Insight Guides - Insight Guides City Guide Shanghai

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight CityGuide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Shanghai, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editors Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Shanghai. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Shanghai are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Shanghai. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Shanghais Top 10 Attractions

Here, at a glance, are the citys must-see sights, from iconic attractions like the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower to the charming French Concession and the raucous Yu Garden Bazaar.

Top Attraction 1

The Bund . This architectural cocktail of pre-1949 buildings, once hailed as Asias Wall Street, is one of the most enduring symbols of Old Shanghai. Take in the spectacular night-time view from one of the restaurant or bar terraces along the Bund itself (like M on the Bund, Bar Rouge or The Peninsula) or gaze across the river from the Park Hyatt or the Pudong Shangri-La. For more information, .

David Shen Kai/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 2

Shanghai Urban Planning Centre . For a sense of where Shanghai is heading as a city and for a good overview of the metropolis, visit this museum on Peoples Square. Its interesting exhibitions and scale models will give you an idea of Shanghais future. For more information, .

Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 3

Shanghai Museum . Chinas best collection of prized Chinese arts and crafts is housed in a building shaped like a giant ancient bronze cooking vessel called a ding . For more information, .

Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 4

Oriental Pearl Tower . The best time to visit this rocket-like structure is on weekday mornings (when its infinitely less crowded). You can ride all the way to the top bubble, but the best views are from the second tier. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Yangzi River. For more information, .

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Top Attraction 5

Xintiandi . Shopping, dining, drinking and entertainment with character, set in a village of refurbished old shikumen (stone-gate) houses. For more information, .

Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 6

Former French Concession . The plane-tree-lined streets of Fuxing Road and Wukang Road in the former French Concession area make for a lovely walk with their chic boutiques, stylish cafs and charming old houses. For more information, .

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Top Attraction 7

Yu Garden and Bazaar . For a taste of Shanghais Chinese heart and soul, the Yu Garden area offers temples, a classic Chinese garden, atmospheric teahouses, and busy, narrow lanes full of street life, shopping and food, glorious food. For more information, .

David Shen Kai/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 8

M50 . This artists enclave near Suzhou Creek is the place to seek out cutting-edge Chinese contemporary art at galleries and artist studios set in old warehouses and factories. For more information, .

Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 9

Lu Xun Park . Grab a spot at this pleasant green space in the Hongkou area and watch Shanghais older citizens at play graceful ballroom dancers, tai chi exponents, budding opera singers, and strollers among the lakes. For more information, .

Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications