Location: Shanghai
Top Things to do in Shanghai
Top Restaurants in Shanghai
- 1. Epicure on 45
- 2. Scena (The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong)
- 3. Flair Rooftop
- 4. Shanghai Haidilao Hot Pot (Zhangyang Road)
- 5. Jin Xuan Chinese Restaurant (The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong)
- 6. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet
- 7. Efes Restaurant Turkish & Mediterranean Cuisine
- 8. Tock's - A Montreal Deli
- 9. Goodfellas
- 10. The 1515 West, Chophouse & Bar
Things to do in Shanghai, Shanghai Region: The Best Museums
The largest city in China is also its most cosmopolitan, offering visitors a chance to experience the past, present, and future all at once. The Huangpu River splits Shanghai into two districts: Pudong and Puxi. The Pudong skyline looks like it was ripped from the Jetsons, with the bulbous Oriental Pearl TV and Radio Tower looking a bit like a two headed lollipop. On the Puxi side, you can walk the Bund riverside district to get a taste of old Shanghai.
Restaurants in Shanghai
1. Museum of Illusions
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 16 reviews
Welcome to our fascinating world of illusions. Thrilled yet bewildered you will enter a world that will blow your mind but also give you an opportunity to learn all sorts of things... come and visit us! It is sure to be an amazing and unimaginable experience because whatever you see, especially here in the Museum of Illusions, is not what it appears to be. Are you ready for an adventure?
2. Shanghai Museum (Shanghai Bowuguan)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 4,847 reviews
This elegant museum, opened in 1996, features eleven state-of-the-art galleries housing China’s international-standard exhibits of bronzes, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jade and Ming and Qing dynasty furniture.
Reviewed By DeveanCook - Lubbock, United States
The Shanghai Museum is an expansive museum covering many collections of art from ancient Chinese history and it is both informative and impressive. The museum covers 4 floors and has 11 galleries. The galleries are all quite vast and are informative. Information cards are almost all in both English and Chinese, making it very easy for Westerners and non-Chinese speakers to understand the descriptions. A better job of this could've been done in the exhibition on currency, however, as a number of signs were in Chinese only. Just about every aspect of ancient Chinese arts are covered including calligraphy, paintings, pottery and ceramics, and sculpture. There are also exhibits covering bronze, jade, currency, and furniture. In addition to the ancient Chinese exhibits there are also exhibitions in other categories including Silk Road coins, artifacts from Oceania, and others. The sheer size of the collection means that at least 3 hours should be spent here and it is nearly impossible to cover the entire museum in one day. In all, this museum is well worth a visit in Shanghai.
3. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,399 reviews
Reviewed By DavidPerezReyna - Bogota, Colombia
I love looking at maps and models. In this place I indulged myself with various maps and, specially, the 3d map plan of Shanghai. It's a great museum to keep track of how much Shanghai has changed recently as it includes old plans and before-after photos
4. Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 875 reviews
Reviewed By Athamese - San Francisco, United States
As others have written, this place has recently moved. Google Maps had it listed under its old location (in the basement of some apartment complex) but that's not right anymore. The address listed here is correct. No photos allowed in the museum, sadly, but it's well worth a visit. The posters all have translations of the captions into English (some in French, too) and many of them also have a few paragraphs of interpretation and context. My experience is that Chinese people use the word "propaganda" unironically and without any hint of negativity that English-speakers usually do. Looking at these posters, some of which I'd seen in books before, I was amazed at how quotidian some of them are, and how powerful and striking others were as well. I certainly appreciated the view into a part of Chinese history that gets represented through a particular lens in US education. I also appreciated looking at what is openly labeled propaganda, and how that made me think about what we see in the US that is not so openly labeled propaganda (but is obviously and clearly analogous). Take the time to visit this museum. It's got a great little gift shop where I bought far too many postcards, and they have a nice collection of books and even original copies of Mao's little red book in multiple languages. They also have posters of varying sizes for sale.
5. Shanghai Maglev Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 306 reviews
Reviewed By AnnO776 - Lancaster, United Kingdom
Had a ride on the maglev and visited the museum. A good experience. Buy a return and just stay on the train
6. Shanghai Development Exhibition Hall
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 748 reviews
Reviewed By MarkWaters1974 - Cambridge, New Zealand
We came here with my children 11 and 9 a few weeks ago. There were no line ups to get in which was great. The displays were well put together and gave a good insight into Shanghai’s past. Well worth the admission price. Take your time and enjoy. Great scale models and full size displays of Shanghai’s past.
7. Shanghai Auto Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 60 reviews
Reviewed By chrispC2489CX - Shanghai, China
What an amazing few hours I spent at this Museum. It is beautifully designed and the displays are very nicely spaced out and presented. Nearly all the cars are labelled in Chinese and English, with enough information about the display. Don’t forget to get an audio guide, which requires a deposit. They never told me about it, so you need to ask. The numbered displays have a 1 to 2 minute commentary about them. Well worth it. Note that you need 4 digits for the machine, so add enough zero’s in the front, to complete the number. It took me a while to work it out. The staff are most helpful and have a fair bit of English. I also loved all the interactive opportunities on the top floor. You definitely need a 2/3 hours to do the place justice. There is a MacDonalds near the museum and a tiny restaurant inside. The only issue - it’s far from the centre of town. If using the Metro, take line 11 and get off at Anting station. It’s a fair walk from there, or just take a Didi. Note that Anting New Town is very close by and is a German styled area - worth a look if you are there.
8. China Maritime Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 31 reviews
Reviewed By dailebo
I was very surprised at the quality of the museum—world class. High quality exhibits, bilingual English and Chinese descriptions. The subway (line 16) to Dishui Lake is long but convenient. The museum is a 20 minute walk, or a quick taxi ride. I wish there were more rental bikes outside.
9. Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 718 reviews
The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum contains the site of one of only two synagogues in Shanghai, the Ohel Moshe Synagogue, along with two exhibition halls. Volunteers offer informative tours of the museum.
Reviewed By FrostyLeigh - Los Angeles, United States
This was an amazing experience and brings great respect to the Chinese in helping save the lives of 40,000+ lives during world war 2 when many countries, including the US turned Jews facing persecution and death camps away. The Japanese invaded Shanghai and then interned the Jews in Ghettos..Restricted areas while occupying Shanghai.
10. Shanghai Museum of Glass Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 37 reviews
Reviewed By induway - San Francisco, United States
This museum is a very weird place. First of all, its location is in the middle of industrial Shanghai - near Bao Steel and nary a foreigner on the sidewalk, unlike the rest of Shanghai. It's almost at the end of subway line 1; so it's far away. But its beautiful. Industrial grey on the outside, but inside it's a cool, modern, art/science museum - it's what would result if NYC's MoMA had a child with SF's Exploratorium and decided to move to Brooklyn. Definitely that kind of industrial, cool, maker, modern, nerdy style. We shelled out extra for the Broken Glass exhibit - it's super edgy modern art, think Art Basel or Dia:Deacon. If you are not into that super abstract art/philosophy then you might not appreciate the very sparse exhibits. That being said, it makes for great IG pix. There is also a crazy, dark, maze next to the Broken Glass exhibit where you are in search of 8 emboss prints. It's a little dark, and a couple of little kids ran into the mirrored wall. There is weird modern Philip Glass music playing so it's a little eerie, but fun nonetheless. We also shelled out another 288 CNY for a glass fusing DIY - yes, it's expensive, but only in China do thy allow little kids to use blowtorches to make glass sculptures. For I think 388, you can do glass blowing (but you have to return in 24 hours to pick up your piece after it cools). There are also other buildings that have glass blowing performances and there are a few high end restaurants that look beautiful. I highly highly suggest this museum for a 2-3 hours trip (including DIY). Just a beautiful beautiful space and not a whole lot of people. Warning, though, since it is so far out of the mainstream area, it's hard to catch a taxi back. We took the bus, down four stops and took Line 1 back into city central.
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