Shanghai

Shanghai (上海; Zånhae in Shanghainese, Shànghǎi in Mandarin) is the most developed city in China, the country's main center for finance and fashion, and one of the world's most populous and important cities. There are several ways to rate the size of cities; by the one Wikipedia uses, based on UN numbers, Shanghai is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Delhi. By any measure, it is in the top ten for the world and either the largest in China or second to Chongqing.

Mouth of Suzhou Creek
Bund to left, Hongkou to right
Zhabei in background

Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River (黄浦江 Huángpǔ Jiāng), which divides the city into Puxi (浦西 Pǔxī), west of the river, and Pudong (浦东 Pǔdōng), east of the river. Both terms can be used in a general sense for everything on their side of the river, including various suburbs. However, they are more often used in a much narrower sense where Puxi is the older (since the 19th century) city center (#Downtown below) and Pudong the mass of new (since 1990) high-rise development right across the river from there (#Pudong below).

• 1 Suzhou Creek (Wusong River). This is more a small river than a creek, a tributary which flows into the Huangpu at the north end of the Bund. It starts near Suzhou and is the outlet for Lake Tai. Within Shanghai parts of it form the boundary between Huangpu and Jing'an districts to the south and Hongkou and Zhabei to the north.
  Beisuzhou Road and Nansuzhou Road run along the riverbanks downtown; bei and nan are Chinese for north and south respectively.  

Shanghai is one of four cities in China that are administered as municipalities (市), meaning that it is not part of any province, and its government instead reports directly to the central government in Beijing. This is an overview article for the entire municipality. For the central districts which have most of the tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and nightspots, see #Downtown and #Pudong below.

The municipality covers quite a large area — 6341 km² or 2,448 square miles — and has a population over 25 million, about the same as Australia and more than all but two US states and all but six EU member countries. Its GDP is larger than that of many countries, and it has the world's busiest container port. Shanghai is the main hub of the East China region, all of which is densely populated, heavily industrialized, prosperous, well supplied with migrant workers from poorer parts of China, and still growing.

Districts

Shanghai Municipality has 16 administrative districts, all with at least a few hundred thousand people, and Wikivoyage has separate articles for most of them. Here we try to split them up in a way that will make sense for travellers.

Downtown

The historic core of Shanghai, it includes both the old Chinese city and the area of the International Settlement which began in the 1840s and lasted until the 1930s. It can be called Puxi (浦,西), downtown Shanghai (上海市区) or the city center (市中心). Today this area is still the core of the city. Most of the tourist attractions and many hotels are here, and many metro lines run through it.

The four downtown districts are:

Inner districts map

Huangpu The most central district of Shanghai with the Bund (a riverside boulevard that is lined with stately colonial buildings), People's Park (often considered the center of the city), and many other attractions. The red area on the map shows what our Huangpu article covers, excluding two areas that are administered as part of Huangpu but are covered in other articles here. The Old City has its own article and we cover Luwan as part of the French Concession.

Old City This area was a walled city for nearly a thousand years before modern Shanghai developed around it; the wall is long gone, replaced by a ring road. The area has quite a few traditional Chinese-style buildings including some of the city's most important temples, and a fine classical Chinese garden. It also has much tourist-oriented shopping and is a major draw for both Chinese and foreign tourists, less so for Shanghai residents.

Jing'an The center of this area is a magnificent Buddhist temple more than 1500 years old; today there is a major metro station under it. The area is now one of the most built-up in the city with much upmarket shopping and extensive high-rise development — commercial, residential and office — including many of the foreign consulates.

French Concession With a fine Catholic cathedral and other beautiful colonial buildings, now also with many up-market high-rise residential and office buildings and several large malls. The area has much of the city's shopping — including high-end international brands, boutiques for local designers, and outlets for artists and craftspeople — and much of its nightlife as well. Our French Concession article covers all of the official district Xuhui, much of which was in the old concession though the southern parts were not. It also covers Luwan, which is no longer an official district and is now administered as part of Huangpu.

Of course "downtown" is not precisely defined; the four districts we have above are clearly the most central, but some definitions would include others which we list under inner suburbs below, and some would include parts of the Pudong New Area, perhaps everything within the outer ring road.

Pudong

Directly across the river from (east of) downtown, Pudong has been a major center of development since about 1990, becoming a skyscraper-filled financial center. Pudong is listed here separately from the older downtown area on the Puxi side, but it might be described as an extension of the downtown core or even as the new center of the city.

Lujiazui, seen from the Bund.

Pudong A highly developed area with more skyscrapers than New York, several of the world's tallest buildings, and plenty of facilities catering to business travelers or well-off tourists. Budget travellers might want to see some of Pudong's sights or splurge in one of its bars or restaurants, but in general they will spend more time in the older downtown across the river. The photo to the right is a view of Lujiazui, the most developed area of Pudong, seen from the Bund, a riverside boulevard in the older downtown. Four of the buildings are over 400m (a quarter mile) tall.

In Shanghai's administrative system, the area Wikivoyage describes in the Pudong article is just the central part of a much larger official district called Pudong New Area, which also includes the less developed Nanhui to the south. Wikivoyage has a separate article for Nanhui, and it is listed as an outer suburb below.

Inner suburbs

The inner suburbs all (except Yangpu) have direct borders with the downtown core, all are quite built up, and all have good metro service. All are primarily residential areas, but most have considerable industry and many offices as well and all have some large shopping malls.

These districts have some tourist attractions and several have hotels that are cheaper than those downtown but still convenient for sightseeing or shopping. Several have universities, and nearby areas tend to have many low-priced restaurants and bars catering to the student market; see #Learn below and the district articles for details.

Inner suburbs map

Yangpu Northeast of downtown, where Fudan University and Tongji University are. It has many moderately-priced bars and restaurants catering to the student market. For shoppers, it has the huge Wujiaochang (五角场) mall.

Hongkou North and a bit east of downtown, where the former Japanese concession was located, home of Lu Xun Park and a football stadium, had much of Shanghai's substantial Jewish population in the first half of the 20th century. Mostly residential.

Zhabei Zhabei is an older district north of downtown with the Shanghai Railway Station and the Shanghai Circus. In 2017 it was merged into Jing'an district for administrative purposes.

Putuo Northwest of downtown, mainly a residential district. For travellers, it has some decent youth hostels near the metro.

Changning West of downtown; the Shanghai Zoo is in this area. Changning is a very large residential district with some commercial and entertainment hubs, especially in the area around Zhongshan Park.

Minhang West and south of downtown, includes the water town Qibao. Metro line  5  runs north-south through much of it. Two universities, Shanghai Jiaotong U and East China Normal U, are in its southern part.

Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station are in this area, on the border between Changning and the northern tip of Minhang.

Outer suburbs

The outer suburbs wrap around the southern, western and northwestern sides of the city. The sea is on the east and south, while the Yangtze River is on the northeast.

All of these areas still include some farmland but large parts of them are already covered with residential and industrial suburban development and the trend shows no sign of stopping. What were once rural villages serving nearby farms have become towns, often fairly interesting ones preserving traditional buildings while hosting new high-rises and malls.

As of 2021, all of these outer suburbs have metro connections and bus services; see the district articles for details.

Baoshan North of downtown, with some coastline on the Yangtze.

Jiading Northwest of downtown, bordering Suzhou. Metro line  11  passes through Jiading and is the only line that extends beyond Shanghai Municipality; as of 2021 it reaches Kunshan and planned extensions will connect it to the Suzhou metro by 2023.

Qingpu On the western edge of the municipality. At its western tip is the water town Zhujiajiao.

Songjiang Southwest of downtown, bordering Minhang, not on a municipality border.

Jinshan At the southwest corner of the municipality, includes the water town Fengjing.

Fengxian On the southern edge of Shanghai Municipality.

Nanhui At the southeast corner of the municipality, administratively part of Pudong New Area. Has the Shanghai Disney Resort.

The beaches along the seacoast at the southern edge of the municipality — Fengxian, Jinshan and Nanhui — are popular as a weekend getaway for Shanghai residents.

The islands

Chongming Chongming Island in the Yangtze plus a couple of smaller islands nearby make up Chongming District, the most northerly, most remote and least developed area in Shanghai Municipality. As of 2021, it is reached by ferry from Baoshan or a highway from Pudong; a metro connection is under construction but is not expected to be completed until at least 2025. It has the largest land area of any district and is considered relatively rural compared to the rest of Shanghai, even though it has about 640,000 people.

Understand

Shanghai is a fascinating mix of East and West. It has historic shikumen (石库门) houses that blend the styles of Chinese houses with European design flair, and it has one of the richest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world. There were concessions (designated districts) controlled by Western powers in the late 19th and early 20th century, so many neighbourhoods have buildings in various Western styles.

History has shaped Shanghai's cityscape significantly. British-style buildings can still be seen on the Bund, while French-style buildings are still to be found in the former French Concession. What was once a horse racing track on the edge the British area is now People's Park, with a major metro interchange underneath. Other metro stops include the railway station at the edge of what was once the American area, and Lao Xi Men and Xiao Nan Men, Old West Gate and Small South Gate respectively, named for two of the gates of the old Chinese walled city.

Shanghai is definitely a cosmopolitan city by Chinese standards, although it is less diverse than many western cities. The population was 23 million as of the 2010 census; 9 million (almost 40%) of those were migrants, people from elsewhere in China who have come to find work or to attend one of Shanghai's many educational institutions. There is also a substantial international contingent: 208,300 foreigners lived in Shanghai as of 2010, slightly over a third of the national total of 594,000. There are services catering to these migrants — restaurants with food from anywhere in China for the migrants (in particular, much good cheap Sichuan food and West-of-China noodles) and a variety of grocery stores, restaurants and bars that cater to the foreigners.

Groups of refugees from other parts of the world have sometimes arrived in Shanghai. One group were White Russians fleeing the 1917 revolution; in the 1920s the French Concession had more Russians than French (and of course more Chinese than both of those together). Another group were Jews leaving Germany in the 1930s; they mainly settled in Hongkou, a district that already had many Jews. After Japan took over Korea in 1910 and Manchuria in 1931, Shanghai received refugees from both regions.

There is an Encyclopedia of Shanghai, in English, that is available both as a book in local bookstores and online at the municipal government site. Much of it is rather boring — statistics, photos of the officials in charge of each development project, and project descriptions that give much financial and engineering detail — but there is also some quite useful material. For example, it has detailed descriptions of every museum and park in the city.

Economy

Shanghai is strategically positioned: near the geographic center of China, at the mouth of the great Yangtze River and surrounded by fertile delta land. It has been a trading city for a thousand years and one of China's main centers of trade since the 1840s; today it is a major transport hub. It has the world's busiest container port and additional port facilities are under development. Shanghai's Pudong Airport is a global air hub and ranks third on a list of China's busiest airports, behind Beijing and Guangzhou. Shanghai's other airport, Hongqiao, ranks fourth. The city is also very well connected by both road and rail.

Shanghai is also one of the main industrial centers of China, and the municipal government has set up a number of industrial zones to encourage additional development. GDP was $670 billion in 2023, less than the US or China, about the same as Japan, Germany or California, and more than any other country.

According to a saying, "Shanghai is heaven for the rich, hell for the poor." People from all over China flock to Shanghai — everyone from farmers seeking jobs in manual labour to university graduates seeking to start a career or wanting to live in a cool up-tempo city. About 40% of the population, 9 million out of 23, are migrants from other parts of China. Real estate prices, especially in central areas, have skyrocketed in the past few years; rents are among the highest in the world and even well-off people complain that buying a home is becoming impossible.

The surrounding East China region is populous, prosperous, highly developed, and still growing. Shanghai plays an important role as the center of that region.

History

While the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times and there has been a town at least since the Song Dynasty, a thousand years or so ago, Shanghai only rose to prominence after China lost the First Opium War in 1842. Shanghai was one of the five cities which China was forced to open to Western trade as treaty ports. Shanghai grew amazingly after that; until then nearby cities like Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing had been far more important, but since the late 19th century Shanghai has been the center of the region.

By the early 20th century, Shanghai was the largest and most prosperous city in the Far East, and one of the wildest. With the opening up of China since the late 1970s, Shanghai has regained much of its former glory and has surpassed it in many ways; the pace of development being absolutely furious. Today, Shanghai is again one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Asia, though not nearly as wild as it once was. It is now a very attractive city for travellers from all over the world, and a major destination for both tourism and business. A Forbes article ranks Shanghai as the world's 14th most visited city, with 6.5 million visitors in 2012.

Shanghai in 1907.
The former racecourse is now People's Park

From the early 1840s to the late 1930s parts of Shanghai were concessions, areas administered by foreign powers. Eight nations—Britain, France, the US, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Japan—had concessions in Shanghai, areas that they controlled and where Chinese law did not apply. Most of these were jointly administered as the "International Settlement", but the French ran theirs separately. In all of them, the population was mainly Chinese but there were also many foreigners, and the government and legal system were foreign. The police included many Sikhs and some French gendarmes.

Many important Chinese lived in the concession areas. Chairman Mao's Shanghai house is now a museum in Jing'an District, while both the houses of several other leaders and the site of the first national meeting of the Communist Party are now museums in the French Concession.

Today most of the former concession areas are parts of downtown Shanghai, listed at #Downtown above.

• "Central District" on the old map was British and the center of colonial Shanghai. It corresponds roughly to the modern district Huangpu.
• The horse-racing track on the edge of that area is now People's Square, considered the center of modern Shanghai.
• "Western District" was mostly British but also included the Italian Concession. It corresponds roughly to Jing'an.
• "French Settlement" on the old map corresponds roughly to Luwan District; the Concession later expanded westward to include Xuhui District, and our French Concession article covers both.
• "The Bund" was mostly British, though parts of it were in the American concession.
• Hongkou was the site of the former Japanese concession.

The "Chinese City" was the walled city of Shanghai for hundreds of years before the modern city developed around it. It has its own Wikivoyage article, Old City.

"Northern District" and "Eastern District" were once the American Concession; today they are parts of Zhabei and Hongkou, respectively. They receive fewer visitors than the districts mentioned above, but they do have some attractions and the Shanghai Railway Station is in Zhabei. These are listed under #Inner suburbs.

Shanghai reached its zenith in 1920s and 30s and was at that time the most prosperous city in East Asia. On the other hand, the streets were largely ruled by the triads (Chinese gangs) during that period, with the triads sometimes battling for control of parts of Shanghai. That period has been greatly romanticised in many modern films and television serials, one of the most famous being The Bund, which was produced by Hong Kong's TVB in 1980. Shanghai also became the main center of Chinese entertainment during that period, with many films and songs produced in Shanghai.

Zhabei burning during Battle of Shanghai, 1937

Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese in 1937 after a bitter battle lasting several months; see Pacific War#China for the context. Japan and its puppet regime remained in control until 1945 and, as with elsewhere in China, life in Shanghai at that time was very difficult.

The foreign concessions were removed after the war, and trade resumed. After the Communist victory in the civil war in 1949, many of the people involved in the entertainment industry, as well as much of the upper class and intellectuals, fled to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Shanghai's days of glory were — temporarily as it turned out — over. That said, during the planned economy era, Shanghai was still a major industrial hub producing goods from milk candy to cargo ships, and was a major tax contributor among the provinces.

Since China's "reform and opening up", starting under Deng Xiaoping around 1978, Shanghai is once again a great industrial city and trading port, and in many ways has surpassed the old glory days. In the 1990s, the Shanghai government launched a series of new strategies to attract foreign investment. The biggest move was to create a Special Economic Zone called Pudong New Area with a range of government measures to encourage investment. This includes nearly all of Shanghai east of the river.

The strategies for growth have been extremely successful; in twenty years downtown Pudong changed from a predominantly rural area to having more skyscrapers than New York, including several of the tallest in the world. Pudong is now home to many financial institutions which used to have their main offices across the Huangpu river on the Bund.

Today, Shanghai's goal is to develop into a world-class financial and economic center, and it is already well on its way. In achieving this goal, Shanghai faces competition from Hong Kong, which has the advantages of a stronger legal system and greater banking and service expertise. However, Shanghai has stronger links to the Chinese interior and to the central government, in addition to a stronger manufacturing and technology base. Shanghai has increased its role in finance and banking, with many international corporations having built their Chinese or even Asia/Pacific headquarters in the city, fueling demand for a highly educated and cosmopolitan workforce.

Climate

Shanghai
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D       51     8 1       57     9 2       99     13 6       89     19 11       102     24 16       170     28 21       156     32 25       158     31 25       137     27 21       63     23 15       46     17 9       37     11 3 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation+Snow totals in mm Humidity is high year-round and can exacerbate temperature extremes
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D       2     46 34       2.2     48 36       3.9     55 43       3.5     66 52       4     75 61       6.7     82 70       6.1     90 77       6.2     88 77       5.4     81 70       2.5     73 59       1.8     63 48       1.5     52 37 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation+Snow totals in inches

Shanghai has a humid subtropical climate. Cities at roughly comparable latitude (just over 30°) include New Orleans, Cairo and Perth.

Spring can feature lengthy periods of cloudy and rainy weather.

Summer temperatures often surpass 35 °C (95 °F) with very high humidity, which means that you will perspire a lot and should take lots of changes of clothing or plan on shopping for clothing during the visit. Thunderstorms also occur relatively often during the summer. There is some risk of typhoons in their July–September season, however they are not common.

Autumn is generally mild with warm and sunny weather.

During winter, temperatures rarely rise above 10 °C (50 °F) during the day and often fall below 0 °C (32 °F) at night. Snowfall is rare, typically occurring only once every few years, but transportation networks can sometimes be disrupted in the event of a sudden snowstorm. Despite the fact that winter temperatures in Shanghai are not particularly low, the wind chill factor combined with the high humidity can actually make it feel less comfortable than some much colder places that experience frequent snowfalls. Also, back in Mao's era the official rule was that north of the Yangtze buildings were heated in winter but south of it they were not; Shanghai is on the south bank so many older buildings do not have heating.

Talk

Chinese speakers

The native language of most locals, Shanghainese or Wu dialect, is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese, Minnan (Taiwanese/Hokkien) or any other forms of Chinese. The use of Shanghainese as the de facto 'first' language of the city has been decreasing both due to the use of Mandarin in mass media and education, and because Shanghai has many migrant workers from other parts of China who do not speak Shanghainese. As with elsewhere in China, Mandarin is the lingua franca. As Shanghai has been China's main commercial centre since the 1920s, all locals who can speak Shanghainese can also speak Mandarin, so you will have no problems speaking Mandarin to locals. Nevertheless, attempts to speak Shanghainese are appreciated, and can help endear you to local people.

Wu speakers have a particular accent when speaking Mandarin. Mandarin is heavily tone-based and speakers from Beijing can easily be understood (most textbooks are based on their accent or an approximation). Shanghainese speakers have appropriated some of the features of Wu onto their Mandarin. While in other languages this would not be a problem, given the phonemic and tonal nature inherent to Mandarin, the slightest shift in pronunciation can make it much more difficult to understand. The best thing to do is say "说慢一点" (shuō màn yī diǎn) which means "speak a little slower".

Non-Chinese speakers

As English is compulsory in Chinese schools, an increasing number of people know at least basic English. You will probably find that most people in the tourist industry have a rather good command of it, and so do many in service positions, i.e. in shops, gastronomy and even sales clerks at metro stations. English is probably better understood than spoken by many, and the Chinese are notoriously afraid of shaming themselves in public, so make sure your questions are clear and can be easily answered.

Two traits of Shanghai residents are of assistance - one is the traditional Chinese hospitality, with most people genuinely wanting to help when asked, and the Shanghainese robustness. When necessary, do not be afraid to approach even the unlikely elderly person with an arsenal of well-thought-through and clear hand gestures, notes in Chinese, maps or photos. In the worst case, look for a younger person and/or somebody in a senior position, as both are more probable to have better English knowledge and will feel more confident when dealing with a foreigner.

Everyday spoken Chinese is a rather simple language, so most people will not be offended if you dispose of pleasantries in your English as well and focus on the most important parts of your message, e.g. "Where is subway station?" will probably work better than "Would you be so kind and direct me to the nearest subway station if you will?".

For bargaining in stores, calculators are often used to "discuss" prices. Savvy shop owners in tourist-frequented areas equip their personnel with them, but do not be afraid to pull up one (or a calculator app on your phone) for the purpose if the other party doesn't. Remember that "4" is an unlucky number and prices containing it should be avoided, which you can use to your advantage (e.g. proposing "39" instead of 40-whatever).

Do note that taxi and Uber drivers are often either elderly or recruited from the working class or migrant populations, and thus, as a group, have lower-than-average knowledge of English. Therefore it is recommended to have your destinations and hotel address written in Chinese for them. Some hotels even provide small brochures with both the hotel name and address and those of the key landmarks written in both English and Simplified Chinese for the purpose.

Get in

Shanghai is one of China's main travel hubs and arriving from pretty much anywhere is easy.

Visa-free transit

Visitors from 53 countries who are transiting to a third country can get a 144 hours visa waiver to visit Shanghai municipality, as well neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. You must arrive and depart mainland China via the airports in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou or Ningbo, or via the sea port in Shanghai. At immigration, you will need to present an onward ticket to a country other than the one you arrived from. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate countries with regard to this scheme.

The following countries are included in the transit program:

• 24 Schengen Agreement Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
• 15 Other European Countries: Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Belarus, Monaco
• 6 American Countries: the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile
• 2 Oceania Countries: Australia, New Zealand
• 6 Asian Countries: Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar

By plane

Shanghai has two main airports, with Pudong being the main international gateway, and Hongqiao being the main domestic airport, but also serving some international destinations in East Asia. Transfer between the airports takes about 1 hour by taxi. There are also direct shuttle buses.

You can travel between the two airports in about two hours by metro. The airports are opposite ends of line  2 , the main East-West line through downtown Shanghai. You can reduce the time by taking the Maglev train (described in the next section) part of the way. A traveller making that transfer with a few hours to spare and a desire to get a quick look at Shanghai (and not too much luggage) might get off at Nanjing Road East and walk a few blocks to the Bund.

Free tourist maps of central Shanghai, with major sights labeled in English, are available in little racks as you enter either airport. These are worth grabbing as you walk by since, except at some hotels, free maps are unavailable elsewhere.

Both airports also have direct bus service to major nearby cities such as Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing, though the new fast trains may be preferable, especially from Hongqiao Airport which has Hongqiao Railway Station quite nearby (one metro stop or about a km on foot, indoors and level).

Domestic airplane tickets are best booked in advance at one of the many travel agencies or online, but can also be bought at the airport on the day of departure. Fares are generally cheap, but vary depending on the season; figure on ¥400-1200 for Beijing-Shanghai. The low-cost airline Spring Airlines is based out of Shanghai with routes to most major Chinese tourist destinations, and frequently offers large discounts for tickets booked through its website. For budget travellers, it is often cheaper to book a flight on a heavy-traffic route (Shanghai-Beijing, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Shenzhen, etc.) and travel the rest by bus or train.

The city of Hangzhou, about a 45-min high-speed train ride from Shanghai, should also be considered if having a difficult time finding tickets to Pudong or Hongqiao. Also if coming in from South East Asia, since Air Asia has a cheap flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou. See Discount airlines in Asia.

Pudong Airport

Main article: Shanghai Pudong International Airport

Maglev Train at Longyang Station

1 Pudong Airport (浦东机场, PVG ^IATA) (40 km to the southeast of the city). Shanghai's main international airport. PVG is the usual point of entry for flights arriving from overseas.  

The airport is on metro line  2 , many of the better hotels provide free airport shuttles for their guests, and there are six airport bus lines connecting to downtown. There are also buses to other cities nearby such as Suzhou and Hangzhou.

If you have heavy luggage then almost certainly a taxi will be more convenient; expect cost in the ¥200-500 range.

The most interesting way to arrive in Shanghai is on the former world's fastest train, the magnetic levitation train or Maglev. It was running 430 km/h till 2021; as of December, 2023, the maximum speed is capped at 300 km/h. Single tickets are ¥50, discounted to ¥40 if you have an airline ticket that day, or use Shanghai Public Transportation Card (detailed below). Return tickets (return within a week) are ¥80.

The Maglev terminates at Longyang Road station in Pudong which is still some distance from the city centre and may not therefore be close to your ultimate destination. Here you can connect to metro lines  2 ,  7  and the new line  16 ,  18 . Longyang Road station also has a Maglev train museum for those interested in how magnetic levitation trains work.

Hongqiao Airport

2 Hongqiao Airport (虹桥机场 SHA  ^IATA) (west of downtown in Minhang District). Shanghai's older airport, much closer to the center than Pudong. It serves mainly domestic flights, the only exception being the city-shuttle services to Tokyo-Haneda, Seoul-Gimpo, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei-Songshan. There are two terminals: the shiny, new and enormous T2, used by virtually all airlines, and the renovated but still comparatively small T1, used only by low-cost operator Spring Airlines and the international city shuttle services. You can transit between terminals on the airport shuttle bus, although waiting and travel time can take up to 45 minutes. For those in a hurry, taking metro line  10  between the two terminals may be worth the ¥3 for the ticket.  

T2 is served directly by metro line  2 , which connects the airport to People's Square and, further east, to Pudong Airport. Trains operate from 05:35 to 22:50 (service to and from Pudong Airport has limited hours). Line  10 , which also goes to central Shanghai but on a different route, serves both T1 and T2.

Line  17  opened on 30 December 2017, and connects Hongqiao Railway Station (near the Airport) with Zhujiajiao.

Eventually Line  5 , the main line through the southern suburb Minhang, will be extended to the airport at the north end and into Fengxian to the south. Line  20  will extend north from the airport. As of early 2018 this is not in service.

A taxi can manage the 12 km trip to the city in 20 minutes on a good day, but allow an extra 30 minutes for the taxi queue, especially when arriving after 19:00. Be sure to determine from which terminal your flight departs before you go to the airport as the English signage is confusing, taxi drivers will not be able to help you, and the shuttle between the terminals leaves on a half-hourly schedule with another twenty minute drive.

Due to the metro line extension, the Hongqiao Airport Special Line bus (机场专线) has now been replaced with a night bus (虹桥机场T2夜宵巴士) that goes to Jing'an Temple, People's Square, and Lujiazui every 10-30 min from 22:30 (when the metro closes) to 45 minutes after the last inbound arrival of the day for ¥10 (to Jing'an Temple or People's Square) or ¥16 (to Lujiazui). It leaves from Door 1 of the Arrivals level of Terminal 2. Tickets are purchased inside the bus shortly before it departs.

Although Hongqiao airport has fewer airport bus lines than Pudong, more public bus lines are linked to Hongqiao. Buses below run to T1, take the free shuttle to connect to T2 if needed or use Metro Line 10 if in a hurry.

• No. 806: These buses run from Hongqiao airport to the Lupu Bridge between 06:00-21:30 at intervals of 5-15 min. The line also has a stop at Xujiahui, and the whole trip costs ¥5.
• No. 807: These buses operate between 06:00-22:30 from Hongqiao airport to the Zhenguang New Village in Putuo District, stopping at the Shanghai Zoo and some other places of interest. ¥2.
• No. 1207: This bus only runs between the airport and Shanghai Zoo. ¥2.

With the opening of Metro service to the airport, only the above two routes serve the airport.

One public bus line has now been moved to T2. The reverse applies- take the free shuttle or the Metro to T1 if needed. Bus service to T2 splits boarding and exiting- all passengers arriving at T2 get off at the Departures level of the airport, but those wishing to board must board the bus at the bus hub on 1/F of the airport/metro station complex.

• No. 941: Linking Hongqiao airport and Shanghai Railway Station, the line runs from 06:30–22:30 to the airport/23:00 from the airport. ¥4. Interval between services is 10-12 min. Look for Waiting Room 1.

Additionally, the following night bus runs from T2 between the hours of 23:00 and 05:00 for anyone arriving late at night and needing to stop at destinations not covered by the T1 night bus:

• No. 316: Links the airport to the Bund, following Metro Line 2 until Zhongshan Park, then makes stops near Changshou Road (Line 7), Xinzha Road (Line 1), and East Nanjing Road (Line 2/10) before terminating at the Bund.

An additional night bus from the train station side is also available.

• No. 320: Links the train station to the Bund via a different route. This bus stops near the tourist part of Hongmei Road, then follows Metro Line 10 until Jiaotong University, stops in Xujiahui, continues along Line 10, then starts following line 1 around the Changshu Road stop until it reaches the Xintiandi area, then makes one final stop in Yu Gardens before terminating at the Bund.

By train

Shanghai has a few major train stations including:

• 1 Shanghai Railway Station  1  3  4  (上海站), 100 Moling Road (three stops north from People's square on line  1 ). Shanghai's largest and oldest, located in Zhabei District. Practically all trains used to terminate here, but many southbound services have been shifted to the South Station and high-speed services use the new Hongqiao Station. (updated Mar 2018)
• 2 Hongqiao Railway Station  2  10  17  (上海虹桥站). A huge new station located in the same building complex as Hongqiao Airport. The connecting metro stop shares the same name, Hongqiao Railway Station, and is one stop beyond the Hongqiao airport stop. Most high-speed trains uses this station. (updated Aug 2018)
• 3 Shanghai South Railway Station  1  3  15  (上海南站). in Xuhui District. Provides service towards the South, except for high-speed trains on the Shanghai–Hangzhou high-speed line which now use the new Hongqiao station, and slow trains to Hong Kong (due to lack of immigration and customs facilities). (updated Feb 2022)
• 4 Shanghai West Railway Station  11  15  (上海西站/南翔北站/安亭北站). Some high-speed trains to Nanjing direction stop at this small station. In addition, there are a few trains to and from Shanghai Station for connections to other trains. (updated Feb 2022)
• Shanghai East Railway Station is under construction as of May 2024 and will serve Pudong Airport.

Self-serve automated ticket booths are prevalent and can be used for checking train times in the English mode, but you can only buy tickets from them if you have a Chinese ID card. Tickets are also conveniently booked in advance at one of the many travel service agencies, or the ticket office of any railway station. See the train tickets section of the China article. Note that Hong Kong tickets go on sale 60 days in advance, and the Hong Kong–Shanghai segment sells out quickly.

• Beijing (北京) — Beginning in June 2011, an all-new express line service from Beijing started, with the quickest travel time option ringing in at 4 hours and 18 minutes (G17/G22). Additionally, there are a number of fast night sleeper trains running daily. These trains have D-prefix codes, take just over 10 hours from Shanghai to Beijing. Fare is around ¥730 for a soft sleeper lower berth or ¥655 for upper berth; the trains are clean and the four-person cabins are comfortable. Two-person rooms are also available on some of these trains, the price is about ¥1470 for a lower berth or ¥1300 for an upper. Two-person rooms on D trains do not have private baths. In the same new train, normal second-class seats are available for around ¥327. For a regular normal sleeper in a standard train, which takes 13 hours from Shanghai to Beijing, expect to pay ¥306 to ¥327 for a hard sleeper or around ¥478 to ¥499 for a soft one. Two-person sleepers are available on T-series trains, with private bath and a sofa, price is ¥881 for upper berth or ¥921 for a lower. But tickets for these cheaper normal sleepers are usually very tight.
• Hong Kong (香港) — The high-speed G99/G100 day trains run daily between West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and Shanghai Hongqiao station, taking about 8 hours to complete the journey. Tickets cost about ¥1008 one way in economy class. Overnight high-speed sleeper services, numbered D907/D908 run on the same route 4 times a week and are scheduled to take 11 h 40 min. Both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong immigration procedures are conducted at the station in Hong Kong. The old conventional sleeper trains from Hung Hom station have been terminated.
• Lhasa (拉萨) — The train to and from Lhasa, Tibet runs every day from Shanghai Railway Station. It takes just under 50 hours to arrive at Lhasa. A hard seat costs ¥406 and a hard sleeper priced around ¥900, soft sleeper costs around ¥1300. Oxygen is available for each passenger in the Golmud–Lhasa section. A Tibet travel permit is required for non-Chinese citizens.

The new fast (200+ km/h) CRH trains from Shanghai go southwest to Nanchang and Changsha, or north to Beijing, Zhengzhou and Qingdao. These are very comfortable and convenient. Train route codes begin with D in this instance. High-speed trains (300+ km/h) to Nanjing and Hangzhou have a G prefix.

By car

Good modern highways link Shanghai to nearby cities in East China, including Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo. Other highways, many of them as good, go to more distant cities anywhere in the country. It only takes about an hour to reach Shanghai from Suzhou, 2 hours from Hangzhou or 2½ hours from Ningbo, the latter via the 36 km long Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the world's longest sea-crossing bridge.

By bus

There are several long-distance bus stations in Shanghai. You should try to get the tickets as early as possible.

• Beiqu Long-distance Passenger Station, 80 Gongxing Lu. 
• Hengfeng Road Express Passenger Station (恒丰路客运站), 270 Hengfeng Lu. This is one of the largest and is just north of the main railway station. It serves most destinations in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and some more distant cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou. It's well organized but can be a little hard to find — particularly with the major rebuilding of the North Station Square. From Shanghai Railway Station (North) metro station (Lines 3 & 4) take exit No. 1. You'll come out in the middle of a construction site. Head left and keep walking straight and eventually (after an unpleasant 10-minute walk) you'll find it. Motorcycle-taxis will loiter around the station exit and will take you there for around ¥5 if you bargain hard — however they can be pushy and aggressive. 
• Zhongshan Beilu Long-distance Passenger Transport Station, 1015 Zhongshan Bei Lu. 
• Xujiahui Passenger Station, 211 Hongqiao Lu. 
• Pudong Tangqiao Long-distance Passenger Station, 3842 Pudong Nan Lu. 

By boat

There are ferry services from Kobe and Osaka (Japan) weekly.

• MV Xinjianzhen, ☏ +86-021-63257642, +81-06-6536-6541, cmeiying@chinjif.com. Departure alternates each week with Kobe or Osaka, and arrives at Shanghai. The schedule can be found here. (updated Feb 2020)

Get around

Shanghai has an excellent public transport network with the one of the world's most extensive metro (subway and elevated train) systems as its backbone and buses that go more-or-less everywhere else. Taxis are plentiful, and cheap by international standards, and getting around on foot is often practical. Metro, taxi and walking will be the main means of transport for most travellers. The city is huge (24 million), though, and all transport methods sometimes have problems with congestion.

Metro cards

Shanghai Jiaotong Card

If you intend to stay in Shanghai for more than a few days, a metro card — also called a Shanghai Jiaotong Card (上海公共交通卡) or Shanghai Public Transportation Card — is a must. You can get these cards at any metro station, as well as some convenience stores like Alldays and KeDi Marts.

You can load the card with money and use it in buses, the metro and even taxis, saving the hassle of buying tickets (sometimes with long queues) and keeping change for buses and taxis. Also, the card allows you to change lines at some stations where without the card you would need to get another ticket, and gives a ¥1 discount for each bus↔bus or metro↔bus transfer.

These cards do not require contact with the card reader to work. It is quite common to see someone just pass a purse, wallet or shoulder bag over the reader without taking the card out, and this almost always works. The card can be used once after it runs out of money; up to a ¥8 "overdraft" is allowed.

Cards come in several sizes — regular (credit card size), mini, and "strap" (for hanging on mobile phones) — and special editions with interesting pictures are available for each. New machines that can load money to any size of card are replacing older machines, but they do not take cash, generally only accepting Alipay or UnionPay/Discover cards. Service counters in most metro stations will recharge any type of card in multiples of ¥10, but a few stations are no longer staffing their service counters, while others are experimenting with requiring recharges to be done at the self-service machines, so it is advised to make sure sufficient funds are available for your return trip if you are going to a less-populated part of town.

There is a ¥20 deposit for the card; regular-sized cards can be returned for a deposit refund, but mini or strap sizes cannot. For any card type, the balance on the card can be immediately returned if it is less than ¥10. If the balance is between ¥10 and ¥2,000, an invoice should be taken to ask for the return of money; however, a 5% handling fee will be charged. Some metro stations have special offices for returning the cards. These stations include:

• Line 1 - Hanzhong Rd, Hengshan Rd, Jinjiang Park;
• Line 2 - Jiangsu Rd, E Nanjing Rd, Century Park, Songhong Rd;
• Line 3 - Dongbaoxing Rd, Zhenping Rd, Caoxi Rd, North Jiangyang Rd;
• Line 4 - Yangshupu Rd.

You can also use the Shanghai Public Transportation Card Service Center, No 609, Jiujiang Rd, M-F 09:30–18:30, Sa Su 09:30–16:30.

China T-union

As of 2024, you can now use your China T-union card. China T-union covers all bus, metro and ferry lines in Shanghai, as well as taxis. Like the Jiaotong Card, you save the hassle of buying tickets (sometimes with long queues) and keeping change for buses and taxis. Also, the card allows you to change lines at some stations where without the card you would need to get another ticket, and gives a discount for each bus↔bus or metro↔bus transfer.

China T-union tickets are not valid on high-speed rail lines, the Shanghai Maglev, regional trains, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

By metro

Shanghai Metro is one of the largest and busiest metro systems in the world. As of mid-2024, there are over 800 km (500 miles) of line and over 500 stations. Usage is over 10 million rides on a typical weekday.

Map as of January 2022

In general the network is great — clean, fast, cheap (¥3-10 depending on distance), air-conditioned, and fairly user-friendly with signs and station arrival announcements in both Mandarin and English, while announcements on Lines 16 and 17 are trilingual in Shanghainese, Mandarin and English. However, station counter staff rarely speak English, though they may still try to help you by using translation apps on their phones.

The drawbacks are that trains are packed during rush hour, trains do not run late at night (the last train is usually around 22:30, with some lines going until around midnight on Friday and Saturday nights), and the network does not go everywhere yet, though it is continually being expanded.

Metro lines

A Line 10 station, coloured lavender to indicate the line.

Each metro line has a particular colour on all maps and signs, and often in station decor. As of mid-2024 lines  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16 ,  17 ,  18 ,  Pujiang  and  Jinshan  are in service.

Three of the most important lines are line  1  north-south, line  2  east-west, and line  4  which encircles all of the city centre.

In central areas most lines (but not lines  3  and  4 ) run underground. Out in the suburbs, most are above ground and many on elevated tracks.

Many metro lines ( 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13 ) run through downtown.

• 3 Line 1. The main north-south line through downtown. Parts of it run through the French Concession, under Huaihai Road and Hengshan Road, then north to People's Park and Shanghai Railway station. Beyond there it goes north to Baoshan and an extension to Chongming Island is in the planning stage, as of 2018. Its south end goes into Minhang and connects to Line  5  for journeys further south.  
• Line 2. The most important east-west line of the city. Downtown it runs under Nanjing Road. Its western end goes to Hongqiao Airport and beyond. To the east, it runs through downtown Pudong and terminates at Pudong Airport.  

Lines  1  and  2  meet at People's Square in Huangpu District, and Line  8  also goes there. This is one of the busiest metro stations on Earth and is often considered the center of Shanghai.

• Line 3. Runs in an arc around the west side of downtown, next to Line 4 for much of the route. In the south it ends at Shanghai South Railway Station; in the north it goes to Shanghai Railway Station and beyond, through Hongkou and into Baoshan.  
• Line 4. Runs on a circular route around central Shanghai, mostly on the Puxi side, but it also goes into Pudong. For approximately the western third of the route it runs next to Line 3.  
• Line 7. Runs from Jiading in the north, goes to Jing'An Temple and through the French Concession, then east into Pudong.  
• Line 8. Runs from Yangpu in the north through part of Hongkou, to People's Square Station in Huangpu, east into Pudong, and finally into the part of Minhang that lies east of the river.  
• Line 9. Comes from Pudong across southern parts of downtown, to Xujiahui, then west out to Songjiang.  
• Line 10. From Hongqiao Railway Station in the west, through the French Concession, to Yuyuan Gardens in the Old City, intersecting Line 2 at Nanjing Road East in Huangpu, to the huge Qipu Road clothing market, and north into Hongkou and Yangpu.  
• Line 11. Starts at the Disney resort in Nanhui on the Pudong side, crosses the river and crosses southern parts of the French Concession to Xujiahui, then swings north into Changning, Putuo and Jiading. At or north of Xujiahui, it intersects most of the major lines downtown. It continues northwest out of Shanghai Municipality; reachimg to Kunshan, where it connects to the Suzhou metro.  
• Line 12. Starts in Minhang south of downtown, runs through the French Concession and Jing'an with stops including South Shaanxi Road Station on Huaihai Road and West Nanjing Road, through Hongkou and Yangpu, and across the river to the northern part of Pudong.  
• Line 13. Starts in Jiading, crosses Putuo, makes several stops downtown including West Nanjing Road and Xintiandi, then crosses the river into southern Pudong, ending at Zhanjiang Road.  
• Line 14. Starts in Pudong, crosses from east to west through downtown, makes several stops downtown including Yuyuan Gardens and Jing'an Temple.  
• Jinshan Railway. A commuter railway operated by China Railway (instead of Shanghai Metro). Service starts from Shanghai South Railway Station, the commuter service makes several stops in Minhang, Songjiang, Jinshan, and terminates at Jinshanwei Station. The line utilizes high-speed train sets, and all stations sell long-distance train tickets.  

Lines that do not come downtown are line  5  which serves the southern suburb Minhang, line  17  which runs from Hongqiao Railway Station to the western suburb Qingpu, and lines  6 ,  16  and  Pujiang  whose routes are across the river in Pudong New Area.

Metro stations

Important metro stations include:

• 4 People's Square (People's Park). Interchange for lines  1 ,  2  and  8 . One of the world's busiest metro stops at around 700,000 passengers a day. Has a large shopping area attached, mostly clothing and tourist goods.  
• 5 Shanghai Railway Station. Lines  1 ,  3  and  4 . There are actually two metro stops here, one for Line 1 and another for Lines 3 and 4, and it is a long walk between them.  
• 6 Zhongshan Park. Lines  2 ,  3  and  4 . Has the huge Cloud Nine mall attached. The park that the station is named after is nearby.  
• 7 Xujiahui. A major interchange with Lines  1 ,  9  and  11 . There are several huge malls nearby; see French Concession for details.  

How to use

The most convenient way to pay is with a metro card; see previous section. There are also one-day cards available which can be purchased for ¥18, good for 24 hours after their first use. Automatic ticket-vending machines take notes and ¥1 or ¥0.5 coins, have instructions in English, and can give change. Most stations on lines  1 ,  2 ,  3  will also have staff selling single-use ticket cards, but on the newly-completed lines  6 ,  8 , and  9  ticket-purchasing is all done by machine, with staff there only to assist in adding credit to cards or if something goes wrong. With the single-use cards, you select your destination and pay by distance, then swipe before boarding and insert the ticket into a machine when you exit. If you live in China, you can also use WeChat Pay or Alipay. Metro faregates are equipped with QR code scanners that can scan a QR code generated by the WeChat or Alipay app on your smartphone.

If there are seats available, then be prepared for a literal mad dash as passengers shove and wrestle for the available seats. You can try and do the same, but bear in mind that everyone else will have a lot more experience than you! Also, be mindful of pickpockets who may use this rush to their advantage.

Transfers between lines can involve a very long walk in some stations. In most places you can transfer between lines freely with a single ticket. But there are exceptions, where two or more lines have stations with the same name, but the stations are separate so you need a second ticket for the second train (unless you have a metro card).

The separate stations with the same name are:

• Shanghai Railway Station - lines  3 / 4  and line  1  are separate stations
• West Nanjing Road Station - lines  2 ,  12  and  13  are in separate stations a few minutes apart from each other.
• Pudian Road (Pudian Lu) - lines  4  and  6 ; these stops are on the same street but are not close to each other. Use the free transfer one stop in either direction (Century Ave or Lancun Road) instead.

Most stations include some retail facilities; in many, these are limited to a few snack vendors, but some (e.g. Xujiahui and People's Park) have substantial food courts and shopping areas right in the station. From many stations — including Xujiahui, South Shaanxi Road, Nanjing Road East and Zhongshan Park — you can walk directly into large department stores or malls without going outdoors. For stations with souvenirs and cheap clothing, see #Clothing below.

By bus

A typical Shanghai public bus

The bus system is cheaper and much more extensive than the metro, and some routes operate after the closing time of the metro (route numbers beginning with 3 are the night buses that run past 23:00). It is however slower in general, and all route information at bus stops is in Chinese, but here is a handy list of bus routes and stops in English. Once inside the bus, there are English announcements.

Some rural bus services in Shanghai are not numbered, and are instead referred as XX line (XX线), in which XX are the initial of the origin and destination. Rural bus services referred as XX special line (XX专线) are usually faster services. Other special bus services are numbered with a descriptive Chinese word, or a description of the origin and destination and a Chinese number, such as "Bridge line 1" (大桥一路), "Tunnel line 2" (隧道二路), or "Shanghai-Chongming line 3" (申崇三路).

Some buses have a conductor; get on, sit down and he or (more often) she will come around; pay him or her and you'll get a paper ticket and change, if any. Fares depend on distance and conductors rarely speak any English, so you must either know your destination and be able to pronounce it in Chinese, or have it written down in Chinese characters.

Other buses do not have a conductor, only the driver; there is a fixed price for the route, usually ¥2 if the buses are air-conditioned and ¥1.5 on increasingly rare routes running on old buses without. Check the bus itself as on some routes the fare varies from bus to bus; typically there is a sign showing the fare on the outside next to the door and/or on the fare box. Exact fare is required unless you have a metro pass; prepare exact change beforehand and drop it into the box next to the driver.

If you change buses with a metro card, you get a ¥1 discount on your second bus fare and all subsequent transfers. There is a 90-minute window to do this. So if you're not spending too much time at the destination, the discount will apply to the start of your return journey, too.

Several companies offer sightseeing buses with various routes and packages covering the main sights such as the Shanghai Zoo, Oriental Pearl Tower, and Baoyang Road Harbor. Many of these leave from the Shanghai Stadium's east bus station. You can also pick one up downtown on Nanjing Road near the park between People's Park and Nanjing Road West metro stops or at the Shanghai History Museum. The buses usually have an audio guide in the world's major languages. The company that has the lowest tariff offers a one-day ticket for ¥60, covering the main attractions in downtown Shanghai and Lujiazui (AKA Central Pudong).

By taxi

A Shanghai taxi

Taxi ("出租车" chūzūchē or choo-tzoo-chuh) is a good choice for transportation in the city, especially during off-peak hours. It is affordable — ¥14 (or ¥16 for larger vehicles) for the first 3 km during the day, ¥18 after 23:00, ¥2.4/km up to 10 km, and ¥3.5/km after; when wheels aren't rolling, time is also tracked and billed but the first 5 min. are free; a ¥1 fuel surcharge is also applied. Going from the centre out to Pudong Airport costs around ¥200.

Rise of the taxi apps Mobile apps are commonly used to hail taxis. The main app is Didi Chuxing. These apps allow you to hail a taxi. However, you may see that some drivers will be unlikely to answer your request because they think your destination is too short, or inconvenient for them, or during peak hours. Didi is fully available in English. It's not good at recognising addresses in English, but you can get around this by placing the Didi order through Apple Maps (not blocked in China).

Taxi drivers typically do not speak any English, so unless you speak Mandarin, be sure to have your destination written in Chinese characters to show the driver. Get a business card for your hotel or any restaurant or shop you like; that makes it easy to return there. As Shanghai is a huge city, try to get the nearest intersection to your destination as well, since even addresses in Chinese are often useless. If you have a mobile phone, you can also use the phone number displayed in the back of the taxi. Dial the number and tell the agent in English where you want to go. Hand the phone to the driver and the agent will tell him in Chinese where you wish to go. The agent will even find out the addresses of bars and other spots for you if required.

Try to avoid using ¥100 notes to pay for short journeys; either use a metro card or have change available; taxi drivers are not keen on giving away their change. Also, the ¥50 note is a favourite of counterfeiters and a foreigner unfamiliar with the money is an obvious person to foist a bad one on, so you should try to avoid getting a fifty in your change. Additionally, one trick used by unscrupulous drivers is to claim you passed them a bad ¥100, when you in fact gave them a good ¥100 and they swapped it for a bad one.

Taxis are very hard to come by during peak hours and when it's raining, so be prepared to wait for a while or walk to a busy pick-up location. Foreign visitors might be surprised at the almost compete lack of courtesy or lines while waiting for a taxi, so don't be afraid to "jump in" and get one — it's first come, first served. There are some taxi stops where attendants maintain a well-ordered line; this may be the fastest way to get a taxi in a busy part of town, but there are few of them, so expect a long walk to find one.

Drivers, while generally honest, are sometimes genuinely clueless and occasionally out to take you for a ride. The drivers are very good about using the meter but in case they forget, remind them. It's also the law to provide a receipt for the rider, so if your fare seems out of line, be sure to obtain one as it's necessary to receive any compensation. If you feel you have been cheated or mistreated by the driver, you (or a Chinese-speaking friend) can use the information on the printed receipt to raise a complaint to the taxi company about that particular driver. The driver will be required to pay 3x the fare if ordered by the taxi company, so normally they're very good about taking the appropriate route. The printed receipt is also useful to contact the driver in case you have forgotten something in the taxi and need to get it back.

If you come across a row of parked taxis and have a choice of which one to get in to, you may wish to check the driver's taxi ID card, posted near the meter on the dashboard. The higher the number, the newer the driver, so there may be more chance that the driver will not know where he or she is going. Those with numbers between 10XXXX and 12XXXX are the most experienced drivers; a number above 27XXXX indicates a new driver who may get you lost somewhere. Another way is to check the number of stars the driver has; these are displayed below the driver's photograph on the dashboard. The number of stars indicates the length of time the driver has been in the taxi business and the level of positive feedback received from customers, and range from zero stars to five. Drivers with one star or more should know all major locations in Shanghai, and those with three stars should be able to recognize even lesser-known addresses. Remember that it takes time to build up these stars, and so don't panic if you find yourself with a driver who doesn't have any — just have them assure you that they know where they are going and you should be fine.

If you need to cross from one side of the Huangpu River to the other by taxi, especially from Pudong to Puxi, you may want to make sure your driver will make the trip, and knows where he or she is going; some drivers only know their side of the town and may become lost once they cross the river. Taxis are notoriously difficult to get on rainy days and during peak traffic hours, so plan your journeys accordingly. As the crossings between Pudong and Puxi are often jammed with traffic, taking a taxi may be more expensive and slower than the metro. It may be better to take the metro across the river and then catch a taxi.

Taxi colors in Shanghai are strictly controlled and indicate the company the taxi belongs to. Turquoise taxis operated by Dazhong (大众), the largest group, are often judged the best of the bunch. Other good companies include Qiangsheng (强生), uses gold-colored taxis and Jinjiang (锦江), which uses white taxis. Watch out for dark red/maroon taxis, since this is the 'default' color of small taxi companies and includes more than its fair share of bad apples. There are also privately owned taxis (easily recognized as they have an 'X' in their number plate and may not be the standard Volkswagen Santana used by most taxi companies). The dark red/maroon taxis will also go "off the meter" at times and charge rates 4x-5x the normal rate — especially around the tourist areas of the Yuyuan Gardens. Bright red taxis and blue taxis, on the other hand, are unionized and quite OK, furthermore there are more 3-star and above taxi drivers working for these companies. The bright orange taxis cover suburban areas only and are not allowed within the "city" area, but their meters start at ¥11 and count at ¥2.4/km no matter how long the journey, so they're somewhat cheaper if you're not trying to get downtown (rule of thumb — if you're trying to go somewhere within the Outer Ring highway, don't get one, but if your journey ends just within it you may be able to find a driver willing to bend the rules).

Using the Smart Shanghai app (about £2.00 from App Store) or the Smart Shanghai website will help you take taxis. Find the sight, restaurant, hotel or bar you are looking for on the app or website and click on the 'Taxi Directions' button for the address written in Chinese. Just show this to the driver and you'll be on your way!

On foot

Shanghai is a good city for walking, especially in the older parts of the city such as the Bund, but be aware this city is incredibly dynamic and pavements can be obstructed or unpleasant to walk through when near construction areas. If there is a metro entry at a busy street, the station can usually be used as a pedestrian underpass to another metro exit across the way.

Some distances in Shanghai are huge, so you will need to use other means of transportation at some point. However, quite a few people navigate well with just a metro pass plus their feet and perhaps the occasional taxi.

See #Do below for some suggested walks that combine shopping and sightseeing.

The Bund "sightseeing tunnel" is very strange, and doesn't actually show you any sites of the city at all. It is an unusual (albeit pricey) way to get across the river however. See Shanghai/Huangpu#Do for details.

As with all of China, right-of-way is effectively proportional to weight: vehicles trump motorbikes, which trump pedestrians. Motorbikes and bicycles rarely use headlights and can come from any direction. They are the main users of curb-cuts for sidewalks, so don't stand at these. Avoid unpredictable movements while walking and crossing streets: the drivers see you and predict your future location from your speed. See Driving in China for further discussion.

By ferry

A useful ferry runs between the Bund (from a ferry pier a few blocks south of Nanjing Road next to the KFC restaurant) and Lujiazui financial district in Pudong (the terminal is about 10 minutes south of the Pearl TV Tower and Lujiazui metro station) and is the cheapest way of crossing the river at ¥2 per person. The ferry is air-conditioned and allows foot-passengers only (bikes are not allowed except for folding models). Buy a token from the ticket kiosk and then insert it into the turnstile to enter the waiting room — the boats run every 10 minutes and take just over 5 minutes to cross the river. This is a great (and much cheaper) alternative to using the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. However, the ferry stations are not directly connected to public transport so you need to walk a bit.

By bicycle

Cyclist pedalling past cars stopped by impromptu maintenance

See also: Cycling in China

For locals, bicycles are slowly being eclipsed by electric scooters. But they still remain an easy means of transportation for visitors who may be hesitant to communicate with drivers or board crowded mass transit — or simply want to soak up some sunshine. Beware of the driving habits of locals: the biggest vehicles have the priority and a red light does not mean you are safe to cross the street. Bicycles and mopeds are not allowed on many major roads (signs designate this), or in the tunnels and on the bridges between Pudong and Puxi (the only way to cross is by ferry).

Some hostels have bikes for rent and many department stores sell them, starting around ¥200. Alternatively, go to Baoshan Metro station and get a vintage bicycle for about ¥300. Bikes for sale are also easily found on the street around Suzhou Creek or in the residential part of the old town.

There is a city-operated system of free bicycles, but the stands are card-operated and as of 2012 the cards were available only to registered Shanghai residents; even migrant workers from other parts of China were excluded. There are many stands around town, each with a few dozen bikes; with a card, you can take one. If you return it to any stand within four hours, there is no charge.

However, since around 2017, commercially-run dockless rideshare bikes have surged in popularity and are now basically ubiquitous. Many locals, especially the younger generation, no longer own bikes and instead prefer these shared bikes due to their "start anywhere, park anywhere, leave and forget" nature. As of 2020, two major operators have a quintessential duopoly on the market: the yellow bikes backed by Meituan, and the blue bikes backed by Alipay. Both require a phone app to use. The initial setup could be a little tedious - you have to download the app, register, and most likely pay a deposit around ¥200, but afterwards it's a simple scan of a QR code and the bike will unlock. Dockless rideshare bikes combine particularly well with Shanghai's extensive metro system. You can often find many bikes at the metro station, and just take one to cover the last kilometre to your final destination. Therefore it is highly recommended for anyone who intends to stay longer than a few weeks. Each ride will cost you ¥1-2 which is certainly not a lot, and you can even purchase a weekly or monthly pass for very cheap and enjoy unlimited rides.

By car

See also: Driving in China

Driving is definitely not recommended in Shanghai for a variety of reasons, even for those with driving experience in the country. Drivers have to cope not only with a very complex road system and seemingly perpetual traffic jams, but also with Chinese driving habits and ongoing construction. In addition, parking spaces are rare and almost impossible to find. Bicycles, scooters and pedestrians are also all over the place — it is not unheard of for cyclists, motorcyclists or pedestrians to suddenly dash in front of a car without any warning. In short, do not drive if you can help it and make use of Shanghai's excellent public transportation network instead.

By motorcycle and scooter

While motorcycle rental is practically non-existent, for long-term visitors e-bikes and scooters are a cheap, fast, practical way of getting around. E-bikes don't require a driving license and are cheaper, but only have a short battery range (about 50 km) and a low top speed, and are a frequent _target of thieves. A cheap e-bike can be picked up from any major supermarket — expect to pay around ¥1500-2500 for a new model. Small shops also sell converted e-bikes (motor scooters converted to run on electricity) which are more expensive but are faster, more comfortable and have longer battery ranges. 50cc motorcycles require registration but don't require a drivers license, whilst anything bigger will require a driving license. Motorcycles can be bought from used-bike dealers mostly located in residential working-class neighbourhoods — a used 50cc moped will be about ¥2000 whilst a 125cc will cost much more depending on condition and mileage. If you plan to ride a motorcycle, stick to automatic transmission scooters as they are much easier to ride in dense traffic than a manually-geared bike.

For motorcycles above 50cc, a special yellow license plate and drivers license is required, both of which is independent from a car's licenses. These motorcycles are subject to the same laws that apply to cars and ride in car lanes, but with additional restrictions. All elevated roads, tunnels, and bridges crossing Huangpu River ban motorcycles with the exception of Nanpu Bridge, Xupu bridge, and Fuxing Road Tunnel. Motorcycles can also use ferries.

Motorcycles below 50cc are expected to use the bicycle lane and cross intersections via pedestrian traffic lights, which is often quicker when car traffic reaches a standstill. Be careful, particularly at night, of people riding with their headlights off or riding on the wrong side of the road — remember that e-bikes don't require any driving license and therefore drivers often flout traffic laws and take creative but dangerous paths through traffic. Parking is easy — most sidewalks serve as bike-parking, although in quiet streets your bike may be stolen, so use a couple of good locks. At busy places, attended bike parks charge around ¥0.5-1 per day.

Vintage motorbikes with sidecars are used by mainly by expats and tourists. Most expatriates and Shanghainese are too embarrassed to use what many consider a particularly "uncool" form of transport. Changjiang sidecars were used by the Chinese army until 1997. There are a few sidecar owners clubs in Shanghai (Black Bats, People's Riders Club), shops (Yiqi, Cao, Fan, Jack, Jonson, Leo) and a tour operator (Shanghai Sideways) which are worth checking out. See also Driving in China — Sidecar rigs.

See

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

Where to go in Shanghai depends largely on available time and your interests. For the areas with most of the main tourist attractions, see the Downtown and Pudong sections above and the district articles they link to. You can also download some apps like Meituan, or use the local search engine Baidu to find more information; if prices and locations have changed recently, the apps are more likely to be up-to-date than many online listings.

Many of Shanghai's main tourist sights are in Huangpu District:

Teahouse in the old town

• The Old City (老城厢; Lao Chengxiang, also known as 南市, Nanshi) is the original Chinese city going back about 1000 years, now a major tourist area. The center of that area is Yuyuan Gardens.
• The International Settlement was built North and West of the Old City, starting in the 1840s. In colonial-period Western books, "Shanghai" means that settlement.
• The Bund (外滩 Wàitān). The riverside avenue that was the center of 19th century Shanghai and is now a major tourist attraction. 
• People's Square (Renmin Gongyuan). What was once the horse-racing track on the edge of the British district is now a large and busy downtown park. The old track's clubhouse now houses a museum and a fine restaurant. Under the square at the edge of the park is a metro station that is one of the hubs of the Shanghai system and one of the busiest subway stations on Earth; lines  1 ,  2  and  8  meet there. Nearby are several large high-end malls and department stores. 

Jing'an Temple, Jing'an District

Nanjing Road was the main street of the old British Concession; today it is a major upmarket shopping street. Line  2  runs under it for some distance and has four stations along it; listed east-west they are Nanjing Road East, People's Square, Nanjing Road West and jing'an Temple. The road extends across two districts.

• Nanjing Road East in Huangpu District extends from the Bund to People's Park, and most of it is a very busy pedestrians-only strip.
• Nanjing Road West is the continuation into Jing'an District. Part of it runs along the north side of People's Park. A landmark beyond the park is Jing'an Temple, a beautiful ancient building with a metro station named after it.

For a taste of 1920s Shanghai, with much classic Western-style architecture, head for the stately old buildings of the Bund and nearby parts of Huangpu; this is still a major shopping area as well. If your taste runs more to very modern architecture, remarkably tall buildings and enormous shopping malls, the prime districts for skyscrapers are Pudong and Jing'an. See the linked articles for details.

Other major sights are in the former French Concession. This has always been a fashionable area—even in the colonial period, many famous Chinese lived there—and it remains so today with much of Shanghai's best entertainment and shopping. We treat it as a single district and give it its own article. Within it are:

Shikumen buildings

• Xujiahui, the center of Xuhui District, with a metro interchange (lines  1 ,  9  and  11 ), major roads, huge malls including many electronics stores, and high-end residential and office buildings.
• Huaihai Road, an upmarket shopping street which many Shanghai people prefer over Nanjing Road.
• Hengshan Road, which runs from Huaihai Road to Xujiahui, has Shanghai's largest cluster of restaurants and bars.
• Xintiandi, an area of old shikumen ("stone gate", a unique Shanghai style) houses, redeveloped with shopping malls, trendy bars and restaurants, and a lot of tourism.
• Tianzifang, another area of shikumen housing that has been redeveloped. It is newer than Xintiandi and emphasizes arts, crafts and boutique shopping where Xintiandi stresses brand-name goods and entertainment.

Overall, the French Concession is Shanghai's best area for boutique shopping, small galleries and craft shops, and interesting restaurants.

Museums

Shanghai Museum

• Huangpu has the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, on opposite sides of People's Square, and the Bund Historical Museum, in a park at the north end of the Bund.
• The Shanghai Railway Museum is near Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei.
• The Chinese Martial Arts Museum is on the campus of Shanghai Institute of Physical Education; see the Yangpu District article for details.
• There is a Yuan-Dynasty Water Sluice Museum in Putuo District, an interesting example of medieval engineering.
• The Shanghai Municipal History Museum is across the river, below the Pearl Tower in Pudong.
• The Shanghai Natural History Museum is in Jing'an District next to the metro station named after it on Line  1 .

Art galleries

The gallery areas are rather scattered, many of them away from the center and in former industrial buildings that have been renovated and re-purposed.

• M50 art district is Shanghai's main center for contemporary Chinese art, with dozens of studios and galleries. It is in a former factory in Putuo District.
• 1933 Shanghai is in a former abattoir; it has a theatre, shops, cafés and studios. See Hongkou for details.
• The Power Station of Art is on the Huangpu River, in an old power plant converted first to a pavilion for Expo 2010, and then the first state-run contemporary art museum in China. It is in Huangpu.
• The Shanghai Propaganda Poster and Art Centre is on the west side of the French Concession. A fine collection of Mao-era posters and other memorabilia, a bit hard to find but worth the effort.
• The Shanghai Gallery of Art is a commercial gallery in a shopping center called 3 on the Bund.
• The Tianzifang area in the French Concession has many galleries and studios.
• The West Bund in the French Concession is one of the city's newest art districts. In 2019, French art museum Centre Pompidou established its first Chinese outpost here at the West Bund Museum.

Temples

Confucian Temple

Shanghai many temples, churches, mosques and synagogues.

• Jing'an Temple (静安寺) is a large Buddhist temple in Jing'an District, next to the metro stop (Lines  2  and  7 ) named after it.
• Longhua Temple (龙华寺) is a Zen Buddhist temple down on the southern edge of the French Concession.
• The old town has both the Taoist Temple of the Town God (Chenghung Miao) and the Shanghai Confucian Temple (Wen Miao).
• St. Ignatius Cathedral is a major Catholic church built by the French near Xujiahui.
• Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican cathedral on the east side of People's Square in the old British district.
• Jade Buddha Temple is in Putuo, a small Buddhist temple with some fine statues.
• Xiaotaoyuan Mosque is Shanghai's largest mosque, with a separate women's mosque next door. It is in Huangpu.

Of course there are many smaller religious buildings—Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Muslim and Christian—scattered around the city.

Water towns

Zhujiajao

There are water towns in the Western suburbs, popular with both Shanghai residents and visitors. They are quite scenic with canals as the main method of transport and many traditional-style bridges and buildings.

• Zhujiajiao is right out at the Western edge of the municipality in Qingpu district, and can be reached on Line  17  from Hongqiao Railway Station, or by bus. It is quite popular with Shanghai residents, both Chinese and expatriates. There are some bars run by expats.
• Qibao is closer to downtown in Minhang district, and can be reached by metro line  9 , Qibao station, then walk a block south). It is smaller than Zhujiajiao and gets a higher proportion of tourists.
• Fengjing in Jinshan district has many artists, even its own fairly well-known "Jinshan peasant" style of painting. Metro line  22  will get you to Jinshan, but you will need a local bus or a taxi to reach Fengjing.

This type of town is found all over the Yangtze Delta area. In particular, there are several in the Suzhou and Hangzhou regions as well as in Shanghai.

Do

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

The municipal government runs the Shanghai Cultural Information website which has good listings of current events (special exhibits at museums and galleries; shows such as acrobatics at the circus, touring musicians, and plays; sporting events).

Shopping

If you like shopping or window shopping, a walk along either of Shanghai's major commercial streets takes an hour or two (or up to several days if you visit many stores and explore side streets) and can be quite interesting:

• Nanjing Road, starting from the Bund (Nanjing Road East metro station, line  2  or  10 ) and heading west toward People's Park, Jing'an Temple and perhaps beyond
• Huaihai Road in the French Concession, starting at South Huangpi Road metro station on Line  1  and heading west. At the cross street just past the Changshu Road station, turn left (past the Starbucks) to reach a whole district of bars and restaurants along Hengshan Road to end your journey in comfort.

See #Buy below for more on these streets and nearby areas.

Parks

Almost every district in Shanghai has some parks. Some of the major ones are:

• People's Park, very central and with a major metro interchange below it (lines  1 ,  2  and  8 )
• Jing'an Park, across the street from the temple and metro station (lines  2  and  7 )
• Fuxing Park in the French Concession
• Lu Xun Park in Hongkou is named for a famous writer. It has kids' rides and a lake with boats for rent.
• Gongqing Forest Park in Yangpu also has rides and boats. (Hongkou Stadium station, line  8  and  9 )
• Zhongshan Park in Changning. (Zhongshan Park metro station, lines  2   3  &  4 )
• Daning Tulip Park, north of the railway station in Zhabei
• Shanghai Expo Park is in two parts, the larger in Pudong and the smaller in Puxi, toward the south of Huangpu. The Power Station of Art (listed under #Art galleries) is in the Puxi part of the park.
• Jinjiang Action Park, an amusement park in the southern part of the French Concession. Has a large ferris wheel with a good view over much of the city. Metro line  1  to Jinjiang Park Station.

If you play the game called wei qi in Chinese, or "Go" in English, you are likely to find locals playing it in Fuxing Park or Jing'an Park.

Other

• Drink at a tea house. Visit one of Shanghai's many tea houses. Be careful not to order amazingly expensive teas or too much food. Beware of friendly-seeming strangers wanting to take you to a tea house or bar; this may be a scam.
• Take a boat on the river. Many companies operate river tours. Look for one of the cheaper ones. This is a great way to see the striking Shanghai skyline and river banks and shoot some good photos. Some of the boat companies offer sightseeing tours lasting several hours and covering quite a bit of the river and/or Suzhou Creek. A cheaper, but less scenic, alternative is to take one of the many ferries that cross the river for a couple yuan.
• Double-decker buses run through much of downtown and can be boarded anywhere on their route.
• China Odyssey Tours, ☏ +86-773-5854000. Tours of the city, for couples and families. 
• Formula One. Grand Prix motor-racing is in April at the International Circuit in Jiading district.
• Shanghai International Film Festival. The event takes place during a period of ten days in June with a showing of 400 Chinese and international films in cinemas across many districts of Shanghai.

Learn

Universities

Shanghai has at least a dozen universities, many with several campuses. Most employ foreign English teachers and many have foreign students.

Two are part of the C9 League, a group prestigious universities, roughly the Chinese equivalent of the "Ivy League" in the US. These two are generally considered to be behind only Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing as the most prestigious universities in China.

• Fudan University (复旦大学 Fùdàn Dàxué) is among China's top general universities. The main campus is in Yangpu.
• Shanghai Jiatong University (上海交通大学 Shànghǎi Jiāotōng Dàxué), also known by its shortened name 交大 (Jiāodà), is among the best for technical subjects. It has five campuses in different districts, and has over 40,000 students including about 24,000 graduate students. The new main campus is in Minhang. The original campus in the French Concession is now used mostly for continuing education; it has an MBA program and Chinese-language courses. Metro line  10  has a Jiaotong University Station, at the original campus.

There are also many non-C9 universities:

• East China Normal University (ECNU) also has its main campus in Minhang, next to Jiaoda.
• New York University in Shanghai is a joint venture between the American school and ECNU, with its campus in Pudong.
• Zhabei has the main campus of Shanghai University.
• Baoshan has another Shanghai University campus.
• Yangpu has four universities: Fudan, Tongji, Finance & Economics, and Physical Education; the last has a martial arts museum.
• Fengxian has Shanghai Business School.
• Sonjiang has an entire University town with many universities
• Nanhui has eight campuses with around 100,000 students.
• Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong has a Fudan campus and the Shanghai Tech University (opened in 2016).

Most of these have substantial contingents of foreign students, and some employ foreigners as English teachers or in other faculty roles. All of them have nearby areas with cheap food, bars and shops that cater to a student market; these can be among the best places in Shanghai to look for low costs and lively nightlife with a young crowd.

Some universities have metro stops named for them, Jiao Tong University and Tonji University stations on line  10 , Shanghai University on line  7 , and Sonjiang University Town on line  9 .

Other classes

There are also schools for various Chinese arts or crafts including cooking, martial arts and painting. Many are in the French Concession, though other districts have some.

There are also schools offering training in the Chinese language. Several of the universities provide such courses and there are other possibilities:

• Mandarin House (美和汉语). Established 2004; the Shanghai campus is in People's Square. 
• LTL Mandarin School Shanghai, info@ltl-shanghai.com. In the French Concession. For those who are interested, they also conduct Shanghainese lessons for foreigners. (updated Mar 2017)
• 5 Meizhi Mandarin (two locations: Xujiahui next to Jiaotong University, and Hongqiao-Gubei), ☏ +86 2152300140, meizhish@gmail.com. 09:00-21:00. Courses in written and spoken Mandarin Chinese, including business and conversational courses, and test preparation. There are short-term intensive classes (group or individual) and longer-term programs, and customized courses can be provided. The school is an official test centre for the HSK Chinese proficiency test and for TCSL (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language). 
• Hutong School Shanghai offers a range of Chinese courses including intensive, HSK preparation courses, business Chinese and Chinese classes for children. Group and private classes are available with experienced native teachers. Email: shanghai@hutongschool.com Tel: [Tel: (+86) 21 3428 0099]
• That's Mandarin School offers a variety 1-on-1 and group Chinese language courses including intensive, part-time, HSK preparation. Various summer and winter immersion programs for kids and teens as well as online Chinese classes are also available.

Work

Shanghai has over 200,000 foreign residents, most of whom are working, and the range of jobs and professions is huge. The largest groups are English teachers and expatriate employees sent by foreign companies to work in Chinese branches or factories, or to deal with suppliers or partners. There are also significant numbers of other teachers at every level from kindergarten to university, foreign employees of Chinese companies, contractors doing design work on anything from clothing to automobiles, diplomatic staff at the various consulates, artists and musicians, independent professionals such as lawyers and architects, and people running their own export businesses or even factories.

As a general rule, the English teachers are paid less than the other groups, though still quite well by local standards. To some extent the range of Western bars and restaurants reflects this; some of the high-end places cater mainly to expatriates with high salaries or generous expense accounts. These places also get some tourists and wealthy Chinese, but the typical foreign teacher (let alone most Chinese or low-budget backpackers) cannot afford them.

See below for information on visa extensions if required.

See Working in China for additional information.

Buy

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

Much of the shopping in Shanghai is either downtown or (mostly for big malls) across the river in Pudong. Many clothing shops are downtown, but others are scattered citywide; see #Clothing for details. There are also many shopping opportunities in the big malls of Pudong, and all the suburban areas have malls as well. Two of the largest malls on the Puxi side of the river are:

• 1 Cloud Nine shopping center (Zhongshan Park Station, lines  2  and  3 , Exit 1). In Changning. Nine flours above ground (hence the name) and two below. Metro line 2 has an exit on one of the underground floors. (updated Jun 2016)
• Wanda Plaza (Wujiaochang) (line  10 , Wujiaochang). In Yangpu. Wanda Group is a huge company with many properties in China and some elsewhere. This is the largest of their 14 malls in Shanghai. 

With those exceptions, most of the shopping is downtown

Nanjing Road East on a fairly busy day

• 2 Nanjing Road (南京路 Nánjīnglù). Is certainly Shanghai's best-known shopping street, and probably China's. At around a million shoppers a day, it is also one of the world's busiest. It has been busy for generations; Amy Tan's novel The Kitchen God's Wife mentions a figure of 100,000 visitors a day in the 1940s. Nanjing Road starts on the riverside at The Bund and goes about 6 km (3.7 mi) West from there to Jing'an Temple. It continues beyond the temple, gradually changing from intensively commercial to more office and residential use.  

The park divides Nanjing Road into two parts:

Nanjing Road East (Nanjing dong lu) in Huangpu District, mostly pedestrians-only and a major shopping area since the mid-19th century. It is a 1-km long pedestrian boulevard running inland from the Bund, lined with busy shops. The wide boulevard is often packed with people on weekends and holidays. The shops are often _targeted to domestic tourists, so the prices are surprisingly reasonable. The Nanjing Road East station (lines  2  and  10 ) is near the center of that pedestrian area. The People's Park station (lines  1 ,  2  and  8 ) is at the inland end, furthest from the Bund. Beyond that station the road is no longer pedestrian-only; it runs along the north side of People's Park (人民广场), which is often considered the center of Shanghai.

For high-end international brands, go to Nanjing Road West (南京西路 Nanjing xi lu) near Jing'an Temple station (line  2  or  7 ). Several large shopping malls (Plaza 66 aka Henglong Plaza, Citic Plaza, Meilongzhen Plaza, and others being built) house boutiques bearing the most famous names in fashion.

The French Concession is another major shopping area. Huaihai Road is a busy boulevard with upscale stores; well-off locals tend to shop there in preference to the more touristy Nanjing Road. For boutique shopping, head to the smaller streets just off it — Xinle Lu (新乐路), Changle Lu (长乐路) and Anfu Lu (安福路) — starting from east of Shaanxi Lu (陕西路); the nearest Metro station is South Shanxi Rd on Line  1 . This area of low-rise buildings and tree-lined streets bustles with small boutiques of clothing and accessories, where young Shanghainese seek the latest fashion shops. A renovated but still picturesque older area called Tian Zi Fang also has boutique clothing, plus much arts and crafts.

The Bund is mainly office buildings but does have some hotels, restaurants, and a few multi-storey high-end shopping centers. No. 3 on the Bund has, among other things, Giorgio Armani's flagship store in China. No. 18 has many stores including an art gallery.

Yuyuan Bazaar in the old town is well provided with Chinese crafts and jewellery. See Shanghai#Clothing for other tourist shopping areas.

Books, CDs and DVDs

Fuzhou Road runs from the Bund on the east to People's Square on the west, and is the first major street south of Nanjing Road. In colonial times it was Shanghai's main red-light district; today it is the best place to look for books and is also a good street to wander around and find stationery and art supplies, especially for Chinese calligraphy and painting. Some of the art is sold there as well.

Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore (Shanghai Book Traders) at 390 Fuzhou Rd offers many books in English and other major languages, especially for learning Chinese. Just around the corner at 36 South Shanxi Rd is a small but well-stocked second-hand foreign-language bookshop. If you're searching for computer or business related books, head to the biggest store in Fuzhou Rd: Shanghai Book Town (上海书城). You'll find special editions _targeted at the Chinese market. The only difference to the original version is the Chinese cover and the heavily reduced price.

Those interested in music CDs or DVDs of movies and television shows have a wide variety of options. The bookstores all carry some, people sell DVDs out of boxes on street corners, and there are local DVD shops in most neighborhoods. Costs go from about ¥6 per disk to about ¥40; you pay a bit more for DVD-9 format disks. See also discussion in the China article.

There are also some shops popular with the expatriate community; these tend to have English-speaking staff and a better selection of merchandise appealing to Westerners, though sometimes at slightly higher prices. One is the Ka De Club with two shops: one at 483 Zhenning Rd and the other one at 505 Da Gu Rd (a small street between Weihai and Yan'an roads). Another popular DVD shop is on Hengshan Road about halfway between two expat bars, Oscar's and the Shanghai Brewery. There are several more along Jiaozhou Road, which runs north from Jing'An Station.

Perhaps the best way to score a deal with a shop is to be a regular. If you provide them repeat business they are usually quite happy to give you discounts for your loyal patronage. It is also worth asking for a cheaper-by-the-dozen discount if you are making a large purchase.

Antiques

There are a number of markets in the city selling antiques, jade and Mao-era China memorabilia:

Porcelain at Dongtai Road Market

• 3 Dongtai Road Antique Market (Metro line  8  or  10  to Laoximen station, then walk a long block north looking for the market on side streets to your left.). The largest antique market in the city, and the cheapest provided you bargain hard. 
• Yuyuan Gardens is another good option for antiques and all manner of cheaply made and priced souvenirs (teapots, paintings, "silk" bags, etc.) Walk a few hundred meters East from Dongtai Road.
• There are more upmarket antique markets between Fuzhou Road and the pedestrian part of Nanjing Road.

As with any market in China, don't be afraid to haggle; it is usually the only way to get a fair price.

Exporting anything made before 1911 is now illegal. See the China article for discussion.

Electronics

Shanghai offers the opportunity to buy electronic products, and you may be able to find exotic gadgets and phones that are only available in China. Foreign electronics are expensive with a high sales tax. It can be helpful to buy online with clear cheaper prices and with delivery often possible the same day with payment in cash on delivery. Games consoles are expensive and import restrictions extensive. Xujiahui is the place to go if you're after computer accessories and other electronics, but the mobile phone selection is a bit lacking. Try to go during the week; it is hectic on weekends.

• Bu Ye Cheng Communications Market (不夜城) (Shanghai Railway Station, exit 4 from line  1  side, turn left and it's the large gold building). 10:00-18:00. This is the one of the best-known open-style markets for mobile phones in Shanghai. 1F/2F for new phones (two-way radios, too), 3F for second-hand including various collectibles. Any reputable vendor that sets up shop here will allow you to try before you buy—if they don't then leave. Best way to get a good or unusual phone at low cost. The selection is a mixed bag; you'll find Chinese off-brands mixed with reliable big-name brands as well as cutting-edge Japanese phones. If you live in North or South America be careful about buying the off-brand phones as most do not support the necessary frequencies for use there. Also, in the secondhand section of the market some of the phones are of dubious origin; CDMA phones may have their ESNs blacklisted in their home countries, but for GSM/3G phones the only issue is an ethical one. 

There is a giant electronics mart at the Baoshan Road line  3 / 4  station, which offers a huge range of miscellaneous electronics and mobile phones, however some are fake. Be sure to bargain hard. If you want to buy a mobile phone here, make sure you have a SIM card before you purchase, and test the SIM card in the phone by making a call, perhaps to the vendor, since some of the phones are non-functional but still turn on. It's best to negotiate as low as possible first, and then try out your SIM card.

Photo equipment

Shanghai is rather an odd market for photo equipment. As in any major city, more-or-less everything is available somewhere, including high-end items of interest mainly to professionals and unusual things that only a collector might want. China was relatively isolated for decades, from the Japanese invasion in 1937 until the "reform and opening up" of 1978, so imported items from that period are not common. However Shanghai was a very prosperous and cosmopolitan city in the 1920s and early 30s so some collectors' items are in good supply.

As a general rule, prices on photo equipment in Shanghai are roughly comparable to US prices and a bit higher than Hong Kong, but there are various exceptions including some real bargains and some seriously overpriced items. Check prices abroad before making any major purchases.

For consumer products such as point-and-shoot cameras or low-end interchangeable lens devices, Xujiahui is a shopper's paradise. Any of the large consumer electronics stores scattered around the city, and many of the general department stores, will have these as well, but selection and price are usually better at Xujiahui.

For more specialised needs, there are two large buildings full of camera stores in Shanghai. Both have plenty of consumer products, usually at good prices. However they also have lots of products for the enthusiast and professional markets, services such as printing or camera repair, and a large selection of used equipment from cheap-and-usable to collectors' items.

• One is Huanlong Photographic Equipment City (环龙照相器材) on the 2nd through 5th floors of a building near the Shanghai train station in Zhabei District. Exit the station into the South Square, and the building is diagonally left. Fast food on ground floor. Second floor and above is mostly camera shops. The higher you go, the more used equipment you see.
• An even larger clump of shops is Xing Guang Photographic Equipment City (星光摄影器材城) 300 Luban Lu, corner of Xietu Lu. Metro Line  4  to Luban Road South, go out exit 1, turn left onto Luban Lu, and you are walking North. Xietu Lu is the first cross street. The camera center is on the NW corner. It has 7 floors. The top one is offices, the bottom two mostly new cameras. One floor is mostly studio equipment—lights, reflectors and so on—and includes some unusual cameras such as 4x5-inch view cameras and 6x17 cm Chinese-made panoramic cameras. Another is mostly wedding studios, wedding clothes rental, etc. Used equipment is from 2nd to 6th floors and dominates a couple of floors. One camera repair shop, a few accessories shops—memory, bags, tripods, etc.

There are two newer buildings next to the main one. In the main building, the bottom two floors are nearly all shops selling new cameras, with much specialisation by brand. At least one shop with nothing but Canon, some only Sony, one only Nikon & Manfrotto, two mainly Pentax. Olympus and Panasonic are fairly common, but no shops sell only those. Voigtlander is visible here and there. The Leica specialists are on higher floors.

These two groups of shops are on Line  4  so it is easy to visit both in a day. However, Line 4 is roughly circular and they are on opposite edges (Railway Station on North, Luban Lu on South) so it is a fairly long ride between them.

Clothing

Shanghai has a number of markets which combine cheap clothing (including lots of knock-offs of famous brands) with tourist stuff like souvenir T-shirts and higher-grade Chinese stuff like silk (?) scarves and robes. Nearly all of these also have a few stores selling luggage, and many have some consumer electronics as well. In any of them there are quite a few touts; just entering the buildings can bring a horde of people upon you trying to sell you bags, watches, DVDs and all sorts of goods. You also need to haggle to get good prices in any of them. Dodging touts and haggling can be fun, but those sensitive to the pressure might want to steer clear.

Rather than pursuing knock-offs of Western brands, one of the more interesting things to do in Shanghai is to check out the small boutiques in the French Concession area. Some of these are run by individual designers of clothing, jewellery, etc., so the items on sale can truly be said to be unique, and the area is generally free of touts. Both prices and quality are generally higher than in the markets described below.

Many visitors from overseas encounter problems finding larger sizes in China. Also the sizes may be different; one Canadian reports that he takes XL at home but needs XXXL in China. This will be less of a problem in tourist areas, and the many fine tailors can make garments to fit anyone, often at attractive prices.

Qipu Road

The horrendously crowded Qipu Lu clothing market (Tiantong Road metro station on line  10  one stop North of Nanjing Road East, and line  12 ) is the main place where Shanghai people look for cheap clothing. It is a mass of shops — including a huge number of small ones, many about 18 m² (200 ft²) — jammed into several multi-storey warehouse-sized buildings; exploring even one would take the casual stroller most of a day. You can walk into the basement of one building from inside the subway stop. You'll find the cheapest clothes in the city here, but even the trendiest styles are clearly Chinese. Bargain hard, in Chinese if you can, and make friends with the shop owners. Many of them have secret stashes of knock-offs in hidden rooms behind the stall "walls." Avoid this place on weekends at all costs.

While Qipu Lu is best known for cheap clothing, and that is indeed the market most shops _target, it also has some rather fine upmarket shops. For example, the top floor of the building by the subway has a women's clothing place specialising in silk dresses and tops, including many with good embroidery. Prices start around ¥300, high but not outrageous by Chinese standards. Compared to prices in Western countries they are a real bargain.

Another large market is next to the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (上海科技馆) metro station on line  2  in Pudong; there are actually two markets, one on each side of the station. The place has more foreign customers than Qipu Lu, and the asking prices for clothes are higher. However, there is a wider selection here of other products: software, games, electronics, etc. This market also has a number of tailor shops for made-to-order clothing.

A smaller but more accessible market with similar merchandise (but no tailors) is attached to the largest and most central metro station in town, People's Park. This is less hectic than either Qipu Lu or the Science & Tech Museum, and probably has enough variety for most travellers.

It is fairly common for travellers to stop at either the Science & Tech or the People's Park market to pick up gifts just before flying out of Shanghai, since both are on line  2  which goes to both airports, and both are all on a single level so it is moderately convenient to wander about with luggage in tow. Prices may not be the best in town but they are generally much better than airport shops and selection is good.

The area around Yuyuan Gardens in the old town has similar merchandise, with more emphasis on souvenirs and handicrafts rather than clothing, and often with somewhat higher asking prices.

Another option is the Pearl Plaza located on Yan'an Xi Lu and Hongmei Lu (line  10 , get off at Longxi Rd stop, go south on Hongmei Lu out of the station past Yan'an elevated road). See Minhang for more on that area. Another, more for day-to-day clothing than anything fancy or touristy, is near Shanghai Ikea; take line  3  to Cao Xi Road, walk toward Ikea and it will be on your left.

The largest group of tailor shops is at Shanghai South Bund Material Market: 399 Lujiabang Rd (陆家浜路), open 10:00-18:00. Three floors of tailors and their materials including silk, cashmere, and merino wool. Have items measured, fitted and finished within two days or bring examples, samples or pictures. Prices here or in the smaller cluster of such shops at Science & Tech are often better than at standalone shops in town because the competition for customers is fairly intense, but you should bargain for the best price.

You can take bus #802 or #64 from the Shanghai Railroad Station and stop at the final stop: Nanpu Bridge Terminal or you can take metro line  4  to the Nanpu Bridge (南浦大桥) Station (exit from gate #1, make a left from the exit and then left again on the light. You will see it to your right after walking about 200 to 250 m.

For high-end clothing that is (mostly) not Chinese knock-offs, generally at somewhat higher prices than outside China, the main areas to look are Nanjing Road right downtown and Huaihai Road in the French Concession. Both have many stores with trendy styles and major international brands. See the Shopping in China article for discussion of difficulties buying brand-name goods in the country, but note that the high-end Shanghai shops are probably less risky than anywhere else.

Groceries

Major supermarket chains such as Carrefour, Metro, Auchan, Tesco and Walmart are scattered around the city and have cheap groceries and household products, and are generally crowded at weekends. The most centrally located 'big chain' supermarket is Carrefour located in floors B1 and B2 of Cloud 9 shopping mall (metro: Zhongshan Park, lines  2 ,  3  and  4 ). Tesco has a store in Zhabei district close to the main railway station and there is a huge Lotus supermarket in Top Brands mall in Liujiazui (Liujiazui, line  2 ). There is also a large supermarket with much imported food at Xujiahui (lines  1  and  9 ); leave the station via at exit 12, which puts you in the basement of a major mall, then walk all the way across the open space at that level.

Whilst many stores around the city sell imported products at fairly high prices, Metro Cash'n'Carry is by far the cheapest place to buy imported goods. There are two stores:

• The Pudong store is at Longyang Lu, Lines  2 ,  7 ,  16  and Maglev.
• The Puxi store is at the intersection of Zhenbei Rd and Meichuan Rd, reachable by bus #827 from Line  2  Beixinjing station, Line  10  Shuicheng Rd station or Jiaotong University station, or bus #947 from Line  2  Zhongshan Park station and lines  3  and  4  Jinshajiang Rd station. Alternately, it is a five-minute walk from Jinjiang Park station on line  1 .

As Metro caters primarily to businesses, you will either need a Metro membership card or take a temporary guest pass from reception when entering the store (Puxi store offers no guest passes but most members are willing to lend their membership card at the check-out line). Some items are available only in large packages or are much cheaper bought that way; for example, 1-kg (2.2-lb) packs of New Zealand cream cheese or 5-kg (11-lb) blocks of Irish cheddar are about half the cost per gram of small quantities.

City Shop has a number of locations around Shanghai, plus an online store. Prices are mostly noticeably higher than Metro, but their selection is good and locations are often convenient.

Ubiquitous FamilyMart 24-hour convenience stores can be found around the main central districts and inside major metro stations — these stores sell magazines, snacks, drinks and Japanese-style hot bento-boxes although prices are high by Chinese standards. Chinese chains such as KeDi and C-Store can be found in residential districts and are marginally cheaper and also stock cigarettes. 7-Eleven and Lawson convenience stores are less common but can be found around the Nanjing Road area.

Eat

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

Many food options in Shanghai are much as anywhere else in China. A lot of the street food is cheap and interesting; roasted sweet potatoes are a common and low-risk item. Hole-in-the-wall restaurants, especially West-of-China Muslim noodle places or spicy Sichuan places, often have good cheap food as well. The local bakeries are generally reasonably priced and the coffee houses have Western-style baked goods for not much more.

For excellent Sichuan food in classier surroundings, Spicy Joint on Huaihai Road is extremely popular; do not go at a peak time unless you are willing to wait for a table.

While there are some good Indian and Thai places, there are also many Japanese curry places in Shanghai. A popular chain is Coco Ichibanya with about a dozen locations from Pudong to Suzhou, mostly downtown. One is in the mall attached to Jing'an Temple metro station, another in Metro City mall at Xujiahui, and another on Huaihai Road.

The Wagas chain has restaurants offering coffee and a mostly western menu—mainly light choices like sandwiches, soups and salads—at mid-range prices and "Baker & Spice" places which combine a café and bakery. They offer free WiFi and are a popular spot for locals and digital nomads working on laptops as they sip coffee. Downtown Shanghai has at least one Wagas location in each of the eight #Districts covered in this article, including at least two in Jing'an. The ground-level strip of restaurants behind Grand Gateway Mall at Xjiahui has a Wagas with a Baker & Spice shop next door.

There are plenty of places with various sorts of international cuisine, mostly at higher prices than those mentioned above. The largest group are in the French Concession, mostly along Hengshan Road or streets running off it, but there are also many in Jing'an, Huangpu and Pudong, and some elsewhere.

As anywhere in China, Brazilian all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurants are common; one is on Hengshan Road. There is also an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet above the Dutch department store on Huaihai Road.

Huanghe Rd (黄河路), off Nanjing Road has upmarket Chinese-style seafood.

Much western fast food is available: McDonald's, Starbucks and KFC are ubiquitous, while Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and Burger King are fairly common. Shanghai has a few you might not find (yet?) in smaller cities, such as a Papa John's Pizza on Hengshan Road and a Carl's Jr. burger place at Xujiahui.

Shanghai cuisine

Shanghai's cuisine, like its people and culture, is primarily a fusion of the forms of the surrounding Jiangnan region, with influences sprinkled in from the farther reaches of China and elsewhere. Characterized by some as sweet and oily, the method of preparation used in Shanghai emphasizes freshness and balance, with particular attention to the richness that sweet and sour characteristics can often bring to dishes that are otherwise generally savoury.

Shanghai street food

Cookie shop, Huaihai Road

The name "Shanghai" means "above the sea", but paradoxically, the local preference for fish often tends toward the freshwater variety due to the city's location at the mouth of China's longest river. Seafood, nonetheless, retains great popularity and is often braised (fish), steamed (fish and shellfish), or stir-fried (shellfish). Watch out for any seafood that is fried, as these dishes rely far less on freshness and are often the remains of weeks-old purchases.

Shanghai's preference for meat is unquestionably pork. Pork is ubiquitous in Chinese cooking, and in general if a mention refers to something as "meat" (肉) without any modifiers, the safe assumption is that it is pork. Minced pork is used for dumpling and bun fillings, whereas strips and slices of pork are promulgated in a variety of soups and stir-fries. The old standby of Shanghainese cooking is "red-cooked (braised/stewed) pork" (红烧肉 hóng shāo ròu), a traditional dish throughout Southern China with the added flair of anise and sweetness provided by the chefs of Shanghai. Another signature Shanghainese dish is sweet and sour ribs (糖醋排骨 táng cù pái gǔ, literally sugar and vinegar pork ribs).

Chicken takes the honorable mention in the meat category, and the only way to savour chicken in the Chinese way is to eat it whole (as opposed to smaller pieces in a stir-fry). Shanghai's chickens were once organic and grass-fed, yielding smaller but tender and flavourful birds. Today most chickens are little different from what can be found elsewhere. Still, the unforgettable preparations (drunken, salt-water, plain-boiled with dipping sauce, etc.) of whole chickens chopped up and brought to the table will serve as a reminder that while the industrialization of agriculture has arrived from the West, the preservation of flavour is still an essential element of the local cooking.

Those looking for lower-cholesterol options need not fret. Shanghai lies at the heart of a region of China that produces and consumes a disproportionately large amount of soy. Thinking tofu? There's the stinky version that when deep-fried, permeates entire blocks with its earthy, often offensive aroma. Of course there are also tofu skins, soy milk (both sweet and savory), firm tofu, soft tofu, tofu custard (generally sweet and served from a road-side cart), dried tofu, oiled tofu and every kind of tofu imaginable. There's also vegetarian duck, vegetarian chicken and vegetarian goose, each of which looks and tastes nothing like the fowl after which it is named but is rather just a soy-dish where the bean curd is expected to approximate the meat's texture. Look out also for gluten-based foods at vegetarian restaurants. If you are vegetarian, do be conscious that tofu in China is often regarded not as a substitute for meat (except by the vegetarian Buddhist monks) but rather as an accompaniment to it. As such, take extra care to ensure that your dish isn't served with peas and shrimp or stuffed with minced pork before you order it.

Shanghainese people have 4 special preferences for breakfast dishes (or rather to say dishes, just those simple and quick-to-eat) which are given the name sì dà jīn gāng (四大金刚, lit. four heavenly kings, a term in Buddhism). They are the followings:

• dà bĭng (大饼, lit. large pastry). A kind of large flat bread. Fried dough in oil-greased frying pan with water (which eventually evaporates). A variation of this is cōng yóu bĭng (葱油饼, lit. green onion oil pastry), which has green onion and salt and pepper on the surface of the dough before frying.
• yóu tiáo (油条, lit. oily strips). Stretchy while crispy fried hollow strips. Often served with some sugar to dip on.
• cí fàn (粢饭). Glutinous rice and Japonica rice mixed and steamed, then used to wrap up a yóu tiáo.
• dòu jiāng (豆浆, soybean milk). Simply soybean milk, often sweetened with sugar. Best when served with yóu tiáo.

Some other Shanghainese dishes to look out for:

Shanghai hairy crab

xiǎo​lóng​bāo​

• xiǎo​lóng​bāo​ (小笼包, lit. buns from the little steaming cage; fig. steamed dumpling). Probably the most famous Shanghai dish: small steamed buns — often confused for dumplings — come full of tasty (and boiling hot!) broth inside with a dab of meat to boot. The connoisseur bites a little hole into them first, sips the broth, then dips them in dark vinegar (醋 cù​) to season the meat inside.
• shēng​ jiān​ mántóu (生煎馒头, lit. raw, fried buns). Unlike steamed buns, these larger buns come with dough from raised flour, are pan-fried until the bottoms reach a deliciously crispy brown, and have not made their way to Chinese menus around the world (or even around China). Still popular with Shanghainese for breakfast and best accompanied by vinegar, eat these with particular care, as the broth inside will squirt out just as easily as their steamed cousins.
• Dàzhá xiè​ (大闸蟹), or Shàng​hǎi​ máo​ xiè​ (上海毛蟹; Shanghai hairy crab), a type of small freshwater crab famed for its taste. Best eaten in the winter months (Oct-Dec) and paired with Shaoxing wine to balance your yin and yang. Roe and meat from this type of crab goes into the famous xiaolongbao (above) and meatballs (below)
• xiè​fěn​ shī​zi​tóu​ (蟹粉狮子头; lit. crab meat pork meatballs), found in various Yangzhou- and Zhenjiang-style restaurants, such as the Yangzhou Fandian located near Nanjing Road.

Western food

Having been home to concessions of various European countries and the United States for much of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Shanghai has developed its own unique style of Western food known as Haipai cuisine (海派西餐 hǎipài xīcān). It is broadly divided into five different styles, namely German, French, Italian, Russian and British. Among the more popular Haipai dishes include Shanghai-style borscht (罗宋汤 luósòng tāng), fried pork chops (炸猪排 zhá zhūpái), potato salad (土豆色拉 tǔdòu sèlā) and baked clams (烙蛤蜊 lào gélí).

Drink

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

Most of the places mentioned under #Eat above also serve booze, and the rest have coffee and tea.

The traditional alcoholic drink of choice for the Shanghainese is Shaoxing rice wine, and this can still be found in most restaurants.

Prices of drinks in cafés and bars vary like they would in any major metropolis. They can be cheap or budget-busters, with a basic coffee or beer costing ¥10-40. In a high-end hotel bar, one basic beer may cost as much as ¥80. Western-style cafés and bars have also become commonplace. There are internationally-known chains, like Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as well as popular domestic and local java joints to satisfy those looking to relax. Hong Kong-style tea cafés are also common, as are Asian "pearl milk tea" or "bubble tea" bars. Some traditional tea houses can still be found, especially in the Old City.

Tsingtao, Snow and Pearl River beer are widely available. Major foreign brands are produced domestically and smaller brands are typically imported. There is also a local brew known as REEB (beer spelled backwards). A large bottle (640 ml) of any of these costs anywhere from ¥2-6.

Shanghai is filled with amazing nightlife, complete with both affordable bars and nightclubs that pulsate with urban energy. There are plenty of bars in all areas, with the biggest concentration in the French Concession. Xintiandi in particular has many upmarket bars and nightclubs, many with live music.

There are many magazines for expats available at hotels and expat eateries, listing and reviewing events, bars, clubs and restaurants in Shanghai. The most popular are That's Shanghai, City Weekend, and Time Out. Shanghai also has an English newspaper, Shanghai Daily, and an English-medium TV channel, International Channel Shanghai or ICS; most expats find these better than the corresponding national media outlets, People's Daily and CCTV channel 9.

• Pub Crawl Shanghai, Various locations, ☏ +86 187-2100-4614. 17:00-03:00. In addition to a plethora of watering holes ranging from bars, lounges, dives and world-class clubs, there is a pub crawl that arranges transportation to various popular venues. For non-Mandarin speakers or those in town for just a few days, this service takes the guesswork out of finding the hippest, most interesting spots that bustle with expatriates and locals. ¥150. 

Sleep

Individual listings can be found in Shanghai's district articles

Accommodation in Shanghai can be rivaled by few cities in China, in terms of both variety and services. There are establishments for all types of travelers, from backpacker options for the weary to top-of-the-line hotels and serviced apartments for those wishing to be spoiled. Puxi has both new and old hotels with classy architectural styles and charm, some of them described in stories when Shanghai may have been the only place in China known to much of the rest of the world, while modern amenities commonly found in Pudong rival many hotels in Asia and beyond.

For clean, safe, budget accommodation, three reliable options are the Jin Jiang Star (website in Chinese), Motel 168 (website in Chinese) and Motel 268 chains, all of which have locations in most districts of Shanghai.

For long-term accommodation, be prepared to splurge as Shanghai's real estate prices are among the highest in the world, rivaling even those of major Western cities.

If your budget allows it, all the downtown districts except the Old City have high-end hotels, and Pudong across the river has many others. Prices are near international levels, anywhere from around ¥700 a night to several times that. Most of the big international chains have at least one location in Shanghai, and many have hotels in both Pudong and central Puxi; Hilton has those plus a third one at Hongqiao Airport. Many of these hotels are in very convenient locations; Les Suites and Hyatt are on the Bund, Le Meridien is just off Nanjing Road, and Radisson is on People's Square; see Huangpu for listings. In Jing'an, the Shangrila is right next to the temple and metro station, and in the French Concession, the Langham Xintiandi is close to Xintiandi and the old town.

Shanghai also has some grand old hotels built in the art deco style during the city's glory days (1840s-1930s). The Peace Hotel and Astor House are on the Bund and the Park Hotel is across from People's Park on Nanjing Road; all are listed in the Huangpu article. These are often somewhat cheaper than the newer luxury hotels.

Quite a few low-priced and mid-range places are in the area north of Jing'an Temple, in Jing'an, Zhabei and Putuo districts. For a more central location the Captain's Hostel is a backpacker place just off the Bund. Backpacker dorms are under ¥100 in most places, while many hostels and most of the plainer hotels can provide private rooms with private shower in the ¥250-600 range.

Stay safe

Shanghai, despite its size, is a very safe city, and violent crime is incredibly rare; it is generally not a problem for women to roam the streets alone at night. Petty crimes like pickpocketing and bike theft can sometimes occur, though they are not as common as they used to be with the ubiquity of CCTVs these days. Sexual harassment occasionally occurs on crowded public transport. Pay extra caution before the Chinese New Year (in Jan or Feb depending on lunar calendar), as thieves may be more active in looking for new-year money.

Although pickpocketing is not as rampant as in major European cities, it pays to be prudent, especially in crowded public transport and the main shopping streets. Pickpockets often work in groups, sometimes including women carrying babies.

Beware of this taxi scam: first you agree on price (e.g., ¥300 for a taxi shared with someone else from Hongqiao Airport to Suzhou) then after a short taxi ride they ask to get out and a group of people say that you need to pay agreed money right now. Then you are transferred to a shared bus where other people cheated like yourself wait until the bus departs, then the bus finally gets to its destination. Most taxis belong to a taxi company, with the company telephone number printed in the taxi that you can call in English. There is also a common Shanghai help-line number that can help you, call 962288, with English service.

The notorious tea house scam, long practised in Beijing, is unfortunately spreading to Shanghai as well. Be cautious of overly friendly strangers, probably well-dressed, speaking good English, and look innocent like a student. They will invite you to an art gallery, tea shop or karaoke bar, and after accepting they will leave you to foot a large bill. In this case, you should call 110 (emergency hotline). The con artists may tell you that calling the police does not work and claim to have connections with police, but the police in China tend to be helpful in these cases, especially when innocent foreigners are involved. These scams can be found around People's Square near the entrances/exits of the museums and art galleries. Actual physical harm to yourself is unlikely. Just walk away.

A temple scam in various big cities and also Tibet is when your guides may ask you to make a wish and burn a stick of incense which ends up costing a hundred to more than a thousand. Another trick is to ask you how much you want to "donate". After you said ¥10, they will tell you that ¥10 is for a one-day blessing but the monk has already turned an incense to bless you for 1 year, so you have to pay 365 x ¥10. This scam has caused significant backlash because of blasphemy since no legitimate temples in China ever charge followers in this way.

Male travellers may attract attention from female sex workers at nightspots. Around the Old Town and the Science Museum in Pudong, hawkers are sometimes also eager to sell. Saying wǒ búyào ("I don't want it") may help. Also be cautious of people who approach and offer to polish your shoes. Make sure both of you agree on the price before anything is put on your shoes. The same rule also applies to the commercial photographers at the Bund area. They will offer to take your picture with the scenic background (and sometimes with costumes) for ¥50, but once you have contracted their services, several cohorts will arrive to "assist" the photographer. They may force you to buy all the snapshots and try to gather crowds to increase pressure.

Don't rush into or out of Shanghai metro trains at the last moment. Despite the safety barriers on the platform, the train doors sometimes close before all passengers have boarded; people squeezed between closing doors is a common sight. Apparently, the failsafe that is supposed to block trains from running with open doors isn't foolproof: In 2010 a woman died after being smashed against the safety barriers as she was hanging half out of the closed doors of a train leaving Zhongshan Park Station.

By Chinese law, foreigners are required to show their passports when requested, although this is rarely enforced. Most hotels will help you keep the passport in the safe, and then you can carry a photocopy along with your hotel's name card.

See the Chinese Money Counterfeiting article for details about fake notes that you may encounter.

Stay healthy

See the Chinese Stay Healthy article for general health and food advice.

See the Chinese Smog article for information about issues relating to air pollution

Do not drink Shanghai's tap water unless it is boiled or goes through a reverse-osmosis filter. Drinking the water is relatively safe when it has been boiled; however, tap water is also said to contain high amounts of heavy metals which are not removed by boiling. When buying bottled water you will come across a whole range of foreign and domestic mineral water brands, with the cheaper domestic brands costing ¥1–2.50 available in all convenience stores and from street vendors. Most hotels provide domestic mineral water for free in your room.

Individuals with asthma or respiratory issues should be prepared when visiting due to the air pollution.

Public hospitals in Shanghai are generally not up to the standard that foreigners from Western countries would be used to, and most of the doctors and nurses working there are unable to communicate in English. Ambulance services are unreliable, and in the event of an emergency, the quickest way to get to a hospital would usually be to take a taxi. Many private hospitals and medical clinics around the city mainly cater to foreigners and expatriates. The doctors and nurses working at these places will be able to speak English, and the standard of care is usually on par with what you may be used to at home, though their services are usually very expensive. Many of these medical services will take travel insurance if your insurance company is partnered with the hospital. Generally speaking you will likely have to pay ahead of time, however these facilities tend to be far superior in equipment and cleanliness to the ones that Chinese locals are forced to deal with.

A popular chain of western medical clinics is Parkway Health. There is a 24-hr hotline in English (6445 5999) to arrange an appointment in the clinic nearest you. This service is expensive: basic medical consultations start at ¥1,200. Check with your insurance beforehand to see if you are fully or partly covered.

Note that because these services are pay services, they are paid more when they conduct more tests. Furthermore, Chinese doctors, even Western-trained ones, tend to be overly thorough compared to Western doctors. However since you are a customer, they are not usually too insistent on unnecessary tests. Use your common sense to determine if you need the ordered tests (e.g. blood tests, x-rays etc.).

• International Medical Care Center of Shanghai First People's Hospital, 585 Jiu Long Road, near Haining Lu, Hangkou (九龙路585号，近海宁路) (in Building 1), ☏ +86 6324 3852. M-F 08:00-17:00. Provides "VIP Service" for ¥300, then you pay for any services beyond the basic examination. 

Connect

Shanghai's area code for landlines is 21, adding a "0" at the beginning if calling from outside of the city. For international calls add 86, the country code for China.

Shanghai seems to have far fewer Internet cafés than other Chinese cities, but there are some; see the district articles for details. Most of the bars that cater to the expatriate community and many of the foreign-based fast food chains — Starbucks, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and likely others — offer free WiFi. Many hotels also provide WiFi service at prices from free to exorbitant; it is moderately common to find free service in one part of a hotel, such as a coffee shop, but substantial charges elsewhere, such as from the rooms.

Cope

Media

• Shanghai Daily. English-language newspaper and website. 
• Shanghai International Channel. English-language TV channel 

Expatriates generally find these Shanghai-based media outlets preferable to the China-wide People's Daily and CCTV-9.

There are also several English-language papers consisting mainly of listings, reviews and advertisements for restaurants and nightlife. These are given away free in most of the Western-style bars and some restaurants and hotels.

Operator assistance

An amazingly helpful resource for visitors and expats alike is the Shanghai Call Center. Established prior to the Expo and maintained as a public service, the call center is a free-of-charge phone number that provides information regarding bus, metro, and taxi directions, business hours, attractions, and can even be utilized as a free translation service. If you are having trouble communicating with your taxi driver or a vendor, don't hesitate to call the number and pass the phone back and forth, having the operator translate.

The so-called "Magic Number" can be reached at 962288 from Shanghai cell phones. Chinese cell phones from other cities should dial 021 962288, and international phones should dial +86 021 962288. A short message in Mandarin will greet you, followed by a set of English instructions. Service is available in several European languages such as English and Spanish.

The service itself is free of charge, but you pay the cost of the phone call.

According to Smart Shanghai, the city has another English-language help hotline that offers almost the same services as the Shanghai Call Centre. For anyone seeking English-language assistance, call 12345, then for English press 7; you will be asked to press the 'number sign', which means the pound key (#). Services are only offered in Chinese and English, however, they claim to be able to connect to volunteers speaking French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Russian and Arabic. The hotline is run by the city government as a service for residents to help with anything related to either public or civil services, while also answering general questions about the city such as how to deal with registrations and licenses, as well as the opening hours of venues.

Etiquette

See the China article for discussion of some Chinese behaviours that may irritate visitors, but note that most of these are less problematic in Shanghai than elsewhere.

Crowding in, rather than queuing, is a problem you are likely to encounter; indeed this can be worse in busy Shanghai than elsewhere. Whether at a ticket booth, at a busy fast food counter, or even at the grocery store, everyone jockeys for position by crowding around a staff member, and will do whatever possible to get in first, and get out. If at all possible, avoid the situation in the first place; for example, recharge your metro card a bit early if you see a quiet ticket counter.

Pushing in the metro is normal, especially at the chaotic People's Square Station. Just dig in and push; don't feel sorry. However, compared to public transport in other Chinese cities, the Shanghainese are better at letting people alight first and the mad rush for empty seats is not quite so bad — your behaviour should follow the situation: if the station is crowded then pushing is acceptable, but if not then you are more likely to be looked upon as an 'uncivilised foreigner'. Also, outside of busy times you should stand to the right on escalators, to allow people to pass.

Note that Shanghai Metro drivers will close the train doors and depart when the schedule says so, even if people are still boarding. When you hear the 'door closing' alarm (usually a series of beeps), stand back from the doors (particularly on the old Line 1 and 2 trains as the doors close very quickly and may not re-open if blocked).

Work permits and visa extensions

Please refer to Working in China for general information about Chinese work visas. For specific information on the process in Shanghai, see the article for Pudong where the Entry and Exit Bureau is located.

Consulates

Most consulates can be found in the Jing'an area of Shanghai.

• Australia, Level 22, Citic Sq, 1168 Nanjing W Rd, ☏ +86 21 22155200, fax: +86 021 22155252. 
• Belgium (比利时驻上海总领事馆), No. 127 WuYi Road 武夷路127号, ☏ +86 21 64376579, fax: +86 021 64377041, Shanghai@diplobel.fed.be. 09:00-12:30, 14:00-16:30. 
• Brazil (巴西驻上海总领事馆), Jiangning Rd 188, ASA Building, 7/F -703 200041, ☏ +86 21 6437-0110, fax: +86 21 6437-0160, notarial.xangai@itamaraty.gov.br. 09:30-13:00. 
• Canada, 8th Floor, ECO City Building, 1788 Nanjing Rd W (About 100m west of Jing An Temple on the same side of Nanjing Road), ☏ +86 21 32792800, fax: +86 021 32792801, shngi@international.gc.ca. 09:00-11:30. 
• Finland, Room 2501-2505,CITIC Square, 1168 Nanjing Xi Rd, ☏ +86 52929900. 
• France (法国驻上海总领事馆), Haitong Securities Bldg, 2F, 689 Guangdong Rd 广东路689号海通证券大厦2层, ☏ +86 21 61032200, fax: +86 6103 2218, info.shanghai-fslt@diplomatie.gouv.fr. 09:00-12:00, 14:00-18:00. 
• Germany, 181 Yongfu Lu, Xuhui District 徐汇区永福路181号, ☏ +86 21 3401 0106. The visa section is at a separate location: 8/F SOHO Donghai Plaza, 299 Tongren Lu, Jing'an District (静安区铜仁路299号SOHO东海广场8楼). 
• Greece (希腊驻上海总领事馆), 989 Changle Rd, Ste 3501, The Center上海市长乐路989号世纪商贸广场3501室, ☏ +86 21 54670505, fax: +86 021 54670202, grgencon.sha@mfa.gr. 
• Hong Kong (Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office), 21F The Headquarters Building, 168 Xizang Road (M), ☏ +86 21 63512233, fax: +86 21 63519368, enquiry@sheto.gov.hk. 
• India, 1008, Shanghai International Trade Centre, 2201 Yan'an Xi Lu, ☏ +86 21 62758882 - 8885 - 8886, fax: +86 021 62758881, cgoff@indianconsulate.org.cn. 
• Indonesia, Shanghai Mart Building (Office Tower) 16/F Room 1611, Yan'an Road West No. 2299, Changning District, ☏ +86 21 5240-2321, fax: +86 21 3251-6022, kjrishanghai@kemlu.go.id. 
• Ireland, Ste 700A West Tower Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Rd W, ☏ +86 21 62798729, fax: +86 021 62798739. M-F 09:30-12:30, 14:00-17:30. 
• Jamaica, 989 Dong Fang Lu, Zhong Da Plaza, 16F, ☏ +86 21 58313553, fax: +86 021 68763299, gs_intl@163.net. 
• Japan, 13F Shanghai Mart, 2299 Yan'an W Rd, ☏ +86 21 52574768 (for visa enquiries), +86 21 52574766 (for all other consular services), fax: +86 021 62785988, gs_intl@163.net. 
• South Korea, 4F Shanghai International Trade Center, 2201 Yan-an Xi Rd, ☏ +86 62196420. 
• Malaysia, Room 1101, CITIC Square, 1168 Nanjing Xi Rd, ☏ +86 52925424. 
• New Zealand, Room 1605-1607A, The Centre, 989 Changle Rd C, ☏ +86 21 54075858, fax: +86 021 54075068, shanghai.enquiries@mft.net.nz. 08:30-17:00. 
• Pakistan, Ste 0, 7F Hongqiao Business Center, 2272 Hongqiao Rd, ☏ +86 21 62377000, fax: +86 021 62377066, pakrepshanghai@yahoo.com. 08:30-17:30. 
• Peru, Room 2705,Kerry Center, 1515 Nanjing Xi Rd, ☏ +86 52985900. 
• Philippines, Ste 301 Metrobank Centre, 1160 West Yan'An Road, ☏ +86 21 62798337, fax: +86 021 62798332, pcg@philcongenshanghai.org. 
• Romania, 502 Room, Honi International Plaza, 199 Chengdu North Road, Jing An District, ☏ +86 21 62700361, shanghai@mae.ro. General Consulate 
• Singapore, 89 Wan Shan Rd, ☏ +86 21 62785566, fax: +86 021 62956038, singcg_sha@sgmfa.gov.sg. M-F 08:30-12:00, 13:00-17:00. 
• South Africa, 27F, Rm 2705/5, 222 Yan'an Rd E, ☏ +86 21 53594977, fax: +86 021-63352980, shanghai@foreign.gov.za. 
• United Kingdom, Ste 301, Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nan Jing Xi Lu, ☏ +86 21 32792000, fax: +86 021-62797651. M-Th 08:30-17:00, F 08:30-15:30. Also for all other EU Citizens, as fixed in the EU Charter. 
• United States, American Citizen Services, Westgate Mall, 1038 W Nanjing Rd, 8F, ☏ +86 21 32174650 ext 2102, 2103, 2114, fax: +86 21-62172071, ShanghaiACS@state.gov. M-F 08:30-11:30, 13:30-15:30, closed Tu afternoons. 

Go next

Several other major cities are near Shanghai and conveniently reachable on the new CRH high-speed (over 300 km/h) trains. These are comfortable and reasonably priced and, except at holidays, are not too crowded since other trains are cheaper. Look for the separate ticket windows with "CRH" on the signs.

• Hangzhou — 45 minutes away by high-speed train, is one of China's top domestic tourist destinations, featuring the famous West Lake, a fine silk market, and Buddhist caves. The popular times of year to go are spring and fall. An information booth at the train platform exit provides a useful booklet with maps.
• Suzhou — a historic town half an hour away from Shanghai by high-speed train, is also a major destination for Chinese tourists. Traditionally a city of scholars and poets with many fine classical Chinese gardens and enough canals that it has been called the "Venice of the East". It has also become a major center of hi-tech manufacturing.

There is a Chinese saying along the lines The sky has heaven; the Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.

• Nanjing — about 1.5 hours away by high-speed train, is a great place to get a Chinese history lesson. Nanjing was the capital of China under several dynasties, and of the Nationalist government in the early 20th century. From the city walls to the Presidential Palace, it's a walkable, friendly place with a variety of hotels for all budgets. Well worth the effort. It is also home to the tombs of three prominent figures in Chinese history.
• Wuxi — roughly halfway between Suzhou and Nanjing, known for the Grand Canal, Lake Tai, the giant Buddha at Lingshan, and delicious local cuisine.
• Ningbo — is two and a half to three hours away from Shanghai, across the 36 km-long Hangzhou Bay Bridge. The train, via Hangzhou, is faster.

There are places that serve as the somewhat rural escapes for Shanghai residents. These are near cities mentioned above, and probably neither would seem at all rural to someone from a less densely populated country.

• Mount Putuo, a very scenic island with an important Buddhist temple, near Ningbo. One of China's "Four Great Mountains of Buddhism".

See East China for other cities and attractions in the area around Shanghai.

Routes through Shanghai

Beijing ← Zhenjiang ←

W  E

→ END