Shanghai Tours

Shanghai is a two-day city that most itineraries give one. The Bund and Pudong can be seen in an afternoon; the neighbourhoods people come back for — the former French Concession, Jing an, the studios in converted factories — need a second day. Add a third and a water town is within an hour.

Two banks, 150 years apart

The Bund is 1.5 km of riverfront and 52 buildings, most of them banks and trading houses put up between 1900 and 1930: neoclassical, art deco, and a customs house clock that still keeps time. Cross the Huangpu and the skyline is thirty years old — Shanghai Tower at 632 m, the second tallest building in the world; the Shanghai World Financial Center at 492 m with a glass floor on the 100th storey; and Jin Mao at 421 m. Book an observation deck for the hour before sunset and you get both the daylight grid of the river and the lights coming on. The 50-minute night cruise is worth doing once.

The neighbourhoods worth the second day

• Former French Concession: plane trees, 1920s villas, Wukang Road and Anfu Road. Best on foot, on a weekday morning, with no plan.
• Jing an Temple: rebuilt in the 1990s but active, with a 15-tonne silver Buddha and a busy courtyard of worshippers.
• M50: galleries in a former cotton mill on Suzhou Creek, free, closed Mondays.
• 1933 Old Millfun: a 1933 slaughterhouse of concrete ramps and bridges, now studios and shops.
• Longhua and Xujiahui: a temple founded in the third century and a red-brick Catholic cathedral, ten minutes apart.

Water towns, and whether to bother

A day trip sees a water town at its worst, because 10:00 to 15:00 is when every coach arrives. One night turns it into a different place: the lanes empty at 17:00 and the town belongs to whoever stayed.

Where to stay

The Bund and Huangpu for the view and the walk to everything; Jing an for the metro interchange and the restaurants; the former French Concession for plane trees and the best coffee in the city. Pudong looks convenient on a map and turns out to be a twenty-minute taxi from the sights you came for.

When to go

Getting in and around

Pudong (PVG) is 30 km east; Hongqiao (SHA) is 13 km west and doubles as the high-speed rail station, which makes it the easier arrival for a city-centre hotel. The maglev from Pudong reaches 431 km/h but stops at Longyang Road, still eight metro stops from the Bund — take it for the experience, not for speed. The metro covers 20 lines with English signage and fares of 3 to 9 yuan. A taxi from Pudong costs roughly 180 to 220 yuan and takes 45 to 70 minutes depending on traffic.

What trips people up

• The Bund at 20:00 is shoulder to shoulder. Go at 06:30 and have the promenade to yourself.
• Nanjing Road is a shopping street, not a sight. Ten minutes is enough.
• The Bund sightseeing tunnel is a fairground ride, not transport.
• River-view rooms cost double. The same view is free from the Pudong side.
• Typhoons cancel flights at a day’s notice between August and mid-September. Build a buffer before an international connection.

We arrange Shanghai as a two- or three-night stay inside longer China journeys, usually with a water town or a run to Suzhou and Hangzhou. Send us your dates and we will price it.