Shanghai Holidays

The Pudong waterfront has a dedicated 24 kilometre greenway running beside the Huangpu River. Cyclists pass Lujiazui, riverside parks and former industrial areas while gaining a completely different perspective on the Bund and Shanghai's changing skyline from across the water.

East Sheshan offers one of Shanghai's easiest introductions to hill walking. Forested paths and stone steps wind through bamboo and woodland towards higher viewpoints, creating a surprisingly quiet landscape within the municipality and a welcome contrast to the dense city centre.

Chongming's eastern wetlands lend themselves to relaxed cycling, with flat routes running through farmland, riverside landscapes and important bird habitats. The open scenery feels considerably more rural than central Shanghai, particularly when migratory birds gather around the island's wetland areas.

Walking or cycling beside Suzhou Creek reveals warehouses, historic bridges, former industrial buildings and regenerated waterfront spaces. The route is less about ticking off landmarks and more about watching Shanghai change gradually from old commercial districts to contemporary riverside neighbourhoods.

Chongming Island's Dongping National Forest Park offers wooded trails, lakes and broad green spaces well away from Shanghai's commercial centre. Its extensive tree cover and walking paths make it particularly suited to travellers looking for a slower, nature-based day outdoors.

The Songze archaeological site traces settlement in the Shanghai region back thousands of years. Excavations have uncovered burials, early rice cultivation and evidence of ancient daily life, while the museum explains the prehistoric culture that developed around the lower reaches of the Yangtze.

Guangfulin provides another window into Shanghai's ancient beginnings. Archaeological finds here reach back to the Neolithic period, while reconstructed landscapes, exhibition halls and preserved remains show how communities lived long before Shanghai developed into a major trading and industrial city.

Shanghai History Museum follows the city's development from its early settlements through centuries of commerce and urban growth. Maps, domestic objects, transport, industrial artefacts and architectural pieces give visitors a broader understanding of how everyday life changed alongside Shanghai itself.

Housed around the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue, this museum tells the stories of Jewish refugees who found shelter in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. Personal documents, photographs and surviving residential spaces give the history an unusually intimate and human scale.

Longhua brings religious, industrial and modern history together within one district. Ancient Longhua Temple sits alongside sites connected with later military and revolutionary history, making the area particularly useful for understanding how several very different periods of Shanghai's past overlap.

Shanghai's stone gate houses combine elements of traditional Jiangnan homes with Western architectural influences. Their brick façades, narrow lanes and closely connected courtyards once defined everyday city life, and surviving neighbourhoods still provide one of the clearest expressions of old Shanghai.

Shanghai transformed the qipao into one of the city's most recognisable fashion traditions. Tailors adopted Western cutting techniques during the early twentieth century while retaining Chinese detailing, creating the fitted Haipai qipao that remains closely connected with Shanghai's design and tailoring heritage.

Hongkou offers an especially strong introduction to Haipai culture, Shanghai's distinctive meeting of Chinese tradition and international influence. Historic residences, shikumen architecture and cultural streets reveal how literature, commerce, art and modern urban life developed side by side in this historically diverse district. 

Traditional teahouses in Zhujiajiao offer the chance to hear Suzhou pingtan, a form of storytelling and ballad singing associated with the wider Jiangnan region. The combination of spoken narrative, music and the water town setting gives the performance a natural cultural context.

Shanghai's craft traditions include paper cutting, embroidery, weaving and decorative arts shaped by both local and outside influences. Shanghai style paper cutting is particularly distinctive, balancing the boldness of northern traditions with the finer detail associated with southern Chinese craftsmanship.

Around Chinese New Year, the streets surrounding Yuyuan fill with elaborate lanterns inspired by folklore, traditional craftsmanship and Chinese symbolism. The annual festival has become one of Shanghai's defining seasonal traditions and is recognised as part of China's national intangible cultural heritage.

Longhua Temple Fair brings folk traditions, performances and local customs to one of Shanghai's oldest religious districts. Celebrated since the Ming Dynasty, the fair remains closely connected with Longhua's temple culture and is recognised as national intangible cultural heritage.

Shanghai's major film festival brings together Chinese and international cinema through premieres, screenings and industry programmes across the city. Founded in 1993, it has become a long established part of Shanghai's cultural calendar and reinforces the city's deep connection with filmmaking and cinema.

This annual citywide celebration combines parades, food, performances, cultural activities and visitor experiences across Shanghai's districts. Established in 1990, it regularly draws attention beyond the best known landmarks and gives different neighbourhoods a chance to showcase their own identity.

One of China's longest established music festivals brings orchestras, musicians, dancers and performers to venues around Shanghai. Its programme spans Chinese and international music, giving audiences a broad look at the city's long standing enthusiasm for live performance and artistic exchange.

An evening cruise along the Huangpu places the Bund and Pudong in the same frame. Historic façades line one bank while towers rise across the other, and the reflections on the river make the contrast between the city's two sides particularly striking after dark.

Shanghai Circus World is one of the city's best known venues for Chinese acrobatics. Large scale productions combine precision performance, physical theatre and modern stage technology, making the experience visually accessible even for visitors with little familiarity with traditional Chinese performance arts.

Beside People's Square, Shanghai Grand Theatre hosts opera, ballet, orchestral concerts, dance and visiting international productions. Its varied programme makes it one of the city's most dependable choices for a formal evening performance, whether the preference is classical music or contemporary stage work.

Home to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, this purpose-built concert hall combines a large main auditorium with a smaller chamber space. Its programme covers classical and contemporary music, giving both regular concertgoers and first time visitors an approachable way into Shanghai's orchestral scene.

Shanghai Disney Resort brings large scale rides, live entertainment and distinctive themed areas to Pudong. Several elements were developed specifically for Shanghai, including Treasure Cove and the Zootopia themed land, giving the resort its own identity rather than simply reproducing another Disney park.

Delicate steamed dumplings hold seasoned pork and hot broth inside thin wrappers, usually served with black vinegar and shredded ginger.

Pan-fried pork buns combine soft dough, juicy filling and a crisp golden base, making them one of Shanghai's classic snacks.

Wheat noodles are tossed with fragrant scallion oil and soy sauce, creating a deeply savoury example of Shanghai home-style cooking.

Pork belly is slowly cooked with soy sauce and sugar until tender, glossy and richly flavoured with Shanghai's familiar sweet savoury balance.

Shanghai style wontons pair minced pork with leafy greens inside soft wrappers, often served in a clear, lightly seasoned broth.

Whole duck is traditionally filled with glutinous rice and assorted ingredients before slow cooking, creating a generous, richly layered Shanghai dish.

This warming Jiangnan soup combines fresh pork, cured meat and seasonal bamboo shoots, with a clean broth balancing the richer ingredients.

These green glutinous rice dumplings are traditionally associated with spring and commonly filled with sweet red bean or savoury ingredients.

A crisp pork chop served with Shanghai style Worcestershire sauce reflects the city's distinctive Haipai approach to adapting Western dishes.

Caramelised puff pastry forms this crisp butterfly-shaped bakery favourite, reflecting the European influence found throughout Shanghai’s food culture.

Shanghai's famous waterfront stretches for around 1.5 kilometres beside the Huangpu River. Historic banks, trading houses and commercial buildings face Pudong's modern towers across the water, creating the striking architectural contrast that has become one of the city's most recognisable views.

This traditional Ming Dynasty garden brings pavilions, rockeries, ponds and covered walkways together within Shanghai's old city. Its compact layout rewards a slower visit, particularly because the surrounding City God Temple area adds food, shopping and street life immediately outside the garden walls.

Rising 632 metres above Lujiazui, Shanghai Tower dominates Pudong's cluster of skyscrapers. Its high-level observation spaces provide broad views across the Huangpu River, the Bund and surrounding city, giving visitors a striking sense of Shanghai's enormous modern urban scale from above.

Around 40 kilometres from central Shanghai, Zhujiajiao trades skyscrapers for canals, stone bridges and traditional riverside buildings. Its lanes, teahouses and waterways preserve a strong sense of Jiangnan water town culture while remaining practical for a day away from central Shanghai.

Standing 468 metres tall beside the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl Tower remains one of Pudong's most recognisable landmarks. Its observation areas look towards the Bund and across Lujiazui, while the tower's distinctive spheres continue to define Shanghai's instantly recognisable modern skyline.