Suggestion to Friends’ Shanghai Trip

This is my answers to my friends questions on Shanghai.

Stay

Q: How much can a decent hotel cost for one night? We don’t have a standard in mind now, but we would prefer a hotel with convenient transport connections.

A: The most cost effective, clean and convinient hotels I would like to recommend is Rujia or Motel 168 (official website). This is the hotel I recommend my friends and family to stay in. It costs from 168 RMB to 298 RMB per night. Of cause there are enough famous 5 star hotels in Shanghai that you don’t need my suggestions. (I do have some suggestions)

Places to See

Q: Where do you think are the must-check-out places in Shanghai? (for tourists of course)

A: I hesitate to give you a list of “must-check-out” places in Shanghai after I read the Art of Travel. The meaning of “must-go” places is: since everyone else goes,you must also be there to claim that you are in Shanghai. According to the tone of travel guilde books, they seem to imply that everyone who does not go to the places they suggested must have something wrong in their brain :-) OK. This is the list:

1. The Bund – go there only after 6:30 PM when the lights are lit.

2. Nanjing Road – go there only at night when the lights are lit.

3. Huai Hai Road (the section east of Shaanxi Road Metro station and sourth of Huangpi Road metro station). You can go there at day time.

4. Lujiazui (Pudong), including Jin Mao Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Go there only at day time. You will be frienghtened if you go there at night. Go to the top of the tower around 5:30 gives you the best view – it goes dark while lights go on.

5. People’s Square including Shanghai museum.

That should be enough for one day of stay. This is the routine that every visitors shoud follow, suggested those boring travel guides. If you ask about my guide, check out my website. I don’t have a centralized location of all the places I visited in this city, just like they are not located side by side in the city.

To Suzhou?

Q: How long does it take to drive to Suzhou and Hangzhou? Can we take a cab there from Shanghai?

A: 1 hour to Suzhou and 2 hours and a half to Hangzhou. It takes about 600 RMB to Suzhou (I remember so) and more to Hangzhou (but less than 1000 RMB I think). You can take a cab to Suzhou, but I don’t suggest you to take cab to Huangzhou, unless you are rich enough. If you do want to go to Hangzhou by taxi, call Da Zhong at 96822 and reserve a Benz (if you are lukcy enough) for your long distance trip – they charge the same.

22 thoughts on “Suggestion to Friends’ Shanghai Trip

  1. I have enjoyed the “discussions” so much and constantly see you reference “The Art of Travel” that I’ve purchased the book, though I haven’t had an opportunity to read it. My friends and I had a discussion about “Must See” places after my girlfriend and I went on a whirlwind trip through London and Paris for only 5 days. Again, this is a topic I’ve treated on my own blog in the past, but I think everyone has a different way of traveling. For example, in Paris you MUST go to the Louvre. I enjoy art, but I’m not extremely knowledgable on it and my tastes are specific. It seems kind of strange and loses the fun after awhile to run through the museum and only see the “highlights” like a lot of people do, just so that they can complete all the “must see” things on their list. In Shanghai, and honestly in most cities in the world, the “must see” stuff is minimal, so people just need to slow down and enjoy.

  2. I usually take my friends by the following route, however the route does need some knowledge of Shanghai and Chinese characters.

    Start from the people’s square in the early morning , the best way to there is taking metro line 1 or 2.

    You can spend at least half day in Shanghai museum.

    Walk from people’s square to Yuyuan garden (Shanghai old Chinese town) via Xin Tiandi (You can have your lunch in Xin Tiandi or somewhere in old Chinese town). A good Chinese resturant in Yuyuan is called Lu Bo Lang, President Cliton has visited and had dinner there.

    After you enjoyed noisy, happy, tranquil(inside the Yuyuan garden) China, started from there to the ferry accross the Huangpu river. The closest ferry to old Chinese town has relocated to about 1km from the Yuyuan garden. It is called Shiliu pu(Pier 16 in Chinese) ferry station. From there, you can take a ferry accross the Huangpu river. The best time from my perspectives is around 4:30PM, just a little bit before the rush hour. At this time, you can see the ordinary people in Shanghai. You can see people selling five spices eggs on the ferry. You can have one, of cource. It’s really nice to have one hot egg in cold weather. So many people, bikes, motorbikes, etc. You can enjoy the scenery of both sides of Huangpu river.

    Now you reach Pudong. Out of the ferry station, you can see the Lujiazui in front of you. You can catch a taxi cab to the center of Lujiazui or just walk if you want. It’s about 2km from the ferry to the center of Lujiazui. Time for dinner. There are a lot of places to eat around the center of Lujiazui. You can go to Jinmao tower for a buffet dinner and enjoy the night views of the city. Or you can eat at Oriental pearl tower restaurant or somewhere else. It is suggested to go to these two places for birdeye view of the city but not obliged to.

    After dinner, the light on both sides of the Huangpu river are on. You can walk along the bund at Pudong, then go underground to catch the metro line 2 to the direction of people’s square. One stop, you will arrive at Nanjing road. This is a walking street with a lot of shops. It is highly recommended to walk back to the bund on Puxi.

    From there, you can catch a taxi or go underground to catch the metro line 2 then transfer to line 1. At South Huangpi road stop of metro line 1, you can go to Xintiandi for night clubs and pubs, at Hengshan road stop of metro line 1, you can go to a lot of good pubs. Spend a good time in the pubs. And you are finishing a day trip of Shanghai highlights. It is recommended to have a Shanghai Traffic Card. All the transportation fees can be paid by that prepaid contact-less smartcard. I was a member of the design team for that chip inside the card. :))

  3. I usually take my friends by a route I called “highlights of Shanghai”. The route is good according to their feedbacks. However, the route does need some stamina and local knowledge. Anyway, most of the places are not too far away.

    Start from people’s square at early morning. Before 7:30AM you can see a lot of local people doing exercises on the square. Because the people’s square is a key traffic interchange, you can see a lot of people during rush hour. That’s a part of the life in Shanghai.

    Than you can go to Shanghai museum, one of the best museums of ancient China in the world. You can spend at least half day in the museum.

    Depart from people’s square; you can go to old Chinese town for lunch. It is about 1.5km to 2km to the old Chinese town. You can buy a lot of Chinese souvenirs there and do not forget to bargain. Nearly everything can be bargained. There are several good restaurants in the old Chinese town. The most famous one is “Lubolang”. U.S. president Clinton and a lot of other diplomats and celebrities had dinner there. In front of Lubolang, there is a famous ancient Chinese garden called “Yuyuan garden”. You can take a visit for 0.5 to 1 hour after enjoyed your lunch.

    You can experience the noisy, happy and tranquil (inside the Yuyuan garden) China in the old Chinese town. Then we can go to Pudong.

    Take a ferry at “Shiliupu” (Pier 16 in Chinese), the closest ferry station to the old Chinese town. It is about 1 km from the old Chinese town. The ferry is a wonderful place both for the scenery and for the local lifestyle. It is recommended to take ferry around 4:00PM, just a little bit before the rush hour. You can see a lot of people, bikes, scooters, motorcycles on the ferry. And you can see people selling hot food on the ferry, like five spices egg, dried tofu, corn, etc. It is really nice to have one spicy egg in cold weather. You can enjoy the scenery of the Huangpu river.

    About 15 minutes, you can reach Pudong. Out of the ferry station, you can see the new Pudong in front of your eyes. You can either hire a cab or walk to the center of Lujiazui. It is about 1.5~2km from the ferry to the center of Lujiazui.

    Now it is dinner time. There are a lot of restaurants in Lujiazui. You can go to Jinmao Tower (the highest building in Shanghai) for a buffet dinner or to the restaurant in the Oriental Pearl Tower. From these two restaurants, you can enjoy the Birdseye view of the city. And you can enjoy the views at the same time having your dinner. It is not necessary to go up of these places if it is not clear.

    After dinner, all the lights are on. You can walk along the bund of Pudong for a while then go underground to take metro line 2 (in the direction of people’s square). Just one stop, you will reach Puxi. Go out of the station, you are on Nanjing road, the pedestrian shopping street. People, so many people, that might be your first impression after you come out of the station. It is highly recommended to go along Nanjing road in the direction of Pudong (Oriental Pearl Tower is your landmark), 10 minutes walk you are on the bund. The bund at night is a must for Shanghai trip.

    Then you can take a taxi or use metro line again. It is better to use metro lines because you won’t be ripped off. Take metro line 2 and transfer to metro line 1 at people’s square. At stop South Huangpi Road of line 1, you can reach Xin Tiandi, there are a lot pubs, clubs there and you can enjoy your night life. Or you can stop at Hengshan Road station of line 1, come out of the station, you are in the old French concession and there are plenty of pubs and restaurants there. Enjoy the rest of day there.

    I call this route “the highlights of Shanghai day trip”. If you don’t have much time, the route might be suitable for you. The route is rated high by my friends’ feedback.

    BTW, it is highly recommended to have one “Shanghai Public Transportation Card”. You can get in the metro line stations. It is a prepaid contact-less smart card. You pay 30 yuan for the deposit of the card itself and you can recharge at most of the metro stations and convenient shops around the city. The card can be used on 99% of the public transportation vehicles, like the cab, metro, bus, ferry, etc. I am proud of the project. Actually, I was one of the team members who designed the chip of the contact-less smart card. Anyone want to recruit me? J

  4. zheng, those cards in Shanghai are so cool, they can pay for almost everything, so convenient!! Such a drastic difference from BJ subway with its ticket sellers and collectors…

  5. was just checking out some sites for SH and i got thru yours… its cool ….we’r goin for a trip to sh ..its a class trip and we will be taken to a lot of must see places i guess…. we’r students of architecture so will be goin to some museums some famous building and stuff….so i was wodering if theres sth i should know about exploring the city on our own…like some cool places to hangout…. for some adventure ………..is it gonna be good enough exploring by bicycles or is there any other way( i heard it way hot there). i got some ideas from the posts above aredy but there should be more…….. some weird places as well ….we wanna make best of the trip coz trip to SH doesnt always come our way .plz reaply asap..we’r gonna leave the day aftah

    rekz

  6. I am planning a biz trip to Shanghai around 20th something in

    this month. It’s my first trip to Shanghai.

    Make a search “trip to shanghai” in Google and

    found you in 5th position out of 12,900,000. Incredible job!!!

    Informative & enjoy very much reading.

    Very sure that will come back again.

    Best regards.

    inschai.

    Malaysia.

  7. Dear Sir,

    We have planned for a trip to Shanghai from 16th to 21st Sept. We have booked in Motel168 in Huoshan Road.

    Please advise how far it is from Pudong Airport and Shanghai railway station. Because we will go to Beijing through Superfas train.

    While staying at the hotel what are the places we must see there.

    How much a taxi charge from PVG to Motel168.

    And last, but not the least how much the Z superfast trains charge from Shanghai to Beijing and how we get the tickets.

    Your co-operation in this regard will be highly appreciated.

    Thanking you,

    With Best Regards,

    Badri P. Agarwal

  8. Hi,

    Please guide me about Shanghai. I am visiting there on 3 Oct, 2006. Heard about all these tourist places like Bund, Nanjing Road, Oriental Pearl Tower etc. I want to know which will be good and cheap market there for shopping for Electronics like laptop, ipods, hnadicams and also for apparels, footwear etc. Please guide me.

    Thanks & regards

    Vikram Khandelwal

    New Delhi, India

  9. Need to go to Shanghai and you don’t know where ? How to book and to stay ? SDJH Shanghai is a new luxury Concierge Service who organize for you your whole trip by respecting yur requirements in terms of locaions, preferences, restaurants and many other things.

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  10. I am interested in buying a laptop,Ipod,footwear and clothing during my trip to Shanghai and hong Kong.Please advise.Price is critirea.

    Thanks,

    joe

  11. Hi, Can you tell me how it cost to take a taxi from the Pudong airport to Oriental Pearl TV Tower or Oriental River Hotel?

    Thanks

    Andy

  12. someone like travelling . the best way of traveling china that is own sidecar motorcycle . to travel with it

    shanghaihai johnson sidecar has some sidecars avaialbe

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  13. Bonjour

    where can I found spices market in Shanghai?

    Ibought some in Yunann and really don’t found here except Lotus Carrefour…

    Merci

  14. I’m Indonesian, next month I will visit Shanghai for private 4 days tourism, what would you suggest for visiting in Shanghai in 4 days, and where is the most delicious Shanghai cuisine (especially pork) in the city of Shanghai ?

    what places can I buy good Shanghai souvenir ?

    thank you

  15. i’m going to visit shanghai in 4 days, can you tell me where is the must go places in 3 days in shanghai ?

    where is the best chinese pork cuisine / food restaurant in shanghai ?

    thanks

  16. Hi,

    I love this article and i find that your blog is very helpful when i visit Shanghai somewhere around May

    I a Malaysian Chinese. i am planning to spend 2 days in Hangzhou, 2 days in Suzhou & 3 days in Shanghai

    Departure/arrival city: Hangzhou

    I need you help to work out some route/itineary/information for me. Hope you don’t mind

    Day 1

    Arriving Hangzhou

    Check in hotel (Prefered: Rujia or Motel168)

    Places wanted to visit: Qin He Fang street.

    Question: Is the public transport very convenience in Hangzhou?

    Day 2

    Places wanted to visit: Lingyin temple, Six harmonies pagoda, national silk museum & west lake

    Questions: how can i get there by using public transport or shall i hire a day-trip driver?

    any good foods or restaurant can recommend?

    Day 3 & 4

    transfer Hangzhou to Suzou via train

    Places wanted to visit: humble adminstrators garden, tiger hill, zhouzhang etc

    Questions” how can i get there by using public transport or shall i hire a day-trip driver?

    any good foods or restaurant can recommend?

    Day 5 to 7

    Transfer Suzhou to Shanghai

    i shall follow your “Suggestion to Friends’ Shanghai Trip” route

    THANK YOU!

    Best regards,

    Yee from Malaysia

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