Shanghai

The Bund, 1.5 km facing across the river

The Bund is a protected historic district that runs about 1.5 km along the Huangpu's west bank. It's lined with 52 Gothic and Baroque buildings that once housed old Shanghai's financial institutions and trading companies. Step up onto the riverside promenade and you'll have stone bank buildings at your back and Lujiazui's glass towers across the water in front of you. At sunset the buildings light up, and the view is even wider from out on the river. The ferry from East Jinling Road Pier (金陵东路轮渡站), on the Bund's south side, to Dongchang Road Pier (东昌路轮渡站) across the river costs 2 yuan for pedestrians. It's public transport linking the two banks rather than a sightseeing cruise, so you'll stand among residents and look from one bank to the other. The last boats on this route leave around 6:30 pm; after dark, walk a little further south to East Fuxing Road Pier (复兴东路轮渡站), where boats run until around 9 pm.

Lujiazui, from 546 m up

The tallest building in Lujiazui is the Shanghai Tower (上海中心大厦). At 632 m with 127 floors above ground, it's the tallest building in China, and its observatory on the 118th floor sits 546 m up. On a clear day, you can look down on the Huangpu as it wraps around Lujiazui in a wide bend, laid out like a map. Right next to it stands the 468 m Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠), which looks like beads on a string. Head up around sunset to watch the lights come on across the city, then come down and walk the riverside promenade. This time you're looking at the Bund from the Pudong side, and the stone buildings you walked past earlier glow under their lights in a gold band across the water.

Yu Garden, a new view through every gate

Walk southwest from the Bund and you'll reach the old walled-city neighborhood, full of buildings whose eaves curl up toward the sky. At its heart is Yu Garden (豫园), a private garden built during the Ming dynasty, where more than 40 scenic spots of pavilions, rocks and ponds unfold one after another. Today it's protected as a key site at the state level. Walls and round gateways divide the garden into small spaces. Each time you pass through a gate, the view beyond is framed like a picture, so even after a full loop it never feels like you've seen the whole garden at once. Step outside and you're straight into the City God Temple (城隍庙) and the Yuyuan bazaar, where the mood shifts completely, so see the quiet garden first and save the bazaar for later.

Old concession lanes: Wukang Road and Xintiandi

To walk the residential streets of the former French Concession, start on Wukang Road (武康路) in Xuhui District (徐汇区). Under the plane trees, old houses line the way, from a three-story British-style house built in 1928 to a Mediterranean-style garden villa built in 1932. No. 113 is where the writer Ba Jin (巴金) lived and wrote many of his works, and No. 393 now serves as a tourist information center. Where Wukang Road meets Huaihai Middle Road (淮海中路), the Wukang Mansion (武康大楼) comes to a point like the prow of a ship. Shikumen are old Shanghai's signature housing style. They first appeared in the mid-19th century as homes for refugees pouring into the concessions, settling into rows of brick houses packed tightly along lanes. Xintiandi (新天地), completed in 2001, kept the look of a shikumen block intact while turning it into a street of culture, dining and fashion shops.

The Provisional Government on Madang Road

In a shikumen lane on Madang Road (马当路), right next to Xintiandi, is the office of the Korean Provisional Government. The government used this building from 1926 until 1932, when it left Shanghai. Restored to how it looked during the independence movement, it first opened to the public on April 13, 1993. As you climb the narrow stairs past one small room after another, the size of the rooms brings it home: an entire government once fit inside a single lane house. Xintiandi next door is a restoration of the same kind of shikumen, so walking from one to the other, you'll see two very different histories held in the same kind of house, side by side in one neighborhood.

At the Shanghai table

Shanghai's home-style cooking is called benbang cuisine (本帮菜). It's known for using plenty of soy sauce and sugar to braise dishes until they're rich and slightly sweet, and its signature is hongshao rou (红烧肉), pork belly braised to a glossy finish. Xiaolongbao (小笼包) are dumplings that started in Nanxiang Town (南翔镇), Jiading District. The skin is full of scalding broth, so set one on a spoon, tear the skin a little and drink the soup first, or you'll burn the roof of your mouth. Shengjianbao (生煎包), fried until the bottoms turn crisp, hold broth inside too, so take small bites. Cong you ban mian (葱油拌面) are noodles simply tossed with soy sauce and oil slowly fried with scallions, and they count among Shanghai's most traditional noodle dishes. If you're visiting in spring, look for yanduxian (腌笃鲜), a soup of cured pork, fresh pork and bamboo shoots cooked in one pot. In Shanghai, it's long been considered the taste of spring.

Arriving, getting around, and a 3-night, 4-day plan

To get from Pudong International Airport toward the city quickly, take the maglev (磁悬浮). It runs from the airport's Terminal 1 & 2 station to Longyang Road Station (龙阳路站) at a top speed of 300 km/h, getting there in about 8 minutes, and costs 50 yuan one way or 80 yuan round trip. You'll need to switch to the metro at Longyang Road. To save money, take Metro Line 2 (about 7 yuan), which takes about an hour to People's Square. About 40 km from central Shanghai, Zhujiajiao (朱家角) is a water town where Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai meet. Its history goes back to before the Song dynasty and it flourished in the Ming and Qing, and its landmark stone bridge, Fangsheng Bridge (放生桥), spans the water. Day 1 — Pudong Airport → maglev → evening walk on the Bund → ferry from East Fuxing Road Pier Day 2 — Yu Garden and the old city → Xintiandi and the Provisional Government site → Wukang Road at sunset Day 3 — Shanghai Museum (People's Square) → Nanjing Road pedestrian street → Lujiazui and Shanghai Tower at night Day 4 — Half a day in Zhujiajiao → airport

What to eat

• Xiaolongbao (soup-filled dumplings)
• Shengjianbao (crisp-bottomed buns)
• Cong you ban mian (scallion oil noodles)
• Hongshao rou (benbang cuisine's signature)

Handy tips

• South Korean ordinary passport holders can stay up to 30 days visa-free for tourism until Dec 31, 2026. Korea's foreign ministry advises having a return or onward ticket and your accommodation's contact details ready.
• You can tap a contactless card such as Visa or Mastercard right at the metro gates. Small no-PIN payments need to be switched on, and fares start at 3 yuan for up to 6 km.
• The Shanghai Museum closes on Mondays at People's Square and on Tuesdays at its East branch in Pudong. Until Nov 14, 2027, People's Square is hosting a special exhibition on the ancient civilizations of the Americas, so you'll need to book and buy a ticket in advance, and entry stops at 3 pm. You'll need your passport to get in.