Shanghai, From Someone Who Lives Here: What's Worth It and What Isn't

If you only remember one thing

Do not try to see Shanghai. It has 25 million people spread over an area the size of a small country, and the version of it that people remember is not at the landmarks. Pick two or three neighbourhoods a day and walk them properly.

The single best free thing in the city is the Bund promenade after dark, looking across at Lujiazui. People pay 200 CNY to go up the Shanghai Tower and look down at haze. The view is from the other side of the river, and it costs nothing.

What to skip, and what to do instead

Nanjing Road pedestrian street. Overpriced shops and hard selling. Walk through once for the lights, buy nothing. Instead: Anfu Road and Wukang Road in the former French Concession, where the shops are ones locals actually use.

The Shanghai Tower observation deck. 200 CNY to look at smog most days. Instead: the Bund at night, free, or the Oriental Pearl Tower if you want a glass floor for much less.

The 'old town' around Yu Garden. The garden itself is genuinely beautiful; the rebuilt shopping streets wrapped around it are a trap. Go to the garden early, before the tour groups, and leave when you are done.

AP Plaza, the fake market. The quality collapsed years ago and everything is obviously fake. Instead: Dongtai Road antiques or the weekend flea market in Jing'an.

The four neighbourhoods worth your day

The Bund and Pudong (\u5916\u6ee9 \u00b7 \u6d66\u4e1c). Colonial banking houses on one bank, the skyline on the other. Walk the promenade at night. The rooftop bars charge for a view you can have for free thirty metres away.

The former French Concession (\u6cd5\u79df\u754c). Plane trees, art deco, independent coffee, small shops. Wukang Road and Anfu Road are the spine of it. This is where the city's creative crowd actually lives, and it is the most walkable part of Shanghai.

Jing'an (\u9759\u5b89\u5bfa). Temples next to malls, and the best concentration of food in the centre. Jing'an Sculpture Park is where to sit down when the city gets loud.

Hongkou (\u8679\u53e3). Barely touristed. The old Jewish refugee quarter, noodle shops that have been there for decades, and a completely different register from the polished centre.

Three days, and what to add if you have ten

Day one: the former French Concession on foot in the afternoon, the Bund after dark. Day two: Jing'an and the food around it, then Hongkou if you have energy left. Day three: Yu Garden early, then a train to Suzhou for the afternoon \u2014 it is 25 minutes away.

With ten days, which is what the 240-hour transit rule gives you, the trip changes shape. Hangzhou is 45 minutes by train and West Lake deserves a full day and a night. Zhujiajiao, a water town an hour out by bus, is far less commercialised than Zhouzhuang or Wuzhen. Moganshan is two hours away, bamboo forests and small hotels, and it is where people here go to stop.

Since the 2024 rule change you can also leave the country from a different city than you arrived in. Shanghai to Beijing is four and a half hours by high-speed train, and flying home from there is now allowed on the same permit. That was not possible under the old 144-hour rule and most itineraries online still assume it isn't.

Practical things that catch people out

Almost nothing takes cash, and a foreign card on its own will not buy you a metro ticket. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you arrive; the guides on this site cover the parts that fail with foreign cards.

Taxi drivers do not read English addresses. Have the Chinese written down or on your phone \u2014 the address tool on this site prints one you can hold up.

October and November are the best months, warm with clear air. April and May are good. July and August are brutally hot and humid, and everything shuts for Chinese New Year.