✺ China · Asia

Shanghai

Art deco on the Bund, neon in Pudong, soup dumplings at midnight.

🌃 City after dark🕯️ Old-world romance

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✺ In pictures

Shanghai, up close

Executive Summary: Shanghai (China) is at its prime during Apr–May, Oct–Nov. Characterized by city after dark, old-world romance, it ranks #8 on the Luxe score and is best suited for just me and the two of us and the group chat planning a a long weekend or about a week journey.

The feeling

China's most cosmopolitan city, where 1930s grandeur faces a futuristic skyline across the Huangpu River. Spring and autumn bring the mildest, clearest days.

The scorecard #8 of 63

4.1Luxe score out of 5 · #8 of 63

🍜 FoodOne of the world's great food destinations

🏞️ SceneryBeautiful landscapes or cityscapes

🛎️ Luxury staysOne of the world's top luxury hotel destinations

🛡️ SafetyVery safe for visitors

🧭 Easy to visitEasy: good transport and visitor services

💞 RomanceVery romantic

🍸 NightlifeWorld-class nightlife

🧸 Family–Not scored: the model wasn't sure

💸 Cost$$$Moderately priced

👥 CrowdsVery crowded in peak season

Scored across structured editorial rubrics from our notes on Shanghai. How we score →

By the numbers measured, via Nomads.com

$1.8ka month to live like a visitor

$9501-bed rent in the centre, monthly

10 Mbpstypical internet speed

⭐ 3.9Nomads.com overall, out of 5

🛡️ Safety

🚶 Walkability

🗣️ English spoken

🏥 Healthcare

🎉 Fun

👩 Female-friendly

🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly

Data from Nomads.com, fetched October 1, 2026. Costs are Nomads.com estimates for a long stay, not a hotel holiday.

When to go

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

At its best Still lovely Off season

Best for: 🎒 Just me · 💞 The two of us · 🥂 The group chat
Give it: A long weekend or About a week
Right now: October is peak season.

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✺ Your Luxentravel trip

Three days in Shanghai

Three days in China's most cosmopolitan city, where 1930s grandeur faces a futuristic skyline across the Huangpu and soup dumplings taste best close to midnight.

Save to My trips

Day 1
The Bund and the old city

Morning
Walk the Bund early, when tai chi groups gather and the art deco banks glow in the morning sun.
Afternoon
Explore the rockeries and pavilions of the Yu Garden and the surrounding old city lanes.
Evening
Watch the Pudong skyline light up from the Bund, then dinner and drinks in an art deco building.
Insider pick: Mr & Mrs Bund, The Bund · ★ 4.5 · $$$$
Day 2
The Former French Concession

Morning
Wander the plane-tree-lined streets of the Former French Concession, along Wukang Road and Anfu Road.
Afternoon
Browse the small studios of Tianzifang's lanes, then the restored shikumen stone-gate houses of Xintiandi.
Evening
Eat xiaolongbao and shengjian bao, then a cocktail in a hidden bar.
Insider pick: Lost Heaven on the Bund, The Bund · ★ 4.5 · $$
Day 3
Pudong and the West Bund

Morning
Ride up the Shanghai Tower, one of the world's tallest buildings, for views over the river's great bend.
Afternoon
Cross to the West Bund to visit its riverside museums, housed in former industrial buildings, then walk the waterfront promenade.
Evening
Take a river cruise on the Huangpu, then a late-night snack of soup dumplings.
Insider pick: Speak Low, Huangpu · ★ 4.5 · $$$

Where to stay

The Bund for skyline views, or the Former French Concession for leafy streets and boutique stays.

Insider pick: Fairmont Peace Hotel, The Bund · ★ 4.7 · $$$$

Our tip

Link an international card to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you arrive; many places now expect mobile payment.

When

Best Apr–May, Oct–Nov; still lovely Mar, Sep.

Insider picks from HelpTravel (4.5★+ from 1,000+ Google reviewers). The itinerary is our own.

✺ The insider's edit

Where to stay, eat and drink in Shanghai

Art Deco Bund facing a sci-fi skyline across the river. Every pick holds a 4.5-star average from at least 1,000 reviewers, with one tip from someone who's been.

★ 4.77,500+ reviews$$$$

Fairmont Peace Hotel

The Bund

Victor Sassoon's 1929 Art Deco landmark, with its green copper pyramid roof, defined Jazz Age Shanghai and hosted Charlie Chaplin and Noël Coward. The Old Jazz Band, whose members average over 80 years old, still plays the bar nightly.

Even if you stay elsewhere, book a 7pm table at the Jazz Bar to hear the octogenarian house band.

★ 4.75,000+ reviews$$$$

The Peninsula Shanghai

The Bund

The first new building on the Bund in 60 years when it opened in 2009, it channels 1930s glamour with valet boxes in every room and a fleet of Rolls-Royces. Rooms facing west look over the former British Consulate gardens to the river.

Take afternoon tea in The Lobby on a weekday; weekend sittings book out well in advance.

★ 4.73,000+ reviews$$$$

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund

The Bund

The hotel's heritage wing occupies the 1911 Shanghai Club, once the British establishment's most exclusive address in Asia. Its meticulously recreated Long Bar was famed in the 1920s as the longest bar counter in the Far East.

Ask for a heritage suite in the old Shanghai Club building rather than the modern tower for the period detail.

★ 4.63,000+ reviews$$$$

Park Hyatt Shanghai

Lujiazui, Pudong

Occupying floors 79 to 93 of the Shanghai World Financial Centre, this was long the highest hotel on earth and still feels like sleeping in the clouds. Tony Chi's muted interiors keep all the drama for the floor-to-ceiling skyline windows.

Book a Bund-facing room ending in higher floor numbers and skip the observation deck queue entirely.

★ 4.63,000+ reviews$$$$

The PuLi Hotel and Spa

Jing'an

Shanghai's original urban resort layers dark stone, lacquer and Han dynasty artifacts beside Jing'an Park, with a 25-meter infinity pool overlooking the temple district. Its long bar off the lobby is a destination in itself.

Request a park-facing room on a high floor to watch morning tai chi in Jing'an Park below.

★ 4.61,500+ reviews$$$$

Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li

Former French Concession

The city's only all-villa hotel occupies an entire restored 1930s shikumen lane compound, the largest of its kind left in Shanghai. Each villa spans three floors of a stone-gate house, blending lane-house architecture with French service.

Take the complimentary house bicycles for a morning loop of the plane-tree-lined Concession streets.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full hotels guide for Shanghai → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$$$$

Mr & Mrs Bund

The Bund

Paul Pairet's playful modern French dining room, with its black mirror-box interior, faces the Pudong skyline from Bund 18. The lemon tart served inside a whole candied lemon and the long-bone short rib are signatures that survived a decade of menu changes.

Book a window table for the second seating and linger as the Pudong towers switch off at 10pm.

★ 4.53,000+ reviews$$

Lost Heaven on the Bund

The Bund

A dark, lantern-lit temple to Yunnan's mountain cuisine, serving Dai-tribe ghost chicken, wild mushroom dishes and Burmese tea-leaf salad across three theatrical floors. It is the rare Bund-adjacent restaurant beloved by locals and expats alike.

Reserve a few days ahead and finish with a drink on the rooftop bar upstairs.

★ 4.51,000+ reviews$$

Jesse Restaurant (Old Jesse)

Former French Concession

This cramped, no-frills Tianping Road institution is the consensus pick for benbang (local Shanghainese) cooking, especially its caramel-dark hong shao rou braised pork. The scallion-roasted fish head must be ordered when you book, not when you arrive.

Reserve days ahead by phone and pre-order the fish head and braised pork; walk-ins rarely get a table.

★ 4.53,000+ reviews$$

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

Yu Garden, Huangpu

Trading beside Yu Garden since 1900, this is the most famous xiaolongbao house in China, with queues snaking past the Mid-Lake Pavilion. The crab roe soup dumplings, drunk through a straw from a giant bun, are the tourist rite of passage.

Skip the ground-floor takeaway line and head upstairs to the sit-down floors where queues are shorter.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$

Jia Jia Tang Bao

People's Square, Huangpu

A bare-bones shop where xiaolongbao are pleated to order and steamed in view, widely considered the city's best-value soup dumplings. The pork-and-crab version sells out by early afternoon most days.

Arrive before noon, order the pork-with-crab-roe basket, and expect to share a table; it is cash or mobile pay.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$

Yang's Fry-Dumpling

Jing'an

Yang's turned shengjianbao, Shanghai's crisp-bottomed pan-fried soup buns, into a citywide obsession from its Wujiang Road original. Each bun arrives sesame-topped with a molten pork broth interior that demands technique to eat safely.

Bite a small hole and sip the broth first or it will scald you; four buns and a bowl of curry beef soup is the classic order.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full restaurants guide for Shanghai → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$$$

Speak Low

Huangpu

Shingo Gokan's hidden bar behind a bartending-supplies shop put Shanghai on the world cocktail map, climbing to the top tier of Asia's 50 Best Bars. Each concealed floor gets more exclusive, from the bustling second level to the reservation-only upper rooms.

Push the bookshelf in the Ocho shop to enter, and go before 8pm on weekdays to avoid a long wait.

★ 4.53,000+ reviews$$$$

Bar Rouge

The Bund

For two decades this Bund 18 rooftop has been the city's flashiest party terrace, staring straight at the Oriental Pearl Tower. Come for sunset champagne on the terrace before the DJs turn it into a club after 11pm.

Arrive at opening for an unobstructed terrace rail spot, or book a table if you plan to stay past 10pm.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$$$$

Flair Rooftop

Lujiazui, Pudong

The Ritz-Carlton's 58th-floor terrace puts you nearly eye-level with the Oriental Pearl Tower, close enough to feel you could touch it. It is widely considered the single best al fresco view in Pudong.

Reserve a terrace-edge table for 6:30pm to catch daylight, sunset and the full night skyline on one booking.

★ 4.61,000+ reviews$$$

The Long Bar

The Bund

The Waldorf Astoria rebuilt the Shanghai Club's legendary 34-meter mahogany counter, where 1920s taipans were seated strictly by rank. Today it pours classic cocktails and shucks oysters under the original coffered ceilings.

Order a Gin Sling at the river end of the counter, the spot once reserved for the club's most senior members.

★ 4.51,000+ reviews$$$$

Cloud 9

Lujiazui, Pudong

Perched on the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower's pagoda-like crown, this Grand Hyatt sky lounge was Shanghai's original high-altitude bar. On clear nights the view drops straight down the tower's spiraling Art Deco setbacks to the river.

Go on a clear night within two days after rain; haze can erase the view entirely.

★ 4.51,000+ reviews$$$

The Jazz Bar at the Peace Hotel

The Bund

The world's most famous geriatric jazz ensemble, founded in 1980 with members now in their 80s and 90s, plays swing-era standards here nightly. The wood-panelled room is essentially unchanged from Victor Sassoon's 1930s heyday.

Reserve the 7pm Old Jazz Band set rather than the later modern sets, and order the house Old Fashioned.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full bars guide for Shanghai → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.750,000+ reviews$

The Bund

Huangpu

This 1.5-kilometer riverside parade of 1920s neoclassical and Art Deco banks is the greatest colonial-era waterfront in Asia. Face east and the Pudong skyline across the water provides one of the planet's most photographed contrasts.

Walk it twice: once at 7am with the tai chi practitioners, once after dark when both skylines are lit.

★ 4.525,000+ reviews$

Yu Garden

Old City, Huangpu

A Ming dynasty classical garden from 1559, with dragon-topped walls, koi ponds and the famous zigzag Bridge of Nine Turnings at its entrance. The surrounding bazaar's lantern displays during Chinese New Year are a Shanghai tradition.

Enter right at 9am opening; by 11am the garden's narrow pavilion corridors are shoulder to shoulder.

★ 4.615,000+ reviews$$

Shanghai Tower Observation Deck

Lujiazui, Pudong

The world's second-tallest building twists 632 meters above Pudong, with the 118th-floor 'Top of Shanghai' deck reached by elevators that hit 18 meters per second. From the top, the Jin Mao Tower and SWFC look like models at your feet.

Check the visibility before buying tickets and aim for a post-rain blue-sky day; sunset slots sell out first.

★ 4.610,000+ reviews$

Shanghai Museum

People's Square

Shaped like an ancient bronze ding cooking vessel, it holds China's finest collection of bronzes, ceramics and calligraphy, spanning 5,000 years. Entry is free, which is remarkable for a museum of this caliber.

Reserve a free timed slot online a few days ahead with your passport number; the bronzes gallery is the must-see.

★ 4.55,000+ reviews$

Jade Buddha Temple

Putuo

An active monastery housing two jade Buddhas carried from Burma in 1882, including a serene 1.95-meter seated figure carved from a single block of white jade. Saffron-robed monks still hold daily services amid the incense.

Visit mid-morning on a weekday and pay the small extra fee to see the seated jade Buddha up close.

★ 4.515,000+ reviews$

Tianzifang

Former French Concession

A warren of 1930s shikumen lane houses converted into craft studios, teahouses and bars while families still live above. It is the most atmospheric place to wander Shanghai's stone-gate alley architecture with a coffee in hand.

Go on a weekday morning before tour groups arrive and dip into the side alleys off the main three lanes.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full sights guide for Shanghai → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

✺ Make it happen

From daydream to departure

Live from travel partners when you ask: real fares, a walk through the city, guided trips and ferries. You book with them directly.

★ marks Shanghai's best months. We search ±3 days around the middle of the month.

Live fares from Kiwi.com; prices change quickly and are confirmed when you book with them.

✺ Pair it with

If you love Shanghai, you'll love these

#53Peak in Oct ⭐ 3.4

Morocco

Marrakech

Riad courtyards, souk lanes and rooftop mint tea.

🕯️ 🌃 · Best Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov

#34Peak in Oct ⭐ 3.7

Türkiye

Istanbul

Domes, ferries on the Bosphorus and long meyhane dinners.

🌃 🕯️ · Best Apr–May, Sep–Oct

#56Peak in Oct ⭐ 3.4

Hungary

Budapest

Thermal baths, ruin bars and the Danube at night.

🌃 🕯️ 🌿 · Best Apr–May, Sep–Oct

Shanghai

Shanghai, up close

The feeling

The scorecard #8 of 63

By the numbers measured, via Nomads.com

When to go

On the travel desks

Three days in Shanghai

The Bund and the old city

The Former French Concession

Pudong and the West Bund

Where to stay

Our tip

When

Where to stay, eat and drink in Shanghai

Fairmont Peace Hotel

The Peninsula Shanghai

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund

Park Hyatt Shanghai

The PuLi Hotel and Spa

Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li

Mr & Mrs Bund

Lost Heaven on the Bund

Jesse Restaurant (Old Jesse)

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

Jia Jia Tang Bao

Yang's Fry-Dumpling

Speak Low

Bar Rouge

Flair Rooftop

The Long Bar

Cloud 9

The Jazz Bar at the Peace Hotel

The Bund

Yu Garden

Shanghai Tower Observation Deck

Shanghai Museum

Jade Buddha Temple

Tianzifang

From daydream to departure

If you love Shanghai, you'll love these

Marrakech

Istanbul

Budapest