When to go to Shanghai?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: March to May and September to November
At a glance
Why go to Shanghai?
Shanghai is the city where China opened up to the world, twice. The first time was in 1843, when the foreign concessions raised the banks of the Bund along the Huangpu, the villas of the French Concession and the shikumen of the working-class districts. The second was in 1990, when Pudong, still rice paddies, received within thirty years the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai Tower, 632 m. The two cities face each other across the river, and the ferry between them costs 2 CNY.
It is also the easiest Chinese city for a first trip. The metro has 20 lines and 500 stations, signposted in English, and reaches Pudong airport in an hour. The streets of the old concession are walked in the shade of plane trees, the museums are free with a reservation, and the café and restaurant scene has nothing to envy Tokyo or London. You pay for everything by QR code with a foreign card linked to Alipay, and the high-speed train puts Hangzhou 45 minutes away and Suzhou 25.
Shanghai is as much for eating as for sightseeing. The xiaolongbao of the Yu Garden, crisp shengjianbao at breakfast, red-braised pork and hairy crabs from October to November make up a sweet, mellow cuisine, quite different from that of Sichuan or Canton. The scallion pancake sellers open at 6:00, the Jing'an brasseries close at 2:00 in the morning, and you can dine for €5 or for €150 on the same street.
Map of Shanghai: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- The Bund
- Lujiazui
- Yu Garden
- French Concession
- People's Square
- Zhujiajiao
How much does a trip to Shanghai cost?
Shanghai is the most expensive city in China, but it remains affordable: the metro costs less than €1, street meals €2 to 3, and most of the major sights, the Bund, the museums and the French Concession, are free. It is the hotel and evening restaurants that make the bill vary tenfold.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €40-60/day | Hostel or Chinese chain hotel, xiaolongbao and canteens, metro and bike, the Shanghai Tower as the only paid sight |
| Comfort | €90-150/day | Boutique hotel in the concession, benbang restaurants and brunches, a Huangpu cruise, a day in Suzhou or Zhujiajiao |
| Premium | €300+/day | Grand hotel on the Bund, fine dining on the Bund, a bar at the top of the Pudong towers, a private driver for the delta |
The yuan is worth about €0.13, or 7.5 to 8 CNY to €1. The city runs almost without cash: link a Visa or Mastercard to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you leave, as both apps accept foreign cards for QR code payments, the metro and Didi taxis. Keep 300 to 500 CNY in notes, withdrawn from Bank of China or ICBC cash machines, for markets and small neighbourhood restaurants.
Is Shanghai safe?
Shanghai is a safe city, where you can get around at any hour without worry on the metro and in the streets, under ubiquitous cameras. Incidents mainly involve tourist scams: an invitation from strangers on Nanjing Road to a tea ceremony or a bar, which ends with a bill of several hundred euros, and fake taxis outside the airport. Politely decline and order your cars through Didi. Cross with care, as silent electric scooters ride on the pavements and ignore traffic lights. In summer the humid heat tops 35°C, and typhoons in August and September can suspend flights and trains for 24 to 48 hours. Keep your passport on you, as it is requested at stations, museums and hotels, and notify your bank before departure, since foreign cards are sometimes blocked on the first transaction on Alipay. The international hospitals in Pudong and Jing'an are of a good standard but expensive, so travel insurance remains essential.
What to see and do in Shanghai
- The Bund
- Shanghai Tower
- Yu Garden
- Former French Concession and Wukang Road
- Tianzifang
- Shanghai Museum
- Zhujiajiao
- Jade Buddha Temple
The Bund and Nanjing Road
The Bund remains the starting point: 52 buildings from 1900 to 1937 lined up facing Pudong, a raised promenade where the whole city comes to photograph the towers in the evening, and the Peace Hotel, formerly the Cathay, where a jazz band whose musicians are all past 80 has played since 1980. Nanjing Road runs west at right angles for 5 km, pedestrianised along its eastern stretch, with 1930s department stores and today's big brands. Behind the Bund, Sichuan Road and its period office blocks are quieter, with red-brick façades and open Art Deco lobbies.
Lujiazui and Pudong
The financial district built since 1990 on the east bank of the Huangpu holds the city's three tallest towers: Jin Mao (421 m, 1999), the World Financial Center (492 m, 2008) and the Shanghai Tower (632 m, 2015). The Oriental Pearl, a 1994 television tower, stands at the water's edge with a museum of city history at its base. Get there by ferry, metro line 2 or the sightseeing tunnel. The Binjiang promenade, opposite the Bund, offers the reverse view. Further south, the Shanghai Museum East opened in 2024.
Old Town and Yu Garden
The Chinese city that predated the concessions lay within the oval traced by today's Renmin and Zhonghua roads, whose ramparts were torn down in 1912. What remains is the Yu Garden, from 1559, the City God Temple, the bazaar rebuilt in Ming style around the Huxinting teahouse, and a few lanes to the south, towards Dajing Road, where low houses survive. It is the busiest district in the city, but also the one where you eat Nanxiang xiaolongbao standing in the queue, and where the Lantern Festival, in February, lasts three weeks.
Former French Concession
The most pleasant district on foot: 10 km² of streets lined with plane trees, brick villas, Art Deco apartment blocks and lilong estates, lanes of shikumen closed off by a gate. Wukang Road and its prow-shaped building of 1924, Anfu Road and its cafés, Fuxing Road and its bookshops, Fuxing Park and its tango dancers make up a morning. Xintiandi, to the east, has rebuilt shikumen for luxury brands around the site of the first Communist Party congress, in 1921, while Tianzifang has kept its residents. In the evening, Yongkang and Julu roads take over.
People's Square and Jing'an
The old racecourse of 1862 became People's Square, home to the Shanghai Museum, the Grand Theatre and the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, whose 1:500 scale model of the city fills an entire floor. At weekends the neighbouring park hosts the marriage market, where parents display the CVs of their single children on umbrellas. To the west, Jing'an lines up the temple of the same name, rebuilt in the 2000s with its golden roofs amid the towers, then Jing'an Park and the shopping malls of West Nanjing Road. The Jade Buddha Temple is a 20-minute walk to the north.
Zhujiajiao and the water towns
50 km to the west, Zhujiajiao is the most accessible water town of the Yangtze Delta, at the end of metro line 17: 36 stone bridges, including the Fangsheng Bridge of 1571, lanes of Ming and Qing houses, boats on the canals and the Kezhi Garden. The neighbouring water towns take more time but are less crowded: Tongli and Zhouzhuang, in Jiangsu, 1 hour 30 by bus; Wuzhen, in Zhejiang, restored as a living museum with its indigo dyeing workshops; and Suzhou, 25 minutes by train, with its UNESCO-listed gardens and its museum designed by I. M. Pei.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Three days cover the Bund, Pudong, the Yu Garden and the Former French Concession. Four or five days add Zhujiajiao or Suzhou, the Shanghai Museum and an evening of jazz. A week lets you pair it with Hangzhou and its West Lake, 45 minutes away by train.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Shanghai guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of China
Shanghai in 3 days
Day 1: the Bund at 7:00 with the tai chi, the Old Town and the Yu Garden, Nanxiang xiaolongbao, then Pudong by ferry and the Shanghai Tower at sunset. Day 2: the Former French Concession on foot or by bike, Wukang Road, Anfu Road, Fuxing Park, lunch in Tianzifang, Xintiandi in the late afternoon, bars on Yongkang Road. Day 3: the Shanghai Museum with a reservation, Jing'an Temple, the Jade Buddha Temple, an evening cruise on the Huangpu from Shiliupu Wharf.
Shanghai and the delta (5 days)
The three days in the centre, then a day in Zhujiajiao on metro line 17, on a weekday, with a boat on the canals and a return via Hongqiao. On the fifth day, the train to Suzhou, 25 minutes from Shanghai or Hongqiao station: the Master of the Nets Garden, the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Suzhou Museum, canalside Pingjiang Road, back in the evening. This format works all year round except in June, during the plum rains, and leaves time for a morning's shopping or a second visit to the Bund.
Shanghai and Hangzhou (1 week)
Five days in Shanghai and the delta, then two days in Hangzhou by high-speed train, 45 minutes to 1 hour from Hongqiao. Once there, a loop of West Lake by bike (15 km), the Longjing tea plantations in the hills of Meijiawu, Lingyin Temple and its carved grottoes, and Hefang Street in the evening. Return to Shanghai the day before your flight, or fly direct from Hangzhou. Between late March and mid-April, West Lake is in bloom and Shanghai is emerging from winter: it is the best window for this loop.
Getting there and getting around
The metro has 20 lines, runs from about 5:30 to 23:00 and costs 3 to 9 CNY a journey. You pay with the QR code of the Metro Daduhui app linked to Alipay, or with a transport card bought at a station. Taxis, with a 16 CNY flag fall, can be ordered through Didi, which has an English interface.
HelloBike and Meituan shared bikes, 1.5 CNY per half hour, cover the whole city and unlock via Alipay. The old concession, the Bund and Jing'an are easily explored this way; the pavements are wide and cycle lanes run along all the main roads.
High-speed trains leave from Hongqiao, connected to Terminal 2 of the airport of the same name: Suzhou in 25 minutes, Hangzhou in 45 minutes, Nanjing in 1 hour, Beijing in 4 hours 30. Tickets are bought on the Railway 12306 app or Trip.com with your passport, which serves as your ticket at the gates.
Where to stay in Shanghai?
Hostels and small hotels near the Bund and People's Square: €12 to 20 for a dorm bed, €35 to 60 for a double room. The Chinese chains Jinjiang Inn, Hanting and Atour offer clean, predictable rooms for €40 to 70, often a stone's throw from a metro station.
Boutique hotels in the Former French Concession and Jing'an: €90 to 180 a night in restored villas or 1930s buildings, with a courtyard and breakfast. It is the most pleasant category for heading out on foot in the evening and having breakfast in a café on Anfu Road.
Grand hotels on the Bund and in Pudong: €250 to 600 a night for the Peace Hotel of 1929, the Peninsula, the Waldorf Astoria or the Lujiazui towers with a pool on the 50th floor. Rates drop markedly on weekdays and outside trade fairs, when the city is fully booked.
Rental apartments in the lilong of the concession or the towers of Xuhui: €60 to 120 a night, practical for a week and for cooking produce from the markets. Check that the property registers foreign guests with the police, a legal obligation within 24 hours of arrival.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Shanghai?
Xiaolongbao, steamed pork dumplings with a jelly that melts into broth, are the city's signature dish. Nanxiang, at the Yu Garden, has served them since 1900 with a permanent queue; Jia Jia Tang Bao, on Huanghe Road, makes them by hand and closes when it sells out. Allow €2 to 5 for twelve.
Breakfast is eaten on the street: shengjianbao, pork buns pan-fried until golden and sprinkled with sesame, at Yang's Fried Dumplings; jianbing, an egg crêpe rolled around a crispy cracker; congee and youtiao fritters. €1 to 3 for a full meal before 9:00.
Shanghainese cooking, known as benbang, loves sugar and soy sauce: red-braised pork belly (hongshaorou), sweet and sour mandarin fish, stir-fried river shrimp, scallion oil noodles. Hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake are eaten from October to December, steamed and served with ginger vinegar, for €15 to 40 each.
The rest of China and the world can be eaten here: Sichuan hotpot in Jing'an, Cantonese dim sum, Japanese tables on Wuyi Road, brunches in the old concession. The Michelin-starred restaurants of the Bund serve set menus at €150 to 300, but a good dinner can be found everywhere for €15 to 30 a head.
Entry requirements
Until 31 December 2026, UK, Canadian, Australian and most EU passports (not Czech or Lithuanian) enter visa-free for up to 30 days. US citizens need a visa, unless they qualify for the 240-hour visa-free transit with a confirmed onward ticket to a third country.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Shanghai
When is the best time to visit Shanghai?
April to May and October to November: temperatures of 18 to 25°C, clearer skies, and hairy crabs in autumn. June is the month of the plum rains, July and August top 35°C with high humidity, and winter stays grey at 5 to 10°C. Avoid Golden Week, from 1 to 7 October, and Lunar New Year, when the sights are packed and prices double.
How many days should I plan?
Three days are enough for the Bund, Pudong, the Yu Garden, the old concession and a museum. Five days allow for a water town such as Zhujiajiao and a day in Suzhou by train. A week adds Hangzhou and its West Lake, 45 minutes away by high-speed train, which makes for a complete, car-free first trip to China.
How do I pay and get online there?
Almost everything is paid by QR code: install Alipay before you leave and link a Visa or Mastercard to it, which covers shops, the metro, Didi taxis and bikes. For the internet, a VPN installed before your flight or an international eSIM (Airalo, Holafly) gives access to Google, WhatsApp and Instagram, which are blocked on Chinese networks. Wifi in international hotels is filtered too.
How do I get to the centre from Pudong airport?
Metro line 2 links Pudong directly to People's Square in 1 hour for 7 CNY, with a change of train at Guanglan Road. The Maglev takes 8 minutes to Longyang Road for 50 CNY, followed by 20 minutes on the metro. An official taxi, taken from the rank, costs 170 to 200 CNY and takes 50 minutes to 1 hour 15 depending on traffic. Hongqiao airport, closer to the centre, handles only domestic flights and a few Asian routes.
Similar destinations
City🇹🇷 Istanbul
City🇲🇦 Marrakech
City🇯🇵 Tokyo
City🇨🇦 Montreal and Quebec City
Country🇰🇷 South Korea
City🇨🇴 Cartagena
City🇫🇷 Strasbourg
City🇫🇷 Avignon
City🇹🇷 Bodrum
City