The sights of Shanghai in a day

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
1
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
4
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
1
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
9
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
52 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
355th/454
Top 80%
continent
Asia
country
China
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$140 (typically $80 - $190)
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

It was such a long time ago that I last visited Shanghai, that I won’t write a full entry for the city.  Only to say that its a must if visiting China.

It won’t be the classical China you were likely expecting – it will be far more than that as this city typifies the modern day China of brash, sophisticated and full of energy.  It’s not an exaggeration to say that Shanghai at times feels like New York City on steroids as it rapidly catches up on just about every metric you can think of . . . and now thinking about it in 2026, has zoomed past it.

Obviously its always better to have more time, but I reckon you could blast the highlights of Shanghai in a day – leaving yourself with some appetite for seeing the rest Shanghai has to offer when you return.  The things I really recommend focusing on are listed below.

 

Shanghai in a day - views across the bund

 

Highlights

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#1 The classical and sensational walk along The Bund to see the skyscrapers looking across the Yangzi River

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#2 The sheer mayhem and commercialism of it all in East Nanjing Road

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3. Having lunch or dinner in the beautifully leafy and uber cool French Concession District

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4. The incredible views from the top of the Shanghai Word Financial Centre

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5. Shanghai Dumplings - amazing!

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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