 6217 9797). Warehouse chic meets arthouse cool at Thai Gallery, a split-level restaurant-bar hung with large, colourful portraits: try the deep-fried fish-and-shrimp cakes. THREE ON THE BUND 5 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road (00 86 21 6323 3355; www.threeonthebund.com ). Unpopular among locals because it's so expensive, Three is nonetheless essential viewing. Restaurants include Jean Georges, a sumptuous suede restaurant;and the New Heights, an open-air bar with Shanghai's best view. Three is as delicious as it is designer. T8 8 Xintiandi North Part, Lane 181, Tai Cang Road (00 86 21 6355 8999). Remarkable, bold Asian fusion in a modern, glassy establishment with an open kitchen, a lovely wine list and a cool club upstairs. WHAMPOA CLUB 5th Floor, 3 The Bund. Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road (00 86 21 6321 3737; www.threeonthebund.com ). This occupies prime waterfront space perched above a stack of designer boutiques on The Bund, and is beautifully done up in 1930s Shanghai style, with lots of polished floors, red and gold lacquer, leather club chairs and crisp napery. The cooking is subtle and self-assured, the view of buys river traffic is wonderful and the Art Dec bathrooms are worth a visit. YIN Jinjiang Gourmet Street, 59 Maoming Nan Road (00 86 21 5466 5070). There are so many good things about Yin. For one it is just across the way from Shanghai Tang, which makes for an excellent shopping aperitif. Yin's interior design is another outstanding essay in recreated 1930s Shanghai, with a marble-topped bar, distressed paintwork and fancy carved screens and window frames. Modern paintings hang on the walls and there is a little stage where a jazz band sometimes plays. There are beautiful waitresses in Mao jackets. And a menu with a philosophy: In a city where the local cuisine is usually described as oily and sweet this is all rather good news. The kitchen here is top-class, managing to be subtle and restrained with losing the fundamental gustiness of a lot of Chinese cooking. Try cold and silky drunken chicken, excellent thinly sliced ox tongue perfumed with cloves and Lion's Head: poetically named large and fierce-looking pork meatballs.

What to see in Shanghai

Although most parts of Shanghai that you are likely to visit lie to the west of the Huangpu River and its classic colonial riverfront, the Bund, by far the most easily recognizable landmark in the city is the rocket-like Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the east side, in the Pudong Special Economic Zone. The best way to check out both banks of the Huangpu River and their sights is to take the Huangpu River Tour (you can book the river tours at the jetty - daily 8am to 4.30pm).

Nanjing Lu, reputedly the busiest shopping street in China, runs through the heart of downtown Shanghai, marked at its eastern end by the famous Peace Hotel and leading west to Renmin Park, which today houses Shanghai's excellent new Museum.

Shanghai's other main sights lie about 1.5km south of Nanjing Lu in the Old City, the longest continuously inhabited part of the city, with a fully restored classical Chinese garden, the Yu Yuan, neighbouring bazaars and the traditional Huxinting Tea House at its heart.

To the southwest of here lies the marvellous old French Concession, from when France claimed a part of Shanghai with its cosmopolitan cooking traditions. European-style housing and revolutionary relics. Even marks of the Japanese occupation remain, alongside what used to be the Jewish ghetto and the Russian quarter.

The energetic eating and nightlife centre of Shanghai, Huaihai Lu, serves as the area's main artery.

Make sure you visit the People's Square where people gather at sunrise to perform t'ai chi and the city's most famous traditional pharmacy, Tong Han Chun Tang on the Old City's Li Shui Road where glass jars on the counter prescribe such dubious ingredients as dried placenta and dead seahorses, both prescribed for the kidneys.

Further out from the centre remains a scattering of sights. North of Suzhou Creek is the interesting Hongkou Poark, with its monuments to the great twentieth-century writer, Lu Xun. Finally, in the far west are two of Shanghai's most important surviving religious sites, the Longhua Si and Yufo Si.

SHANGHAI ACROBATICS TROUPE

Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu (00 86 21 6279 8663). These acrobats are so startling that the audience cheers with excitement. There are strongmen tossing Chinese vases around, revolting contortionists and a lot of spinning plates. They often go on to Cirque du Soleil.

Where to shop in Shanghai

It's worth seeking out the local markets for their value as well as their atmosphere. Once there, haggle furiously as expected, and the bargains will beggar belief. Chinese silks and brocades cost next to nothing at markets and even less to have made up. River pearls go for a song at the Old Town's pearl market on the Li Shui Road, the women behind the counter will string them while you wait. Head to the outdoor antiques market on Dong Tai Lu Road for old lacquered boxes, colourful china and communist memorabilia. Watch out for fakes, though.

When it comes to brands, there's little that Shanghai cannot offer. Nanjing Lu Road, around the corner, is where you'll find labels such as Dior and Cartier, mostly in Plaza 66, Shanghai's second tallest building. Giorgio Armani has just opened at the base of Three on the Bund, and Bund 18, opening soon, will house other designers. Huaihai Road is the next rung down; Xiang Yang Lu Fashion Market is where you'll find the fakes, if you can face being hassled, not to mention jostling with the crowds.

Xintiandi looks like Covent Garden, and among its many bars and restaurants sit shops like Shanghai Tang and X, which is the ultimate for party outfits: big beads, feathery handbags and fur trims.

When you're all shopped out, recover at Jingbin Blindman's Massage Parlour, 370 Hua Shan Road (00 86 21 6248 1888).

How to get to Shanghai

The new Pudong International Airport is 45km east of the city along the mouth of the Yangzi River.

AIRLINES FROM THE UK

Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007; www.virgin-atlantic.com ) flies from London to Shanghai five times a week.

The best way to get around Shanghai

Taxis are cheap and easy. But have your destination written down in Chinese and there's no need to tip.

Tourist information for Shanghai

Rough Guide to China (£17.99; www.roughguides.com</a>) has a good selection on Shanghai, as does Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com).

Visas are required for all UK nationals. 31 Portland Place, London, W1 (020 7631 1430).

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Shanghai Travel Guide

Municipality.

Shanghainese

Welcome to Shanghai!

Author: Gayle Aggiss | Last updated: Jan. 23, 2024

Shanghai is one of the most popular entry points into China. It’s a big, international city that retains its colonial past as well as a uniquely Chinese feel and way of doing things. It’s a wonderful city for tourists with lots to see and do.

Things to do
Where to eat
Where to stay
Around Shanghai

High-tech and fast moving, Shanghai is a fascinating city to explore. It’s filled with ancient sites, modern wonders, simply amazing food, and a mix of cultures that’s hard to find anywhere else.

And if you’re planning to travel to other regions in China , Shanghai’s transport systems are hard to beat!

For international tourists, Shanghai is a great first city to explore in China. You’ll find people speak English in all the tourist areas, food is modern and fresh, and getting around is easy.

Once you’ve built up your confidence in the ‘Paris of the East’, you can then venture out to other cities which are not as modern and where people may not speak much English.

Shanghai is popular with tourists. Image supplied by Mike Cairnduff.

The Jade Buddha Temple Courtyard. Image supplied by Mike Cairnduff.

Eastern and western culture in Shanghai

Shanghai is strongly influenced by traditional Chinese culture with influences from all over China and from overseas as well.

In fact, Shanghai is known for its ability to absorb and adapt foreign cultures, creating what’s known as an ‘ocean culture’ (haipai) or even an ‘overseas culture’ (yangpai).

This openness to outside influence has meant the city has received some criticism, but it makes Shanghai very welcoming and even familiar for tourists and travelers. You’ll find an openness to foreign attitudes and opinions in Shanghai that manifests as an intense creativity and cosmopolitanism.

This unique approach to life doesn’t make Shanghai like other cities in the world though. Although it does feel familiar to western travelers, it’s still uniquely Chinese and that’s part of its appeal.

The tourist experience in Shanghai

Traveling to Shanghai is an exciting, immersive experience and it makes for a great introduction to the rest of China.

There’s also a lot to do and see in this city, so make sure that you give yourself at least a few days to see the highlights.

And of course, don’t forget that it also has some of the most amazing food you will ever eat (like the dumplings!).

1. The Bund and Pudong waterfront area

The Bund is picturesque. Image by CocoColin on Pixabay.

You can’t go to Shanghai and not visit the Bund.

The Bund is a waterfront area that curls along part of the Huangpu River in the heart of Shanghai. Along the way, you’ll see beautiful, historic buildings from Shanghai’s colonial past.

Across the river is Pudong, the ‘new’ side of Shanghai. Here you’ll see some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world bunched together in an amazing display.

You can cross the river using the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. It’s a little touristy and expensive, but the flashing lights and colors in the tunnel make for a psychedelic and exciting ride.

Or, jump on the subway and you’ll be in Pudong in a few minutes.

2. Shop on Nanjing Road

You can find beautiful clothes on Nanjing Road. Image by Wxmwxm0612 on Pixabay.

Shopping is one of the best things to do in Shanghai, and one of the best places to shop in the city is on Nanjing Road.

This is the city’s version of New York’s Fifth Avenue, with shopping malls and high-end brands from all over the world.

If you have a little money to spend, need some souvenirs, or just want to do some people watching, then spend an afternoon on Nanjing Road.

You won’t regret it, though your credit card might!

3. Shanghai Museum

China’s culture is one of the oldest in the world and stretches back over thousands of years. And you can’t visit Shanghai without learning just a little bit more about that history at the Shanghai Museum.

Located in the People’s Square near Nanjing Road, the museum has more than 120,000 rare, cultural relics. There are also English descriptions on the pieces to help you understand what you’re looking at.

When you’re done, grab a drink and relax in the square before you hit your next attraction.

4. Disneyland

The Chinese love Disneyland. Image by Yuantunan on Pixabay.

Disneyland is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Shanghai. Accessible via the city’s metro system, the park blends the iconic magic of Disney with a uniquely Chinese feel that makes this park a must-see, even if you’ve been to Disneyland in other countries.

Shanghai’s Disneyland has six themed lands and enough attractions, rides and restaurants to keep you occupied for days. Just be prepared for long lines, particularly if you’re visiting in peak season.

5. The French Concession

The French Concession is slightly west of the Bund and is a huge area characterized by wide, leafy streets that wouldn’t look out of place in a European city.

Built as a foreign concession after the Opium Wars, it’s popular among tourists and expats alike, some parts more than others.

The French Concession is known for its shopping and you’ll find everything from antiques to souvenirs, funky clothes stores, and probably everything else in this area.

It also offers some of the best restaurants, cafes, and wine bars in the city, so make sure you’re hungry – and have your wallet ready – when you arrive!

6. Yuyuan Garden

Shanghai’s famous Yu Gardens. Image by Laurette Chapuis on Pixabay.

Shanghai is a huge, amazing city, but sometimes you just want to get out of the concrete jungle and into a more peaceful setting.

The Yuyuan Garden is the perfect place to do that. But like most touristy places in China, the gardens can get really busy!

Located close to the Bund and beside the City God Temple in the city’s northeast, it’s the only surviving Ming Dynasty Garden in the city. And it’s absolutely beautiful.

The gardens stretch over five acres and have six scenic areas, amazing sculptures, and some of the best examples of classical Chinese architecture in the city.

And when you get hungry, head next door to the Yuyuan Bazaar for tiny streets filled with shops, restaurants, and tea houses.

A word of warning though – there’s a known tourist scam in the Yu Garden area. Do not follow anyone to a teahouse, as you may be expected to fork out an insane amount for a few cups of tea.

You can read more about that on the Shanghai travel tips page .

7. Zhujiajiao Water Town

This cute town is just an hour from the center of Shanghai and is accessible by train, bus, and car. It dates back around 1,700 years and is filled with rivers, stone bridges and ancient buildings.

Wander through Zhujiajiao Water Town on foot or take a ferry or boat ride to see it from the water.

The town is full of modern restaurants and cafes now, but you’ll still get a better understanding of a more traditional way of life in China.

Zhujiajiao is just one of many water towns within a couple of hours reach from Shanghai.

Most of the water towns get very busy, so try to avoid visiting on the weekend. Also, try to choose a day when the weather is OK as everything is outdoors.

See the best time to visit Shanghai .

8. Eat Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)

The city’s famous dumplings are divine! Image by Natural_p on Shutterstock.

Soup dumplings are a treat like no other. Served in bamboo baskets all over Shanghai, they have thin skin that holds back the filling and a delicious mouthful of broth.

Just be careful when you eat them, as the insides can be hot, and you don’t want to miss out on the flavor because you burn your tongue.

While you’re in town, you should also try the fried Shanghai dumplings. They’re to die for!

Where to eat in Shanghai

Like many Chinese cities, Shanghai has a strong food culture and some absolutely incredible food.

Best of all, the food is influenced by cultures all around China and the world, so if you choose your restaurants carefully, you’ll get the chance to try some international delicacies.

Lost Heaven 花马天堂云南餐厅

This is a staple restaurant among expats and locals. It offers a modern take on traditional Yunnan food and is located near the Bund, so it’s convenient.

The food at this restaurant is tailored towards western tastes, so it’s a good choice if you’re having a little trouble with how different authentic Chinese food is to the options back home.

Address: 17 Yan’an East Road, Shanghai

Yang’s Fry Dumplings

Even with branches all over the city, this chain restaurant usually has long lines, so you know that the dumplings must be good! They’re cheap but delicious, and well worth the wait time.

Address: 97 Huanghe Rd 黄河路97号

Jian Guo 328 建国328小官

This is another really busy restaurant, so make sure you reserve a seat if you don’t want to line up. It’s known for not adding MSG to its food, which is good if you’re sensitive to it.

Jian Guo 328 serves Shanghainese cuisine in a narrow, noisy atmosphere that’s almost as good as the food.

Address: 328 West Jianguo Rd 建国西路328号

Wèixiāng Zhāi 味香斋

The best part about visiting Shanghai is finding a place to eat among the locals, who are the best judges of what’s good and what’s not when it comes to food.

And the delicious and budget-friendly sesame noodles at this restaurant attracts crowds of locals. So, make sure that you try a bowl and see if you agree about how good the noodles are.

Address: 14 Yandang Rd 雁荡路14号

Vegetarian Lifestyle 枣子树

If you’re looking for a meat-free meal in China , then try some of the organic veggie dishes at the Vegetarian Lifestyle. The dishes use a range of mock-meats like veggie sausage and fish, so you can bring along your meat-eating friends with you.

Address:258 Fengxian Rd 奉贤路258号

You can find all kinds of food in Shanghai. Image supplied by Christian Wilmsen.

The best food markets in Shanghai

Eating from food stalls is one of the great pleasures of spending time in Asian cities. And Shanghai is no exception.

The food at Shanghai markets is usually cheap and absolutely delicious. In fact, you might actually prefer it to anything you can get in the restaurants!

Fangbang Xi Lu

This is one of the most popular food markets in the city. Located in the old town section, it sprawls all the way along the narrow road and is popular among locals and tourists.

Offering everything from fried dumplings to lobsters and stinky tofu , you’re sure to find something delicious or just exotic to eat at this market.

Tianshan Tea Market

This is an unusual entry, but tea is incredibly important in China and must be a part of this list.

Located on Zhongshan Road, this is three stories of tea sellers offering options from different provinces. You never know, you might find a new favorite while you’re there!

Muslim Street Market

If you’re traveling in China, then you obviously like to experience new and different things. And what’s more different than a Muslim market in the center of Shanhai?

Located outside the Huxi Mosque, the city’s Muslim population cooks up their best Middle Eastern dishes for this market and tourists are very welcome to try the food and wander around the mosque afterward.

Where to stay in Shanghai

As a big modern city, Shanghai has a huge range of accommodation options to suit every taste and budget.

All you have to do is decide where you want to be and how much you want to spend during your stay!

The Soho Garden Hostel is located within walking distance of Nanjing Road and the People’s Square, so it’s a great choice if you want to be close to popular attractions and transport systems.

With a relaxed, bohemian vibe, it has modern private and dorm rooms and shared spaces where you can relax and make new friends.

When you travel, location is one of the most important factors in choosing a hotel. And the Seventh Heaven Hotel’s location is one of the best out there. Located on Nanjing Road and close to all the shopping, it has modern décor with lots of local touches.

The hotel is surrounded by shops and restaurants, but there’s also a bar and restaurant on-site in case you feel like a night in during your stay.

If you have a little extra money to spend, why not stay at The Langham? It’s in the stylish Xintiandi area and close to the retail heaven of Huaihai Road.

Boasting large rooms with stylish modern décor, the hotel has world-class bars and restaurants so you may not need to venture outside much!

The Langham also has a luxurious wellness center including a spa where you can enjoy a facial or Chinese massage , and an indoor pool where you can soak away the remains of long sightseeing days.

Transport in Shanghai

Transport in and around Shanghai is absolutely first rate.

It’s fast, modern, and easy to use, even if you don’t speak any Mandarin (there are lots of signs in English).

Air transport

Shanghai is a popular arrival point in China. It has two international airports.

Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport see around 1,000 flights a day from all over the world. Both airports are incredibly modern, probably more so than the airports you’re used to back home.

You can also find flights from Shanghai to other major cities around China.

High speed rail

Shanghai has one of the fastest, most affordable, and most comfortable train systems around. If you’re looking to explore the rest of China, then the high-speed railways is definitely the way to do it. It links most major cities and runs, quite literally, like clockwork.

Shanghai also boasts special tourist and holiday trains to scenic areas in other provinces, so make sure you see what’s on offer if you want to travel somewhere a little different.

Long distance bus

If you prefer buses over trains, then you can explore China on the long-distance bus system. It’s efficient and serves over 4,000 routes from bus stations throughout the city.

Maglev train

When you arrive in Shanghai, the easiest way to get from the airport to the city is on the Maglev (magnetic levitation train).

Shanghai’s Maglev train is the oldest commercial maglev still in operation and connects Pudong Airport to Longyang Road. Ticket prices are reasonable, and the trains run regularly.

The best thing about the train is how fast it travels! It can clock speeds of over 400 km (250 mi) per hour.

Shanghai’s Maglev train gets you to Pudong airport in a flash. Image by Moerschy on Pixabay.

Shanghai’s subway system links most of the big attractions in the city. The trains are cheap, fast and reliable.

However, in peak hour the trains can get crowded – so try to avoid traveling between 7 am and 9:30 am, and 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

There are a huge number of taxis in Shanghai in every color. Taxi drivers must use the meter in China, and if they refuse then just get out of the taxi and find another one.

You’ll need to have cash unless you use a Chinese mobile payment option and bring small bills to make it easy for your driver to make change.

Also, make sure you have your destination name written down in Chinese characters or on your phone because your driver may not speak much English.

You’ll also see ‘black taxis’ while you’re in Shanghai, which aren’t as scary as they sound.

These are usually everyday people who pick up fares for extra cash and they’re especially welcome during peak hours when official taxis are booked out. You will have to negotiate the fare with black taxis, so make sure you know where you’re going and how much it should cost.

Alternatively, you can use Didi – China’s equivalent to Uber. Just note though, if your driver can’t find you, they may call you and only speak Chinese!

The Big Bus Tour

If it’s your first time in the city, then why not take the Big Bus Tour? These open-top buses run regular hop-on, hop-off tours around the best sites in the city.

They’re a great way to tick attractions off your list and get to know the layout of the city a little better.

Traveling outside Shanghai

Shanghai has enough attractions and restaurants to keep you busy and happy for days.

But if you like to take day trips out of the city, there are several places close by that are worth seeing.

Hangzhou is a lush, green city. Image supplied by Mike Cairnduff.

Just under two hours out of Shanghai by bullet train, Hangzhou is often referred to as heaven on earth.

Filled with traditional bridges and pavilions, and West Lake, one of the most famous attractions in China, it’s incredibly picturesque.

And it’s surrounded by miles of untouched natural landscapes, bamboo groves, and tea terraces that are just begging to be explored.

Another town that packs a punch, Suzhou is only half an hour from Shanghai on the train.

It’s an ancient city settled around a canal and offers a slower feel, a glimpse of traditional Chinese culture, and stunning Chinese gardens that are a balm after the busyness of the city.

The Nanjing City Wall in winter. Image supplied by Mike Cairnduff.

The ancient capital of Nanjing deserves more than a weekend getaway from Shanghai, but if you’re pressed for time then why not?

There are plenty of things to do in Nanjing including visiting the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, eating the local Nanjing duck, seeing the museums, and exploring the Nanjing City Wall.

The city is just under two hours away from Shanghai by high-speed train.

If you want to enjoy a day trip that’s a little off the tourist trail, then head an hour and a half by bus from Shanghai to Changshu.

Filled with ancient houses, canals, and beautiful natural scenery, it offers hiking, stunning views from the top of Mount Yu, and a vibrant, traditional square pagoda.

Suzhou and Changshu are fairly close to each other, so if you were out of Shanghai for a few days, you could visit both places on the same mini-getaway.

Videos about Shanghai

Get a visual taste of Beijing before you visit!

Here’s a video of some of the things you can do in Shanghai (the first is unusual; the other two are actually mainstream).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyRRNJPtX0 Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Unusual Things to do in Shanghai | China (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJyRRNJPtX0)

And here’s a video showing how the city has grown into what it is today, with lovely aerial views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwr5pAuVDZY Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Shanghai From Above – 4K Aerial View of the Bund and Pudong Skyline (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwr5pAuVDZY)

Need help with your travel bookings?

Going on a tour in China is a great idea, especially if you can’t speak Mandarin.

You can refer to this list of China travel agencies who can help put a plan together for you.

Or, to book your own flights, tours and hotels, we recommend Trip for amazing choice and value. Trip is one of the leading travel companies in China.

Don’t forget…

It’s easy to forget a thing or two before you head to China.

So, here are a few reminders for you:

The right visa – if you’re only staying for a quick trip, you may be eligible for visa-free travel .
Alipay – Shanghai is a digital city, so use an app like Alipay (more info here ) and have yuan/cash as a backup.
A VPN app – if you want access to all your favorite websites and apps in China, you’ll need to download a VPN before you leave your country. Get a VPN that works in China .

Have a great time in Shanghai. And remember to get your VPN so you can stay connected!

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Shanghai Travel Guide

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Tarek Afif Bizri

Really enjoyed the trip. Loved the effort made to show us different parts of the wall every day. The last day was so rural, it felt very special. The lake ...

After years of stagnation, the great metropolis of Shanghai (上海, shànghăi) is undergoing one of the fastest economic expansions the world has ever seen. As Shanghai begins to recapture its position as East Asia’s leading business city, a status it last held before World War II, the skyline is filling with high-rises – there are well over a thousand now. Gleaming shopping malls, luxurious hotels and prestigious arts centres are rising alongside, while underneath everything snakes the world’s longest subway system. Shanghai’s 23 million residents enjoy the highest incomes on the mainland, and there’s plenty for them to splash out on; witness the rash of celebrity restaurants and designer flagship stores. In short, it’s a city with a swagger, bursting with nouveau-riche exuberance and élan. And yet, for all the modernization, Shanghai is still known in the West for its infamous role as the base of European imperialism in mainland China during the 1930s.

Brief history of Shanghai

Accommodation in shanghai, eating in shanghai, entertainment in shanghai, shopping in shanghai, central shanghai, north of suzhou creek, western shanghai, around shanghai, world financial centre, the shanghai museum.

Whichever side you were on, life in Shanghai then was rarely one of moderation. China’s most prosperous city, in large part European- and American-financed, Shanghai introduced Asia to electric light, boasted more cars than the rest of the country put together, and created for its rich citizens a world of European-style mansions, tree-lined boulevards, chic café society, horse-racing and exclusive gentlemen’s clubs. Alongside, and as much part of the legend, lay a city of singsong girls, warring gangsters and millions living in absolute poverty.

Then came the Japanese invasion, civil war and the communist victory. With their egalitarian, anti-Western stance, China’s new rulers despised everything that pre-war Shanghai had stood for and deliberately ran the city down, siphoning off its surplus to other parts of the country. Shanghai came to resemble a living museum, housing the largest array of Art Deco architecture in the world. Yet the Shanghainese never lost their ability to make waves for themselves. The present boom dates back to 1990, with the opening of the “New Bund” – the Special Economic Zone across the river in Pudong. Ever since, the city has enjoyed double digit growth, and if present plans for a new economic free trade zone come to pass, it will likely one day rival Hong Kong as Asia’s financial centre.

Yet old Shanghai has not disappeared. Most of the urban area was partitioned between foreign powers until 1949, and their former embassies, banks and official residences still give large sections of Shanghai an early twentieth-century European flavour. It’s still possible to make out the boundaries of what used to be the foreign concessions, with the bewildering tangle of alleyways of the old Chinese city at its heart. Only along the Huangpu waterfront, amid the stolid grandeur of the Bund, is there some sense of space – and here you feel the past more strongly than ever. It’s ironic that the relics of hated foreign imperialism are now protected as city monuments.

Shanghai does not brim with obvious attractions, however. Besides the Shanghai Museum, the Suzhou-reminiscent gardens of Yu Yuan, and the Huangpu River cruise, there are few tourist sights with broad appeal. But the place absolutely excels in all materialistic pleasures, so make sure you sample the fantastic restaurant and nightlife scenes, and budget some time for serious shopping. Perhaps the greatest fascination is in simply absorbing the splendour of a city so extravagantly on the up. Shanghai is also one of the few Chinese cities that rewards aimless wandering, and it’s fascinating to stroll the Bund, explore the pockets of colonial architecture in the former French Concession, or get lost in the old city’s alleys.

Travel ideas for China

Created by local experts

Sichuan Specialities: Chengdu, Temples and Pandas

Discover the Buddhist history and the natural wonders of Sichuan. From bustling Chengdu and its giant pandas, to the national parks and lake districts of Sichuan Province, to the giant Buddha statue at Leshan, this trip is perfect for those who want to discover this culturally rich part of China.

Family Time in Guilin and Yangshuo

This 5-day family trip is a magnificent opportunity to experience the beautiful outdoor settings of Guilin and Yangshuo. Walk, cycle and raft through awe-inspiring scenery, including dramatic limestone karst mountains, and learn about the everyday lives of the Zhuang and Yao ethnic groups.

Sichuan Family Adventure

Sichuan is home to a rich and vibrant culture, stunning scenery and wildlife, and delicious cuisine. Spend time with Chengdu's giant pandas, trek around Mount Qingcheng, stand in awe of the world’s largest Buddha at Leshan, and much more, all with this exciting trip, which is perfect for families!

Tantalising Tibet

Tibet, known as the Rooftop of the World, is one of the most spiritual and atmospheric places on earth: ancient monasteries are carved into the mountain and festooned with colourful prayer flags. Discover the secrets of this uniquely spiritual land with this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Hong Kong Deluxe

Hong Kong makes a memorable introduction to the Chinese world. Glamorous, hectic, exciting and spectacular, with fabulous food, nightlife and shopping, this is a place like no other. Explore the city at your own pace, enjoying life’s little luxuries at every turn.

Hong Kong in a Nutshell

A teeming, exotic and alluring metropolis, Hong Kong is uniquely rich in both cultural diversity and contrasts. In fact, there is so much packed into Hong Kong, it can be hard to know where to start, which is where this unique trip comes in.

Located at the confluence of the Yangzi River, the Grand Canal and the Pacific Ocean, Shanghai served as a major commercial port from the Song dynasty, channelling the region’s extensive cotton crop to Beijing, the hinterland and Japan. By the Qing dynasty, vast mercantile guilds had established economic and, to some extent, political control of the city. In the words of East India Company representative Hugh Lindsay, “the city had become the principal emporium of Eastern Asia” by the 1840s.

The Concession Era

Following the Opium Wars, the British moved in under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, to be rapidly followed by the French in 1847. These two powers set up the first foreign concessions in the city – the British along the Bund and the area to the north of the Chinese city, the French in an area to the southwest, on the site of a cathedral a French missionary had founded two centuries earlier. Later the Americans (in 1863) and the Japanese (in 1895) came to tack their own areas onto the British Concession, which expanded into the so-called International Settlement. Traders were allowed to live under their own national laws, policed by their own armed forces, in a series of privileged enclaves that were leased indefinitely. By 1900, the city’s favourable position, close to the main trade route to the major silk- and tea-producing regions, had allowed it to develop into a sizeable port and manufacturing centre. At this time, it was largely controlled by the “Green Gang”, the infamous Chinese crime syndicate founded in the 1700s by unemployed boatmen, which by the 1920s ran the city’s vast underworld. Businessmen and criminals who flouted the Green Gang’s strict code of behaviour were subject to “knee-capping” punishment – having every visible tendon severed with a fruit knife before being left to die on a busy pavement.

Shanghai’s cheap workforce was swollen during the Taiping Uprising by those who took shelter from the slaughter in the foreign settlements, and by peasants attracted to the city’s apparent prosperity. Here China’s first urban proletariat emerged, and the squalid living conditions, outbreaks of unemployment and glaring abuses of Chinese labour by foreign investors made Shanghai a natural breeding ground for revolutionary politics. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in the city in 1921, only to be driven underground by the notorious massacre of hundreds of strikers in 1927.

The Communist era

Inevitably, after the Communist takeover in 1949, the bright lights dimmed. The foreign community may have expected “business as usual”, but the new regime was determined that Shanghai should play its role in the radical reconstruction of China. The worst slums were knocked down to be replaced by apartments, the gangsters and prostitutes were taken away for “re-education”, and foreign capital was ruthlessly taxed if not confiscated outright (although Chiang Kai-shek did manage to spirit away the gold reserves of the Bank of China to Taiwan, leaving the city broke). For 35 years, Western influences were forcibly suppressed.

Even after 1949, the city remained a centre of radicalism – Mao, stifled by Beijing bureaucracy, launched his Cultural Revolution here in 1966. Certain Red Guards even proclaimed a Shanghai Commune, before the whole affair descended into wanton destruction and petty vindictiveness. After Mao’s death, Shanghai was the last stronghold of the Gang of Four in their struggle for the succession, though their planned coup never materialized.

Modern Shanghai

Shanghai’s fortunes rebounded during China’s opening up in the post-Mao era: many key modernizing officials in the central government came from the Shanghai area, and Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji were both former mayors of the city.

As well as an important power base for the ruling party, Shanghai has always been the most fashion-conscious and outward-looking city in China, its people the most highly skilled labour force in the country, and renowned for their quick wit and entrepreneurial skills. Many Shanghainese fled to Hong Kong after 1949 and oversaw the colony’s economic explosion, while a high proportion of Chinese successful in business elsewhere in the world emigrated from this area. Even during the Cultural Revolution, Western “excesses” like curled hair and holding hands in public survived in Shanghai. Despite the incomprehensibility of the local Shanghainese dialect to other Chinese, it has always been easier for visitors to communicate with the locals here than anywhere else in the country, because of the excellent level of English spoken and the familiarity with foreigners and foreignness.

Accommodation in Shanghai is plentiful, and in places extremely stylish, but prices are higher than elsewhere in China. The grand old-world hotels that form so integral a part of Shanghai’s history cost at least US$150 per night, and for comfort and elegance have been overtaken by new arrivals, such as the clutch of boutique hotels. If you want to be near the centre of the action, go for somewhere around Renmin Park or the Bund; there are options here for all budgets. For style and panache, head to the genteel former French Concession, where attractive mid-range hotels are close to upmarket dining and nightlife. For the latest in corporate chic, Pudong has the fanciest options, but the area is rather dull. If you’re simply looking for somewhere that’s good value and convenient, stay in the outskirts near a subway station.

Food in Shanghai is fantastic; though there is fairly little in the way of cheap street food, most forms of international and Chinese cuisine are widely available and there are plenty of stylish and classy restaurants. It’s hard to believe that up until the early 1990s, simply getting a table in Shanghai was a cut-throat business. Compared to, for example, Sichuan or Cantonese, Shanghai cuisine is not particularly well known or popular among foreigners. Most of the cooking is done with added ginger, sugar and Shaoxing wine, but without heavy spicing. There are some interesting dishes, especially if you enjoy exotic seafood. Fish and shrimp are considered basic to any respectable meal, and eels and crab may appear as well. In season (Oct–Dec), you may get the chance to try dazha crab, the most expensive and, supposedly, the most delicious. Inexpensive snack food is easily available in almost any part of the city at any time of night or day – try xiao long bao, a local dumpling speciality.

Most visitors take in an acrobatics show, but equally worthy of note are the flourishing contemporary art and music scenes. The Shanghai Arts Festival (www.artsbird.com) is held from mid-October to mid-November – though you’d be forgiven for not noticing it – when the city receives a lot of visiting shows. For listings of big cultural spectaculars such as visiting ballet troupes, check the China Daily, but for the lowdown on punk gigs, underground art shows and the like, get an up-to-date expat magazine such as cityweekend, or check smartshanghai.com. The simplest way to buy tickets is at the box office before the show starts, or a few days earlier if there’s any danger that it will sell out. You can also buy tickets from the booking centre behind the Westgate Mall on Nanjing Xi Lu. The contemporary art scene can be conveniently checked out at the Moganshan Art District. The Shanghai Biennale, held in venues all over town, is held on even-numbered years.

Celluloid Shanghai

China’s first movie studios were in Shanghai, in the 1930s, and you can see old classics such as Sister Flower and The Goddess – both surprisingly hard-hitting naturalistic tragedies – at the Old Film Café. The old studios that produced these movies might have gone-but, increasingly, you can find Shanghai depicted on film, most successfully in Lou Ye’s tragic love story Suzhou Creek (2002). The best of many concession-era “lipstick and qipao” films is Shanghai Triad (1995). The brutal end to those days is shown in Steven Spielberg’s decent adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s classic novel, Empire of the Sun (1987). Shanghai is successfully made to look like a city of the future in the neat and twisty sci-fi thriller, Looper (2012).

The shopping is great in Shanghai, and it’s a rare visitor who doesn’t end up having to buy another bag to keep all their new goodies in. The Shanghainese love luxury goods, and it’s not uncommon to find young women spending several months’ salary on a handbag, but all those glitzy brand names that give the streets such a lot of their shine are not good value; high-end goods and international brands are generally twenty percent more expensive than they would be in the West. Ignore them, and instead plunge into the fascinating world of the backstreet boutiques and markets.

Made to measure

Getting tailored clothes is a recommended Shanghai experience, as it will cost so much less than at home and the artisans are skilled (provided you’re clear about exactly what you’re after) and quick. At the textile market in the Old City, near Liushui Lu at 399 Lujiabang Lu (南外滩轻纺面料市场, nánwàitān qīngfǎng miànliào shìchǎng; daily 10am–7pm), on-site tailors will make you a suit for around ¥500, including material (you’ll have to barter a bit), which will take a couple of days; a shirt should be around ¥150. It’s all a bit hit and miss, but Jennifer at Unit 237, Andy at 295 and Xia at 326 are all considered a good bet.

If you’re looking for a more sedate experience, or a tailored qipao, your best bet is to head to one of the dozen or so specialist tailors on Maoming Nan Lu, just south of Huaihai Lu. Three shirts in one of these stores should come to around ¥800, a suit will be around twice that.

A good place to get your bearings in Central Shanghai is at the Bund, on the west bank of the Huangpu River. To the north, across Suzhou Creek, is the area of the old Japanese Concession; while east over the Huangpu is Pudong, and the city’s most conspicuous architectural landmarks. Nanjing Lu, one of China’s busiest shopping streets, runs west from the Bund, to Renmin Park in the centre of the city, where you’ll find the excellent Shanghai Museum. South and west of the Bund, you’ll find the oval-shaped area corresponding to the Old City, the longest continuously inhabited part of Shanghai, with the Yu Yuan – a fully restored classical Chinese garden – and bazaars at its heart. To the southwest of here lies the marvellous former French Concession, with its cosmopolitan cooking traditions, chic European-style housing and revolutionary relics. The energetic eating and nightlife centre of Shanghai, Huaihai Lu, serves as the area’s main artery. Central Shanghai is pleasingly compact, and it’s not hard to find your way around on foot – though you’ll certainly need to use the subway or taxis to cross from one quarter to the next. Be aware that, with so many tourists about to prey on, this is a particularly bad area of the city for scams.

Shanghai’s original signature skyline is the Bund, a strip of grand Neoclassical colonial edifices on the west bank of the Huangpu River, facing the flashy skyscrapers of Pudong on the opposite shore – a backdrop domestic visitors queue up against to have their picture taken. Named after an old Anglo-Indian term, “bunding” (the embanking of a muddy foreshore), the Bund’s official name is Zhongshan Lu, but it’s better known among locals as Wai Tan (literally “Outside Beach”). By whatever name, this was old Shanghai’s commercial heart, with the river on one side, the offices of the leading banks and trading houses on the other. During Shanghai’s riotous heyday it was also a hectic working harbour, where anything from tiny sailing junks to ocean-going freighters unloaded under the watch of British – and later American and Japanese – warships. Everything arrived here, from silk and tea to heavy industrial machinery. Amid it all, wealthy foreigners disembarked to pick their way to one of the grand hotels through crowds of beggars, hawkers, black marketeers, shoeshine boys, overladen coolies and even funeral parties – Chinese too poor to pay for the burial of relatives would launch the bodies into the river in boxes decked in paper flowers.

Great British drug dealers

Jardine Matheson, founded by William Jardine – the man who did more than any other individual to precipitate the Opium Wars and open Shanghai up to foreign trade – was the first foreign concern to buy land in Shanghai. Their former base (they lost all of their holdings in China after 1949), just north of the Peace Hotel, is now occupied by the China Textiles Export Corporation.

The wealth of the Sassoon family, too, was built on opium, but by the early years of the last century, the family fortune had mostly been sunk into Shanghai real estate, including the Cathay (originally known as Sassoon House). The flamboyant Victor Sassoon lived long enough to see his hotel virtually destroyed by the Japanese, including his rooftop private apartment, with 360-degree views and dark oak panelling (it has recently been restored), but also long enough to get most of his money away to the Bahamas.

Huangpu river tours

One highlight of a visit to Shanghai, and the easiest way to view the edifices of the Bund, is to take one of the Huangpu River tours (黄浦江旅游, huángpŭ jiāng lǚyóu). On the tour, you’re introduced to the vast amount of shipping that uses the port, and you’ll also be able to inspect all the paraphernalia of the shipping industry, from sampans and rusty old Panamanian-registered freighters to sparkling Chinese navy vessels. You’ll also get an idea of the colossal construction that is taking place on the eastern shore. Evening cruises offer spectacular views, as Shanghai is lit up like a pinball machine at night.

Cruises leave from Shiliupu Wharf at the south end of the Bund, opposite Jinling Dong Lu at 171 Zhongshan Nan Lu. You can buy tickets at the wharf or at the Bund Tourist Information Centre, beside the entrance to the Bund Tourist Tunnel. You can also book direct with one of the many cruise operators. You can book tickets a few days in advance over the phone and they will deliver to your hotel.

Departure times vary depending on season and weather. Ninety-minute long cruises (¥128) depart at least twice an hour daily between 11am and 9.30pm. Hour-long cruises (¥100) are rarer, usually hourly, and there is one daily three-hour cruise (¥150) at 2pm, which goes all the way to the mouth of the Yangzi and back. Cruises that include a buffet dinner run between 7pm and 9pm (¥200).

It is also possible to take half-hour cruises from Pudong. These leave from the Pearl Dock, every half hour between 10am and 1.30pm (¥100).

Turning right from the end of Sinan Lu onto Taikang Lu (泰康路, tàikāng lù) will bring you to the latest fashionably artsy shopping and lunching quarter, Tianzifang. The unassuming entrance, an arch over alley 210 on the north side of the road, leads onto Taikang Art Street, a narrow north–south alleyway off which you’ll find an expanding web of alleys filling up with trendy boutiques, coffee shops, handmade jewellery stores, art galleries and restaurants, all housed in converted shikumen houses. At its northern end, Tianzifang exits onto Sinan Lu, but don’t even try to come in from there – the entrance is really tough to find.

Inevitably, Tianzifang gets compared with Xintiandi; but whereas the architecture there is modern pastiche, this is a set of real, warts-and-all longtangs, with the result that it’s quainter, shabbier, more charming. If you’re looking for an artsy knick- knack or accessory, quirky souvenir, tasteful homeware or a designer original, this is the place to come, though try to visit on a weekday as the narrow lanes get very crowded at weekends. For a coffee stop, central Kommune is a local institution.

A classical Chinese garden featuring pools, walkways, bridges and rockeries, the Yu Yuan was created in the sixteenth century by a high official in the imperial court in honour of his father. The Yu Yuan is less impressive than the gardens of nearby Suzhou, but given that it predates the relics of the International Settlement by some three hundred years, the Shanghainese are understandably proud of it. Despite fluctuating fortunes, the garden has surprisingly survived the passage of the centuries. It was spared from its greatest crisis – the Cultural Revolution – apparently because the anti-imperialist “Little Sword Society” had used it as their headquarters in 1853 during the Taiping Uprising.

North across the Waibaidu Bridge from the Bund, you enter an area that, before the war, was the Japanese quarter of the International Settlement. The area immediately north of the bridge is tipped for a big renovation – you’ll see some flashy new buildings, such as the bulbous International Cruise Terminal, and many more are planned. For the moment, the obvious interest lies further north, in the Lu Xun Park area (also known as Hongkou Park) and its monuments to the political novelist Lu Xun, although the whole district is lively and architecturally interesting.

Due west from the city centre there is less to see, with a sprinkling of widely scattered sights, much too far apart to walk between. Moganshan Art District is worth a visit to experience the commercial side of China’s modern art movements; while the Longhua and Yufo temples are two of Shanghai’s most important surviving religious sites.

Moganshan Art District

Moganshan Arts District (or M50) is a complex of studios and galleries located in an old textile mill beside Suzhou Creek, just west of Shanghai train station. Attracted by cheap rents, artists took over the abandoned buildings in the 1990s and used them as studios; then the art galleries moved in, and now the design studios, cafés and arty shops are arriving. It’s an intriguing mix of shabby and sophisticated, jumbling together paint-spattered artists, pretentious fashionistas and baffled locals. Recently a glut of lame commercial galleries have opened, but there are enough good ones left, including those listed here. Many of the galleries are closed on Mondays, and there’s a map on the wall to the right of the entrance. When you’re arted out, have a coffee at the nearby Bandu café.

Moganshan’s galleries

New galleries tend to show insipid copies of the works of famous artists. Here are some established and worthwhile venues.

Buildings 16 and 18 (daily 10am–6pm; 021 63593923, shanghartgallery.com). One of the first galleries in China to show work by modern Chinese artists, now with a stable of more than forty and a reputation for exciting work.

Island 6 Art Centre

Building 6, first floor (daily 10am–7pm; 021 62277856, island6.org). This collective prides itself on its technological nous, and puts together lively multi-media shows.

Second floor, 97 Moganshan Lu (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 021 62661597, m97gallery.com). The best photography gallery in the area – it’s over the road from the main M50 complex, but worth seeking out.

Room 207, building 4 (Tues–Sun 11am–6pm; 021 54667768, ovgallery.com). Themed shows from up-and-coming artists, mostly Chinese.

Shanghai Municipality covers approximately two thousand square kilometres, comprising ten counties and extending far beyond the limits of the city itself. Very little of this huge area is ever visited by foreigners, though there are a couple of interesting sights – notably the attractive water towns, very popular with domestic tourists – which make enjoyable excursions from downtown Shanghai.

Historically, Pudong (浦东, pŭdōng) – the district opposite the Bund on the east bank of the river – was known as the “wrong side of the Huangpu”; before 1949, the area was characterized by unemployed migrants, prostitution, murders and the most appalling living conditions in the city. It was here that bankrupt gamblers would “tiao huangpu”, commit suicide by drowning themselves in the river. Shanghai’s top gangster, Du Yuesheng, more commonly known as “Big-eared Du”, learned his trade growing up in this rough section of town. In 1990, however, fifteen years after China’s economic reforms started, it was finally decided to grant the status of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to this large tract of mainly agricultural land, a decision which, more than any other, is now fuelling Shanghai’s rocket-like economic advance. The skyline has since been completely transformed from a stream of rice paddies into a sea of cranes, and ultimately a maze of skyscrapers that seemingly stretches east as far as the eye can see.

The best views of the city are from the observation deck at the top of the 492m Shanghai World Financial Centre, China’s tallest building (at least until the neighbouring Shanghai Tower is complete). In contrast to nearby Jinmao Tower, its lines are simple: it’s just a tapering slab whose most distinctive feature is the hole in the top, and locals call it “the bottle opener”. That hole was originally meant to be circular, but was redesigned as an oblong when the mayor complained that it would look like a Japanese flag hovering over the city.

The entrance and ticket office is in the southwest side. The top level – the top bar of the bottle opener – features hardened glass tiles in the floor that allow you to look right down between your feet. Landmarks are pointed out in the booklet that comes with your ticket, and you can get a photo printed for ¥50. The view is at least as impressive at night.

The unmistakeable pot-shaped Shanghai Museum is one of the city’s highlights, with a fantastic, well-presented collection. On the ground floor, the gallery of ancient bronzes holds cooking vessels, containers and weapons, many covered with intricate geometrical designs that reference animal shapes – check out the cowrie container from the Western Han dynasty, with handles shaped like stalking tigers. Most of the exhibits in the sculpture gallery next door are of religious figures – boggle-eyed temple guardians, serene Buddhas and the like, including a row of huge, fearsome Tang-dynasty heads. Tang-dynasty figurines again steal the show in the first-floor ceramics gallery, in the form of multicoloured ferocious-looking beasties placed to guard tombs.

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written by Andy Turner

updated 26.04.2021

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Travel Destinations A-Z

Shanghai Travel Guide

When you think of China, there are many things that come to mind: an ancient culture full of beauty and history, very large cities with towering skyscrapers, and incredible food from the street vendors up to high-end restaurants. Shanghai blends all of that into one thriving city.

Shanghai, which sits on the Yangtze River, is one of the most populated cities in the world and the most populated city in China. In a country known for its mega cities, Shanghai easily takes the crown.

Often called the Paris of the East, Shanghai is a mix of modern towers that define its skyline, like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower with its iconic circular design, and quaint neighborhoods that make visitors feel like they've been transported to the romantic streets of Europe.

From classic xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) to Michelin star meals, top-floor observation towers to an after-dinner stroll along the Bund waterfront, Shanghai offers something for everyone.

China Standard Time

Best Time to Go

One of the coolest times to visit Shanghai is around Chinese New Year, which tends to fall around late January or February. The city comes alive with vibrant decorations, special food, and an amazing lantern display.

Cherry blossom fans should head to the city in March to watch the blooms. There are thousands of cherry blossoms and dozens of varieties to see.

In September or early October, tourists can feast on traditional mooncakes (typically filled with red bean paste or lotus seed paste) for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Things to Know

Shanghai is known for hordes of bicycles and scooters zooming by on the streets. It's an amazing sight to see, but pedestrians should remember to be extra careful.

It's great to post photos and Google everything you see while on vacation, but remember some websites are blocked in China, including Facebook. But a digital detox isn't necessarily a bad thing and less social media just means more time for being in the moment.

Shanghai is a very safe city , especially compared to other cities of comparable size.

U.S. citizens need to apply for a visa to enter China. More information on visas is available through the Department of State's website .

Currency: Chinese yuan (Check the current exchange rate )

Language: Mandarin, Shanghai dialect Useful phrases: Hello: Nǐ hǎo Goodbye: Zàijiàn Thank you: Xièxiè nǐ

Calling Code: +86

Capital City: The capital of China is Beijing

How to Get Around

Trains: Shanghai's metro has more than a dozen subway lines. Station announcements are made in both English and Chinese and fares are calculated by distance. The city also has a high-speed Maglev train , which can travel at 431 kilometers per hour (or about 267 miles per hour) between the city and the Shanghai Pudong Airport.

Buses: There are buses in Shanghai, but they tend to be more difficult to navigate for tourists and non-Chinese speakers than the metro.

Taxis: Official, licensed taxis in Shanghai use a meter to calculate the fare and tourists should rely on these.Car service: Those looking to order a car through an app on their smartphone can do so through China's Didi Chuxing .

Best Hotels

Amanyangyun.

Address: 6161 Yuanjiang Rd., Minhang Qu, 201111, Shanghai Phone: +86 21 8011 9999 Website

This hotel just outside Shanghai offers all the luxury travelers would expect from the Aman brand as well as an escape from the city, immersing travelers in the tranquility of a 10-hectare forest park with giant camphor trees where guests can learn Tai Chi or go for a picnic. The hotel features both contemporary suites and antique Ming and Qing Dynasty villas and offers guests the ultimate in relaxation, including traditional Chinese medicine therapy.

J Hotel Shanghai Tower

Address: Shanghai Tower, No. 126 Dong Tai Rd., Lujiazui Pudong New District, Shanghai Phone: +86 21 3886 8888 Website

This brand-new hotel sits in the tallest skyscraper in China (and the second tallest in the world behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa), offering unparalleled views of the city and making guests truly feel as if they're on top of the world. Each room is situated on the 86th to 98th floors and includes a personal butler service and unparalleled views of the city.

Fairmont Peace Hotel

Address: 20 Nanjing Rd. East, Shanghai, 200002 Phone: +1-800-257-7544 (U.S. and Canada) Website

This art deco-designed hotel sits right in the middle of the action with the Bund and Shanghai's famous shopping street, Nanjing Road, just steps away. The hotel, which features 270 rooms and suites with modern amenities, was once known as the playground of Shanghai's elite. Capture some of that old world glamour with a visit to the hotel's Jazz Bar, featuring cocktails inspired by the 1920's and 1930's.

The Shanghai EDITION

Address: 199 Nanjing Rd. East Huangpu, 200002, Shanghai Phone: +86 (0) 21 5368 9999 Website

This modern hotel, which sits right in the heart of the famous Nanjing Road shopping street, offers views of the city or the Bund in every room. Shop til you drop and then relax with a drink on the Roof where guests can take in the views from underneath a gorgeous ivy-covered trellis.

Hyatt on the Bund

Address: 199 Huang Pu Rd., Shanghai Phone: + 86 21 6393 1234 Website

Relax in bed and enjoy the views of Shanghai's incredible skyline and the Bund from the floor-to-ceiling windows, or head up to watch the sunset and have a glass of Champagne from the VUE Bar on the top two levels of the hotel. Simply step outside the hotel's front doors to go for a stroll along the Huangpu River.

URBN Boutique Shanghai

Address: 183 Jiaozhou Rd., Jing'an District, Shanghai Phone: +86 21 5153 4600 Website

This carbon-neutral boutique hotel contains only 26 rooms and offers a green escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, featuring recycled and reclaimed local materials, including reclaimed bricks from the French Concession. Explore the neighborhood around the hotel, popping into the many independent bars and cafes, before ending the night at the hotel's garden restaurant.

Best Restaurants

Ultraviolet.

Address: 18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Rd., Shanghai Website

This three-Michelin Star, 10-seat restaurant delights diner's tastebuds with a whopping 20-course "Avant-Garde" menu (think: Pop Rock oyster with green tea and citric or "A Chicken in a Jar" with vineyard smoke and foie gras). Everyone sits together at one large table where lights, sounds, scents, and even projections accompany each course. Advance reservations are necessary (bookings are open four months in advance) and guests must pay a deposit to confirm their booking.

M on the Bund

Address: 7F, No 5 The Bund, Shanghai Phone: +86 21 6350 9988 Website

Take in views of the Shanghai skyline and the Huangpu River from this classic restaurant, serving everything from crispy suckling pig and salt-encased slow baked leg of lamb for dinner to "M's Very Famous Pavlova" for dessert. In the mood for a healthier meal? Head to the restaurant on Sunday's for an all-vegan menu with dishes like maple-glazed heirloom carrots with pickled chili potato and kumara and cassava gnocchi with olive crumbs.

Din Tai Fung

Address: Multiple locations Website

This famous restaurant was originally founded in Taiwan in 1958 and now has multiple locations throughout China, including several in Shanghai. Feast on the classic soup dumplings, or xiao long bao (theirs contains fillings like pork, crab roe and pork, chicken, or green squash and shrimp), or try the vegetarian mushroom buns. In the mood for a sweet treat? Try a steamed red bean rice cake with walnuts or even a chocolate xiao long bao .

Riviera Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental

Address: 111 Pudong Rd. (S) Pudong, Shanghai, 200120 Phone: +86 (21) 2082 9928 Website

Tea is very important to Chinese tradition and nothing says a luxurious tea experience quite like an over-the-top afternoon tea. At the Mandarin Oriental, tradition is combined with modern cuisine to create dishes like mint crab and cucumber sandwiches, grilled pork neck with BBQ sauce in a cone, and yuzu raspberry Swiss rolls.

Jia Jia Tang Bao

Address: 90 Huanghe Rd., Huangpu, Shanghai Phone: +86 21 6327 6878 Website

Eat your weight in xiao long bao at this famous spot in a city known for its steep soup dumpling competition. Go early (seriously) to get the popular crab and pork dumplings and be prepared to wait.

Things to Do

Untour food tours.

Address: Varies Phone: +86 137 0172 9642 Website

Learn how to cook (and eat) dumplings while exploring the former French Concession or visit a traditional wet market and sample traditional Chinese breakfasts, like jianbing. Each tour is available in English and children are welcome.

Disneyland Shanghai

Phone: +86 21 3158 0000 Website

This park offers everything someone would expect from the Happiest Place on Earth from favorite rides like Peter Pan's Flight and Dumbo the Flying Elephant to character selfie spots, but it also has some distinctly Chinese flair. The park's Garden of the Twelve Friends, for example, includes Disney characters to represent Chinese astrology.

Shanghai Museum

Address: No.201 Ren Min Da Dao, Shanghai, 20003 Phone: +86 (0) 21 63723500 Website

This free museum, first established in 1952, is focused on pre-modern Chinese art, including bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, jade, and more. The museum has ten permanent galleries along with temporary exhibitions and other showrooms, and sits in People's Square, a central square in Shanghai.

Go to the Shanghai Tower's observation deck

Address: 479 Lujiazui Ring Rd., Pudong New Area, Shanghai Phone: +86 (21) 2065 6999 Website

Visit the second highest tower in the world with a view from the "Top of Shanghai Observatory" on the 118th floor where guests can take in a 360-degree view of the city and its iconic skyline. While there, visit the Summit Art and Cultural space on the 126th floor where people can hear a 4D music experience.

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center

Address: 100 People's Ave., near Xizang Zhong Lu, Huangpu district Phone: 86 21 63722077 Website

The highlight of this experience is the very detailed scale model of the city, complete with Shanghai's impressive skyscrapers down to its individual homes. In addition to the scale model, the exhibition center contains a 150-meter-long underground street called the "1930 Shanghai-Style Street."

Go on a river boat cruise

Address: Varies by company

The Huangpu River serves as an important landmark in Shanghai and one of the best ways to take it all in—along with the city's diverse architecture as a whole—is on a cruise. While there are cruises available during the day, going in the evening and seeing the city lit up is a special experience.

Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai

Address: Gate 7, People's square, No. 231, West Nanjing Rd., Shanghai

This modern art museum, known as MoCA, was founded in 2005 and features avant-garde art and design as well as hosted fashion-focused exhibitions. The museum also features the Pavilion, an art space dedicated to supporting young artists.

Best Shopping

Nanjing road.

This is one of the main shopping streets in Shanghai, complete with a pedestrian-only stretch that weaves between local and international stores. While there, head to the Shanghai First Foodhall where visitors can sample local eats.

Madame Mao's Dowry

Address: 207 Fumin Lu, Shanghai Phone: +(86) 21 54033551 Website

This concept store sells beautiful crafts from local designers and artists. The shop values design from the Mao Period (from 1949 to 1976) and has a large collection of propaganda posters and news photographs.

Tianshan Tea Market

Address: 520 Zhongshan Xi Lu, near Wuyi Lu, Changning District

Tea plays a big role in Chinese culture and that holds very true in Shanghai. This massive tea-focused market is home to more than 100 vendors selling all kinds of tea along with other beautiful tea accessories.

Huaihai Road

This upscale shopping street has something for everyone from high-end stores like Prada and Tiffany & Co to popular brands like Levi's. While some stores are directly on the street, many are located inside large shopping malls.

South Bund Fabric Market

Address: 399 Lujiabang Rd., Huangpu, Shanghai

This bustling market will make any fashion-obsessed traveler's dreams come true with hundreds of tailors and endless possibilities for custom-made outfits from suits to dresses and more. If travelers have a style in mind, be sure to bring a photo (or photos) of the clothing item, and don't forget to go with cash.

Garden Books

Address: 325 Chang Le Rd., 200031, Shanghai Phone: +(86) 021 5404 8728 Website

This English-language bookstore is perfect for picking up a great novel or catching up on foreign newspapers and magazines. Stop by for one of the shop's lecture events or grab a coffee and settle in with your latest riveting read.

Neighborhoods to Know

Shanghai French Concession is a leafy neighborhood full of trendy bars and restaurants that evoke a romantic vibe and offer a change from the high-rises in other parts of the city. The area got its name since it used to be administered by the French.

Pudong is a large area east of the Huangpu River where many of Shanghai's most iconic buildings are located, including the Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower as well as one of Shanghai's main airports. Beyond the skyscrapers, Pudong is also home to the massive Century Park.

Xintiandi is a car-free, pedestrian-only area full of cafes and cobblestone streets. The quaint feeling of the neighborhood is only enhanced by the preserved traditional shikumen buildings.

Xujiahui is a central commercial center in Shanghai, known for its bustling shopping centers. While the busy pace can be fun, the neighborhood's green Xujiahui Park offers a bit of a respite.

People's Square is home to some of Shanghai's best museums and government buildings, and serves as a central landmark in the city. The bustling square sits at the entrance to Nanjing Road, a popular shopping street.

Shanghai has four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

Spring tends to be mild in Shanghai with temperatures hovering in the 60's and 70's.

Summer tends to be the rainiest season in Shanghai with temperatures hitting the 80's and frequent downpours.

Fall temperatures tend to drop into the 60's and 70's and much less rain falls on the city, making it one of the best times to visit.

Winter in Shanghai gets somewhat cold with temperatures falling into the 40's and 50's, and even dipping down into the 30's at night.

Apps to Download

WeChat : Popular messaging app and a great way to follow restaurants and shops iOs | Android

Alipay : Popular way to pay for things in China iOs | Android

MetroMan Shanghai : App to help travelers navigate the Shanghai subway with a route planner iOs | Android

Dianping : App to read restaurant reviews iOs | Android

Google Translate : App to translate languages through text or by using the camera iOs | Android

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COMMENTS

Shanghai
Shanghai (上海 Shànghǎi) with a population of 25 million (with over 9 million migrants) is the largest and traditionally the most developed metropolis in Mainland China.. Shanghai was the largest and most prosperous city in the Far East during the 1930s. In the past 20 years, it has again become an attractive city for tourists from all over the world.
Shanghai
Shanghai (上海; Zånhae in Shanghainese, Shànghǎi in Mandarin) is the most developed city in China, the country's main center for finance and fashion, and one of the world's most populous and important cities.There are several ways to rate the size of cities; by the one Wikipedia uses, based on UN numbers, Shanghai is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Delhi.
Shanghai
Shanghai [a] is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China.The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowing through it.. The population of the city proper is the third largest in the world, with around 24.87 million inhabitants in 2023, while the urban area is the most populous in China ...
Shanghai for the first-timer
Shanghai is so vast and varied that the only sensible plan is to select a few destinations, historic sites and cultural icons and experience the uniqueness of each one. Unlike Beijing, a royal city for centuries, Shanghai's history is not dramatic. Until the mid-19th century it was just a fishing village. Then it expanded into a trade center, colonized by the British.
Shanghai/Bund
The Bund (外滩; Wàitān) is Shanghai's stately street of old colonial-era buildings and the first port of call for many visitors. Shanghai's Old Town (南市 Nanshi) is located next to the southern part of the Bund.. Understand []. Located on the west bank of the Huangpu River, there are excellent views of Pudong's skyscrapers from the perennially packed promenade of the Bund.
The Top 20 Things to Do in Shanghai
Nanjing Road features historic Chinese sculptures at the "Golden Belt". Read more on Shanghai Shopping - Top Places to Shop for Souvenirs. 11-Day Tour: Beijing - Xi'an - Guilin/Yangshuo - Shanghai Classic Wonders. 6. Stroll around in a Watertown - Zhujiajiao. Zhujiajiao Water Town.
Shanghai Travel China: Facts, Attractions, City Map, Weather, Tips
Shanghai serves as an important air, rail, road and water transport hub in eastern China. The frequent flights, trains and buses make one's travel a breeze. The urban transportation is also quite satisfactory. Despite the traffic jam that do happen occasionally, the convenient taxis, buses, metro trains etc. can take you to any corner of the city.
Shanghai Travel Guide
National Geographic's latest travel stories about Shanghai. Shanghai is the largest commercial and financial center in China, with a fascinating fusion of Eastern and Western cultures.
Shanghai Travel Guide: When to Visit, What to Do & Where to Stay
The shortest travel times to Shanghai from other Chinese destinations include Beijing (4h28m), Guangzhou (6h51m), Hangzhou (45m), Suzhou (22m), and X'ian (5h56m). Travelling by train is also the easiest way to tackle some of the best day trips from Shanghai. Getting around.
Shanghai Guide: Planning Your Trip
Planning Your Trip. Best Time to Visit: Fall is the best time to visit Shanghai. The plum rains (heavy showers) are over, and the weather is temperate with a mix of warm and cool days. Visitors can take advantage of the clear skies to sightsee outdoors, as well as enjoy the views from Shanghai's famous rooftops.
Shanghai Travel Guide: Top Tips, Transportation, Attractions, Food
It takes around 20 minutes to get downtown by metro, and costs between CNY3-5 (US$0.45-0.80). 3. Shanghai Transportation: Trains, Buses, Taxis. Shanghai's extensive public transport system has made getting around the city fuss-free. The most recommended way of getting around Shanghai is via the Shanghai Metro.
Shanghai Travel Guide
Shanghai Travel Guide. Shanghai, Hu for short, also known as Shen, is a multi-cultural metropolis with both modern and traditional chinese features. The city has a status equivalent to a province, and reports directly to the central government. Serving as the largest base of Chinese industrial technology, one of the most important seaports and ...
Shanghai Travel Guide: Things to Do, Best Time to Visit
Top Attractions & Places to Visit in Shanghai. The Bund. Yuyuan Garden. The Shanghai Tower. Shikumen in Xintiandi. French Concession. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall: The Magic City's Future Plan. Discover real reviews of Highlights Travel Family 's best-rated service across trusted platforms.
Shanghai Travel Guide & Tours
Shanghai Private Tours. Shanghai Day Tour. 4-Day Shanghai-Suzhou-Hangzhou Triangle Tour. 3-Day Huangshan and Huizhou Village Tour from Shanghai. Golden Triangle of China - 9 days Beijing, Xian, Shanghai tour. The Classic China Tour - 13 days Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Yangshuo, Shanghai tour.
Shanghai Facts: Basic & Top 10 Things to Know about Shanghai
Top 10 Shanghai Facts You Should Know. 1. China's Largest City. Shanghai is certainly not the largest city in China for its geographical area, but ranks China's largest city in terms of the population. Although its total area is 7,037 square kilometers, ranking the 31st in China, there are over 2,300 thousand people living there, leading to ...
Shanghai Facts
Here are 10 facts you should know before visiting Shanghai. 1. Shanghai is the world's largest city. China is known for its crowds, and Shanghai is possibly the best example of this. Shanghai's city proper population was 24 million people in 2014, and it is continually rising. Shanghai's extensive metro service is necessary to cover its many ...
Shanghai travel
This English traveler ordered a new bike from China - and flew there to cycle home. Jan 15, 2021 • 2 min read. Last year, Josh Reid ordered a new bike from Shanghai. Instead of having it delivered to the UK, he traveled there and cycled all the way home. in partnership with getyourguide.
An expert travel guide to Shanghai
British Embassy: British Consulate General Shanghai, The British Centre, 17F Garden Square, 968 West Beijing Road, 200041 Shanghai (00 86 (0) 21 3279 2000). Foreign Office advice: gov.uk/foreign ...
Free travel guide to Shanghai, China
PUDONG SHANGRI-LA 33 Fu Cheng Road, Pudong, Shanghai (00 86 21 6882 8888; fax: 86 21 6882 6688; www.shangri-la.com). Pudong Shangri-La Hotel is located on the famous Huangpu River, and has lovely views of Shanghai's riverfront - the Bund and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
Shanghai/tour
The Shanghai Club is now the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, 2 Zhongshan Road (The Bund), Huangpu District. 2pm. A few doors down brings you into the hushed vaults of the one of the finest and richest banks in the worlds, The Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, a spectacular example of how a private bank should present itself.
Shanghai Travel Guide
Or, jump on the subway and you'll be in Pudong in a few minutes. 2. Shop on Nanjing Road. You can find beautiful clothes on Nanjing Road. Image by Wxmwxm0612 on Pixabay. Shopping is one of the best things to do in Shanghai, and one of the best places to shop in the city is on Nanjing Road.
Shanghai Travel Guide
Buildings 16 and 18 (daily 10am-6pm; 021 63593923, shanghartgallery.com). One of the first galleries in China to show work by modern Chinese artists, now with a stable of more than forty and a reputation for exciting work. Island 6 Art Centre. Building 6, first floor (daily 10am-7pm; 021 62277856, island6.org).
Shanghai Travel Guide
Courtesy of Fairmont Peace Hotel/Accor. Address: 20 Nanjing Rd. East, Shanghai, 200002 Phone: +1-800-257-7544 (U.S. and Canada) Website. This art deco-designed hotel sits right in the middle of ...

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9. Shanghai is surrounded by ancient water towns.

10 Facts Travelers Should Know About Shanghai

1. Shanghai is the world's largest city.

2. Shanghai is a world finance and cultural center.

3. Shanghai is a transportation powerhouse.

4. Shanghai is close to some beautiful water towns.

5. Shanghai is the most attractive China city for expats.

6. Millions of travelers enjoy Shanghai's top sights each year.

7. Shanghai boasts a fantastic blend of history and modernity.

8. Shanghai's foreign concessions are now foreigner attractions.

9. The best times to visit Shanghai are the middle seasons.

10. Shanghai is now 144-hour visa-free!

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