Shanghai Travel Forum

Hi all

It's my first time to shanghai. I'm planning a trip for 2nd week of March, how many days would I need in Shanghai?

I hear that you can get really great tailor made suits in Shanghai, can anyone recommend somewhere.

I would like to go to Shanghai to see sights, party at night and eats the wonderful food.

Thanks

For nightlife, go to Xin tian di. Once there choose any bar you fancy. Shanghai is famous for the The Bund, Jing Mao Tower, and Nanjing Road. Regarding tailored suits, no idea. Sorry. But there I swear I saw some along Nanjing road but they should cost a lot.

If you are talking about Shanghai only, I think maxium 3 days is enough. However, from Shanghai you can have day trip to some water towns and Suzhou (which I'll recommend to stay a night), then it will be very flexible.

Shanghai is not a typical China experience as it is a huge, bustling, modern city with not very many historical or cultural attractions. Most people come to Shanghai for shopping, bars, bright lights and huge buildings. Decide for yourself how many days you need for those features. After that, you need about three days for history and culture. I recommend a full day at the Shanghai Museum at People's Square if you like art and historical objects and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in Pudong district. You'll have to tolerate a lot of entertainment exibits in the latter including a fake elevator decent 2 miles down into a fabricated coal mine but dig through thoroughly because the overall experience is quite good. The spider room is my favorite.

The local style of food is sweet and mostly devoid of spice. "Hun dun" (pronounced "hu-en du-en"), a type of dumpling cooked in broth is very polular. Crawfish, a favored dish of mine in Louisiana, is ubiquitous also in Shanghai although I shy away from it here knowing how polluted are the rivers. One distinctive speciality is deep-fried "bad smell tofu" that wafts up from almost any street corner. If you tire of that you can find many non-Shanghai style restaurants such as Sichuan, Hunan, Dongbei, Xinjiang and even Lanzhou-style beef noodles. There's a McDonald's or KFC on every third corner in some areas if you get homesick.

I often hear about the famous Shanghai tailor-made suits (or "bespoke" as the Brits and Canadians are wont to say) but perhaps someone has confused this aspect with Hong Kong where tailor-made suits are all the rage. I have noticed tailor-made suits in 6 other provinces so perhaps it is every place's speciality. I'm sure you'll find them if you make a few inquiries.