Best of Shanghai, China: The Bund, Pudong Skyline, Yu Garden, Zhujiajiao Water Town, Xintiandi, French Concession & Modern China Heritage - A 2026 First-Person Guide
Browse more guides: China travel | Asia destinations Best of Shanghai, China: The Bund, Pudong Skyline, Yu Garden, Zhujiajiao Water Town, Xintiandi, French Concession & Modern China Heritage - A 2026 First-Person Guide I landed at Shanghai Pudong International (PVG, 31.1443 N, 121.8083 E) on a cool, slightly hazy April morning, and within twenty minutes the Maglev train was hurling me toward downtown at 300 kilometres per hour while a calm Mandarin voice announced station after station. By the time I climbed out of People's Square Metro and looked up at the cluster of glass towers across the Huangpu River, I already understood something the guidebooks try and fail to explain. Shanghai is not really one city. It is two centuries of trade, war, revolution, opening up, and reinvention compressed into a single skyline, and you cannot grasp it until you stand on The Bund at dusk and watch the lights flick on one tower at a time. This is my long, honest, first-person field guide...