Shanghai travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Shanghai, planned over three days
Best time to visit Shanghai
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring blossom and mild weather; April to May is ideal for Concession walking and water towns, avoiding May 1 to 5.
Plum rain season of drizzle, humidity and grey skies; tower and lake views suffer most.
Hot and humid furnace weather with typhoon risk and the worst Disney crowds.
Cooling slowly with a typhoon tail that drops sharply after mid September.
Best season: drier, clearer and 15 to 22 degrees, with hairy crab and art fairs; avoid October 1 to 7.
Damp cold and short grey days, but fewest crowds and cheapest rooms outside Chinese New Year.
What's on
- Labour Day Golden Week 1-5 May
Floods every sight; the weeks either side are the value window.
- National Day Golden Week 1-7 October
The worst crowding and pricing of the year.
- Hairy crab season October-November
Females best in October, males in November; crab menus book out on weekends.
- Rolex Shanghai Masters early October
Tennis at Qizhong worth timing a trip around.
- Shanghai International Arts Festival October-November
Major autumn arts festival across the city.
- West Bund Art & Design and ART021 November
The contemporary art week peak on the West Bund.
- Shanghai Marathon late November / early December
City marathon in the peak autumn window.
- Yu Garden Lantern Festival January / February, around Spring Festival
The old city lit for weeks around Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Shanghai
The Bund
Colonial waterfront facing the Lujiazui skyline, best seen at dawn and again lit up after dark.
Former French Concession
Plane tree avenues, villas and shikumen lanes made for slow wandering between cafes and boutiques.
Yu Garden
Ming dynasty classical garden of pavilions, rockeries and zigzag bridges, finest right at opening.
Shanghai City God Temple
Active temple beside Yu Garden that pairs naturally with the garden in the old city.
Shanghai Tower
China's tallest tower, with a 118th floor deck over the river bend on a clear day.
Shanghai Museum
The classic bronzes, ceramics and calligraphy collection, free with a real name reservation.
Shanghai Museum East
The larger, newer museum site opened in 2024, now the easier full collection visit.
Power Station of Art
Converted power plant hosting the Shanghai Biennale, with most exhibitions free or cheap.
Where to stay in Shanghai
Former French Concession
first trip, all-round base, food-led trips
Leafy, walkable and cafe dense, with metro access and the Shanghai people actually live in.
The Bund / Nanjing East
first, short trip
The view and the icons, walkable to Yu Garden and the ferries, at the highest room rates.
Jing'an
modern-central compromise
Temple hub with the best international dining and bars, 15 minutes to the Concession and Bund.
Xintiandi / South Huangpu
nightlife-led stays
Shikumen dining district walkable to the Concession and Yu Garden, boutique heavy and lively late.
Pudong / Lujiazui
business, points and tower views
Superb luxury hotels and the towers at your door, but corporate and quiet at street level at night.
People's Square
transport value
The metro interchange hub with the museum on the square and rates below Bund prices.
Think twice about
- Pudong Airport perimeter
Layover functional only, about an hour or more from Puxi with nothing to walk to at night.
- Hongqiao Airport perimeter
Layover functional only and not a base for sightseeing in central Shanghai.
- Shanghai Disney Resort area, Chuansha
Fine for a Disney night, but as a city base it strands you an hour east of the main sights.
- Deep Lujiazui tower blocks
Not unsafe, just dead at street level after office hours with a daily river crossing to Puxi sights.
Best restaurants in Shanghai
Taian Table
Three star counter restaurant where a changing tasting menu is cooked around you.
Fu He Hui
Two star vegetarian tasting menus of mushrooms, tofu and seasonal vegetables with real rigour.
Ren He Guan
Refined one star Shanghainese banquet cooking in a nostalgic 1930s style room.
Jesse Restaurant
Old school Shanghainese cooking in a tiny room: red braised pork, scallion fish and the sweet, rich benbang classics.
Canton 8
Two star Cantonese dim sum and roast meats at prices close to a mid range lunch.
Lai Lai Xiaolong
Tiny shop for handmade pork and hairy crab soup dumplings that locals queue for.
Jia Jia Tang Bao
Dumplings pleated to order with paper thin wrappers in an eight seat room.
Yang's Dumpling
Pan fried shengjianbao with crisp sesame bottoms and juicy pork, consistent across the city.
Outdoor things to do in Shanghai
Suzhou
Classical gardens, canals and the I.M. Pei museum, just 30 minutes by high speed train.
Hangzhou
West Lake causeways, Lingyin Temple and Longjing tea villages in one long day trip.
Zhujiajiao Ancient Town
Closest water town, reached by metro, with canals, 36 stone bridges and Kezhi Garden.
Huangpu River Riverside Path
Flat connected riverside paths on both banks for cycling with the skyline the whole way.
Chongming Island
Flat farm roads, wetlands and forest park for cycling in Shanghai's countryside island.
Sheshan
Shanghai's only real hill, topped by a basilica and observatory above Songjiang old town.
Sheshan International Golf Club
Prestige Nelson and Haworth course and former HSBC Champions host, essentially private access.
Shanghai International Golf & Country Club
More bookable Robert Trent Jones Jr. course by Dianshan Lake, pairing well with Zhujiajiao.
Best hotels in Shanghai
Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li
All villa shikumen estate in quiet 1930s lanes, the Concession splurge stay.
Radisson Collection Hotel, Xing Guo Shanghai
Low rise villa hotel in big gardens in the heart of the Concession.
Jinjiang Inn Hengshan Road
Clean domestic chain room inside the Concession itself, close to the metro.
Hanting Hotel Hengshan Road
Budget domestic chain option in the Hengshan and Zhaojiabang cluster in the Concession.
Fairmont Peace Hotel
The 1929 Art Deco icon on the Bund, with the Old Jazz Band and the river two minutes away.
Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund
Heritage Bund building plus modern tower, with the Long Bar and river views.
Conrad Shanghai
Polished international rooms over Xintiandi and Taipingqiao Park, a walk to the Concession and the shikumen dining lanes.
Shanghai Marriott Marquis City Centre
Newer polished international rooms near Nanjing Road and a short walk from the Bund.
Is Shanghai expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥600 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥1,450 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥3,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Yu Garden: a few days ahead
- Shanghai Tower: a few days ahead
- Shanghai Museum: a few days ahead
- Shanghai Museum East: a few days ahead
- Lost Plate Shanghai Food Tour: a few days ahead
- UnTour Food Tours Shanghai: a few days ahead
- Shanghai Disneyland: weeks ahead
- ERA2 Shanghai Circus World: a few days ahead
- Trains to Suzhou and Hangzhou sell out at peaks; book on Trip.com or 12306 as soon as dates are set.
- Shanghai Tower, Disney and Shanghai Museum East are real name or app booked; museum weekend slots go days ahead.
- Taian Table and Fu He Hui need weeks ahead; Ren He Guan and Jesse need days ahead for dinner.
- Golden Week rooms should be booked cancellable months ahead.
Is Shanghai safe?
- Shanghai is very safe for violent crime and walking at night in central areas is normal, including for solo women.
- Watch e-bike and delivery scooter traffic; they do not yield on green.
- Emergency numbers are 110 police, 119 fire and 120 ambulance.
- Check air quality on winter haze days and treat a high PM day as a museum day.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Shanghai travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Never follow a stranger to a tea ceremony, tea festival, bar, massage or student art venue they choose.
- Skip the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel; take the metro or the ferry for the same crossing.
- Photograph Oriental Pearl Tower from the Bund instead of climbing it; Shanghai Tower is the better deck.
- Avoid cheap Delta bus combos with silk, jade and tea factory shopping stops; Suzhou is 30 minutes by train.
- Do not pay Yuyuan Bazaar first prices for souvenirs, and eat at Nanxiang upstairs knowingly if at all.
Getting around Shanghai: public transport and more
- Metro is the answer to almost everything: 20 lines, cheap, English signed, reaching both airports and day trip stations.
- Link a foreign card to Alipay and WeChat Pay before departure for metro, ferries, bikes, food and DiDi.
- DiDi beats street taxis with upfront prices and the address in text; carry your passport for sights, trains and hotels.
- Pudong Airport is fastest via Maglev plus metro or DiDi; Hongqiao is a direct metro ride into Puxi.
Who Shanghai suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Shanghai your trip
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