Shanghai, China
Things to Do in Shanghai: A Plan You Can Actually Follow
Spend three full days. Day 1: the Bund at golden hour, Yu Garden in the morning, Nanjing Road in the evening. Day 2: Shanghai Tower's 118th-floor deck, the Former French Concession on foot, Tianzifang. Day 3: Zhujiajiao water town (about 50 minutes out) or the Shanghai Museum if it rains. Book the Shanghai Tower deck and the Yu Garden ticket online before you go; everything else is walk-up. The city runs on the metro — 17 lines, cheap, and faster than any car.
Spend 3 days in this order
The mistake most first-timers make is splitting the Pudong skyline and the old town across different days so they burn an hour each way twice. Keep the river as your spine and you barely backtrack.
Day 1 — the river and the old city
- Morning: Yu Garden as soon as it opens (around 8:30). The tour buses unload after 9:30, and the narrow lanes are calm for the first hour.
- Late afternoon: Walk Nanjing Road east toward the river, then cross to the Bund for the golden-hour light. The promenade fills by 7 PM, so arrive 30 minutes early.
- Evening: Huangpu River cruise from the Jinling Road or Shiliupu pier — the skyline lit up is the shot everyone came for.
Day 2 — up high and the leafy west
- Afternoon: Shanghai Tower 118th-floor deck. Book the 4 PM slot so you see daylight, sunset, and the lights coming on in one visit.
- Late afternoon: Former French Concession on foot — Wukang Road is the spine, with 1930s villas and café terraces. No ticket, no reservation, just shoes.
- Evening: Tianzifang, a maze of lanes with tiny studios and snack stalls. Go on a weekday morning if you hate crowds; evenings are livelier.
Day 3 — out of the center
- Half day: Zhujiajiao water town. Free to enter; pay only for the boat ride. About 50 minutes out on Metro Line 17.
- Rain plan: Shanghai Museum (free, but you must reserve a timed slot) — three floors of bronzes and ceramics, closed Mondays.
Book these ahead (the rest are walk-up)
Two sights sell out or queue badly without a pre-booking. Everything else you can decide on the day.
- Shanghai Tower, 118th-floor deck — about ¥180. Book a timed slot online; the only way to skip the line is a pre-booked time. The elevator runs at 18 m/s and your ears may pop.
- Yu Garden — about ¥40 peak (April–June, September–November), ¥30 off-season. Buy online and you walk past the bus-tour queue. You need your passport for the real-name check.
- Huangpu River cruise — ¥80 to ¥150. Book the evening sailing the same day; the 7 PM departures sell out first on weekends.
- Shanghai Maglev — ¥50 one way. Not a "booking," but ride it from Pudong airport at least once: 8 minutes to the city at 300 km/h.
- Shanghai Museum — free, but reserve. Timed entry, passport required, closed Mondays. Reserve the 9 AM slot and head to the top floor before the groups arrive.
Most major sights in Shanghai now use real-name reservation with your passport. If a listing says "reserve," do it before you leave the hotel — the Chinese-only mini-programs are painful to fight with on the spot.
The anchors, and how long each takes
| Stop | Cost | Time needed | Why it earns a slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bund | Free | 1.5 hours | The postcard view of Pudong's towers across the river. Best at sunrise or just before the lights. |
| Yu Garden | ¥40 peak / ¥30 off | 2 hours | The best-preserved classical garden in the city, right next to the City God Temple bazaar. |
| Shanghai Tower | ~¥180 | 1.5 hours | Highest observation deck in China, 546 m up, 360° panorama. Go late afternoon. |
| Oriental Pearl | ¥120–¥220 | 1.5 hours | The older landmark tower; pick it over Shanghai Tower only if you want the see-through glass-floor capsule. |
| Nanjing Road | Free | 1–2 hours | Busiest pedestrian street in China. One evening of sensory overload is enough. |
| Former French Concession | Free | 3 hours | Tree-lined villas, Wukang Mansion, Anfu Road. The real Shanghai neighborhood feel. |
| Tianzifang | Free | 2 hours | Lanes of studios, cafés, and street food. Get lost on purpose. |
| Zhujiajiao | Free entry; boat extra | 4–5 hours | "Venice of Shanghai," 1,700 years old, 50 minutes out. Boat ride under stone bridges is the part worth paying for. |
| Shanghai Museum | Free (reserve) | 2–3 hours | World-class bronze and ceramic collections. Closed Mondays. |
A fourth day, or if you've been before
- Shanghai Disneyland (Pudong, ~1.5 hours out). A full day. Adult 1-day ticket runs about ¥433, child about ¥309. Skip it if you've done another Disney park; the castle and the TRON coaster are the highlights.
- Deeper art day. The former French Concession plus Jing'an Temple and the riverside West Bund galleries — a slower, local-paced day with better food than the tourist core.
- Second water town. If Zhujiajiao felt rushed, a return trip with the boat and a lakeside lunch is a gentler use of a fourth day than stacking on more towers.
Don't try to add Suzhou as a "Shanghai day." It's a separate city with its own page and its own plan — give it a night if you can.
How to get around
- Metro first. 17 lines cover nearly everything. A single ride is ¥3–¥10. Get a metro card or use the local transit app; it's faster than any car in rush hour.
- Airport to city. Pudong (PVG): Maglev to Longyang Road in 8 minutes (¥50) then metro, or Metro Line 2 all the way for ¥7 in 40–50 minutes. Hongqiao (SHA) is already on the metro lines — 30 minutes to the center.
- Don't drive. Parking in the old town and around the Bund is a nightmare, and the metro beats traffic every time. Use Didi only for late nights or the airport.
First-timer notes that save money and time
- Tea-ceremony scam on the Bund. Friendly strangers who invite you to a "traditional tea ceremony" lead to a hard-sell bill. Say no, keep walking.
- "Art gallery" trap in the French Concession. A similar routine: a free invite, then a surprise charge. Real galleries don't recruit you on the street.
- Mondays close museums. Shanghai Museum and most municipal museums shut on Monday (except public holidays). Plan your week around that, not the other way.
- Book the high decks online. Shanghai Tower and Oriental Pearl both sell timed slots; walk-up means a long queue or a sold-out sign.
- Passport for reservations. Real-name booking means the passport you reserve with is the one checked at the door.
Best time to go
- March–May and September–November are the sweet spots — 15–25°C, clear skies, and the parks at their best. April–May brings spring green; October is crisp autumn.
- Skip July–August if you can: 30°C-plus, humid, and the occasional typhoon rain. Crowds are also at their yearly peak.
- January–February is cold and dry — fewer tourists and cheaper rooms, but grey and bare.
- Avoid the two big holiday weeks: National Day (Oct 1–7) and May Day (May 1–5). The Bund and Yu Garden turn into shoulder-to-shoulder surges.