Shanghai is known for being one of the most Western cities in China, and it’s very approachable if it’s your first time in the country.

How long to stay?

If it’s your first time in Shanghai, I’d recommend staying here for around 3-4 nights. That should give enough time to see the major sites, sample the local cuisine, and even spend a day at Disneyland if you wanted. You could wander outside of Shanghai, but it depends if you have a visa or not. If you’re taking advantage of visa-free travel, you should be mindful of the city limits as you might not be able to leave the city during your visit.

I should note here that our visit to Shanghai included spending time with a friend who lived here, so the list of things we did was on the lighter side compared to other cities. Perhaps we will return one day to knock off some other sites.

What we did in Shanghai

The Bund (外灘)

One of the more iconic things to see in Shanghai is the river that runs right through it. The Huangpu is the name given to the river separating the city’s skyline, and The Bund is the viewing area along one of the bends in that river. It’s pretty popular to take a walk here at night especially with all the lights turned on. It’s a nice evening walk, and one we did practically each night in Shanghai.

There are companies offering evening cruises on the river. We didn’t opt for it in large part because our hotel for this trip was located right along The Bund.

I should also point out that The Bund tends to also get the reputation for analyzing how bad the smog is in the city. It’s quite unfortunate that heavy pollution still impacts the city (I remember the 1990’s when Los Angeles schools needed to shelter in place due to air pollution). And, yeah, some days the pollution was thicker than others when we were there. I’m familiar with overcast skies and this wasn’t it.

While we didn’t take an evening cruise, we did take the ferry to the other side. The good news is the ferry only costs 2 CNY ($0.28 US) for adults and children are free. So you could easily ride it back and forth and not break the bank.

Yu Garden (豫園)

Another one of the more iconic tourist spots is Yu Garden. It offers a glimpse into how life was like in China many years ago. And within the garden is one of its masterpieces: Exquisite Jade Rock (玉玲珑). Legend says the giant rock was intended for the emperor around 900 years ago but the ship carrying it sank.

The garden is a bit more expansive than you might think given it’s located right in the middle of the city.

One of the things we appreciated the most was the architecture, which was distinctly Chinese and made us feel like we were in another era. It can get crowded at Yu Garden, so don’t be shocked if you need to fight the crowds to get around. And I should also offer a brief warning: be weary of locals looking to practice their English with you and offer you to come have tea. We were approached but declined. It’s a common scam pulled on foreigners, where the bill for tea is significantly higher than it should be.

Shanghai Disneyland

Shanghai Disneyland is actually where we spent most of our time in Shanghai, visiting two days in a row. At the time, this was the second-to-last Disney theme park we needed to notch on our list (Walt Disney Studios in Paris was our last).

We had heard good things about Shanghai Disneyland and was one of the reasons we wanted to come visit the city. Put simply, it didn’t meet expectations. In fact, it was the Disney theme park with the least Disney feel to it. Customer service was completely lacking, as employees seemed to be combative and confrontational when we tried using rider swap. Safety training from employees was lacking, as employees don’t know how to engage in de-escalation and would rather stare and gawk as another guest made aggressive moves towards us.

Oh, and keep in mind that standing in lines isn’t really a thing for some guests. It’s a Western idea to form a line where no one should cut in front of you. We experienced some line-cutting here, but not much to raise concern.

But if you get past the lack of customer service–which ultimately should define the Disney experience more than anything else–what else is here? There are some rides that are unique to Shanghai, like Tron or a revised Pirates of the Caribbean. They’re nice rides but I wouldn’t say it’s worth it to take a trip here to ride them.

Some classic rides found in other Disney parks are also here. You can definitely hit everything in a single day.

If you want to meet all the characters, the tip is to hang outside by the mother’s room. While Jenn spent quite a bit of time inside the mother’s room with Alex, I got plenty of waves from characters as they walked by. It beats having to deal with crowds to see them elsewhere in the park.

Let’s talk about the food. There is both Chinese food and American snacks. We’ve tried both and came away feeling underwhelmed. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the Chinese food looked good, but it was incredibly bland. That was a real disappointment as all of the other Asian Disney parks had remarkably tasty food.

What about the snack game? I’d be forgiving of the meals if they had some awesome small bites. Well, that was perhaps a bigger disappointment. The menu looked great, so of course we had to buy some treats.

But what we received bordered on inedible. We ended up not eating it after taking a bite. The flavor was completely off, a weird sour-ish flavor that most definitely was not sweet-and-sour.

What about American food? That somehow was worse. First, think of your stereotypical American theme park food. Now, think of a cheap imitation of it. We tried to eat it but it’s just lacking all around. Take this pretzel, for example, which is more like overcooked bread shaped in the form of Mickey’s face. It also comes with a packet of mustard flavor dressing. Despite the salt, it was arguably the blandest thing we had this trip, which is saying a lot.

Our desire to come back to Shanghai Disneyland isn’t all that high. If we hear credible reports that things have improved, perhaps we would consider it. But as it stands, we’re not motivated for a return.

Where we ate in Shanghai

Before we address where we ate, I need to point out that quite a few places we dined at have closed since we last visited. That’s a shame because there were some good meals we had. With that, let’s talk about the couple of places that are still open.

Din Tai Fung

OK, we received a lot of teasing for going here from friends and family. But Din Tai Fung is one of our favorite restaurant chains. We’ve visited it all over the world (including Sydney, Australia) and we wanted an easy meal to get us going here in Shanghai. We visited the location in Shanghai World Financial Center.

I didn’t take pictures of the food, because it’s just their standard xiao long bao that tastes oh-so-good. There are many places in Shanghai serving xiao long bao, so you can have your pick of spots. But if you want something more familiar, come here. We won’t tell anyone.

And I’ll just throw this here. Want to play in an arcade near the restaurant and win some cheap knock-off toys? There are arcades nearby that allow you to test your skill.

Dahuchun (大壺春)

This ended up being our best meal of the trip. Want an excellent local breakfast option? Look no further than Dahuchun. It’s so good that it even has received a Michelin Bib Gourmand rating. What you’ll want to eat are the incredibly savory pan-fried dumplings. They’re so good that we haven’t been able to find any that have matched up since.

There is a little bit of a wait to get in, but it’s worth it. Even though it might be considered breakfast food, you can absolutely have it later in the day. They do serve more than just the good stuff, and it’s all delicious, but the dumplings are what make us miss this restaurant.

Where we stayed in Shanghai

Waldorf Astoria on the Bund

For this trip, we stayed at the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund, a Hilton hotel. It’s located in a great spot, right along The Bund and the Huangpu River. The thing that stood out the most to us immediately was its ornate decorations. More than anywhere else we’ve stayed, we felt out of place here. We had just Gold status with Hilton, but they took care of us.

I mean, look at it: a beautiful chandelier inside our room. It felt like we were given a palace to stay in. The agent checking us in made no mention of giving us a room upgrade (I used points). But there’s no way we were given a standard room.

The room had many different chambers, including marble all over the bathroom.

The free breakfast for Hilton Gold and Diamond elite members is excellent. A combination of ordering off the menu and choosing items from the buffet. Everything was fresh and delicious, with local options and Western classics that tasted better than they looked.

And is it the Waldorf Astoria or the Waldor Fastoria? I’ll admit I laughed when I saw this parking lot sign.

What do you like to do in Shanghai?

Suggested reading:

• Other destinations we’ve visited
• Our Ranking of Disney Parks
• The Value of a Hilton Elite Night