Does Shanghai have Beach

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2005-03-21 23:15 · Attractions

“Shanghai is at the sea! I have planned one afternoon on the beach and see the Sunset…” my friend told me on the phone.

Unfortunately, there is no beach in Shanghai. Although Shanghai is near the East Sea, the downtown is very far from the nearest bean (more than 50 km away). Also, there are only yellow mud. The sea looks yellow and dirty. There is no sand beach in Shanghai, and since Shanghai is facing east, it is impossible to see sun set down to the sea.

I have visited three areas that can be called “beach”. One is the Chuan Sha. The other is Feng Xian (going directly down to the south). It is actually the Hangzhou Bay. The third is the Luchao Habor, which is the most southeast point of Shanghai. Although they are not like the beach in Sanya, they are still a good place to relax.

16 Comments

Shanghai used to have a beach in GaoQiao, about 10 years ago. That was quite an attraction back then, I used to go there every summer. I think GaoQiao(China?) petro (correct me if I am wrong) has built the facilities not long after the beach opened. Technically, the beach was there for only a few short years to the public. Because I have relatives lived down there, so I knew that before it became public. During these days, only locals and few others knew the place swam down there. It was a public beach without any charges before it was opened for commerical use. Anyway, that was not a good beach, just close to the sea and nowhere close to HaiNan. Love these old days, it was packed almost everyday in the summer.

— limin · 2005-03-22 00:38

JS, I plan to visit Shanghai in May, is it still cool and rainy?

Stephen

— Stephen · 2005-03-22 01:10

Sandy beach is the result of erosion of land by the ocean, Shanghai is located at the mouth of the YangTze river and every year million tons of silt poured into the basin and form the Shanghai delta, it is the natural process of land reclaimation into the ocean. Sandy beach must be rare in you vicinity.

Stephen

— Stephen · 2005-03-22 06:35

I heard that there is a bathing place with beach at the San Jia Port. It caught my attention because there was an accident that lightning hit a swimmer two years ago.

— Ray Hu · 2005-03-22 16:52

JS,

I plan to visit Shanghai during 18th-22nd next month for a conference. This is my first ever visit to Shanghai or for that matter to China. I live at Bombay in India. I know no Chinese language at all. Since the last few days I am a regular visitor to your blog and find it very interesting and topical. I intend visiting your blog regularly even beyond the visit to Shanghai.

Incidentally Bombay has two very good sandy beaches within the city limits and quite a few closeby. One of them namely Juhu is 15 minutes walking distance from my home. It is a popular picnic spot like I presume the Bund is in Shanghai.

— Anil Kumar · 2005-03-23 13:10

To Stephen

In this case it's mostly erosion caused my man, not natural.

More than 100,000km3 of farmland has vanished inland China due to deforestation and following erosion in the past years. Now the soil is located at the banks outside Shanghai....

The water at southeast Pudong (at Donghai Bridge and LuchaoGang) is visible to 3 cm at best. Every year 600,000,000m3 of waste water goes out there too, according to Shanghai authorities. Swimming is possible, but put on a full body condome, and don't drink it !

But in may the weather here is just amazing !

Notify me, if you want to meet when you come to Shanghai. Could be great !

— carsten · 2005-03-26 02:14

I will travel to Asia for the first time in mid-April. 1 week in Shanghai, and then 3 days each in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

I'm looking forward to Shanghai and a ride on the MagLev.

How far is Pudong Airport from Central Shanghai.

— Steve · 2005-03-26 23:23

carsten, I would love to meet people in Shanghai during my fore-coming visit, do you mind give me your e-mail address, or you can obtain my e-mail thru JS so I can forward you my itinerary.

Looking forward to chatting with you soon!

Stephen

— Stephen · 2005-03-29 00:11

Hi Stephen, do you "Skype" ?

— carsten · 2005-03-29 20:15

carsten, Sorry, I am not set up for that!

Stephen

— Stephen · 2005-03-29 23:08

Does anybody surf in Shanghai (I mean board surfing in the ocean - I've seen them windsurf in Hangzhou) ?

— Wido · 2005-10-16 03:32

I am a windsurfer. I haven't heard of wave surfing in Shanghai, but I heard of windsurfing on one of the lakes in Suzhou. Does anybody know the name of the lake?

— peter · 2006-02-11 10:04

Hello, I am a windsurfer too. I heard about a lake in Pudong with some massive fans... for windsurfing. Is that true? Where is it?

— Hadrien · 2006-03-15 13:34

Lake? The only one I think is similar with what you described is the one in Century Park. There is no other big lakes in Pudong.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2006-03-15 23:11

The one in Century Park cannot be surfed. It's not that big to begin with (probably 1 min to cross in 30kph wind) and its teeming with silly electric sampans.

— Michael · 2007-05-21 10:37

Hi, some of us were planning a trip to Putuoshan this weekend, but got canceled so we now are seeking a beach closer to Shanghai. It's hard to tell from the internet which beach is open for swimming. Would really appreciate some input. Thanks!

— AO · 2009-08-27 10:21