- When to go
- October 19° · 8 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€price 4 of 5
- How many days
- 3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 12 km Hongqiao · 34 km Pudong
- Right now
Shanghai takes three days: the first for the Bund and Pudong, two banks of the Huangpu a century apart, the second for the old town and the Yu Garden, the third for the French Concession. The garden and the Shanghai Museum are shut on Mondays, so that day goes to the waterfront and the Concession.
The western bank is the Bund, buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the city was carved into foreign concessions. The eastern one is Pudong, mostly farmland until it was allowed to open up in 1990; today it is the Lujiazui financial district. The river lies between them, and metro line 2 crosses it in a single stop.
The French Concession is what keeps you here a third day: a quarter of low houses and cafés with not one compulsory monument, walked rather than ticked off. With only two days, give the first to the Bund and Pudong, and the second to the Yu Garden in the morning and the Concession in the afternoon.
From Pudong airport runs the maglev, the first high-speed magnetic-levitation train in commercial service: thirty kilometres in eight minutes, at no more than 300 km an hour, since the top speed was cut from 431 in 2021. The ticket is €6.40. It does not run to the centre but to Longyang Road station in Pudong, where you change to metro lines 2, 7, 16 or 18 — so count that change into the journey to your hotel.
What to see in Shanghai
The Bund
A 1.6-kilometre promenade along the western bank. Go in the evening, when Pudong lights up across the river; by day it is the same view for no reason.
Pudong and Shanghai Tower
A 632-metre tower, the tallest in China and third in the world; with Jin Mao and the World Financial Center it forms the first trio of supertall towers standing side by side. Check visibility before buying a deck ticket — in smog you are paying for grey.
The Yu Garden
A classical garden of 1559, two hectares of ponds and pavilions in the old town. Open nine to half past four, closed on Mondays; the bazaar around it stays open then, and into the evening.
The French Concession
The concession lasted from 1849 to 1943, and the plane trees that give it its look were planted by the French in 1902 along what is now Huaihai Road. The best part of the city for an afternoon without a plan.
Shanghai Museum
Bronze, ceramics and calligraphy; admission is free, with a passport, and booking is needed only on public holidays and in school breaks. The People's Square building closes on Mondays, the East branch in Pudong on Tuesdays.
Zhujiajiao
A canal town of 36 stone bridges, 48 kilometres from the centre. Metro line 17 runs to the station of the same name, and from there the canals are fifteen to twenty minutes on foot.
Two things you probably did not know
From 2004 to 2021 the maglev from Shanghai to the airport was the fastest passenger train in scheduled service, at 431 kilometres an hour. Since May 2021 it has been capped at 300 and covers the thirty kilometres in eight minutes ten seconds.
Between 1937 and 1941 Shanghai took in around twenty thousand Jewish refugees from Europe, because it was one of the few places in the world that required no visa. The quarter where they lived can still be visited.
Ready for Shanghai?
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