Shanghai in 3 days: the colonial Bund facing 21st-century Pudong across the Huangpu River — the most striking urban contrast in the world — where a soup dumpling is ¥4 and the world's fastest train leaves from the basement.
1.5km of Edwardian and Art Deco bank buildings (1904–1936): the most dramatic waterfront in the world, before the tourist crowds arrive.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide1559 garden in the old city: the Nine-Turn Bridge, the zigzag pond and 45 minutes queueing for the best xiaolongbao in China.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFour iconic towers built in 21 years: Oriental Pearl (1994), Jin Mao (1999), SWFC (2008), Shanghai Tower (2015). The 64km/h elevator.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe most beautiful neighbourhood in China: 1920s French colonial streets where the city's Sephardic Jewish merchant dynasties built their mansions.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe finest adaptive reuse of Shanghai's shikumen heritage: narrow lanes, contemporary Chinese art and the most atmospheric lunch spots in the city.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe only city in WWII that accepted stateless Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe without restrictions. The museum documents their Trans-Siberian journey to Shanghai.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe finest museum of Chinese art in the world outside Beijing: Shang dynasty bronzes, Ming furniture and the calligraphy gallery.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide5.5km from People's Square to the Bund: 100-year-old enamelware shops beside luxury boutiques, sesame noodle carts between department stores.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGPS speed display: 0 → 300 → 431 km/h in 2 minutes. Round trip for the experience alone: ¥80 (€10).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe restored Edwardian British Club bar where colonial hierarchy was enforced by seat position. Old Fashioned at the window end.