Shanghai is in one word— impressive! Known for it’s modern skyline and status as a global financial center, the city feels both ultra modern and traditional at the same time. It serves as the most influential economic, financial, and cultural center in Eastern China, and has its own unique cuisine and dialect. Shanghai also boasts a large expat population, giving it a multicultural flair combining Western customs and Chinese traditions.

In the city center, the Huangpu River snakes its way through and divides it into two sections—Pudong in the east and Puxi in the west. The Pudong District, a former swampland just 30 years ago, is now a modern marvel of urban planning. While the Puxi District is the Old City of Shanghai and has a more traditional feel.

24 Hours in Shanghai

Dakota, David and I arrived in Shanghai by bullet train around 11:40 a.m. After deboarding the train, our immediate goals were to check into our hotel and find some soup dumplings for lunch.

To get to the Charms Hotel Shanghai, the subway was the easiest and cheapest option. Line 1 (red line) was only a 3-stop ride from the Shanghai Railway Station to the People’s Square stop. We found the subway to be an efficient, safe and convenient means of transportation for traveling around the city.

After a ten minute walk from the People’s Square subway stop, we arrived at the hotel. After checking in, we asked the front desk where we could get soup dumplings nearby. The Shanghai style dumpling is a type of Chinese steamed bun found in the region. They are called soup dumplings because they are filled with hot soup and must be eaten very carefully.

The front desk clerk wrote the name of a restaurant near the hotel on a napkin…in Mandarin! David, Dakota and I walked around for 15 minutes trying to find this place, and eventually I was somehow able to match the characters scribbled on the napkin to Yang’s Dumplings.

Yang’s Dumplings

At Yang’s Dumplings, you order up front at the cashier station and then the food is brought out to you when ready. In the middle of the restaurant is the kitchen, which is open so guests can see the dumplings being made.

I ordered six dumplings (two pork, two shrimp and two spinach) and all were outstanding! I think my favorite was the pork, followed by the shrimp and spinach. You definitely had to be careful when eating them to avoid either burning your mouth on the hot soup inside or embarrassingly squirting your neighbor.

We each also ordered a bowl of soup to go with the dumplings. It was a lot of food, but the prices were so cheap, we couldn’t help but try more than just dumplings. Four dumplings cost between $1.25 and $2.50 depending on the filling. And the soup was probably about $2.

Yang’s is a chain so some people may prefer a smaller, family owned restaurant to get dumplings. However, Yang’s was written up in Fodor’s as having some of the best dumplings in Shanghai. We all enjoyed the food here quite a bit. So much so that we had it for lunch the following day before heading back to Beijing.

Nanjing Road East

Nanjing Road is the main shopping road of Shanghai and overall is one of the world’s busiest shopping streets. This pedestrian-only road is a shoppers paradise with large shopping malls, famous international stores, and local specialty shops where you can find just about anything.

We walked down Nanjing Road for several blocks, but we were mainly there to experience the street and didn’t spend a lot of time shopping. We went into a few food markets, medicine shops, and a knife store, but nobody bought anything.

The morning we left Shanghai, we ran into a group of people doing Tai Chi for their morning exercise.

Shanghai Food Market

Even though we were stuffed from lunch, we ran into a guy walking around with an ice cream cone that we’d never seen before. So David stopped him and asked where he got it. Surprisingly he understood us enough to direct us to the food market a few blocks away where we could purchase these cones.

We found the food market in a little side street off of the Nanjing Road East. There we found multiple vendors serving dumplings, fried foods, noodle dishes and these funky ice cream cones.

All three of us ordered the Oreo with vanilla ice cream in the regular bubble waffle cone. The ice cream itself wasn’t great, but the cone was very unique. The outside of the bubbles are crisp like the outside of a Belgian waffle. And on the inside, the bubbles’ texture is soft and sort of batter-like. To me it had the same consistency as a dutch baby or German pancake that my local breakfast place makes in Chicago.

The French Concession

The French Concession is an area of Shanghai that the French government administered from 1849 until 1946. Known as the “Paris of the East”, the area is very popular as the preferred residential address among expats.

Heading to this area was an impromptu idea and with Internet being hard to use out of WiFi, we didn’t really know where to go. We took the Line 1 (red) subway to the Hengshen Rd. stop and then walked around the immediate neighborhood. We might’ve gone the wrong direction because the area is known for bars and restaurants, but we saw only a few. The area where we were was mostly residential with only a few small eateries and bars. We stopped for coffee and then decided to head back so we’d be by the Bund for sundown.

The Bund and Huangpu River Cruise

The Bund is a mile long waterfront area in central Shanghai and is THE must-see city attraction. It’s situated between Zhongshan East Road and the western bank of the Huangpu River on the Puxi District side. It’s here that the charm of Shanghai is fully presented, as you have a bustling metropolis on one side and century-old history on the other.

Walking along this pedestrian area gives amazing views of the modern skyscrapers across the river in the Pudong District. At night, the buildings on both sides of the river are lit up in beautiful lights. When you see the city lit up for the first time, it’s really awe-inspiring.

When we got back from the French Concession, it was dark already. Walking towards the Bund, we could feel the energy intensifying with every step. A few blocks out, with buildings on either side, the skyline was hidden and then slowly starts coming into view. When we finally saw the full skyline, it was unbelievable! Below is a short panoramic video I took of the skyline on both sides of the river at night.

Most of the buildings light up and some show messages, like “I Love Shanghai”. Some other buildings change colors or show a variety of fun messages.

The Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in the city, had a message running vertically up and curving around the side of the building. You can see it below in yellow.

Huangpu River Cruise

A cool thing to do, especially at night, is to take a river cruise. They have various options, from 30-minute cruises to a 3½-hour cruises. We did the 30-minute cruise and got amazing unobstructed views of the buildings on both sides of the river.

After walking around the city all day long and our late night river cruise, we were finally ready for dinner.

El Willy Restaurant

Shanghai is home to some of the best food in the world. It also has a ton of variety due to its international culture. You can find Italian, French, American, and any number of other ethnic foods, and it’s home to several Michelin star restaurants.

Unfortunately we came to Shanghai with no plan. After getting off the train, we looked into Il Ristorante – Niko Romito, which is a Michelin one star Italian restaurant. We would’ve had a really good meal here, but not everyone in our group was up for it.

After nightfall and before the river cruise, we walked into M on the Bund to check out their menu. This was another highly rated restaurant, but we skipped it due to a combination of high prices and not being that hungry at the time.

So instead of eating and then cruising, we did the river cruise first. Afterwards, it was close to 10 p.m. and we were now starving. Using Google Maps, we found a nearby Spanish tapas restaurant called El Willy.

The food was pretty good but because of the time of night, we didn’t get to experience a peaceful, normal dining experience. The restaurant closed at 10:30 p.m. so we only had a half hour to eat. We quickly ordered a few dishes and the food was very good. Unfortunately by this time, it had been a really long day and I was in a daze during dinner.

Yu Garden

The next morning, we walked from our hotel to see Shanghai’s famous 460 year old botanical garden. Yu Garden is a five acre area located beside the City God Temple in the northeast part of the Old City of Shanghai.

The highlights of the garden are the classical Chinese architecture, exquisite sculptures, rock formations, and the busy Yuyuan Bazaar. As you walk through the gardens, you’ll see decorative halls and pavilions, quaint bridges, koi ponds, pagodas, archways, and impressive rockeries.

A few minutes after entering the garden, a young Chinese woman asked if the three of us would take a picture with her grandmother. This happened a few times during our week in China, including one person who handed her baby to David and took a picture of them together.

Earlier in our trip, one of our tour guides explained that for a Chinese person, seeing an American was sort of like seeing one of their heroes. It was very interesting to know how Chinese people view Americans and that seeing one is akin to seeing a celebrity. My hope is that when they show their families these pictures in the future, they point to me and say, “look it’s me and George Clooney!”

Yuyuan Bazaar

The Yuyuan Bazaar is right next to Yu Garden. It’s made up of a large number of small streets and lanes where you can find restaurants, tea houses, and shops. It is a good place to sample some local snacks and buy souvenirs.

We headed back to the Shanghai Railway Station after leaving Yu Garden. Another funny thing happened while waiting in line to board the train. The Chinese man standing next to me, turned and pointed at me and was saying something that I couldn’t quite understand. After saying it a few times, I figured out that he was pointing and saying “Yu Garden”. I realized he was trying to tell me that he saw me today at Yu Garden. So I laughed and nodded that yes, we just came from there too. It was funny to think that our group was so in the minority, that it was easy for a local to identify us as who he saw earlier in the day.

Bottom Line

I found Shanghai to be a vibrant, energy-filled city. I wish I had more than 24 hours to explore and would definitely like to sample more of the food scene. If I ever find myself back in the region, I’d go back to Shanghai in a heartbeat.

Trip Report Index

1. Planning our Trip to Beijing
2. Flight from Chicago to Beijing
3. Holiday Inn Beijing Haidian
4. The Great Wall at Gubeikou
5. Activities in Beijing
6. Bullet Train between Beijing and Shanghai
7. Charms Hotel Shanghai
8. Activities in Shanghai
9. Flight from Beijing to Chicago