Traveling to Shanghai. Tips?
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Anonymous
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I will be traveling to Shanghai with my husband and teenage son for a week. My DH will be busy in a conference most days.
Any tips on favorite things to do, places to eat? And tips on how to navigate without any Chinese language skills?? Are cabs generally safe? Any tourism or safety tips appreciated! |
Anonymous
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I was in Shanghai for about 10 days in 2011--so it's possible my advice is a little outdated. My brother was living there for work and I went to visit him.
Regarding Taxis: I actually preferred to take the metro. The metro is VERY safe and convenient--and cheap! You have to put your bag/purse on a scanner before entering the metro. I also liked it because I preferred to not interact with strangers as much as possible--it was actually easier to do this on the metro. Google "tea ceremony scam" and be wary of it. I was targeted outside the Shanghai museum (luckily I didn't fall for it.) I really enjoyed walking around Century Park (it was a short walk from my brother's apartment) and also going to the observation deck at the World Financial center building--at the time it was the tallest building in Shanghai but I think it has since been surpassed. I remember before my trip, I asked some questions and PenguinSix gave me some great advice...has PenguinSix been around lately? |
Anonymous
Oh...and language--most of my travel has been in Europe, where everyone speaks English. I was kind of surprised how few people in Shanghai spoke English--or at least wouldn't tell me they did 
I still had no problem getting around. |
Anonymous
| Oh, and you know you have to get a Visa to travel to China? I'm sure you already know...but just thought I would mention it. When I was going, another passenger at the airport actually didn't know, and couldn't get on the plane! |
Anonymous
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I doubt you'll have much trouble with language, but ta still probably a good idea to have the name of your hotel in Chinese on you for the cab driver as a precaution.
Also, FYI for your husband, both of my male friends who went to Shanghai on work trips in the last 6 months were solicited several times by prostitutes. Might want to warn DH... |
Anonymous
How awful! Um.. where in Shanghai exactly was this?
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Anonymous
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You have a week in Shanghai, which is plenty of time to also do day trips outside the city.
First thing I'd do is to take an Untour food tour. They get rave reviews on Tripadvisor. It's a food tour of the city that's run by several expats who've sourced out all the best street food and little restaurants. Take the night tour: https://untourfoodtours.com/ and do it early in the trip to discover the little restaurants you'd like to return later in the trip. Note: there may be one or two interesting food at one of the restaurants they'll take you to, like snakes, but you don't need to eat it! The vast majority of food will be perfectly edible and terrific. Book your tickets online in advance and they also sell good guide books they've written and which you can download and which are excellent for getting ideas for where to eat (quite cheap, I think it's $6). I'm sure you have guidebooks and it's worth it to take a self-guided walking tour through the old parts of Shanghai (the old Chinese city). Atmospheric. I really enjoyed Yuyuan Garden. A great museum is Shanghai Musem. For day trips, go to Suzhou (30 minutes on the bullet train) and visit the fantastic gardens. Hangzhou is further afield but is famous for its large lake and is very scenic. There are also a number of "water towns" scattered between Shanghai and Suzhou/Hangzhou which are old historic Chinese towns built along canals and can be atmospheric. It's a bit tricky getting there on your own but is feasible, or you can see if there are organised day trips (ask your hotel). Tongli is one of the bigger towns and it's near Suzhou (note, it's really not practical to try to see the famous gardens of Suzhou and Tongli on the same day). Xiteng is another nice one, small but not as crowded as the others. Zhujiajiao was where Mission Impossible was filmed but can be crowded (hit or miss). Another good restaurant that comes to mind is Shanghai South Beauty, which is in Pudong on the top floor of a mall right by a metro station (the first one as you cross over to Pudong from the Bund side). They have fantastic views of the Bund and the food is quite good. Can check it out yourself on tripadvisor. Do try the custard cups (imports from Hong Kong). These are little tarts, very flaky and filled with a baked custard filling. Lillian's is a local chain/brand and you'll see them around. In planning a trip I find it useful to review the wikitravel page, and compare it to guidebooks, random selection of travel blogs and the sites themselves on tripadvisor. You'll soon get a feel of what's appealing and what probably isn't. Opinions vary, of course, but I've developed an intuition of which tripadvisor reviews to trust and not. |
Anonymous
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I love Shanghai. Make sure you go to the French Concession. I always stay in that area and go out there. It is so charming.
I often get clothes made at the South Bund Fabric market (think thats the name). I usually get a bunch of tops copied and usually a winter coat done. But you will need to allow most of your week to get this done and to factor in 1-2 fittings. Its perfectly safe there, I walk around, catch taxis and the subway. Something awesome to do there is to catch the bullet train from the airport, it gets up to speeds of 400km per hour. |
Anonymous
| Thank you for all this great info! Very helpful! We do have our Visas. |
Anonymous
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Rely on cash, and not credit. MANY places ONLY take cash.
I love china/Shanghai....enjoy! |
Anonymous
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Most places outside the big hotels and fancier shops and restaurants only take cash but there's plenty of bank machines around. If you have Visa cards you'll be fine. But warn your bank in advance and have backup ATM cards too just in case the machine swallows your card. It rarely happens but it has happened.
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Anonymous
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Use your hotel as a resource. They can book train tickets for you. I made a last minute decision to travel inland with a local friend and buying high speed train tickets would have been tricky with American passports but the concierge took care of it and the tickets were delivered to the hotel. Ask them for tips and help booking day trips to nearby "water towns."
My favorite restaurant during my recent trip was Shanghai Tang in the Xintiandi area. Loved the décor and the food was so good. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g308272-d10251864-Reviews-Shanghai_Tang-Shanghai.html I echo pp about the ease of taking the metro. Best way to get across town. I've been to Shanghai several times over the years and always felt safe. You do have to use common sense for a big city, but overall I never felt unsafe. On my recent trip though, I noticed that electric mopeds were everywhere, even on sidewalks. They're quiet so you don't hear them approaching, and they can be a nuisance. I was standing on a street corner once waiting to cross and a moped zip past and bumped my hip with its boxy cargo on back. So always be alert, and avoid standing on street corner ramps where they exit. |
Anonymous
it's more common in cheap hotels. |
Anonymous
| you need to prepare your teenage son beforehand that there is no access to google, facebook, youtube, instagram, ... in China. It's hard on some teenagers. |
Anonymous
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13:53 back again.
Also, please be careful as a pedestrian in the streets. Drivers don't always follow the "pedestrians have the right of way" rule that we tend to follow in the Western World. Even if you have the right of way, don't assume drivers (of cars/motorcycles, etc.) will honor it. My brother took me on a side trip to Beijing while I was there, and we took a guided tour. One thing the tour guide said that I will always remember--"In the Western World, you value life above everything else. But here, we have so many people, and the traffic is so bad..." |