Photo: King of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.04 Days in Shanghai: Icons, Old Lanes & the Pudong Skyline
Four days in Shanghai for first-timers: the Bund at night and a Huangpu river cruise, Yu Garden and the Old City's snack streets, the French Concession's lanes, cafes and villas, and a deep-dive day in Pudong's museums and skyscraper decks. Answer a few questions and the plan re-plans itself around how you travel — your pace, your budget, your stops.
Pick a style, a budget and a pace — the route and days below re-plan themselves.
12 stops · 8 meals · 1 hotelThis is the editor’s pick.
4 days
Each day takes one part of Shanghai, kept close so you walk more than you ride. The map shows the whole route — pick a day to zoom in.
A free museum on the second floor of the 1924 Baroque General Post Office, with the Large Dragon stamps and a Penny Black. Open Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Nearly 150 years old and still the benchmark for classic Benbang Shanghainese: sweet, rich, soy-braised dishes in a grand old hall on Fuyou Road, a short walk from Yu Garden.
Closer: Mr & Mrs Bund, right on your way
A time-honored pastry and dim sum shop on Sichuan Road — buttery sesame cakes, rice balls and festival mooncakes since the 19th century. Use the takeaway counter.
Walk the 1.5-km promenade after dark, when the colonial banks glow on one side and the Pudong towers light up on the other. Free, open around the clock; get off the metro at East Nanjing Road and walk east ten minutes.
- Open 24 hours and free — go after dark, when the Pudong side is lit up.
- Shen Dacheng's buttery sesame cakes and rice balls are three minutes off the promenade — grab them as a walking snack.
China's first all-steel bridge (1907): a 107-meter truss linking the Bund to the North Bund across Suzhou Creek. Cross it at sunset and stay for the night lighting.
Renowned Cantonese restaurant on Fuzhou Road, famous for its mooncakes. Lunch 11:00–14:00, dinner 17:00–21:00.
Closer: Mr & Mrs Bund, right on your way
Long-running nautical-themed hostel in a 1930s building near East Nanjing Road: dorms and private rooms, plus a famous rooftop bar overlooking the Bund and Pudong skyline. A solid budget base.
Shanghai's most celebrated classical garden: a 450-year-old Ming maze of pavilions, rockeries and koi ponds. Go at opening and give it 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Closed Mondays except public holidays — plan the Old City day for any other day.
The only surviving 50-meter section of the Ming Old City wall, built in 1553 against pirates, with the rebuilt pavilion on top and a small exhibit on old-city life. Admission 5 RMB; open 9am–4pm.
The original xiaolongbao house since 1900 in the heart of Yuyuan: paper-thin skins, juicy pork filling, and the famous straw-sipped 'super' soup buns.
- Expect a 20–30 minute queue at peak — the ground-floor number window is the fastest way in.
A 600-year-old Taoist temple to Shanghai's guardian deity, ringed by Ming-style market streets famous for snacks and tea houses. About 10 CNY entry; open roughly 8:30–16:30.
- Walk to the temple after the garden — about 8 minutes — then carry on into the bazaar. Garden first, temple second.
- Refuel steps from the temple: the original 1900 xiaolongbao house. Take a number from the ground-floor window for grab-and-go, or head upstairs to sit down.
A time-honored tangyuan spot by the City God Temple: sweet black-sesame rice balls with soft glutinous skins, plus savory pork ones in clear broth.
Shanghai's oldest teahouse (converted 1855), on stilts mid-lake at the end of the Zigzag Bridge: linger over Longjing and dim sum.
- Upstairs seats have the best atmosphere.
- End the Old City morning mid-lake: the teahouse sits on stilts at the end of the Zigzag Bridge, two minutes from the temple. Upstairs seats have the best atmosphere.
Stay put: 18 min walk back from the City God Temple tonight, ~18 min by taxi to Sinan Mansions in the morning.
A leafy enclave of Republic-of-China-era garden villas, restored into restaurants, cafes, bookstores and cultural spaces. The Sinan Bookstore sits at 517 Middle Fuxing Road.
A three-storey 1920s French-style villa on Sinan Road that served as the Communist Party's Shanghai office in 1946–47 — now a free memorial museum with a garden. Open Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday.
One of Shanghai's 'Heavenly Four' noodle houses: yellow croaker noodles with fish deboned by hand. Bib Gourmand; order and pay at the counter before finding a seat; expect a queue at peak.
- Order and pay at the counter at the entrance before finding a seat.
A 1905 French Renaissance mansion, the 'Little White House', showing embroidery, jade and wood carving, paper cutting and lacquerwork with live artisans at work. Ticket 8 RMB; open Wednesday to Sunday.
Beloved local dumpling canteen famous for crab-roe xiaolongbao with golden soup that fills a spoon. Watch the aunties fold them through the glass window.
Stay put: ~24 min by taxi back from the Arts and Crafts Museum tonight, ~12 min by taxi to the Shanghai Tower deck in the morning.
The Western casual chain's SWFC branch: burgers, salads and brunch, open daily 10:00–22:00.
The bottle-opener tower's 100th-floor Sky Walk: a 474-meter glass-floored skybridge looking straight down. Combined 94th/97th/100th-floor ticket about 180 CNY.
China's tallest building at 632 meters: the 118th-floor deck and 119th-floor cafe, one of the world's fastest elevators, and a 546-meter outdoor glass bridge. Adult 180 CNY.
A 420.5-meter pagoda-inspired tower with an 88th-floor observatory and a handrail-free 60-meter skywalk at 340.6 meters. Observatory open 8:30–21:30; adult 120 CNY.
Pudong's riverside Din Tai Fung: the same 18-fold xiaolongbao in a bright 250-seat room with Huangpu views. Daily 10:00–22:00; a 5-minute walk from Lujiazui station.
Stay put: ~12 min by taxi back from the Jin Mao Tower deck tonight, ~12 min by taxi to the SWFC observatory in the morning.
Where to stay in Shanghai
Ranked for first-timer travelers on a comfortable budget. The places this plan sleeps in come first.
Captain Hostel
Long-running nautical-themed hostel in a 1930s building near East Nanjing Road: dorms and private rooms, plus a famous rooftop bar overlooking the Bund and Pudong skyline. A solid budget base.
Hanting Hotel Shanghai Yu Garden
A budget chain hotel renovated in 2024 near Yu Garden and the Bund: clean compact rooms at the cheapest tier in the Old City, minutes from Yuyuan metro. Breakfast CNY 18.
Yitel Premium Shanghai Lujiazui
A mid-range hotel on Pudong Avenue near Yuanshen Road metro: modern rooms with free WiFi and an on-site restaurant — a practical Lujiazui base for tower-hopping.
Flights to Shanghai
Fly into PVG (PVG)
Flight results via Travelpayouts — we may earn a commission on bookings.
Getting around Shanghai
How to actually move around the city — transit, rideshare, bikes, and taxis.
Public transit
The metro is the backbone of getting around Shanghai — one of the world's largest networks — with buses covering the gaps, the maglev sprinting to Pudong Airport, and ferries crossing the Huangpu. Contactless bank cards and phone QR codes work at the gates.
- Shanghai Metro
One of the world's largest metro networks — 19 lines and 800+ km linking both airports, the railway stations and every major district, with English signage throughout. Distance-based fares start at ¥3 for the first 6 km; trains run roughly 5:30am to 11pm.
Tip: Skip the ticket machines: tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay or Amex card at the gate, or ride with a QR code from the Metro Daduhui app.
- Shanghai Maglev
The world's first commercial maglev line, running between Longyang Road metro station and Pudong International Airport in about 8 minutes at up to 300 km/h. The standard one-way fare is ¥50 (¥40 with the Shanghai Public Transportation Card); trains run 6:45am–9:40pm every 15–20 minutes.
Tip: Flying out of Pudong? Show a same-day boarding pass for the discounted air-passenger fare, and budget the 10-minute Line 2 ride from downtown to Longyang Road.
Rideshare
DiDi is the default way to hail a car, with full English support and foreign cards accepted; Amap aggregates DiDi and smaller fleets so you can compare prices. Both are far cheaper than taxis in most Western cities.
- DiDi Chuxing
China's dominant ride-hailing app, with a full English interface, English-speaking support and international credit cards accepted. DiDi Express is the cheap everyday option; DiDi Taxi books a metered cab; Premier handles airport pickups.
Tip: Set up DiDi before you land — it accepts foreign phone numbers, and in-app chat auto-translates between you and the driver.
- Amap (Gaode)
Alibaba's map app (Gaode) doubles as a ride-hailing aggregator, comparing DiDi, Xiangdao and smaller fleets on one screen with upfront prices. It also replaces Google Maps here, with metro, bus and walking directions.
Tip: Get Amap Global from your app store; log in with Alipay or WeChat to unlock hailing, bike rental and transit QR codes in one place.
Bikes
Dockless shared bikes are the city's best last-kilometer option — unlock one outside any metro station with Alipay or WeChat and ride the flat, bike-laned streets. No deposit or local phone number required.
- HelloBike
One of Shanghai's three big dockless bike networks alongside Meituan and DiDi's Qingju — blue bikes clustered outside every metro station. Unlock with the HelloBike app or the Alipay mini-program; rides run about ¥1.50–2.50 per 30 minutes.
Tip: End the ride inside the service zone shown on the map and flick the rear-wheel lock shut manually, or the meter keeps running.
- Meituan Bike
The yellow bikes of Meituan's dockless network, everywhere in central Shanghai and rentable through the Meituan app or Alipay/WeChat mini-programs. Same short-hop pricing as rivals — handy when no HelloBike is in sight.
Tip: A 7-day unlimited pass costs only a few yuan — worth it if you'll bike more than twice a day.
Taxis
Licensed metered taxis are plentiful and cheap, though most drivers speak little English. Hail on the street, call a fleet hotline, or book through DiDi — never accept a flat fare from a tout.
- Qiangsheng Taxi
One of Shanghai's biggest licensed taxi fleets (orange cabs), bookable by street hail, the 62580 English hotline or DiDi. Flagfall is ¥14–16 for the first 3 km, then ¥2.7/km; night rates run 11pm–5am. No tipping — pay the meter and take the fapiao receipt.
Tip: Have your destination written in Chinese characters — most drivers speak little English — and never board a cab whose driver won't run the meter.
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