21 Things to Do in Shanghai (Cultural Spots, Skyline Views + Historic Streets)

Shanghai was the very first city in China I visited in 2018. I visited again this year and it’s just as impressive as I remember.

Shanghai has a unique cosmopolitan energy — French colonial buildings, unique waterfront landmarks, temples tucked inside modern neighborhoods, and streets that have been carefully preserved.

This guide cover the top things to do in Shanghai, including cultural sites, landmarks, waterfront areas, streets, and parks.

If it’s your first time visiting China, make sure to read my ultimate travel guide for first-time visitors.

Book before your Shanghai trip:

📶 China eSIM card — eSIM I used that includes access to apps like Google, Instagram, etc.

🏨 Best hotels in Shanghai: Booking.com | Trip.com (what I use for China)

🎟 Top-rated Shanghai day tours and attractions

🚐 Airport ride — schedule a pickup for stress-free arrival

Cultural Attractions

1. Jing’an Temple

Jing’an Temple is worth putting on your list. The grounds are large and you can walk through the covered corridors and open courtyards that circle the temple.

The temple dates back to the 3rd century, though the current buildings are more recent restorations.

You’ll get great views if you go up the stairs, and will see visitors doing photo shoots in traditional hanfu dress.

Jing’an Temple sits right in the middle of a commercial district and is easy to access. Stand in line and pay the entrance fee via Alipay or Wechat pay.

🎫 Book a guided Jing’an Temple day tour with an English-speaking guide if you’d like in-depth context on the history and architecture.

Cost: ¥50 (~$7 USD) | Nearest metro: Jing’an Temple Station | Amap

2. Yu Garden (Yuyuan)

Yu Garden is a classical Ming Dynasty garden in the Old City area, built in 1559.

Explore the pavilions, rockeries, lotus ponds, and carved corridors.

It gets crowded, especially on weekends and holidays. I’d go early in the morning to have a quieter experience.

Cost: ¥40 (~$5.50 USD) | Nearest metro: Yuyuan Garden Station | Amap

🎫 Book your Yu Garden entrance ticket in advance — worth it on weekends to skip the queue.

🎫 Book a guided Yu Garden + City God Temple tour if you want more historical context.

3. China Art Museum (Former China Pavilion)

This enormous red structure that was China’s pavilion is now one of the largest modern art museums in Asia.

It’s free to enter and the scale is impressive. The collection focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art, with rotating exhibitions on upper floors.

Even if you’re not big on museum days, the building itself is worth seeing up close.

Cost: Free (passport or ID required for entry) | Nearest metro: China Art Museum Station | Amap

4. People’s Square

People’s Square is the civic center of Shanghai — a large public area that includes the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Grand Theatre, and Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center all sit around it.

Before 1949, this entire area was a horse racing course run, then transformed into a public square used for political parades and civic gatherings.

Cost: Free | Nearest metro: People’s Square Station | Amap

5. People’s Park

People’s Park is just north of People’s Square and is easy to combine into the same visit.

The park’s vibe reminded me a bit of New York City’s Central Park. There’s tree and bench-lined paths, gardens, and plenty of tables and spots to sit and relax.

There’s even a small children’s amusement park tucked in between greenery.

Cost: Free | Nearest metro: People’s Square Station | Amap

6. Shanghai Museum

The Shanghai Museum on People’s Square is a general history museum.

It has a large permanent collection of ancient bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, jade, and furniture.

It’s free — I’d budget at least 2 hours here.

Cost: Free (walk-in with valid ID or passport) | Nearest metro: People’s Square Station | Amap

Landmarks & Architecture

7. The Bund Finance Center

The Bund Finance Center (BFC) is worth passing by on the way to The Bund, especially at night. The design is striking, and at first I thought it was a huge musical instrument.

There’s also a mall inside with a rooftop terrace facing The Bund promenade and the Pudong skyline across the water.

Cost: Free to enter | Nearest metro: Lujiazui Station or East Nanjing Road Station | Amap

8. Oriental Pearl Tower & Lujiazui

The Oriental Pearl Tower is the most recognizable part of the Pudong skyline and probably all of Shanghai.

It was completed in 1994 and was one of the tallest buildings in Asia at the time.

The tower is visible from almost everywhere you walk, and the closer you get, the more the size of it sinks in.

The Lujiazui area around it is worth walking through even if you don’t go up the tower.

Tower cost: ¥150–¥229 (~$21–$32 USD) depending on how high you go | Nearest metro: Lujiazui Station | Amap

🎫 Skip the line with a timed entry ticket — worth it on weekends.

9. Shanghai Tower, Jin Mao Tower & World Financial Center

These three towers sit almost side-by-side in Lujiazui, and are viewable from The Bund.

Shanghai Tower (632m / 2,073 ft) is the tallest building in China and the third tallest in the world.

The World Financial Center next to it has the famous rectangular opening at the top that people call the “bottle opener.”

Jin Mao Tower is the oldest of the three and has a more decorative exterior.

You can go up all three of them, but Shanghai Tower’s Skywalk is known to have the better view on floors 118–119.

You can prebook tickets online to skip the lines:

• Shanghai Tower Observation Deck ticket
• Jin Mao Tower 88th Floor Observation Deck ticket
• Shanghai World Financial Center Observation Deck ticket (includes the glass floor skywalk)

Make sure to go up the escalators leading to an elevated outdoor sky bridge to get a 360 view of the buildings, including the Oriental Tower.

Nearest metro: Lujiazui Station | Amap

Waterfronts & Skylines

10. The Bund

The Bund is Shanghai’s most famous area — a riverside promenade lined with early 20th century European-style buildings, facing the Pudong skyline across the Huangpu River.

The promenade is free and walkable — it stretches about 1.6 km (1 mi) from Suzhou Creek to Yan’an Road.

I’ve visited multiple times, and each time is just as impressive. Visiting here should be on your top things to do in Shanghai list.

Early morning is the most peaceful time to visit, with mostly joggers and very few crowds:

Evening is when the skyline lights up and is one of my favorite views in Shanghai. People will come up to you asking if you want professional photos taken.

I visited past 9pm on a weekday and it was still quite packed. Crowds are hard to avoid at The Bund, but walking farther from the central area gives you the same skyline views with a lot less foot traffic.

Activities to do at The Bund:

• Take a Huangpu River cruise to see the skyline from the water
• The Bund riverside walking tour — covers The Bund and Suzhou Creek with a local guide

Cost: Free | Nearest metro: East Nanjing Road Station | Amap

11. Huangpu Riverside Greenway at Night (Lupu Bridge & Nanpu Bridge)

The waterfront views in China never disappoint — I walked here on a whim from my hotel and came across the Huangpu Riverside Greenway, which extends to the Lupu Bridge and Nanpu Bridge area.

At night, both bridges are lit up. I visited around 8pm on a weekday; the riverside path is much quieter than The Bund, and you can even see the same boats passing through.

The greenway is also popular with locals for evening walks and cycling.

🎫 Book a Shanghai night tour that covers the Huangpu River, The Bund, river cruise, and the Pudong waterfront in one evening.

Cost: Free | Best reached by: Taxi or ride-hailing app (DiDi) | Amap

Streets & Shopping

12. Nanjing Road

Nanjing Road is Shanghai’s main commercial street and is one of the most popular things to do in Shanghai.

The pedestrian section runs from People’s Square to The Bund and is lined with department stores, chains stores, and food vendors.

It’s busy and touristy, but worth walking at least once — especially if you’re heading between People’s Square and The Bund anyway.

Stop by during evening time when it really comes alive with lights:

Nearest metro: People’s Square or East Nanjing Road Station | Amap

13. Tianzifang

Tianzifang is a network of narrow alleyways (called longtangs) in the former French Concession, now filled with independent boutiques, cafes, art studios, and small restaurants.

It’s quite compact and you can walk the whole thing in under an hour, but it can get crowded during peak hours.

Tianzifang is different from Shanghai’s main shopping streets — fewer chain stores, more local vendors and independent shops.

Cost: Free | Nearest metro: Dapuqiao Station | Amap

14. Xintiandi

Xintiandi is a restored shikumen neighborhood (traditional Shanghainese stone buildings) that’s been converted into a dining and lifestyle area.

Compared to Tianzifang, it has more international restaurants and branded stores.

There’s also a small museum about the history of the shikumen buildings.

Walk just outside of the area to see the shikumen architecture style up close:

Cost: Free to walk around | Nearest metro: Xintiandi Station | Amap

15. French Concession

The French Concession is one of the most charming neighborhoods to walk through in Shanghai.

There’s tree-lined streets with a mix of old villas and contemporary cafes. There’s no single attraction here — it’s just a neighborhood worth wandering.

Though Wukang Road is the most photographed street, especially around the Wukang Mansion (a wedge-shaped building from 1924).

The second time I visited, I went to some filming locations of my favorite cdramas Shine On Me and Love Between Lines.

🎫 French Concession walking + coffee tour — covers Tianzifang, colonial mansions, and hidden alleys with a local guide.

🎫 Wukang Road city walk — an in-depth English-language guided walk through the historic architecture of the French Concession.

Nearest metro: Changshu Road or Xintiandi Station | Amap

16. Yuyuan Old Street at Night

Yuyuan Old Street was one of the most impressive sites I visited in Shanghai.

I recommend saving it for an evening visit when the buildings are lit up and when the whole area takes on a very different atmosphere.

The architecture is traditional, but the area itself is mostly commercial with eateries, boutiques, and shops throughout.

Even if you visit Yu Garden during the day, it’s worth coming back to the nearby Yuyuan Old Street after dark.

Cost: Free to walk | Nearest metro: Yuyuan Garden Station | Amap

17. Joy City Mall

Joy City in Jing’an is a popular local mall spread across multiple floors with a good mix of local and international brands.

I included this for any anime and cosplay fans. The southern block in particular has multiple floors of anime and themed stores, and it’s common to see people in cosplay throughout the week.

Cost: Free to enter | Nearest metro: Changshu Road Station or Jing’an Temple Station | Amap

18. Foreign Languages Bookstore

The Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore on Fuzhou Road has been around since 1956 and is one of the few remaining bookstores in the city with a solid English-language section.

The first floor was mostly English-language books at affordable prices.

There’s also a good selection of Chinese literature, travel books, children’s books, and even a dedicated floor for anime.

Cost: Free to browse | Nearest metro: East Nanjing Road Station | Amap

19. EKA Tianwu

EKA is a creative park and open-air shopping complex built inside a cluster of restored factory buildings.

I went here specifically to visit filming locations for the cdrama Between The Lines, but ended up wandering the whole area.

It was one of the more charming and laid-back shopping areas I visited in Shanghai, with a good mix of shops and restaurants.

It is farther from central Shanghai, but worth visiting if you’re in the area and if you’re a fan of the cdrama.

➡️ Guide to Finding Cdrama Filming Locations, Merch & Ads in China

Cost: Free to browse | Nearest metro: Jinqiao Road Station, Line 6, Exit 3 (a Didi taxi may be easier) | Amap

Parks

20. Gucun Park

Gucun Park is in the northern Baoshan district, a good 40 minutes from the city center.

I went specifically for cherry blossom season and was able to catch the tail end of the peak.

The park is huge, very green, and quiet — a good half-day trip.

Outside of cherry blossom season, there are picnic areas, a large ferris wheel, street vendors, and lakes to walk around.

Cost: Free most of the year; ¥10–30 (~$1.50–$4 USD) during cherry blossom season | Getting there: Metro Line 7 to Gucun Park Station | Amap

21. Jing’an Sculpture Park

Jing’an Sculpture Park is a smaller, more central green space near the Jing’an Temple area.

It has a rotating and regular outdoor sculpture collection, like these bulls relaxing on the grass:

I went here for a site-seeing break and was able to catch some cherry blossom trees in bloom, though you’ll see other flora too depending on the season.

Cost: Free | Nearest metro: Jing’an Temple Station | Amap

More Things to Do in Shanghai

Here are a few places to visit in Shanghai I didn’t get to and plan to visit on a future trip:

• Longhua Temple (one of the oldest in Shanghai)
• 1000 Trees
• Century Park
• Shanghai Botanical Garden

Book before your Shanghai trip:

📶 China eSIM card — eSIM I used that includes access to apps like Google, Instagram, etc.

🏨 Best hotels in Shanghai: Booking.com | Trip.com (what I use for China)

🎟 Top-rated Shanghai day tours and attractions

🚐 Airport ride — schedule a pickup for stress-free arrival

🎥 Watch my Shanghai vlog:

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