China - Experienced Traveller's First Trip to China-Need Advice

Hello-
Mrs. NS and I are headed to Beijing and Shanghai next month. She never travels and I travel a lot for work.
We arrive in BJ late on April 14. We are taking the high speed train to Shanghai the morning of the 19th and flying home the night of the 22nd.

I have lots of starwood points and we are using them to pay for our hotels.
Beijing hotel is the St. Regis and the Shanghai hotel is the Sheraton Hongkou.

Need advice on best way to see the sights. I know to avoid tours-thanks to ArizonaRoadWarrior, Moondog, et. al for their insight.

I want to tour as independently as possible without wandering around aimlessly.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks is advance!!

Nikon Shooter

The St. Regis is a good pick, but I encourage you to link up with my car service guy (whether or not you have his iPhone app) because taxis are very scarce in that area during the afternoon/evening.

As far as Shanghai is concerned, the Sheraton Hongkou has great subway connectivity, but you should consider staying that the LRM instead.

I want to tour as independently as possible without wandering around aimlessly.

I had a great time doing just that on foot (well, semi-aimlessly, armed with a map and some idea of some things to visit - today I'd just rely on a smartphone map) in both Beijing and Shanghai a few years ago. Have fun!

OP, just pick up a map from your hotel and that should be fine. If you're ok with subway that's probably a good way to go as it's often faster and a lot cheaper. Unless you speak Chinese and know your way around, you might get ripped off by a cabbie (more likely Shanghai).

Maps from hotels have English and Chinese, a necessity if you need to point to places on a map for the driver.