Day trips from Shanghai
 

Going to Shanghai in May for a Tradeshow. We do have 2-3 days to screw around and see a bit of Shanghai or China. Are there any must sees that are outside the city and are reasonable in cost?

Meaning I don't want to fly to PEK for $400 for the day to see the Great wall, but we can get to Guilin easy and cheaply or something like that, we would be open to that.

Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Morning D train (CRH) in 1st class to either Hanghzou or Suzhou. Pay for a guide/translator, it's worth it. Sightseeing, lunch and dinner, then late afternoon/evening train back to Shanghai.

Don't know if this is your first time in Shanghai. Two ideas (as a non-resident though semi-occasional visitor to the city)

1. Go to Old China Hand Bookstore on Shaoxing Lu (google it). Buy book "Six Shanghai Walks" Do one of them (I did No. 4 the French Concession walk, simply lovely).

2. Biking in Zhujiajiao. Did it with Bodhi Bikes (was with a group). Incredible stuff.

Tong Li is a picturesque World Heritage town about a one hour's drive from Shanghai (you can hire a driver for the day to take you there).

Here's a photo:

http://http://travelersvideo.com/Tong%20Li-small.jpg

Guilin from Shanghai is going to be just as expensive if not more than PEK. You can get some great deals a couple days out for flights to PEK (~75-100 US$ OW)

As for suggestions for day trips out of SHA, I always send my guests to Nanjing and Hangzhou. Using the always efficient D trains these are easily done in a day.
I did the watertowns a couple times but was never that impressed with them, a little too commercialized for my liking.

Yes, Nanjing is a lovely city. Actually my favourite place to visit in China and the food is of remarkable taste an quality too.

Any suggestions as to what to do once you get to Nanjing or Hangzhou? It's easy to get there but for an English speaker what's good to do once there other than eat?