China Footnotes — Shanghai (上海): 50 places for a first visit

Breakfast of soup dumplings, a slow wander through the old lanes, and a riverfront skyline that lights up after dark. Shanghai is the city you arrive in as a stranger and leave feeling worldly.

Data version 61fd7760a10c, generated 2026-10-06T11:48:13.318Z.

How to use this file

• Read every Shanghai place in full: https://chinafootnotes.com/shanghai/llms-full.txt
• Read one place: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/{id}.md
• JSON: https://chinafootnotes.com/api/places?city=shanghai · https://chinafootnotes.com/api/cities/shanghai
• Before you go (visa, paying, apps, internet, booking ahead): https://chinafootnotes.com/before-you-go.md
• The whole guide, all cities: https://chinafootnotes.com/llms.txt

Key figures

• Population: 24.85 million (2025)
• Area: 6340.5 km² (2026-10)

Weather by month

• Jan: 8.7 °C / 2.9 °C, about 10.6 rain days
• Feb: 10.7 °C / 4.1 °C, about 10.4 rain days
• Mar: 14.9 °C / 7.6 °C, about 12.7 rain days
• Apr: 20.9 °C / 12.6 °C, about 11.3 rain days
• May: 25.8 °C / 17.9 °C, about 11.2 rain days
• Jun: 28.6 °C / 22 °C, about 14.3 rain days
• Jul: 33.2 °C / 26.2 °C, about 12.2 rain days
• Aug: 32.6 °C / 26.2 °C, about 12.7 rain days
• Sep: 28.7 °C / 22.5 °C, about 10.1 rain days
• Oct: 23.5 °C / 17.1 °C, about 7.5 rain days
• Nov: 17.8 °C / 11.4 °C, about 9.2 rain days
• Dec: 11.3 °C / 5.3 °C, about 8.5 rain days

Source: China Meteorological Administration normals 1991–2020 (Xujiahui), via Wikipedia

Book before you go

• Shanghai Disneyland: Buy dated tickets ahead on official channels
• Shanghai Museum on People’s Square: Buy a timed ticket first (Americas show, to Nov 2027)
• Shanghai Natural History Museum: Book online · sales open 7 days ahead
• Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall: Book a free slot before visiting
• Shanghai Science and Technology Museum: Book online up to 7 days ahead
• Shanghai Astronomy Museum: Book online · sales open 7 days ahead
• Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence in Shanghai: Buy in the WeChat mini-program first

The river bend

• The Bund (外滩): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. Walk between historic Bund buildings and the Huangpu River skyline.
• Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street (南京路步行街): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. Shanghai's car-free shopping street, from People's Square to the Bund, lit up at night.
• Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠): Observation deck, Pudong New Area. A Lujiazui tower for 263 m views, a glass corridor and Shanghai history.
• Top of Shanghai Observatory (上海之巅观光厅): Observation deck, Pudong New Area. China's highest observation deck: 546 m up on Shanghai Tower's 118th floor.
• Jin Mao Tower 88F Observation Deck (金茂大厦88层观光厅): Observation deck, Pudong New Area. A 340 m deck in Shanghai's pagoda-style tower, with an outdoor Skywalk option.
• Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (上海海洋水族馆): Attraction, Pudong New Area. Lujiazui aquarium with a 155 m underwater tunnel and a China-only freshwater zone.
• Shanghai Museum East (上海博物馆东馆): Museum, Pudong New Area. A large Pudong museum for Chinese bronzes, ceramics, jade and sculpture.
• Museum of Art Pudong (浦东美术馆): Museum, Pudong New Area. Jean Nouvel riverside art museum: big loan shows and a terrace facing the Bund.
• North Bund International Passenger Center Riverside (北外滩国际客运中心周边滨江公共空间): Open neighbourhood, Hongkou. A quieter Huangpu riverfront facing Lujiazui and the Bund, around the cruise terminal.
• Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum (上海犹太难民纪念馆): Museum, Hongkou. A 1927 synagogue telling how Shanghai sheltered Jewish refugees in WWII.

Old town & the square

• People’s Square (人民广场): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. Shanghai's central square on the old racecourse, ringed by museums, a park and a theatre.
• Yuyuan Garden (豫园园林): Classical garden, Huangpu. A ticketed classical garden of rockeries, ponds and pavilions inside Shanghai's old city.
• Yuyuan Bazaar (豫园商城): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. The free bazaar around Yuyuan Garden: zigzag bridge, teahouse, dumplings, lanterns.
• Shanghai Museum on People’s Square (上海博物馆人民广场馆): Museum, Huangpu. Shanghai Museum’s People’s Square building for major special exhibitions.
• Shanghai History Museum (上海市历史博物馆): Museum, Huangpu. Free city-history museum in the old Race Club with the clock tower on People's Square.
• Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall (上海城市规划展示馆): Museum, Huangpu. Free, booking-only hall with an immersive digital model of Shanghai.
• Shanghai Xintiandi Shikumen Block (上海新天地石库门街区): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. Restored shikumen lanes turned dining street, beside the first CPC congress site.
• Tianzifang (田子坊): Open neighbourhood, Huangpu. A maze of 1930s lane houses and old workshops off Taikang Road, full of shops and cafés.
• Fuxing Park (复兴公园): Park, Huangpu. Shanghai's 1909 French-style park, with plane trees, flower beds and a night funfair.

Lanes & temples, west

• Shanghai Natural History Museum (上海自然博物馆): Museum, Jing’an. Dinosaurs, an African savanna walk-through and 11,000 specimens in a spiral 'green snail'.
• Fotografiska Shanghai (Fotografiska 影像艺术中心): Museum, Jing’an. Photography shows in a 1931 Suzhou Creek warehouse, open daily until 23:00.
• Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence in Shanghai (上海宋庆龄故居纪念馆): Museum, Xuhui. Soong Ching Ling's 1920 villa on Huaihai Road, kept as she lived in it.
• Wukang Road (武康路): Open neighbourhood, Xuhui. A plane-tree street of 1920s–30s villas ending at the ship-shaped Wukang Mansion.
• Zhangyuan (张园): Open neighbourhood, Jing’an. A large restored shikumen block of luxury shops and cafés by West Nanjing Road.
• Yuyuan Road Historical and Cultural Block (愚园路历史文化街区): Open neighbourhood, Jing’an / Changning. A long, quiet plane-tree road of 1920s–30s garden lanes, small shops and cafés.
• M50 Creative Park (M50创意园): Open neighbourhood, Putuo. A former Suzhou Creek textile mill turned into free galleries, studios and graffiti lanes.
• Columbia Circle (上生新所): Open neighbourhood, Changning. A 1920s American country club, Hudec villa and old pool, now an open creative park.
• Jing'an Temple (静安寺): Temple, Jing’an. A gold-roofed working temple on West Nanjing Road, home to a 15-tonne silver Buddha.
• Jade Buddha Temple (玉佛禅寺): Temple, Putuo. A free-entry working temple with a Burmese jade reclining Buddha brought in 1899.
• Zhongshan Park (中山公园): Park, Changning. A 1914 English-style park by Suzhou Creek, with boating, lawns and a cruise pier.

West Bund art mile

• Power Station of Art (上海当代艺术博物馆): Museum, Huangpu. A riverside power plant turned contemporary art museum, home of the Shanghai Biennale.
• China Art Museum, Shanghai (中华艺术宫): Museum, Pudong New Area. Modern Chinese art inside the red 2010 Expo China Pavilion, mostly free to enter.
• West Bund Museum (西岸美术馆): Museum, Xuhui. David Chipperfield's riverside museum showing Centre Pompidou collection loans.
• Long Museum (West Bund) (龙美术馆（西岸馆）): Museum, Xuhui. A private art museum of concrete vaults built around an old coal-loading bridge.
• World Expo Museum (上海世博会博物馆): Museum, Huangpu. A free museum of more than 170 years of world expos, including Shanghai 2010.
• Xujiahui Origin (徐家汇源): Open neighbourhood, Xuhui. Where Western science reached Shanghai: Gothic cathedral, old observatory, libraries.
• Longhua Temple (龙华寺): Temple, Xuhui. One of Shanghai's oldest temples, beside a Song-dynasty pagoda; famous for noodles.
• Shanghai Botanical Garden (上海植物园): Park, Xuhui. A free 82-hectare botanical garden in Xuhui, known for bonsai and greenhouses.

Big days out

• Shanghai Disneyland (上海迪士尼乐园): Attraction, Pudong New Area. Disney's mainland China park: eight lands, TRON, Zootopia and the tallest Disney castle.
• Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (上海科技馆): Museum, Pudong New Area. Hands-on Pudong science museum, renewed in 2026: robots, flight halls and dome films.
• Shanghai Astronomy Museum (上海天文馆): Museum, Pudong New Area. A huge orbit-shaped astronomy museum by Dishui Lake, a full day out from central Shanghai.
• Century Park (世纪公园): Park, Pudong New Area. Pudong's largest free park: 140 hectares of lawns, a lake and seasonal flowers.
• Gongqing National Forest Park (共青国家森林公园): Park, Yangpu. Downtown Shanghai's only forest park: 131 hectares of woods, lawns and lakes.

Beyond the ring road

• Chenshan Botanical Garden (辰山植物园): Park, Songjiang. Shanghai's largest botanical garden: a quarry garden and dragon-like glasshouses.
• Zhujiajiao Historical and Cultural Block (朱家角古镇历史文化街区): Water town, Qingpu. A canal town of old lanes and stone bridges west of central Shanghai.
• Qibao Ancient Town (七宝古镇): Water town, Minhang. The canal town closest to downtown: Line 9, a stone bridge and two streets of old snacks.
• Nanxiang Ancient Town (南翔古镇): Water town, Jiading. Home of the xiaolongbao: twin brick pagodas, canal lanes and Guyi Garden next door.
• Guyi Garden (古猗园): Classical garden, Jiading. A Ming-era classical garden of bamboo, lotus ponds and a pavilion missing one corner.
• Sheshan National Forest Park (佘山国家森林公园): Park, Songjiang. Shanghai's only hills: a hilltop basilica, an old observatory and bamboo trails.
• Guangfulin Cultural Relics Park (广富林文化遗址): Park, Songjiang. 'The root of Shanghai': a 5,000-year-old site with museums half-sunk in a lake.