Shanghai China 7 Day Itinerary
Citizens of 54 countries can enter Shanghai without a visa for up to 240 hours (10 days) under China’s transit-free policy, which expanded significantly in 2024-2025. Check the current list before booking: the policy covers most EU nations, the US, UK, Canada, and Australia among others. Sort this before anything else, because the visa situation in China changes faster than most travel information keeps up with.
Getting from the airport
Pudong International Airport (PVG) is 40 km from the city centre. The Maglev train covers the distance in 8 minutes to Longyang Road station for 50 RMB (40 RMB with same-day boarding pass), and yes, it reaches 300 km/h in a straight line across the outer suburbs. It is worth taking at least once for the spectacle. From Longyang Road, transfer to Metro Line 2 to reach central Shanghai. Alternatively, Line 2 runs directly from the airport to People’s Square in 50-60 minutes for 8 RMB if you want a single journey without the transfer.
Payment gotcha to resolve on Day 1
Cash use in Shanghai has declined sharply. WeChat Pay and Alipay handle most transactions. Both apps now accept foreign bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex), but binding a foreign card since late 2025 triggers verification checks that can take 24-72 hours. Set both apps up before you leave home using your passport and a foreign card. Disable your VPN when paying; Chinese payment systems flag overseas IP addresses and freeze transactions. Small street vendors often use personal QR codes that do not accept foreign-linked cards, so carry 500-1,000 RMB in cash for small purchases and street food.
Where to stay
The French Concession (Xuhui and Jing’an districts) puts you in the most walkable part of the city, with good Metro connections. The Langham Shanghai Xintiandi is comfortable and central at high-end prices (400-600 RMB per night range for that tier). Mid-range options cluster on Wukang Road and the surrounding streets; expect 300-500 RMB for a well-located boutique hotel. Staying in Pudong (the east side, Lujiazui towers) is convenient for the financial district views but isolating for everything else; skip it unless you specifically need to be there.
Day 1: Arrival, The Bund, and Pudong skyline
After Maglev and Metro, drop bags and walk to The Bund before doing anything else. The 1.5 km waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River faces the 1920s and 1930s international bank and trading company buildings on the west side, with the Pudong skyline of tower blocks opposite. The contrast is the point. The Bund is significantly more photogenic after dark than in daylight; plan a second visit later in the week for the night view from either the Bund itself or from the Lujiazui side of the river via ferry (3 RMB).
Dinner: M on the Bund has panoramic views and European-leaning food at high-end prices and is worth doing once as a splurge arrival dinner.
Day 2: Yu Garden, Old Town, and Tianzifang
Yu Garden (Yuyuan Garden) is a classical Chinese garden from the 16th century set within a bazaar complex. Arrive when it opens at 8:30am to beat the crowds; entry is 40 RMB. The garden itself takes an hour. The surrounding bazaar is mostly tourist-oriented but the food stalls on the perimeter are genuine: order soup dumplings (xiao long bao) at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, which has been operating here since 1900. The queue is always long; the wait is 20-30 minutes and the dumplings justify it.
Tianzifang in the afternoon: a network of narrow lilong alleyways in the former French Concession converted into cafes, art studios, and independent shops. It is the less-polished and more interesting alternative to Xintiandi’s glossier version of the same concept. Have an afternoon tea somewhere on the upper alley levels with a view down to the lane below.
Day 3: Shanghai Museum and French Concession streets
The Shanghai Museum on People’s Square holds one of China’s strongest collections of bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, and jade. It is free and opens at 9am. Three hours is the right amount of time. Arrive with a specific interest (the bronze collection and the ceramics galleries are the highlights) rather than trying to cover everything.
The afternoon belongs to the French Concession. Walk Wukang Road for the plane trees and the 1920s-1930s residential architecture, then cut through Fuxing Road and Dongping Road. Wukang Mansion, an eight-storey Art Deco building from 1924 at the junction of Wukang Road and Huaihai Road, is the most photographed building in Shanghai outside the Pudong skyline and is genuinely beautiful. Coffee at any of the independent cafes on Yongfu Road or Xinle Road, both streets have strong cafe cultures.
Dinner: Tianzifang or the French Concession has enough restaurant options for every night of a week-long trip. For something specific, Atica on Xinle Road (opened 2025) does Spanish comfort food in a well-priced setting. For traditional Shanghai food, any of the local canteens on Shaanxi South Road serve hong shao rou (red-braised pork belly) and lion’s head meatballs at around 50-80 RMB for a full meal.
Day 4: Jade Buddha Temple and Jing’an
The Jade Buddha Temple in Jing’an District is a working Buddhist monastery, not a heritage site kept for tourists. The two jade Buddhas imported from Burma in 1882 are the centrepiece; entry costs 50 RMB. Visit on a weekday morning for the most authentic atmosphere when the monks are conducting ceremonies.
Jing’an district extends north from People’s Square and has a different texture from the French Concession: wider streets, fewer tourists, and the Jing’an Temple itself at the end of Nanjing West Road, gold-roofed and oddly majestic given it sits between two department stores. The Temple of the Earth (Ditan) is a different site entirely, located in Beijing; the original itinerary confused the two. The relevant Jing’an sites reward a morning of slow walking.
Day 5: Pudong, the tower view, and the ferry
The Shanghai Tower observation deck on the 118th floor (632 metres) is the correct choice among Pudong’s three major towers: better views than the Pearl Tower, and higher than the World Financial Center. Entry costs 180 RMB and the queue is faster if you book online. Morning is clearest; afternoon haze reduces visibility significantly in summer. The Pearl Tower’s revolving restaurant is perfectly decent for a Pudong dinner if you want the view from the other direction.
Take the Huangpu River ferry (3 RMB) from Lujiazui back to the Bund side for the evening Bund walk with the Pudong lights behind you.
Din Tai Fung in Lujiazui (IFC Mall) is the place to go for xiao long bao if you want the benchmarked version: consistent, excellent, and more expensive than the street options at around 50-80 RMB for a bamboo steamer. Worth the comparison to Nanxiang on Day 2.
Day 6: Zhujiajiao Water Town
Zhujiajiao is a 1,700-year-old canal town 50 km west of Shanghai, accessible by direct bus from Pu’an Road Bus Terminal in about an hour (18 RMB). Arrive before 10am. The stone bridges (there are 36 of them across the canal network), the covered street markets, and the preserved Qing Dynasty merchants’ houses along the canals give a good sense of what the Yangtze Delta looked like before industrialisation. Boat trips on the canals run about 80 RMB for a 20-minute punt. By noon the tour groups from central Shanghai arrive in numbers; use the morning hours well.
Return by mid-afternoon. The evening is the right time to walk the Bund again and compare it to your first-night view after a week in the city.
Day 7: Final morning and departure
Check out and store luggage at the hotel. Final morning in the French Concession, which earns it: the breakfast cafes on Yongfu Road open early and the streets before 9am have a quiet quality the rest of the day lacks.
Metro Line 2 runs directly to Pudong Airport from central Shanghai (People’s Square) in 50-60 minutes for 8 RMB. Alternatively, Line 10 to Longyang Road, then Maglev back to the airport for the final speed run. Allow 2 hours from city centre to gate.
Practical notes
Metro cards (Jiaotong Card, available at airport Metro booths) make navigation easy and eliminate the need for coins at turnstiles. Reloadable and also accepted on buses. Tipping is not practiced in China; do not leave cash on restaurant tables or hand money to servers expecting gratuity.
Spring (March-May) and autumn (September-November) are the most comfortable months. Summer (June-August) is hot (30-38 degrees Celsius) and humid with frequent typhoon-season rain. Winter is cold and damp. The city functions perfectly year-round; it is a question of comfort rather than access.