Oriental Pearl Tower

The design proposal for the Oriental Pearl Tower was nearly rejected outright. Construction companies told the architects it was impossible to build. The concept of eleven stacked spheres connected by three cylindrical shafts, rising 468 metres from Shanghai’s soft alluvial ground, required driving 425 concrete piles deep into the riverbed soil, with steel pipes and plates providing additional support below grade. The engineers found a way, construction ran from 1991 to 1994, and the tower stood as the tallest structure in China until 2007. It remains the defining image of Pudong’s skyline.

The design was not arbitrary. It was inspired by a Tang dynasty poem, “Pipa Xing” by Bai Juyi, which contains the line “Large and small pearls cascade into a jade plate.” Chief architect Jiang Huancheng translated that image literally: the ascending spheres are the pearls, the Huangpu River is the jade plate. The result is a structure that functions simultaneously as television and radio transmission infrastructure, tourist attraction, restaurant and museum, all built on a stripped piece of land that was farmland and warehouses as recently as 1990.

Tickets and Access

In 2026, the standard Two-Sphere ticket is priced at 199 CNY (around £22 at current rates) and covers the 263-metre main observation deck, the 259-metre glass skywalk, the 90-metre lower sphere, a multimedia show and the Shanghai History Museum in the basement. The Three-Sphere ticket at 220 CNY adds the 351-metre Space Module at the summit.

The tower opens at 08:00 and closes at 22:00, with last admission at 21:30. Evening visits after 19:00 are worth planning specifically for the Lujiazui skyline lighting, when the tower itself, the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai Tower are all illuminated and the view across to the Bund is at its most photogenic.

The glass floor on the 259-metre skywalk is made of ultra-tempered panels rated to support several tonnes. For those who prefer not to walk directly on glass, a solid-floor perimeter track runs around the edge of the same level.

The Shanghai History Museum

The museum occupies the base of the tower and is included in all ticket levels. It traces Shanghai’s development from a coastal fishing settlement into one of Asia’s most important port cities, covering the colonial treaty-port period in considerable detail. The exhibits include reconstructed street scenes from early twentieth-century Shanghai with wax figures, period vehicles and sound design that is more atmospheric than it sounds. It is the most substantive indoor museum experience attached to a major Shanghai landmark and is frequently underestimated by visitors who treat it as a queue holding area before the lifts.

The Revolving Restaurant

The 267-metre revolving restaurant offers a buffet plus sightseeing combo ticket that, when you subtract the cost of the standard sightseeing ticket from the combined price, effectively means the buffet meal and immediate lift access cost around 169 CNY extra. For a restaurant at this height with these views, that represents reasonable value by Shanghai standards, particularly at lunchtime when natural light supplements the city panorama. The restaurant completes a full rotation over approximately 45 minutes.

The Bund and Lujiazui

The Oriental Pearl Tower sits in the Lujiazui financial district on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River. The most photographed view of it is from the opposite bank, on the Bund promenade in the historic Puxi district. The walk along the Bund riverfront is entirely flat and free, and the skyline view across to Pudong is genuinely one of the more dramatic urban panoramas in Asia.

Getting between the Bund and Lujiazui takes around five minutes on Metro Line 2 (change at Nanjing Road East or use the direct connection at East Nanjing Road station). An alternative is the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, a deliberately eccentric cable car under the river with a light show that divides opinion, costing around 55 CNY return.

For a less crowded view of the Lujiazui skyline without the tourist concentration of the Bund, the North Bund Promenade along Yangpu is worth the short extra journey and is significantly quieter, particularly on weekday mornings.

Eating Near the Tower

Restaurant options immediately surrounding the tower skew toward hotel dining rooms and tourist-oriented food courts. Moving slightly west to the Bund itself opens considerably better options.

Mr and Mrs Bund on Zhongshan East Road is a French restaurant by chef Paul Pairet that has been a Bund fixture since 2009. The kitchen serves reinvented French classics late into the night, with last orders available into the early hours, which is unusual for Shanghai.

Sheng Yong Xing at Five on the Bund holds a Michelin star for Peking duck, which it serves in a more restrained, formal setting than the typical duck restaurant experience.

Otto e Mezzo Bombana on the Rock Bund (north of the main Bund strip) holds two Michelin stars and serves Italian food with imported ingredients. It is the most formal option in the area and requires booking well ahead.

For something quieter and away from the river-view premium, the French Concession district in Puxi (about 20 minutes by metro) has the city’s densest concentration of mid-range independent restaurants, wine bars and coffee shops and operates at significantly lower prices than anything adjacent to the Bund.

Where to Stay

The IHG-affiliated and Marriott-branded hotels in Lujiazui put you within easy walking distance of the tower but at a premium rate that reflects location more than any particular quality advantage. Staying in the Jing’an or French Concession areas of Puxi and commuting in on the metro is the practical choice for most visitors; the line is fast and the area hotels are better value and easier for exploring the older city.

Getting There

The tower is a three-minute walk from Lujiazui metro station, served by Lines 2 and 14. From Pudong International Airport, the Maglev train runs to Longyang Road station, where a direct metro connection takes around 35 minutes in total. From Hongqiao Airport, the journey on metro Line 2 takes approximately 50 minutes with no changes. Both airports are well signed in English.

Practical Notes

Shanghai’s peak tourist season runs from April to May and September to October. August is very hot and humid, with temperatures regularly above 35 degrees Celsius and significant air quality variation. The observation deck views are clearest after rain, when particulate matter drops; arrival on a clear post-rain morning is the single most reliable way to guarantee the best visibility across the full skyline to the mountains beyond.

Photography is unrestricted at all observation levels. At the glass floor, a tripod will attract requests to stow it. Handheld shooting in good light is manageable.

The combination of the Two-Sphere ticket with an afternoon session that ends at the history museum is more satisfying than the summit-only rush that many visitors default to. Allow at least two hours.