Shanghai, China-6-day-itinerary

Six Days in Shanghai: The Mistakes to Skip, Day by Day

The fastest way to plan Shanghai isn’t a list of sights, it’s knowing what trips people up so you don’t repeat it. Here’s six days built around avoiding the common wastes of time and money.

Mistake to skip on arrival: the Maglev. It’s a novelty, not a shortcut. It only runs from Pudong airport to Longyang Road station, nowhere near downtown, so you still need to transfer to Metro Line 2 or a taxi from there, and with luggage that transfer erases whatever time you saved. Take Metro Line 2 straight in, or a metered taxi (teal Dazhong or turquoise Qiangsheng, Y180-220 with tolls, 45-60 minutes). Check into your hotel and walk the Bund that first afternoon, free, best after dark for the lit skyline.

Day 2, mistake to skip: the Yu Garden bazaar. The garden itself, Y40, is worth it, classical Ming-dynasty pavilions and ponds. The bazaar around it is inflated fake-antique retail built for tour groups, and the “Nanxiang” dumpling stalls near the entrance are mostly unaffiliated copycats charging tourist prices for an ordinary product. Eat at Jia Jia Tang Bao in the afternoon instead, Y20-30, the version locals actually queue for.

Day 3, mistake to skip: paying twice for the same view. Shanghai Tower’s 118th-floor deck, about Y180, beats the older Oriental Pearl Tower on both price and view, so pick one, not both. In the afternoon, walk Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street if you want the shopping-street energy, but treat it as the highest-risk scam zone in the city. If a friendly local invites you to “practice English” and suggests tea, refuse flatly; that ends in a bill running into the thousands of yuan with the exit blocked. A real tea ceremony costs Y50-200.

Day 4, mistake to skip: cramming two day trips into one. Take the bullet train to Suzhou from Hongqiao, 25-30 minutes each way, and give it the whole day. The Humble Administrator’s Garden and the old canal streets are worth lingering over; don’t try to squeeze in a second town on the same trip, the pacing doesn’t work.

Day 5, mistake to skip: rushing the French Concession. This neighborhood rewards slow walking, not a checklist. Spend the morning on Wukang Road and Anfu Road with no fixed plan, then Tianzifang in the afternoon for laneway shops and cafes, quieter midweek than on a weekend. In the evening, walk through Xintiandi for the restored shikumen architecture if you like, but eat somewhere in the French Concession instead; Xintiandi restaurants charge for the setting more than the food.

Day 6, mistake to skip: overpacking the last morning. Leave real time for the trip to Pudong airport, traffic there is unpredictable at any hour. A final breakfast of street food near your hotel is a better use of the morning than trying to squeeze in one more paid attraction.

Money and logistics that apply every day. Metro fares run Y3-8, cheaper than any taxi, system runs to about 11pm. Bind Alipay or WeChat Pay to a foreign card before you fly, the block on foreign cards ended in 2023, though late-2025 verification can take a day or two, so don’t leave it to the last minute. Install your VPN before departure too, since Google, Maps, and WhatsApp are blocked here and app stores are blocked along with them, meaning there’s no fixing it once you’ve landed. Bargain at markets, not at restaurants or chain shops.