Shanghai travel guide

Plan your trip, step by step

• Where to stay
  Pick a bank of the river, a district, and a hotel vs a serviced apartment.
• Things to do
  Decide which timed, passport-name tickets to lock in before you fly.
• Shanghai in 3 days
  Follow a plan that keeps each day on one side of the Huangpu.
• Estimate your trip cost
  See what a Shanghai trip costs in yuan across three styles.
• First-timer mistakes to avoid
  Sidestep the payment, paperwork and ticketing errors that catch first-timers.
• Shanghai on a budget
  See what a lean, comfortable or generous day really costs.

The neighborhoods at a glance

The Bund & the Huangpu riverfront (Huangpu district)

Known for a 1.5 km protected strip of 1920s and 1930s banking and trading houses facing the Pudong towers — the city’s defining view, and busiest after dark.

People’s Square & Nanjing Road East (Huangpu)

Known for the transport crossroads of the city, the Shanghai Museum’s original campus, and the pedestrianised shopping spine running east to the river.

Former French Concession & Xintiandi (Xuhui and west Huangpu)

Known for plane trees, 1920s villas and shikumen lane houses, Wukang Road, independent cafés on Anfu Road, and the restored lane blocks at Xintiandi and Tianzifang.

Jing’an

Known for the gilded Jing’an Temple sitting directly beneath office towers, West Nanjing Road’s malls, and the restored Zhangyuan lane quarter beside them.

Lujiazui & Pudong

Known for the Shanghai Tower, Jin Mao Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Oriental Pearl, plus the Shanghai Museum East on Century Avenue.

Hongkou & the North Bund

Known for the riverside stretch immediately north of the Bund — the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, 1933 Old Millfun, and cheaper rooms a couple of metro stops from the centre.

Deciding where to base yourself? The where-to-stay guide turns these areas into a lodging decision.

When to go — month by month

Average daytime high (bars) and rainy days per month, from 5-year climate normals. Greener months are the most comfortable to visit.

Best months to visit: Mar–May

Destinations with a similar climate

Like Shanghai’s weather? These places have the closest year-round climate in our data — tap through for each one’s best time to visit.

• Osaka →
• Tokyo →
• Nara →
• Kyoto →
• Hiroshima →
• Nashville →

Know before you go

Currency & payment

Chinese yuan (CNY, written ¥ and spoken as RMB or kuai). Day-to-day payment runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay QR codes, both of which now let overseas visitors link a foreign Visa or Mastercard — set this up before you fly, not at a noodle counter. Cash is legal tender and must be accepted, but small vendors often cannot break large notes. The Metro is the easy exception: it takes contactless UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards directly at the gate.

Visa-free entry

Two separate schemes, and which one applies to you depends on your passport. Around 50 countries — most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, several Gulf states — have a unilateral 30-day visa exemption for tourism, business or visiting, on an ordinary passport. Separately, nationals of 55 countries (this list includes the US; British citizens are covered by the 30-day exemption until 31 December 2026 and rarely need this route) can transit visa-free for up to 240 hours through designated ports, but only with a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region departing inside that window. Check your own nationality against the National Immigration Administration’s current lists before booking.

Registering where you sleep

Chinese law requires a foreign visitor’s accommodation to be registered with the local public security authorities within 24 hours of arrival. A hotel does this for you at check-in when it takes your passport. Stay in a private home or apartment and you or your host must file it yourself, at the neighbourhood police station or through the public security bureau’s online declaration system. This single rule is why hotels are the practical choice here.

Language & apps

Mandarin is the working language, with Shanghainese still spoken locally. Metro stations, airports and major museums are signed and announced in English; taxi drivers and small restaurants generally are not. Carry your destination written in Chinese characters, and note that a great many non-Chinese apps and websites are unreachable on local networks — download maps, translation and travel apps before you land, and check how your home carrier routes roaming data.

From the airports

Pudong (PVG) sits about 30 km out: Metro Line 2 reaches People’s Square in roughly an hour for around ¥7, a taxi runs about ¥180 in about 50 minutes, and the maglev covers the first leg to Longyang Road before you transfer. Hongqiao (SHA) is 13 km from the centre on Metro Lines 2 and 10, or roughly ¥50–70 by taxi in about 30 minutes. The Airport Link Line joins the two airports in about 40 minutes for ¥4–26 — useful if you arrive at one and leave from the other.

Getting around

The Metro does almost all the work. Fares start at ¥3 for the first 6 km and add ¥1 for every further 10 km; a one-day pass is ¥18 and a three-day pass ¥45, so the passes only pay off on a heavy day. Pay with a Shanghai Public Transportation Card, the Metro Daduhui or Suishenxing apps, or a contactless foreign card. Didi is the ride-hailing default and its international app accepts overseas cards; street taxis are metered and cheap.

Best time

Late March to May and October into early November are the comfortable windows — October is the driest stretch of the warm half of the year. June is the plum-rain (meiyu) month and among the wettest; July and August are hot and humid, and typhoons are possible into September. Winter is cool and damp rather than snowy. Avoid Golden Week (October 1–7) and Chinese New Year unless crowds are the point.

For the best months to visit and a day-by-day plan, see Shanghai in 3 days.