Things to Do in Shanghai
River cruises, sky-high decks, acrobatics & day trips

Every photograph of Shanghai's famous double skyline was taken from a boat. From the Bund promenade you see Pudong; from Pudong you see the Bund. Only from the river do you see both simultaneously — and at night, when the HSBC Building and Customs House are lit warm amber on one side and Shanghai Tower and Oriental Pearl are blazing on the other, the effect is as good as it looks in pictures. The cruise runs 45–60 minutes, covers the full Bund riverfront and passes beneath the illuminated Lupu Bridge. Price ranges are ¥120–150 (~฿600–750) depending on the sailing and deck tier.

Built in 1994 when Pudong was still largely farmland, the Oriental Pearl was the tower that announced a new Shanghai was coming. At 468 metres with its stacked pink spheres it looks like nothing else in the skyline — and that was the point. The observation options are genuinely varied: the main deck at 263 metres, a glass-floor skywalk at 259 metres (looking straight down through the floor to the streets below, which unsettles most people appropriately), and the upper sphere at 350 metres with direct sightlines across to the Bund's colonial facades. The base of the tower houses the Shanghai History Museum — an underrated collection that is included in some ticket bundles and covers the city from the Qing dynasty through the colonial era to today.

Six hundred and thirty-two metres. The elevator travels at 20.5 metres per second — one of the fastest in the world — and reaches floor 118 in approximately 55 seconds. Step out and the view is the widest available anywhere in Shanghai: the full Bund riverfront to the west, the entire Pudong cluster directly below you, the Huangpu River snaking south, and on a clear day the outer suburbs fading to haze in every direction. Tickets are around ¥180 (~฿900). Book online in advance — the queue at the desk on busy days can swallow an hour.

Seven motorcycles riding simultaneously inside a four-metre steel globe without colliding is the single image most people carry away from ERA — but the show builds to that over 90 minutes of acts that include aerial silk performers, acrobats stacking chairs ten high and balancing at the top, contortionists and a finale that involves the motorcycles and the globe and a great deal of held breath in the audience. ERA has been running at Shanghai Circus World for years and it is the genuine signature acrobatics spectacular of the city: high production values, a proper theatre, and acts that require real years of training. Seat tiers vary significantly in price and experience; front rows are loud and close.

The speedometer display inside the carriage climbs through 200, then 300, then settles at 430 kilometres per hour — faster than most aircraft on the runway. The Shanghai Maglev is a magnetic levitation train: no wheels, no contact with the track, no vibration at full speed, just a sensation of barely-touching the ground. Thirty kilometres from Longyang Road station to Pudong Airport in seven and a half minutes. Even if you are not flying that day, the ride is worth ¥50 for the experience alone. Take it outbound from the city so you watch the speedometer climb rather than fall. If you are flying in through Pudong, it is also simply the fastest and most entertaining way to reach central Shanghai.

The image that appears on most stock photos labelled "ancient Chinese water town" was probably taken in Zhujiajiao. The town was founded during the Ming dynasty and more than 36 of its original stone bridges still stand. The canal network is narrow enough for a gondola punt — and taking a short ride is the right way to see the overhanging wooden houses and stone embankments at water level rather than from the bridge above. Eat shengjian bao (pan-fried soup dumplings) from one of the old riverside stalls. It is popular on weekends and gets busy by mid-morning; arriving before 9 am makes a real difference. The town is about 40–60 minutes from downtown Shanghai via MRT Line 17 or a day-tour transfer.

Suzhou is where Shanghainese go when they need a weekend that feels like somewhere else. Thirty minutes on the high-speed train and you are in a city whose canal network predates Venice, and whose classical gardens are among the most considered pieces of landscape design in the world. The Humble Administrator's Garden — the largest in Suzhou — is the most visited, but it earns every visitor: its pools, zigzag bridges, open pavilions and carefully framed views across water were designed in the sixteenth century to be looked at from specific angles, and those angles still work exactly as intended. Half a day is enough for one garden; a full day lets you add Tiger Hill, the Master of Nets Garden and Suzhou Museum. Guided day tours from Klook include transport and an English-speaking guide.

Chinese poetry has been written about West Lake for a thousand years, and not because the poets were paid to say nice things. The lake is genuinely, quietly beautiful — inscribed as a UNESCO Cultural Landscape in 2011 for the way it integrates natural scenery, temples, pagodas and causeways into a single composed view that has looked more or less the same for centuries. The Broken Bridge (断桥) at the lake's north end, Leifeng Pagoda on the southern shore, and the boat crossing to the three islands in the centre are the set pieces. Lingyin Temple, about 20 minutes from the lake by taxi, is one of the finest Buddhist complexes in China. A guided day tour from Klook handles the HSR tickets and transfers; alternatively, buying your own train tickets and cycling the lakeside path is an easy independent option.

The Enchanted Storybook Castle here is twice the size of Cinderella Castle at Orlando — the largest Disney castle ever built — and the park that surrounds it was designed specifically for Chinese audiences, not adapted from an existing template. The result is a park that feels genuinely different from any other Disney resort, even if you have been to several: the content, the stage shows, the food, the cultural references in each land all reflect the market it was built for. TRON Lightcycle Power Run is the fastest roller coaster in any Disney park on earth. Plan a minimum of one full day; families with younger children typically need two. Book tickets in advance — the park sells out on Chinese public holidays and school breaks. Full hotel and planning details are in the dedicated guide.