12 sights · Major sights
The main sights, honestly
No star ratings. Each entry gives you how much time it deserves, when to go, and the conditions under which it is genuinely not worth doing.
The Bund
Fifty-two buildings on one curve of river. Free, famous, and entirely dependent on when you go.
Yu Garden and the old city
A Ming-dynasty private garden surrounded by an aggressively commercial bazaar. Both halves are real; neither half is optional.
Shanghai Museum
The best museum in the city, arguably in the country for bronzes and ceramics. Free, and consistently under-visited by foreign tourists.
The Shanghai Tower observation deck
The tallest building in China at 632 metres. Expensive, and better than the Oriental Pearl Tower for views.
Wukang Mansion and the plane tree streets
The building everyone photographs, and the six streets around it that nobody does. The photographs are the lesser part.
Jing’an Temple
A working Buddhist temple with a gold hall, surrounded by the loudest shopping district in Shanghai. The contrast is the point.
Tianzifang
Artist studios turned retail lanes. Genuinely atmospheric, largely commercial, and still worth an hour.
The Jinling Road ferry across the Huangpu
Two yuan for a river crossing with a better view than any ¥150 cruise. The best value in Shanghai.
The West Bund: Long Museum and neighbours
Former industrial riverfront turned into five kilometres of park, with the best contemporary art museums in the city along it.
Power Station of Art
A 1980s power station turned contemporary art museum, and the home of the Shanghai Biennale. Best value art in the city.
Shikumen Open House, Xintiandi
A reconstructed Shanghai lane house you can walk through, explaining how ordinary people actually lived in one. Small and genuinely illuminating.
Nanjing Road pedestrian street
China’s most famous shopping street, walked by hundreds of thousands of people daily. Exhilarating for twenty minutes.
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