The 16 greatest issues to do in Shanghai, China

China’s most cosmopolitan metropolis, and the third-largest metropolis on Earth, Shanghai is a spot not simply pigeon-holed. With its ultramodern skyline and gleaming neon billboards, this metropolis has advanced like nowhere else in China, but it nestles round a history-steeped core. Shanghai Pudong is the nation’s second busiest airport, making this an ideal first port of name on a visit to the nation previously often known as Zhongguo, the Center Kingdom. 

Shanghai’s neighborhoods have distinctive architectural types, from the tree-lined,  villa-filled French Concession to the resplendent skyscrapers of Pudong, whereas distinguished shikumen (stone-gate homes) could be discovered throughout town. Consuming will inevitably be a giant a part of any go to right here – in a metropolis with greater than 100,000 eating places, you’ll discover excessive requirements and ingenious flavors sourced from the furthest Chinese language provinces and internationally. 

Add with world-class museums, fascinating parks, incense-filled temples and the waterside marvel that’s the Bund, you’ll discover lots to maintain you busy from daybreak to lengthy after nightfall. Whether or not it’s your first journey or your fifth, listed here are the most effective issues to do in Shanghai. 

1. Take Shanghai’s pulse in Folks’s Sq.

Folks’s Sq. (Renmin Guangchang) is considered one of Shanghai’s most iconic assembly locations, the place superbly designed artwork deco buildings sit amongst towering fashionable skyscrapers. Contained in the grand, clock-topped former Basic Submit Workplace Constructing (Shanghai Youzheng Bowuguan) from 1924, you’ll be able to see an outdated mail-train carriage, two outdated submit vans and a mock Qing dynasty mail room. 

Commercial

Housed in a pot-shaped round constructing, full with handles, the Shanghai Museum is about as distinctive as museums get. Inside, over 4 flooring, you’ll be able to view an infinite, uncommon and priceless assortment of cultural objects, from Chinese language work, seals and jade stone carvings to minority costumes, Ming and Qing furnishings, calligraphy and outdated cash. Look out for real-life examples of the ding cooking vessels that impressed the museum’s structure. 

Planning tip: Sky Dome Bar, on the forty sixth flooring of the Radisson Blu Resort Shanghai New World tower, affords traditional cocktails with killer vistas of Folks’s Sq. from above. 

2. Stroll alongside East Nanjing Rd

Beforehand often known as Nanking Rd, this buzzing pedestrianized thoroughfare was as soon as town’s beating coronary heart, with the nation’s first fancy shops opening right here within the Nineteen Twenties. Colonial-era architectural particulars stay above the fashionable shopfronts – look as much as see ornate balconies, detailed plasterwork, elegant columns and stately cupolas. 

By evening, billboards are lit up like a glowing forest of neon. As you method the Huangpu River, the looming towers of Pudong’s futuristic skyline are completely framed between the buildings of East Nanjing Rd. 

Planning tip: At Jinhua Rd, street-food stalls promote scrumptious snacks equivalent to “wolf tooth potato” fries sprinkled with chili, onion and cumin, and octopus on a stick. 

3. Admire the grand structure on the Bund

Monitoring the Huangpu River for 1.5km (0.9 miles), the long-lasting Bund promenade is a parade of awe-inspiring neoclassical, Gothic and baroque facades from the colonial interval, juxtaposed with towering fashionable skyscrapers and severely spectacular views of Pudong. This district was the guts of the British concession when Shanghai was the mainland hub of British commerce in China. 

Should-see buildings embody the Fairmont Peace Resort, initially the Cathay Resort, painstakingly restored to its Nineteen Twenties grandeur in 2010. Cease by the Peace Gallery, filled with artifacts and photos of the glitterati who’ve visited the lodge – from Solar Yatsen to Charlie Chaplin and playwright Noël Coward – or swing into the jazz bar at 7pm for the wonderful home band.

Additionally take a look at the bank-like Home of Roosevelt constructing at No 27, as soon as the headquarters of the opium-trafficking firm Jardine Matheson, and the lion-guarded Financial institution of China constructing from 1935, on the positioning of the outdated German Membership. Then there’s the Customs Home at No 13, styled after London’s Large Ben in 1927. 

Planning tip: For views of the Bund and Pudong collectively, go to the Char restaurant on the Indigo Resort, climb to the terrace on the Captain’s Bar, or eat at swanky Three on the Bund.

4. Take a peculiar journey underneath the Huangpu River

Connecting the Bund and Pudong through a 647m (2123ft) subterranean passageway, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel (Waitan Guanguang Suidao) is likely one of the most comically kitsch and weird experiences available in Shanghai. Climb aboard a pedestrian-only electrical pod for a five-minute journey underneath the Huangpu River, by means of a tunnel illuminated with kaleidoscopic coloured lights as a creepy and suspenseful soundtrack performs. 

Planning tip: Companies depart each quarter-hour or so from about 8am to 10pm, however the journey could also be a bit too scary for smaller kids. 

5. Take a Huangpu River cruise

For probably the greatest views of the neoclassical buildings alongside the Bund and the space-age towers of Pudong, climb aboard a river boat. Huangpu River Cruise affords 45-minute or one-hour boat journeys leaving from the South Bund. In any other case, catch an area commuter ferry from East Zhongshan No 2 Rd, for a similar view for less than a few yuan (US$0.30; ferries run each quarter-hour between 7am and 10pm). 

Planning tip: Boat rides could be bitterly chilly within the winter months, so wrap up heat.

6. Get pleasure from a Michelin-starred feast 

For those who eat only one fancy meal in Shanghai, make it at Three on the Bund, which is full of Michelin-starred eating places. French-Asian fusion restaurant Jean-Georges is headed up by the eponymous famous person French chef, whereas Canton Desk serves dim sum in a tasteful floral-wallpapered Chinese language eating room, full with giant lazy Susans. 

European-style Pop on the Bund occupies the seventh flooring of the constructing, attracting a youthful crowd with retro Miami Seashore-style decor and expansive Pudong skyline views. Uber-cool Italian restaurant Mercato, set in an area with uncovered beams, can be headed by Jean-Georges. 

Planning tip: Those that actually need to impress a date can guide the Cupola, an intimate and hidden personal desk for 2 contained in the constructing’s outdated dome.

Commercial

7. Take a culinary journey by means of Shanghainese delicacies

Shanghai has extra wonderful eating places than you can squeeze right into a lifetime, so it pays to be selective. For an upmarket introduction to Shainghainese meals, guide a desk on the French Concession’s trendy Yongfoo Elite Residence or Jing’an’s Fu 1088, set in a Nineteen Thirties villa crammed with Chinese language antiques. Just a few blocks northeast, the audaciously named Bastard takes Chinese language cooking into hipster territory, with courageous taste mixtures and pure wines. 

For the meals of the folks, head to the French Concession, which is dotted with eating places and meals stalls. Scallion oil noodles are the inventory in commerce of Imperial Noodle Home on Changle Rd, whereas Xiang Cai Ren Jia on North Xiangyang Rd serves tasty scallion oil pancakes with eggs. Strive Jesse on Tianping Rd for Shanghainese dumplings, salted rooster, spicy beef, liquor-soaked crab and braised pork. 

Detour: Simply north of the French Concession, Lai Lai rushes out steaming baskets of Shanghai-style xiaolongbao dumplings with crab; Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant within the Previous Metropolis’s Yuyuan Bazaar can be really useful. 

8. Uncover the story of how Shanghai was constructed

One for structure followers, the five-level Shanghai City Planning Exhibition Corridor follows town’s architectural improvement, from muddy settlement on the Huangpu River to futuristic metropolis, utilizing large fashions, interactive multimedia shows and historic photographs to set the scene. 

The spotlight is a putting scale mannequin of downtown Shanghai occupying an entire room, with each constructing over six tales excessive represented. The first flooring depicts town’s early evolution, from the European colonizers who raised grand towers alongside the Bund to the distinctive shikumen (stone-gate homes) that may be discovered all through town. 

Planning tip: Cease by the small Fifth-floor cafe for superb views over Folks’s Park.

9. Take a wander round Jing’an 

One of many coolest areas within the metropolis, Jing’an sits north of West Nanjing Rd. Its tree-lined streets are much like these within the former French Concession, and lots of bars and eating places have discovered properties amongst Jing’an’s longtang (alleyways). It’s straightforward to spend a day wandering or biking the colourful streets, and sampling the ever-changing consuming and consuming spots.

Additionally right here is the Shanghai Pure Historical past Museum, masking every little thing from the Large Bang and human evolution to dinosaur skeletons and mannequin animatronics. Spiraling like a chambered nautilus shell and topped by a curved garden embankment flanking the Jing’an Sculpture Park, it’s an important cease for households seeking to escape town crush for an hour or two. 

For a style of China’s well-known circus arts, watch bike stunt riders zoom the other way up and gaze in awe as acrobats contort and flip throughout the stage at Shanghai Circus World, a everlasting indoor circus that has been operating since 2005. 

Earlier than you allow, be sure you step inside Jing’an Temple, based in 1216. Through the Cultural Revolution, this holy website was stripped of its statues, reworked right into a plastics manufacturing facility, then destroyed by a hearth, earlier than being restored. Right this moment, it’s a calming Buddhist house filled with incense and Buddhist chants amid the glitzy purchasing malls. 

Planning tip: For those who go to Jiang’an Temple, don’t miss the wonderful, cheap Jen Dow Vegetarian Restaurant on the rear, serving up mushroom-laden noodles in a easy, calm setting.

10. Uncover Shanghai’s inventive facet within the M50 Artwork District

Greater than 100 artists have arrange workspaces within the disused factories and cotton mills often known as M50 (50 Moganshan Rd), situated simply north of Jing’an. Launched by native artist Xue Track in 2000, that is the most important complicated of contemporary artwork galleries in Shanghai and most are open to the general public at no cost. Exhibitions are backed up by edgy road artwork adorning manufacturing facility partitions and disused equipment. 

Should-visit artwork areas embody the fantastic island6 gallery (Constructing 6), which affords provocative and humorous takes on metropolis life, and ShanghART (Constructing 16), specializing in large-sized items. Artwork Know-how Area (Constructing 18) hosts trippy sensory exhibitions, whereas Pata Gallery (Constructing 4) is a good place for Chinese language modern works and Antenna Area (Constructing 17) is all about new media artwork. 

Detour: Set in a repurposed energy plant in Nanshi, the Energy Station of Artwork (Shanghai Dangdai Yishu Bowuguan) hosts enormous installations and impressive rotating exhibitions; it additionally hosts the Shanghai Biennale from November to March. 

11. Discover the French Concession

With leafy tree-lined avenues, Nineteen Twenties mansions and French-influenced structure, this colonial-era neighborhood is the place to search out calm in Shanghai’s swirling metropolis. Its roads are sprinkled with conventional complexes of lane homes, pop-up impartial style boutiques, uberhip cafes, cocktail bars and an ever-rotating line-up of eating places. 

The previous French Concession was energetic between 1849 and 1943, and historic buildings abound. Landmarks to hunt out embody the Italianate, red-brick All Saints’ Church (1925), the previous residence of Chinese language painter Liu Haisu, the common-or-garden residence utilized by “father of contemporary China” Solar Yatsen from 1918 to 1924, and the luxurious artwork deco Cathay Theatre from 1932. 

To pattern the district’s distinctive shikumen structure, with townhouse-lined longtang lanes reached by means of arched gateways, head to Tianzifang, constructed within the Nineteen Thirties and nonetheless crammed with lived-in properties, artwork studios, craft shops, hole-in-the-wall bars and little cafes and tea outlets. 

Planning tip: Whereas exploring, pop into the Vintage Backyard Shanghai, an atmospheric backyard cafe set in an outdated home decked out with an eclectic assortment of classic trinkets, furnishings, birdcages and outdated magazines. 

12. Soak within the ambiance of Previous Shanghai

Identified to locals as Nanshi, that means “Southern Metropolis,” this Sixteenth-century district was the middle of Chinese language Shanghai earlier than the Europeans arrived, and a hub for political exercise by locals through the colonial interval. Though a lot of the Previous Metropolis has been torn down and changed by fashionable developments, there are nonetheless charmingly scruffy small lanes with authentic structure. 

The spotlight right here is the Yuyuan Gardens & Bazaar, with snaking pathways, flower-filled gardens, historic pavilions and koi-filled ponds. Nanshi can be a very good space to hunt out conventional Shanghainese dishes from dumplings to hand-pulled noodles, together with on the well-known Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse at Yuyuan Gardens, a museum-piece from 1784. 

Nanshi additionally has an fascinating scattering of temples – inside strolling distance of one another, you’ll discover the fashionable Taoist Baiyin Temple and Buddhist Fazangjiang Temple and the historic Confucius Temple, based in 1294 however relocated to this website in 1855. On the ??Dajing Pavilion, you’ll be able to see a preserved part of Shanghai’s Sixteenth-century partitions. 

13. Climb Pudong’s sky-piercing towers

Pudong, the place most worldwide guests arrive into Shanghai, is the place town places on its futuristic face. Well-known for its neck-craning riverside skyscrapers, from the bottle-opener-shaped Shanghai World Monetary Heart (492m/1614ft) to the spiral-shaped Shanghai Tower (632m/2073ft), Pudong affords guests a peek at China’s architectural future. 

The must-climb tower is, after all, the tripod-like, 468m-tall (1535ft) Oriental Pearl TV Tower, trying like a youngsters’ meeting block creation on the east financial institution of the river. There are two primary viewing galleries – the Center Ball at 263m (863ft), providing 360-degree views of town, and the Clear Observatory at 259m (850ft), with its vertiginous round see-through walkway. 

Your ticket will even provide you with entry to the Shanghai Historical past Museum on the bottom flooring, which outlines town’s dramatic evolution. Close by, you’ll be able to ascend the pagoda-like, 420.5m-tall (1380ft) Jinmao Tower, as soon as China’s tallest constructing, for spectacular views from the swanky Membership Jin Mao restaurant and Cloud 9 bar on the tower’s Grand Hyatt lodge. Alternatively, go to the commentary deck on the 88th flooring and take a skywalk exterior the constructing. 

Detour: Whenever you’ve had your fill of high-rises, head to Century Park – Shanghai’s largest – the place manicured lawns and patches of forest circle a peaceful lake, offering an escape from town hubbub. 

14. Go to Shanghai Disneyland

Perpetually busy Shanghai Disneyland is notably cheaper than the Disneylands in Paris and Orlando, and a lot of the sights could be loved by non-Chinese language audio system, although the exceptional Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure journey is narrated in Chinese language. One other spotlight is the severely quick and uberfuturistic TRON curler coaster, which accelerates to 95km/h (59mph). The park has eight themed lands, plus Disney’s biggest-ever Enchanted Storybook Citadel.

Planning tip: Get right here the straightforward approach on Shanghai Metro Line 11, disembarking at Disney Resort Station.

15. Discover the leisure district of Xintiandi

Xintiandi is an extremely fashionable rejuvenated district that was the primary assembly place of the Nationwide Communist Get together. Right this moment, it’s a cluster of prettified streets modeled on conventional longtang, occupied by upmarket eating places, cafes and boutique outlets. Take afternoon tea on the Peninsula Boutique & Cafe or have a traditional French-bistro meal at Polux by Paul Pairet. 

Search for when wandering the alleys of Xintiandi to admire the shikumen gateways that outline this neighborhood. The extravagant three-story mansion at One Xintiandi was in-built 1925, with stone balustrades and Roman-style latticework. Don’t neglect to go to the Web site of the first Nationwide Congress of the Chinese language Communist Get together, with its oath-taking corridor and museum chronicling the latest historical past of Shanghai. 

16. Tour Pudong’s artwork museums 

Regardless of the high-tech setting, Pudong has loads of time for the humanities. The Museum of Artwork Pudong has six flooring of exhibition halls displaying works from conventional folks arts to Chinese language fashionable artwork. The China Artwork Museum is housed contained in the exceptional crimson pyramid of the World Expo China Pavilion; its galleries present fashionable works, with a everlasting Chinese language assortment. The Aurora Museum is the place for historic Chinese language treasures, from porcelain to Buddhist sculptures, together with a exceptional burial swimsuit made from tiny jade panels. 

This text was tailored from the China guidebook printed in August 2025.