Shanghai
modern China, with the Concession era underfoot
Twenty-four million people, two centuries of layered history. The Bund's stone façades, the French Concession's plane-tree streets, Pudong's glass forest. Shanghai is the easy China for first-time visitors and the necessary China for anyone who wants to see what the country chose to become. We run it with the same team as Xi'an, the same all-inclusive price.
Why we run Shanghai
deeply.
Our own team on the ground.
Our Shanghai guides work to the same standard as Xi'an. English-speaking, district-specialist.
French Concession on foot.
We walk it with you, slowly. Tianzifang and Wukang, not just the postcard corners.
No shopping detours.
No silk factory. No pearl market. No tea-ceremony shop with a price card at the end.
The Bund,
the Concession,
the new city.
Three days for Shanghai if you're starting or ending the trip there; two days if it's a transit. These are the three moments we'd lead with.
The Bund & Huangpu
A kilometre of 1920s stone façades along the river — banks, hotels, customs houses from the trading-port era — facing the Pudong skyline that grew out of paddy fields after 1990. Two centuries on opposite banks of the same river.
Dusk on the Bund-side promenade with our city-history specialist who can name the architect of every façade. Then a private river crossing on the small ferry locals use, not the tourist boat.
French Concession
Plane-tree-lined streets, art-deco apartment buildings, courtyard cafés in old longtang lanes. The Concession is Shanghai's slow-walking quarter, equally good for the architecture and the people-watching.
A two-hour walking route through Wukang, Yongkang and Anfu Roads with our Concession-history specialist — a stop at the Wukang Mansion balcony for the light, a coffee in a converted shikumen courtyard.
Yu Garden & the old town
The sixteenth-century Ming-dynasty garden in the heart of the modern city, surrounded by the restored old-town lanes of Nanshi. The garden is small, considered and beautiful; the surrounding bazaar is loud and worth one walk.
First-hour entry to the garden before the bazaar's tour groups fill it. Tea in the Mid-Lake Pavilion when it's still quiet enough to hear the carp.
One day —
two centuries
of city.
Two days does Shanghai as a transit. Three if you start here. This is the shape we'd suggest for the first day.
- Day 01
Yu Garden, Concession, dusk on the Bund.
First-hour entry to Yu Garden before the tour groups arrive — tea at the Mid-Lake Pavilion. Mid-morning walk through Nanshi's old town. Lunch in the French Concession. Afternoon walking route through Wukang and Yongkang. Dusk on the Bund with the city-history specialist; private ferry crossing to Pudong for dinner with a view of the river.
- First-hour entry to Yu Garden at the Mid-Lake Pavilion.
- Walking route through Wukang and Yongkang in afternoon light.
- Dusk on the Bund with the architect names, then the local ferry across.
Best time
March to May · September to November
Days needed
2 to 3 days
Where it sits
Often the entry or exit point of the trip
From · per person
US$2,000
Stretch the trip. Stitch in another.
Xi'an & Shaanxi
Shanghai as the modern bookend. Xi'an as the dynasties that came before — by air, two hours apart.
Read this destinationGuilin & Li River
Shanghai by air to Guilin. Concession-era streets to karst peaks and quiet river.
Read this destinationThe Yangtze
Yichang by air or fast train back to Shanghai — the modern hit after the river.
Read this destination
Your Shanghai, sketched —
by reply tomorrow.
Tell us a month and a budget band. We'll come back with a first-draft Shanghai sketch (district hotel named, Concession walking route plotted, the cities at each end suggested) and an honest all-inclusive price. No deposit, no obligation.