In Briefs: TSC Travel Guide for Shanghai 2011

With yesterday’s announcement that tickets are finally on sale for all of the FINA World Championship Disciplines in Shanghai (more information here), many of our readers are likely finalizing plans to attend and watch the games. We called upon an expat living in China, Damian Jones, to give us some tips on what to do when you arrive in Shanghai, and how to get around the city.

I now live in Guangzhou but I lived in Shanghai from September 2008 to the beginning of January 2011 and can say it’s a great city to live … and visit. Everything in this country, especially Shanghai, is changing so rapidly that I hope none of my informattion is dated.

In terms of must-sees besides the swimming competition, I can recommend the Yu Garden. A lot of tourists like to go here when they visit Shanghai so that they can buy (touristy) authentic Chinese gifts  (you can get a taxi from the Bund area or Nanpu Bridge area or wherever if you don’t mind paying a few RMB more). Actually, it’s a nice area to walk around with lots of traditional style Chinese buildings.

As for getting into Shanghai: Shanghai has two airports – PuDong (for international flights) and Hongqiao (for internal flights). I suspect that most of your readers will be arriving at PuDong airport. They can get a taxi to the city for around 160 – 170 RMB (more expensive late at night) or they can catch the high speed Maglev train to Longyang Road metro station (which links with the popular/convenient metro line 2). Single tickets are 50 RMB (~$9) per person or 80 RMB (~$13) for a return (I think, valid for a week).

Shanghai is generally a safe city with violent crime, especially towards foreigners, extremely low. It is recognised as being much safer than a European or North American city and is pleasant to walk around in at night. The only advice I can give you is be aware of pick pockets around the Nanjing Road area/People’s square, although I’ve never had any problems. The locals tend to blame the ethnic minorities from out West (whom, they say, use kids to do the dirty deeds).

I recommend overseas swim fans stay in the Lujiazui area (line 2), PuDong Avenue area (line 4), Nanpu Bridge/Xizang Nan Lu (also line 4) or People’s Square (The main metro cross over). The Metro system is easy to use in Shanghai and you should be at the Swimming centre within 20 minutes. Shanghai taxi’s are also abundant and affordable.

I have recommended these areas as the area around the swimming centre isn’t one of the more happening places in Shanghai.

Other areas of interest:

Henshan Lu (line 1) – The main bar area
Tianzifan Centre (restaurant’s, bars, old style shops)
Xintiandi (a place to go if you have money … for food and drinks).

The Bund is ok but i’d say across the river in Lujiazui is better (the river walk is trendier and more relaxing – there are also some nice restaurants and a huge mall in that area).

A big thanks to Damian for sharing his local knowledge with us. Have any tips of your own for visiting Shanghai? Leave them in the comments below, and we can memorialize this as sort of a running “Wiki” for Shanghai travelers this summer. A big thanks to Damian for sharing some important information with us.