Walking route

The Huaihai Road haul walk

Two kilometres of Chinese designer labels, walked east from South Shaanxi Road, with the metro exit, the order that avoids backtracking, and where to stop for food.

Time: 3–4 hours with shopping
Best: Weekday afternoon, or Sunday before noon

Huaihai Middle Road is where "China Haul" happens on the ground. Between South Shaanxi Road and the Huangpi South Road end there are enough designer labels to fill a suitcase, all at fixed prices, all within about two kilometres.

Walk it east in one direction, buy on the way back. Everything on this street is air-conditioned, so weather barely matters.

Start: South Shaanxi Road

Metro Lines 1, 10 and 12. Come out at the Huaihai Middle Road exit and turn east — the designer stretch begins almost immediately.

The first block sets the tone: small shopfronts, no hard selling, staff who are used to visitors who do not speak Chinese.

Middle: the HAI550 block

Around No. 550 the street opens into a mixed retail building with small labels on the lower floors, including the tea-fragrance shops that people buy in sets.

This is also where the queues form, and the natural place to stop for coffee.

East: Huangpi South Road

The eastern end runs into larger retail and more international names. If you have not bought anything by here, you probably were not going to.

Huangpi South Road station (Line 1) puts you back on the metro, or a short walk south takes you into the streets around Xintiandi for food.

Eat on the way, not at the end

The side streets running off Huaihai Road carry far better food than the main road. Duck into any of them rather than waiting until you are carrying five bags.

Basement food floors in the malls along the route are reliable, cheap, and have somewhere to put the bags down.

What not to do here

Do not try to negotiate. These shops have fixed prices and asking for a discount marks you as someone who has not understood the street.

Do not buy on size assumption. Try everything on — Chinese sizing is not European or US sizing, and returns from abroad are not practical.

Verdict

The densest concentration of what this trend is actually about, walkable in one afternoon with a metro station at both ends.

FAQ

Questions

Everything on this site is written and re-checked on the ground. When something changes, this page changes.

How long does it really take?

Three to four hours including trying things on and stopping for food. Two hours if you are only looking. The street is about two kilometres end to end.

Is it walkable in summer or rain?

Yes, largely — the shops are air-conditioned and close together, and the metro runs underneath the whole stretch if the weather turns.

Where do I start if I only have an hour?

South Shaanxi Road and walk east for about five hundred metres. That covers the highest density of the labels people come for.

Can I get a tax refund on this street?

At shops registered for it, yes — ask at the counter before you pay and have your passport ready. See the tax refund guide for the current threshold.