Budget · 3-hour walk · Shanghai
The Bund to Yu Garden in three hours
The colonial waterfront, the shopping street behind it, and the Ming dynasty garden in the old city.
Shanghai's waterfront is a row of 1920s banking houses facing a skyline that did not exist in 1990, and the contrast across the river is the whole point of standing there. Walk the Bund at dusk when both sides are lit. The old city behind it is the only pre-colonial part left.
The route, stop by stop
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The Bund
Fifty-two buildings in a dozen European styles, facing Pudong's towers across the Huangpu. Lit until 22:00.
35 min here Walk here → -
Nanjing Road
China's busiest shopping street, pedestrianised for over a kilometre west from the Bund.
30 min here Walk here → -
People's Square
Built on the old colonial racecourse. The Shanghai Museum on the south side is free and excellent.
20 min here Walk here → -
Yu Garden
A 16th-century scholar's garden of rockeries and pavilions, surrounded by a rebuilt bazaar that is far less interesting.
45 min here Walk here →
More in Shanghai
Every walking route in Shanghai, or the full Shanghai guide for where to stay and what a day costs.