Nanjing Road pedestrian street

Nanjing Road East is the pedestrianised heart of Shanghai shopping, running from People’s Square to the Bund. It is loud, lit, crowded and completely unlike anywhere else.

Twenty minutes of it is genuinely exciting. Two hours will exhaust you. Do a single pass and turn off into the side streets where ordinary Shanghai continues.

The perpendicular strategy

Every lane running north or south off Nanjing Road immediately becomes cheaper, quieter and more interesting. Fuzhou Road for books and stationery; Yunnan Road for food.

Walking north into the lanes gives you a version of Shanghai that Nanjing Road entirely conceals.

What to buy and avoid

Department stores and flagship shops are legitimate. The small stalls along the pedestrian section are overpriced souvenirs.

Be alert to the standard confidence tricks around tourist-heavy stretches — see the scams guide.

Verdict

Walk it once, mostly to say you have. The interesting streets are perpendicular to it.

Skip it if

You dislike very large crowds, or it is a Saturday evening.