Shanghai New Year

It’s over 20 years since our first visit to Shanghai and we were keen to see how much had changed. We flew to Shanghai via Paris with Air France; on arrival we took the opportunity to take the Maglev fast train to the centre. It took little over six minutes to travel the 30 kilometres (that’s an average speed of over 200 mph) at a cost of 80 RMB return (about £8). Alternatively you could take Metro Line 2 direct to Nanjing Road at a cost of 7 RMB (75p), but it does take much longer.

We stayed at the Renaiassance Yu Garden just outside the centre of Shanghai, making it easy to walk down to the Bund through Yuyuan Gardens.

There are three routes on the hop on / hop off Big Bus tour. The red route takes you around the centre of Shanghai, the blue across to Pudong and the green takes you out to the north of the city.

We reserved our named day tickets before we left the UK and were surprised to find that when we joined the tour the tickets were valid for 48 hours. You also receive admission for a river cruise and entrance to the observation deck of the Jinmao Tower in Pudong. Taking the individual entrance fees into account, the bus tour works out at a few pounds each.

The bus tour gives you a good idea of the layout of the city and a chance to get your bearings, and even though the metro is extensive, the bus does get you closer than the metro to some of the sights. Visiting the observation deck at Jinmao tower is a must, as is the glass bottomed observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower. When coming down from the Pearl Tower, visit the Shanghai Museum in the base of the tower, and you can buy a package ticket to allow access to both.

A short Metro ride on Line 10 takes you to Xintiandi; an area of upmarket shops and restaurants, worth a visit to walk around the surrounding streets and look at the more traditional businesses as opposed to western franchises.

Nanjing Road is a 2 kilometre long street of shops and restaurants, all pedestrianised, lined with several malls and individual shops and eateries. You could spend days wandering and still not see everything. On our first night we ate in a side cafe serving Chinese food, we had a fantastic meal choosing from pictures on a menu with loose (very loose) translations. Dishes like Vegetarian Chicken had us confused, but the food was delicious, freshly cooked, and cheap. Three large portions of main dishes, rice and vegetables and two large beers cost just over £13 for the two of us.

Eating in more established recognisable places will cost the same as it does in the west. We enjoyed Simply Thai restaurant where we ate very good food with drinks for about £35. Drinks tend to be expensive, expect to pay about £5 for a beer and more in a brewery bar. Normal coffee like Starbucks is roughly the same price as the UK. I have never seen such a transformation in a place in a short time. Shanghai is a very modern, fast paced and safe city. If you are considering Las Vegas or Hong Kong for a short break, there is no reason not to add Shanghai to your list.