Shanghai Travel Forum

Hi all,
I need some tips before do my last booking.I'll stay in shanghai for about a week and I want to visit as more as i can..! First,I travel alone, is it SH a safe city or there are place where is better dont go?
Second,In which area I have to book my hotel(safe zone,good area good service).
Is it possible to visit the city using just the metro or which is the better way?There is a visit card to pay all the transports like octopus in HK or something like that?
And which are 'the Must' that I have to see in the city?
Is it a week too much time ore too less..
thanks now for the reply..ciao ciao

I traveled to Shanghai by myself - woman traveling alone, and I was fine.

One observation was that in Shanghai taxi's do use protective plastic enclosures for drivers - did not see those in Beijing. The place looks faster, more exotic than Beijing with potential for trouble if you want to look for it - but I went out on a boat cruise at night (again, alone) and did not have any problems.

If you don't speak Chinese, make sure you get a card with your hotel name and address, and also get cards with the names of the places you want to visit for the taxi's. I mostly took taxis - the center of Shanghai is much smaller than Beijing, only delays caused by traffic. I did not take public transportation - taxi's were cheap enough so I used my cards.

Ah, one tip. When approaching the taxi, sit on the front seat, then once you're seated show them where you're going. If you show them the card first and they don't feel like turning around they'll wave you off. I learned this quick ;=)

Also, take the Maglev train into town - *awesome*, and cheapest. Then you can take a taxi from the station to your hotel. Get the name of the hotel printed in Chinese before leaving.

Have fun!

I stayed in a fancy hotel - because I was a woman traveling alone so can't help with another hotel but look at TripAdvisor - they have good recommendations.

Must- see's ... uhhh, am in a rush and can't remember the exact names:

- There's a tea house (look at the VT pages) - and next to it is some sort of garden that is a must see. Hard to see the tea house when the taxi drops you off, you just need to go in the building. You will recognize it because the sidewalk to the tea house is in zig zag shape to ward off evil spirits. Allow at least three hours for the tea house (I did not go into the tea house, just saw the funny sidewalk) - but the adjoining garden will take up the time. You can add more if you spend longer at the shops. There was a takeout place there that was *awesome*.

- Confucius temple - vey nice ... around 1-2 hours.

- Pearl tower ... but you cannot go in if you're drunk, ragamuffin or psychotic - he he , that's what the sign outside says.

- Take a boat trip along the river at night

Enjoy!

Shanghai is generally safe. Be on the alert for pickpockets and scammers in crowded/touristy areas, that's all.
I would prefer to stay around People's Square, or in the French Concession. Make sure you're within comfortable walking distance to a metro stop, preferably line 1, 2 or 8.
Metro would be a good way to get around, especially if you don't understand Chinese.
Yes, there's a stored-value transport card which would work on the metro, buses, cross-river ferry as well as taxis.
"Must-sees" would vary according to each person's sightseeing interests and preferences. So what are yours?
1 week would be fine.

We spent 4 days in Shanghai with an 8-year old and had no problems. You will find plenty of people trying to scam you(sell you fake watches, pretty women who want a drink, etc.); just ignore them. Also, watch out for pickpockets in crowded areas.

Stay on the Puxi side of the river, not the Pudong side. Pudong has lots of big fancy new buildings, and is fun to visit for a day, but does not have as much character and history as the other side of the river does. We stayed near Renmin Square and enjoyed it.

A week seems like too much time, unless you do some side trips to Suchow, Hangchow, and the river towns. IF you can afford it, take a flight and do a two-day side trip to Xian, which has some GREAT historical sights.

Must-see sights in Shanghai include the Bund, the Oriental Pearl Tower and other Pudong skyscrapers (the JiMao Tower, etc.), the Yuyuan Gardens, Renmin Park, and the Shanghai Museum. Feel free to visit our Shanghai page here on VT for ideas, photos, and info.

Yes - my trip consisted of 2/3 of the first day and one morning thru noon and I had ample time to see the places mentioned - but I did taxi everywhere.

Since you have a week, I strongly suggest you consider taking on your own a day train ride or join a day tour to Suzhou for the famous gardens. Weekday will be less crowded.

Must visit:
Bund at night
Nanjing Pedestrian Road
Yuyuan Garden/Tea House/Shopping/famous Long Bao dumpling.
French COncessionary
Shanghai Museum/People's Square fountain
Shanghai "Art Museum" and Multimedia Gallery" and "City Planning Exbibit" near People's Square, cannot remember exact names.
There are many shopping streets and entertaining zones.
Shanghai Zoo (Hongqiao) if you are desperate to see local wildlife, old world zoo.

Ciao Michele,
it obviously depends on what you are interest with, but one full-week might be even too much to visit Shanghai. I would say three to four full-days is enough.

In getting around the city you will generally feel safer than in average European big cities. No trouble in using public transportations or getting around at night in the main tourist areas. There are certainly areas where you don't wanna go and where you have no reasons for going.

If you look at the map, the city is divided in two main areas: "Puxi", to the Western part of the River and "Pudong" to the Eatern part. You want to book your hotel in Puxi, where the majority of sights, attractions and hangout places are. Key words (city areas) for finding a hotel are: People Square, East Nanjing Road, West Nanjing Road, Jing'an, Luwan, Xintiandi, French Concession, they all work fine. Second criteria, choose the hotel close to a metro station, Line 1 or 2.

Metro and taxi are both safe, reliable and - to many European standards - cheap. You can get to almost any place you want to with the metro (packed during commuting rush hours). A one-way ticket will cost you Euro 35-45 cents, not sure about daily pass. Taxi will cost you ~3 Euro for a 15 minutes ride. By using a combination of the two, you'll be fine. Unless you speak Mandarin you will have no chance to communicate with the taxi driver, therefore have the concierge of your hotel instruct the driver or write the destination for you. Take the hotel card with you with the name in Mandarin to return to the hotel.

Shanghai is not a monumental city and the best of it is in its urban life. I have controversial feelings about Shanghai; it is exciting and fun on one side, on the other side it is the less-Asian of the Asian cities I have visited so far. It seems to me a Milan with steroids.

Buon viaggio!
Giuseppe

The previous posters have the right advice, which is to use cabs. They are cheap by western standards (about $3-5 per ride, except to the airport) and will get you anywhere in the city. Before each cab ride, you need to get someone who is bilingual (Chinese/English) to write down your destination in characters on a piece of paper that you then give to the cab driver. Your hotel can give you business cards with their name and address in characters so that you can always get home at the end of the day. We had no problems getting around Shanghai, despite our 3-word Mandarin vocabulary.

One other thing to remember is that you will have to frequently bargain for things in shops. Start at 20% of the asking price and try to finish up at 30-40% of the asking price.

Feel free to visit our Shanghai pages for info about the places where we went while we were there.

I prefer to take metro if possible. No problems with language, it's cheaper, and doesn't get stuck in traffic jams!

If you have a choice, my advice is NOT to go to Shanghai right now. They are preparing for Expo 2010 exibition and all the city looks like a construction site including Bund. I was there in March and was quite upset about that. I would choose the hotel nearby the underground station. Underground is convenient for traveling around. I would suggest to visit acrobat show in Sahnghai. I booked the ticket at the hotel. I was not so impressed about Suzhou gardens, still it is a nice town. Also I liked a lot the Sofitel hotel there. I would recomend to visit water villages in that area.

There are two must see for me when I was in Shanghai, the night river cruise where you see The Bund, a row of colonial buildings, and then Yu Yuan Garden.

The acrobat show too is not to be missed, ask the concierge for "The Charming Shanghai Show"

For more pictures and info, you can read my article http://www.ehow.com/how_5050876_chic-cruise-around-shanghai.html