Shanghai Travel Guide: The Bund, French Concession & Beyond

Shanghai (上海, Shànghǎi) doesn't look like the rest of China, and that's the point. The Bund's colonial-era banks face Pudong's LED-wrapped towers across the Huangpu River (黄浦江, Huángpǔ Jiāng), and between those two bookends sits a city that has been reinventing itself for 150 years. Plane trees arch over the former French Concession's lanes, art deco apartment blocks sit next to noodle shops, and the friction between old and new is the whole attraction.

For independent travelers this is the easiest Chinese megacity to handle. English signage is everywhere, the metro is world-class, and food ranges from ¥8 ($1.10) pan-fried pork buns to Michelin-starred benbang (本帮菜) cooking. You can arrive knowing nothing and be eating well within an hour of clearing immigration.

Fast Facts

Best time to visit: Late March to May and September to November. Summer is brutally humid (35°C/95°F at 90% humidity); winter is damp and grey but rarely freezing.

Getting around: The metro has 20+ lines and 500+ stations, fares ¥3-14 ($0.42-2), with English announcements. Add a transit QR code inside Alipay or WeChat rather than buying a card. Taxis start at ¥14 ($2) plus ¥2.50/km; Didi (booked through Alipay) removes the language barrier. From Pudong Airport (PVG), the maglev covers 30km in 8 minutes for ¥50 ($7); Metro Line 2 does the same trip for ¥7 ($1) in about an hour. Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station both sit on Metro Lines 2 and 10.

Where to stay: Former French Concession (法租界) for atmosphere, cafés and walkable lanes, ¥500-1,500 ($70-210). People's Square/Nanjing Road for maximum metro convenience and crowds, ¥300-700 ($42-98). Lujiazui (陆家嘴) for skyline-view rooms that go quiet after dark, ¥600-1,500 ($84-210). Hostel dorms near Shanghai Railway Station run ¥80-120 ($11-17).

Classic 3-day shape: Day 1 — the Bund at sunrise, Nanjing Road on foot, then cross to Lujiazui for a tower at sunset and the Bund again after dark. Day 2 — French Concession lanes and concession architecture, Xintiandi and Tianzifang, dinner and drinks around Wukang Road. Day 3 — Yu Garden and the old city in the morning, Shanghai Museum or Jing'an Temple in the afternoon, river cruise at night.

Visa note: Shanghai is a 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit port for citizens of 55 countries travelling on to a third country — enough time to add Suzhou or Hangzhou without a visa.

The content units below break each of these stops into its own page with exact hours, ticket prices, durations and honest notes, so you can drag the ones you want straight into your day-by-day plan.