I recently saw some videos about foreigners visiting Shanghai, and most had the same itinerary.
Perhaps they were following the same travel advice, or maybe they just happened to have the same friend.
Well, if you come to Shanghai, as your friend online, I’d like to share some places I’ve taken my friends to visit.
The first one is the Shanghai Museum.
I’m a little surprised that it’s not featured in those videos, especially for a first-time visitor to China. It’s a place where you can see many cultural relics throughout the history of Chinese civilization.
As a foreigner, you can make a reservation ahead of time on this website: https://shmres-zwc.shanghaimuseum.net/login. The only thing you’ll need here is your email address.
P.S.
1)The Shanghai Museum has two venues that are located far apart from each other, and the relics are totally different in each venue. Please make sure you reserve the right venue you want to go and go to the right one when you’re in Shanghai.
2) Regular exhibitions are free in the museum, but there is a charge for some special exhibitions.
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The second activity I recommend is cycling along the rivers.
There are two famous rivers in Shanghai, Huangpu Jiang and Suzhou He. Many people like to visit the junction of the two rivers, so you can make this spot your destination and choose anywhere near your hotel as the starting point.
Along either of the two rivers, you can see historical, new, and under-construction buildings, both locals and tourists and views typical of the season.
Don’t worry about the bicycle. I’m sure you have WeChat Pay or Alipay on your smartphone when you’re in China. You can use any of them to scan a shared bicycle for a little fee. The newest type of shared bicycles are very comfortable and easy to ride.
If you can’t ride a bicycle, there are cruises along the rivers. You can make a reservation in advance.
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The third thing I want to talk about is food.
There’s a famous snack in Shanghai called fried dumplings. I know many foreigners, including one of my friends, are fond of Yang’s Fried Dumplings. This chain has a lot of locations in Shanghai, and their food is indeed not bad. But if you can’t find one of their restaurants, don’t worry, you can follow the locals at mealtime. In my experience, any fried dumpling restaurants or stands with many locals are good enough to try.
At the same time, Shanghai’s food culture is very diverse. If you have any dietary preferences, all you need to do is ask people — you can ask taxi drivers, people passing by, or people working nearby. Usually, when in an unfamiliar city in China, I can find a nice restaurant after asking around four or so times.
If you’re a vegetarian, I highly recommend restaurants around the Jing’an Temple and the Longhua Temple. They are originally meant for Buddhists but are also open to the public. You can also have vegetarian dishes in most restaurants by asking the owner to make vegetables for you. Maybe this sentence will help you: 我要素油做蔬菜(wǒ yào sù yóu zuò shū cài), which means “I want vegetables cooked with vegetable oil.”
That’s all.
Welcome to Shanghai and have a nice trip.