Zoltar

Alright China Forum. After reading a lot both here and elsewhere I have come up with a 4 day itinerary for Shangai (first time). Our home base is a hotel in Jing An. I appreciate any thoughts/tips/things we're missing or should consider doing. We are trying to keep the trip at a bit of a slow pace since it is also our holiday so we plan to sleep in (hopefully).

Day 1: (mid day arrival) Home Hotel in Jing An

• Dinner at either Yang's Dumplings or Linglongfang or Jia Jia. Any thoughts on these?
• After drinner drink(s) @ Flair

Day 2:

• Jing An Temple
• Shanghai Museum
• Bund - People/boat watch - Looking for a recommendation on which restaurant or bar to do this from.
• French Concession for an evening food tour or bar/restaurant TBD (appreciate any recs) This would probably be our only visit to FC - are we missing out by doing it at night time? Should we switch FC/Bund order?

Day 3:

• Yuan Garden
• Urban history Museum
• Happy Hour @ Barbarossa
• Untour Food Tour

Day 4:

• Shopping - Tian Zi Fang and then Xitiandi
• Dinner - Hotpot or Dadong or Lost Heaven - Any thoughts/Recs?

Thoughts? Opinions? Maybe day 4 we should do Zhujiajiao instead of shopping or head to FC or do a boat/river thing (any recs?)? We are trying to maintain a slow pace (not feel rushed) since it's our vacation. This is also our first visit ever trip to China, and there's very little cultural exposure (we will of course get this from the food tours and people watching, but it will still be pretty mainstream/touristy exposure).

Thank you again to moondog and others in this forum who have helped me get this far in planning the trip. I appreciate any other thoughts or feedback from the Flyertalk hivemind.

Antonio8069

I recommend spending half a day checking out this museum. See NYT article : https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/t...is-ghetto.html
Its really a remarkable story. Tens of thousands of European Jews, exiled from their home countries, found temporary refuge in Shanghai. By 1949, they had all moved on. A great story of people in need of a place to live, a city which welcomed then wile resisting Japanese occupation. Inspiring. I knew nothing about this until I visited Shanghai.

Deltus

If by this you mean the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in People's Park, you can cross that off immediately. Since 1st December 2019, it has closed for refurbishment with no estimated date for re-opening. (I tried to go there last weekend!)

MSPeconomist

I liked the art museum and also the modern/contemporary art museum (relatively unknown) in the nearby park. I'm also fascinated by some of the modern art galleries in the old warehouse district.

Personally, I'd be eager to do something in the immediate neighborhood on the afternoon of arrival. Perhaps Jing An Temple then, or a gentle walk along poet's street to see the bookstores and antique stores and generally see a interesting neighborhood if this is your first trip to China. Or just wander randomly a bit and perhaps step into a minor temple briefly.

There are a couple interesting Art Deco hotel buildings on one side of People's Square. When you go to the Bund, be sure to walk to the left as you face the waster, over the little bridge, to see a couple restored historic hotel buildings over there. (IIRC there's a Hyatt nearby.)

Do you plan to go over to Pudong at all? The museum is history under the tower is interesting. There are some good views of the Bund. [IMO you should be near the Bund some evening when all the boats with lights go around.] If there's time, the Expo grounds can be intereesting.

I found Yuan Garden to be an unpleasant and crowded tourist trap.

Visconti

You have some great stuff lined up!

Some of the things I liked in Shanghai are as follows:

1. The National Museum (don't recall the exact name), but the near the People's Square station. It's a history and has some historical documents and artifacts from Old Shanghai after the time of the Unequal Treaties. I'm fascinated by history and it was quite something to take a walk back in time.

2. The Sun Yuet Suen and Zhou Yen Lai homes turned into museums. Again, it's the historical perspective I find rewarding and to, at least for a time, stand in the homes of people who were so instrumental and played such a big part in the future of their country. I've admired and studied both men for a very long very long time, and was quite a treat to see where they had lived and did their work.

3. Don't know the name, but the where the Communist insurgents gathered, the museum near the French...er...former Concession, near the Andaz Xintiandi. There's usually a long line at this one, so I like to get there a little early, like 10 am?

4. Every trip to Shanghai, I sill walk the Bund meticulously and read the inscriptions of each of those buildings. I know most of their history and its interesting to stand in front of what had been the Sassoon building or the former headquarters of, say, a Jardines Matthison/Hutchison Whompoa trading house or Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. You can almost feel the sheer exhilaration and the boundless opportunities had one lived during that time period.

5. The Long Bar at the Hilton Waldorf on the Bund. They've recreated to reflect the Long Bar with deep brown classic wood and lounge chairs in all of its glory, where the old Taipans would gather for drinks. Of course, have your drink at the far left of the long bar!

Finally, I spend a considerable amount of time during each visit walking around the former French Concession. The area is so unique with its French style roads, architecture and places of former notable residents--a glimpse of one of the first world class cities in Asia of its time. I'm fond of strolling around around the neighborhood of the old Triads, the home of the old gangster Deng, down alleys and crevices, and just explore randomly. I even ran into something called the Propaganda Museum, and found surprisingly that I enjoyed it.

Oh, and aside from the Sun Yuet Suen Museum/home, it's all free! Wow, I'm just not used to something for nothing.

Zoltar

Yes, that is what I am referring to. Thank you so much for this info! Would have been a huge disappointment to go over there and find out it's closed! Unfortunate we will miss this as it came highly recommended. Sometimes when museums go for refurbishment they temporarily relocate to another location. Is that the case here at all? BUMMER.

Any idea when it reopens???


Thanks! This is very helpful. I like the idea of either hitting up Jing An upon arrival or atleast checking out the streets you've outlined. It sounds like it should give us an immediate experience.

Re: Bund - Do we need to cross the little bridge or just walk towards the little bridge to get to the art deco buildings?

Re: Pudong we do plan to visit Pudong but as of right now it's only planned for a drink @ Flair for the first night for the views. Maybe we should add the museum of history before Flair? Might be a lot for our first day though. Could we do the expo around then as well? Do you have a link to it for more info?

Re: Yuan Garden - Everyone says that it's pretty touristy, but also 90% say still go. Your opinion is we should we just skip?


Thanks love all your ideas/feedback. Which would you say are the best spots in FC, and do you recommend taking a food or walking tour of the area or just wondering on our own? Is it best for a daytime or nighttime stroll or both?

Thanks! I definitely want to see this, half a day seems like a lot of a 4 day trip, do you think it's possible to do it in less time or is it one of those museums that really just require a lot of time?

Hoyaheel

When husband came with me on a business trip to Shanghai, we did the touristy things (that's when we did the Untour night markets tour - we love to do food tours and I would rate that probably 1 or 2 of all the tours we've done - can't compare to anything else in Shanghai, though). We had nice weather (Sept trip) and enjoyed some walking tours (self-guided) https://www.frommers.com/destination....5n3OA7HA.dpbs

We stayed at the Hyatt on the Bund for the touristy part of that trip (as my work was with a university so I stayed in a local hotel next to the university - but it was on top of a subway station so husband could still easily explore the days I was working). The HOB is a lovely hotel, not close to a subway (about 10 minute walk) which was fine with us - we either walked, or we'd take a cab in the morning and make our way back via subway eventually. And based on FT recommendations, we had lovely cocktails at the Long Bar!

JPDM

It is called the Shanghai Museum and already on his list. The National Museum is in Beijing.

On a clear day you can also go to the Pudong side and see the city from the top floor of one of the skyscraper. I also like the Shanghai History Museum in the Pearl Tower.

MSPeconomist

Yes, you cross the little bridge.

The history museum in the base of the Pearl Tower keeps long hours (and is not free), so you should be able to combine it with the Flair drinks easily. The museum has a lot of optional video experiences, so you can spend a lot or time or not so much.

With only four days, I'd skip Yuan Gardens as not worth the time. To me, it seems far from other stuff of interest too. For local stuff, look for groups of people practicing what resembles line dancing on the banks of the Bund and around People's Square. Also, from your hotel in Jing An, try to walk down the main shopping street from about the LRM near People's Square toward the river. In the early morning, it's closed to most vehicles and you can see the line dancing exercise routines, yoga and movement groups, and some dance demos. [I recall a couple that were very good at swing and ballroom dancing, complete with appropriate old style costumes.] This is a fun relaxing thing to do your first morning, when you're likely to wake up too early for breakfast and again gives you a sense of local neighborhoods. Look out for an old department store with a huge fish tank in the window if it hasn't been renovated away, or duck in to visit the fish tank at the entrance to the Chinese restaurant in LRM if it wasn't removed during their recent renovation.

I also agree very much with Visconti's suggestions. If you go to the Xintinadi museum, there's a second one devoted to tea there that morphs into a tea shop so it's a bit of a tourist trap but still could be interesting.

I'm confused now about which is the Shanghai museum near People's Sqaure and which is the urban planning one. I remember an underground museum near People's Square and some urban planning museum in Pudong that was hard to find and then closed anyway. It can help to have the names of museums written in Chinese characters as some of them aren't direct translations into English and can cause confusion.

Zoltar

I was referencing the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, 100 Renmin Ave, Ren Min Guang Chang, Huangpu, Shanghai, China. Which I believe is the one that has been recommended by moondog and others in the one day in Shanghai thread. However, according to Deltus it is closed as of December 1st (and looking at google maps does appear to be close to People's Park (I don't know if this is the same as people's square - which we hadn't really planned on visiting - although maybe a quick walk through wouldn't hurt).

Visconti

The area is pretty large and there's probably several ways of going about it.

1. Private tour guide - I suspect many opt for this, since the cost is pretty reasonable. $50 or $100 per day? This is probably the most efficient, relaxing and leisurely way to tour the FC for the first time.

2. As a poster above mentioned, you can download a map with walking tours which will likely take you to many of the highlights in the FC. This will probably be a really good option if you're really good at reading maps and generally have a good sense of direction.

3. What I did - since I had several days, I just sort of roamed around and going wherever my walking lead me to. While I can't imagine anyone else being comfortable with this, I prefer to have no plan when exploring a place for the first time. I just explore, talk to folks when I need to, and just see where it takes me. I eat when I'm hungry or try anything I see interesting. Stop by for a drink if I see cafe that catches my eye. Or, buy something at a boutique. No plan whatsoever, and don't even bother keeping track where I've eaten or places I've been until I roam enough where it's committed to memory. After the first day, wherever I end up (have no idea really), I'll just flag a taxi (still hard for me getting used to the up & down arm wave) and head back to hotel. Rinse & repeat if I feel like it.

I'd suspect you're probably better off with options 1 & 2. If I had anyone with me, I wouldn't have done it my way, since I can't imagine anyone else who would've tolerated my approach.

PS - By the way, for the evening, I like to take a stroll on the Bund. It's very different when the lanterns light up and creates an entirely different experience, in my view.

Deltus

Indeed, according to my guidebook, there are two big museums around the People's Park/People's Square area: the Shanghai Museum on the southern side, and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall on the northern side. I tried to go to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall last Saturday, but there were metal barriers across all the entrances and a big sign saying "Closing Notice", which said it had closed on 1st December for renovations. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the notice, but from memory it didn't specify a re-opening date or any temporary relocation. I'm now back in Beijing, but maybe one of our Shanghai regulars can take a quick look?

(That also appears to be supported by this page (https://www.chinadiscovery.com/shang...on-center.html) saying that it's closed after 1st December 2019.)

Zoltar

BUMMER. But thank you for the heads up!

travelinmanS

Shanghai is a great city and within that city lies the world’s worst tourist trap, Yu Yuan. Do yourself a favor and cross it off your list before even attempting to go.

Internaut

I'd recommend visiting a water town. We really enjoyed Luzhi, but that is quite a way out of Shanghai. Second to last stop on Line 17 is Zhujiajiao. For a quick visit to a place of contrasts, there's Qibao For something a little different, the Propaganda Art Museum is worth a short visit. It's in the French Concession.