One week in Shanghai. Advice?
 

So I'll be in Shanghai for about a week later this month. I would prefer to do sightseeing in the day time and shopping at night. What are the must see sights? Any malls worth visiting? Good places to get cheap food? Does Shanghai's subway system have an Oyster card like system? Any discounts for transit? Any other passes I should consider buying? Which prepaid carrier for roaming? Are there any simcards that allows me to top up online and keep the card active and maybe roam around the world? Where is the best place to exchange my USD, Euros, GBP to RMB?

Thanks.

It sounds like you need to buy a travel book for Shanghai.

1. Where are you staying?
2. Subway cards cost y20 (refundable )
3. ATMs are the best places to get money
4. An LP Shanghai book might be useful for you

I'll piggyback on this thread. I will be in Shanghai from the 30th of October to the 3rd of November staying in Huangpu. Sights to not miss and such I have covered. Though suggestions are still welcome. I'm more looking for good, relaxed feel and English speaking (or at least places known for being good at pointing on a menu and understanding) places to eat or have a drink while exploring. This is my first taste of Shanghai as a tourist, mid30s guy whom is adventurous enough but like to enjoy the food and relax with a cold beer.

I'm thinking that the yanping Rd wuding Rd area might be to your liking.

5. For sim cards, I think Unicom is a safer bet than Mobile, and data is insanely cheap
6. Register for Wechat and Alipay with your China phone number
7. If you are going to be in China often, open a bank account at CMB or ICBC

Eta: 5 and 7 are definitely annoying, but if you can endure the bureaucracy, things will be great for you

I haven't booked a hotel in Shanghai yet. I will try to get this done by the weekend.
If I have USD on hand, where should I go to exchange the money? Are banks still the best such as Bank of China?

Thank you.

Thanks for the advice. I haven't been back to the Mainland in a long time, but is it still difficult to open a bank account in China? I spent some time studying Mandarin in China when I was in university. I did had a bank account at CCB, but I'm sure it's closed now as I just drained my funds. At the time, I think the monthly fee was 20RMB. Are there any free accounts in China?

Is it possible to buy a prepaid Unicom simcard and keep topping it up to keep the account and phone number active? Are there any fees? How cheap is data? Someone suggested I roam with a Singapore simcard. I wouldn't mind setting up WeChat and Alipay for future trips. I want to explore more of China in the coming years.

Thank you.

I use ICBC, and don't think they charge a monthly fee. The reason I suggest CMB and ICBC is because both work well with Alipay and Wechat.

I'd highly recommend checking out some of UnTours' Shanghai food tours:

I'd throw in the Jewish Refugee Museum and the Propaganda Art museum as cheap (RMB 20-25/ticket) and very interesting/intellectually stimulating attractions. Shopping is on par with any global tier 1. It's difficult to say where to go without further input. These more generic queries (like a lot of your posting history, tbh) can be answered by a visit to wikitravel or perusing tripadvisor's attraction lists.

Hi Yoshi,
If you love good food then make a reservation at Goodfellas in Shanghai. It's been my favorite restaurant there for the last 5 years and I visit it every year that I'm there, usually multiple times! Their food and service is great!

Thanks. Booked two food-cultural centric tours that have great reviews from people that similarly wouldn't usually do tours.

Thanks, it's luckily just a few blocks from my hotel too.

We did the night markets tour with UnTour and loved it! (dumplings was sold out during our trip - but I recommended to a co-worker and she did it on another trip and had a blast!)