Century Park (世纪公园)
Park · Pudong New Area · Shanghai. Pudong's largest free park: 140 hectares of lawns, a lake and seasonal flowers.
Source: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/century-park · Data checked 2026-10-02 · Rendered for 2026-10-03 (Asia/Shanghai). Facts carry their status; "not found yet" means we searched and found no reliable source.
Notices in effect
- 2026-09-24 to 2026-11-15: 2026 Autumn Garden Season: music parties 5 and 18 Oct (Music Square); outdoor films Wed & Fri evenings at Gate 5 plaza to 31 Oct; camping festival 13–15 Nov on the South Hill lawn.
- 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-03: Metro Lines 7 and 9 run extended late service.
Why go
Century Park (世纪公园) is a huge, free park in Pudong with lawns, a 300-metre-wide lake and flower beds. Come to see how Shanghai families spend a weekend: picnic tents, kites, rented four-seat bikes and pedal boats. It has no walls and no closing time, so it works for a quick hour after the nearby museums or an early walk to beat jet lag.
What to do
- Walk the lake loop. Start at Gate 1, find the Century Flower Clock (世纪花钟), then circle Jingtian Lake (镜天湖), one of Shanghai's largest man-made lakes. The full walk takes about an hour at an easy pace.
- Rent a bike or boat. Bike rental points inside Gates 1, 3 and 7 offer two- and four-seat pedal carts, and boats go out on the lake. Read the price board at the stand before you pay.
- Picnic on the lawns. Bring a mat or a small tent to the lawns near Gate 7 or the South Hill lawn (南山草坪). Tents and canopies are not allowed between 22:00 and 06:00.
- Walk the autumn paths. Walk the ginkgo avenue and the paths past persimmon trees and miscanthus. Autumn colour changes through October and November.
- Don't miss: The Century Flower Clock (世纪花钟) by Jingtian Lake, a 12 m clock face planted with flowers, is the park's signature photo spot.
- Best time: Spring and autumn weekday mornings
- Skip if: Skip it if you want a historic garden: this is a large modern landscape park with lawns and a lake.
Practical details
- Hours: Open 24 hours, every day
- 22:00–06:00: no tents, canopies, music or amplified activities; 18:00–22:00 is for quiet walks.
- Rental stands, boats, rides and cafés keep their own shorter hours, which are not published in one place.
- Older guides list 05:00–21:00 or 07:00–18:00; those predate 24-hour opening on 1 May 2024.
- Admission: Free
- Bike / pedal-cart rental: price not found yet — Per hour at Gates 1, 3, 7
- Boat on Jingtian Lake: price not found yet — Per boat per hour
- Entry has been free since 2021. Blogs still quoting a ¥10 ticket are out of date.
- Booking: No booking; walk in at any gate
- Passport accepted: not_applicable — No ticket or ID check for park entry.
- Last admission: No last entry (open 24 hours)
- Time to allow: 2–3 hr; a picnic day takes longer
- Getting there: Line 2 · Sci & Tech Museum · Exit 4/5 (Gate 1)
- Metro Line 2 to Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (上海科技馆), Exit 4 / 5, about 1 min walk
- Metro Line 2 to Century Park (世纪公园), Exit 1, about 2 min walk
- Metro Line 7 to Huamu Road (花木路), Exit 5, about 5 min walk
- Metro Line 9 to Yanggao Middle Road (杨高中路), Exit 3, about 10 min walk
- Show a taxi driver: 世纪公园1号门，浦东新区锦绣路1001号
- Map: Apple Maps · Amap 高德
- Exits 7 and 8 of the same station also work: cross the Century Avenue footbridge, about 5 minutes to Gate 1.
- Exit and gate numbers come from a 2021 local guide; a May 2026 post pairs gates and exits differently.
- Shared bikes are not allowed into the park.
- Address: 上海市浦东新区锦绣路1001号 / 1001 Jinxiu Road
- Foreign visitors: Free walk-in; no ID, app or ticket needed
Not found yet
- admission.paidExtras[0].amount: Bike rental prices conflict across undated or old guides (¥20–120/hour); no dated operator tariff found. (searched: Exa/web, WeChat/Exa, English blogs, Trip.com)
- admission.paidExtras[1].amount: Boat prices range from ¥30 to ¥100 per hour across old and undated sources. (searched: Exa/web, WeChat/Exa, English blogs, Trip.com)
- foreignVisitors.payment: No source states whether rental stands or cafés accept cash or foreign cards. (searched: English blogs, Reddit/Exa, Exa/web, Trip.com)
Traveler tips
- Ignore old ¥10 ticket prices. Many English blogs and booking pages still list a ¥10 ticket and 07:00–18:00 hours. Both are out of date: entry has been free since 2021, and since May 2024 the park has had no walls and stays open 24 hours. Walk in at any gate; you need no ticket, QR code or passport. Caveat: Rides, boats and rentals inside still cost money. source
- Know the night rules. The park is open all night, but quiet rules apply. From 18:00 to 22:00 it asks for quiet activities such as walking. From 22:00 to 06:00 you may not pitch tents or canopies, and music or amplified exercise is banned. Daytime tents and picnic mats are fine on the open lawns. source
- Claim lawn space before 10:00. On sunny weekends Shanghai families arrive with tents, mats and kites, and the lawns are full after about 10:00. Take the big lawn near Gate 7 or the South Hill lawn (南山草坪) for shade. Bring a mat, a sun hat and insect repellent; the park shop sells snacks but not picnic gear. Caveat: Crowd timing is one guide's experience; it varies with weather. source
- Leave shared bikes outside. Shared app bikes are not allowed into the park. Park yours outside the gate and rent a park bike inside instead: stands just inside Gates 1, 3 and 7 offer single bikes, two-seat bikes and four-seat pedal carts with a canopy. Expect a deposit as well as an hourly fee. Caveat: Rental prices differ widely between guides; read the price board at the stand. source
- Walk the lake in about an hour. If you only have an hour, enter at Gate 1, walk to the Century Flower Clock (世纪花钟) and follow the path around Jingtian Lake (镜天湖), which is about 300 m across. One travel blog puts the full loop at about an hour on foot. Boats leave from the lake shore if you would rather see it from the water. source
- See the autumn colour spots. For the 2026 autumn season (24 Sep–15 Nov) the park published a map of eight autumn spots: red kochia (红叶地肤) and flower fields near Gate 3, osmanthus near Gate 2, pink muhly grass by the lotus pond (荷花池), miscanthus near Gate 5, a persimmon orchard path, a ginkgo avenue about 1 km long, and a lakeside plane-tree walk. Ginkgo turns yellow later, usually in November. source
- Free films and music this autumn. From 25 September to 31 October 2026, free outdoor films are shown at the Gate 5 plaza (五号门广场) on Wednesday and Friday evenings, and are paused if it rains. Music parties with lawn seating are planned at the Music Square (音乐广场) on 5 and 18 October; bring a picnic mat. A camping festival with gear provided runs 13–15 November on the South Hill lawn. source
- Toilets stay open all night. After the switch to 24-hour opening, the park kept more than ten toilets open around the clock and added 24-hour vending machines. Lighting is dimmed after about 22:00 to protect nearby homes, so carry a phone torch for late walks and expect security patrols rather than staffed kiosks at night. Caveat: Reported in 2024; check signs for any closed toilet. source
- Set your expectations. Residents on r/shanghai call Century Park the biggest park in the city and a good place to spend a whole day, but one adds that it is pleasant for a walk rather than anything special. It is a modern landscape park of lawns, woods and a lake. For pavilions and rockeries pick Yuyuan Garden or Guyi Garden; for forest trails, another resident prefers Gongqing Forest Park. Caveat: Comments posted in April 2025, slightly older than 12 months. (3 travelers) source
- Find the plum garden from Gate 7. For a plum-blossom walk in Century Park (世纪公园), take Metro Line 2 to Century Park station and use Exit 1. Walk to Gate 7, then look for the plum garden inside the park. Caveat: One Japanese visitor described this route in March 2024. It is a route to a seasonal area, not a current bloom forecast or a price guide for park rentals. source
Sources
- Shanghai Municipal People's Government (published 2023-12-20)
- Shanghai Municipal People's Government
- Shanghai Municipal People's Government / Jiefang Daily (published 2024-04-17)
- Shanghai Municipal People's Government (published 2025-10-22)
- Shanghai Planning and Natural Resources Bureau (published 2024-09-04)
- Tencent News (published 2024-10-30)
- Labor Daily (劳动报)
- 上海本地宝 (published 2021-05-28)
- ifeng 大风号 (published 2026-09-24)
- ifeng 大风号 (published 2026-09-30)
- Shentong Metro / Shanghai Municipal People's Government (published 2026-09-28)
- Grace Holmes11 (Trip.com Moments) (published 2026-05-11)
- Reddit r/shanghai (published 2025-04-28)
- China Advent (Eric) (published 2024-10-16)
- note (published 2024-03-04)