Whether you’re enamoured by heritage-rich laneways, nature-kissed parks, Michelin-starred restaurants, old-world European façades, or elaborate dynastic relics, Shanghai is a city of striking contrasts that no globetrotter can resist. Here are some exhilarating ways to authentically taste Shanghai while simultaneously gracing your Insta feed with the most epic vantages of its stunning skyline.
The Bund
China’s largest city is known for its playfully cutting-edge and timelessly elegant melange that makes it ripe for photo-worthy opportunities. If you love being steeped in jaw-dropping history, take a portal back to several eras at The Bund, Shanghai’s ‘living museum’ of expressive architectural masterpieces. Here, you can relive the city’s colonial past while strolling along the waterfront promenade, capturing beautiful pictures of the futuristic city skyline across the water. Don’t forget to visit the otherworldly undulating metal structure of the Fosun Foundation and the unearthly Fragment of Pudong Architectural Complex.
Nanjing Road
For more arresting sights of steel-cut skyscrapers, imperially beautiful Shanghainese classics, and Art Décor edifices, head to Shanghai’s official ‘first street’, where you can also explore time-honoured shops for traditional trinkets, splurge at upmarket designer boutiques, feast at sumptuous restaurants, and visit photogenic celebrity haunts. If you’re questing for a sophisticated Shanghai apartment hotel, venture no further than the likes of lyf Hongqiao Shanghai.
The Sky Walk
The opulently Oriental Pearl Tower proffers the ideal escapade for daring photographers with its glass observation deck or ‘Sky Walk’ suspended 259 metres in the air, enabling you to walk over the twinkling, jewel-toned urban fantasy. If spectacular heights don’t daze you, try out the ‘Sightseeing Sky Walk’ at the World Financial Centre that exceeds the Burj Khalifah at 1, 555 feet.
Huangpu River Cruise
For dazzling neon-lit nightscape views of Shanghai, cruise from east to west on its onyx river speckled by kaleidoscopic colours and capture the city’s most brilliant gems as you glide across the windswept Huangpu.
