Travel Log: Shanghai, China

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I recently returned from an amazing trip to China. My husband and I spent 17 days (including travel days) several regions of this massive country, visiting Shanghai, Zhangjiejie, Beijing, Xi'an, and Suzhou. I worked in Shanghai for about year back in 2013-2014, and it was incredible to return after eleven years away and see how much the city has changed. While there has been some additional urban development, most of the skyscrapers were already built or almost completed in 2014 and the major changes I noticed were the electric vehicles and the digital "cashless" lifestyle. Shanghai has a ton of traffic, and the switch from electric buses, cars, taxis, and scooters has significantly improved the air quality. Digital payment through apps like Alipay and WeChat are linked to your credit card and accepted at every business/shop/restaurant we went to, making payments super easy with no cash needed and just a quick scan at the point of sale. We revisited some of my favorite sites and checked out new ones as well--please continue reading to see more photos and details of how we spent our time in Shanghai, China.

We chose to stay at the Shanghai Edition Hotel on East Nanjing pedestrian road for its walkability to the Bund, many shops and restaurants, Yu Garden and older areas of the city, and more. We had a couple of mornings to explore and get our steps in, and chose two different walking routes to do so. Our first self walking tour route was to walk along the Bund and over to Yu Garden. Early mornings are lovely in this area, with little traffic or pedestrians. There is a wide walking path along the river that runs from Huangpu Park about a mile and allows a great view of the late 19th and early 20th century European style financial buildings along the Bund. We walked along the Bund path for about 20 minutes before heading away from the river and toward a historic part of the city.

From the southern end of the Bund, around where the St Regis Hotel is located, the walk to Yu Garden is less than ten minutes. To visit the interior of the garden, you can purchase tickets at the ticket window or in advance on WeChat for 40 Chinese yuan (approx $5.65 USD). Exploring the shops and restaurants outside of the garden is free, and this area is a great place to shop for gifts and souvenirs. As with many places in Shanghai, Yu Garden gets very crowded in the afternoons and on the weekends and planning for early or late visits can give you a bit more breathing room.

Our second self walking tour option was to head from East Nanjing Road to XinTianDi via People's Park, which from the Shanghai Edition Hotel is also less than ten minutes. We entered the park at the northeast corner and walked our way south to the Shanghai Museum. The Shanghai Museum has some amazing artifacts and is free to enter! We did not visit this time, but I have visited in the past and highly recommend spending a couple of hours checking out the exhibits that include bronze, calligraphy, jade, paintings, and more if you have the time. 

We exited People's Park near the Shanghai Museum and headed down Huangpi Road for about 20 minutes to the XinTianDi neighborhood. XinTianDi is a beautiful neighborhood of mid-19th century shikumen ("stone gate") buildings with narrow alleys and pedestrian streets that currently holds cafes, shops, and restaurants. The building in which the first congress of the Chinese Communist party was held is also located in this neighborhood. XinTianDi is a great area to spend a few hours exploring, shopping, enjoying a meal and the views.

Something unique we did while in Shanghai was visit the Louis Vuitton exhibition in HKRI Taikoo Hui Mall, where they literally built a ship called "The Louis" holding a two-floor immersive exhibit and store and a third floor with an LV themed cafe. The ship is lit up at night and the ambiance is complete with ocean & bird sounds playing outside on a loop. This installation opened in June of this year and is free to visit, you just need to reserve a timeslot via the Louis Vuitton mini program in WeChat. We arrived in the area a bit early to take photos and grab a coffee at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery across the street, then headed in as soon as our QR codes for entry popped up approximately 15 minutes before our scheduled 7pm-8pm timeslot. The installation was better than I expected, with a mixture of brand history and a variety of examples of pieces created throughout the years with significant nods to Virgil Abloh and Pharrell. Once you work your way through the installation, you walk up the stairs to the Louis Vuitton store before you exit, and the sales team told us that if we purchased a piece of luggage from that particular store we would receive a free luggage tag with an image of "The Louis" on it. We were not in the market for a Louis Vuitton piece of luggage, but if you are you can get a pretty cool and unique souvenir from this particular store. I did not see an end date for "The Louis," and fully recommend a visit if you are in the area, interested in the history, and have the time.

Have you visited Shanghai? If so, please drop me a comment to let me know your favorite moments of your visit. Please stay tuned for more China travel logs, thank you for visiting my blog today, and I hope you have a fabulous week ahead!