🇨🇳 China · Asia
Shanghai
Colonial Bund on one bank, sci-fi skyline on the other — China's dazzling showpiece.
cityculturefood☀ best: Mar – May & Sep – Nov
The Shanghai guide
Inside the premium guide
A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
CHINA · RESEARCHED 2026
Shanghai
Colonial Bund on one bank, sci-fi skyline on the other — China's dazzling showpiece.
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back. A phone edition comes with it.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Shanghai guide38 pages
Everything it covers
One real entry from the Shanghai guide
The price tables further down give you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — 35 of them in Shanghai, each priced, each one tap from Google Maps.
€3.85–10.25Yunnan South RoadThree hundred metres of licensed old-house shopfronts and the most authentic surviving snack street in the centre — this, not Yuyuan, is where to go hungry.📍 Open in Google Maps →One of 35. The rest are in the guide.
Everything. Two files. One price.
This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. And every purchase comes as two files: the A4 edition for your laptop, tablet and printer, and a phone edition laid out tall and narrow so you never pinch or zoom — the same guide re-flowed into 118 phone-sized pages. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Shanghai and it answers the question you’re standing there with.
38A4 pages — cover to back
118phone pages — same guide, re-flowed
203+researched prices in €
319live, verified links
111jump straight to Google Maps
62hand-picked photos
Add it up: 584+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.
- Made for the phone in your pocket — as well as the A4 magazine you get a phone edition: one attraction per screen, nothing cut, every link still live. No pinching, no sideways scrolling.
- Every venue is one tap from navigation — 111 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
- Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€43 / €87 / €182) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
- Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
- Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
- Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Shanghai guide — €9.95 →Or buy Shanghai on Etsy ↗
Was €14.50 — now €9.95, every city the same.
This page gives you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — every venue named, priced and linked.
SHOESTRING
€43/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€87/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€182/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€608 total
What Shanghai costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
DiDi (滴滴)
Metro
Taxi
Metro ride€0.3–€0.9
Day pass€2.2
Maglev to airport€6.1
Metro to airport€0.9–€1
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€13–€26
Airbnb / apt 1-BR€48–€95
3-star hotel€39–€82
Bund-view boutique€156–€347
Monthly
Studio€608–€1,042
1-BR, decent area€868–€1,476
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Wet market — cheapest produce, meat, everything
Meituan / Hema — app-delivery + smart stores
Walmart / RT-Mart — big Western-style shop
Convenience (FamilyMart) — everywhere, cashless
Milk 1L€1.6
Bread€1.3
Eggs 12€1.6
Cheese 1kg€12
Chicken 1kg€3.9
Rice 1kg€1
Beer 0.5L€0.7
Coffee jar€5.2
🍜 Eating out
Street noodles / baozi€1.3–€2.6
Xiaolongbao (basket)€2.6–€5.2
Local restaurant meal€5.2–€10
Mid restaurant dinner€13–€30
Fine dining tasting€69–€174
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Shanghai Science & Tech Museum€6.9
The Bund + Pudong ferry€0–€0.9
Yu Garden + bazaar€4.3–€5.2
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Shanghai Tower observation€22–€26
Yu Garden classical gardens€4.3–€5.2
Former French Concession bar-hop€13–€35
Acrobatics or Bund night cruise€17–€43
🌤 Climate
Day °CRain
Best: Mar – May & Sep – Nov · Wet: Jun – Sep
Humid summers and chilly damp winters; spring and autumn are the pleasant windows. Typhoons possible Jul–Sep.
✈️ Getting there
China EasternChina SouthernSpring AirlinesAir ChinaBeijing€52–€139
Tokyo€104–€260
Bangkok€113–€278
Two airports: Pudong (PVG, international) and Hongqiao (SHA, mostly domestic). The metro reaches both; the Maglev to PVG hits 300km/h.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: Foreign cards work at Bank of China, ICBC and big-bank ATMs (~¥15–30 fee), but China is almost entirely cashless via mobile pay.
Limits: Usually ¥2,000–3,000 per pull.
Best machines: Bank of ChinaICBCChina Construction Bank
Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card BEFORE you go — you'll pay for nearly everything by QR, and cash is increasingly refused. Keep a little cash as backup and withdraw at major bank branches. Decline conversion.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine, Hepatitis A, Typhoid. Japanese encephalitis for long rural/summer stays.
Health: Bottled/boiled water only. Air quality varies by city and season — check the AQI, sensitive travellers pack a mask. Big-city international hospitals are excellent (and pricey); insure well.
Tap water: ❌ Don't drink the tap. Bottled or boiled water only; hotels provide kettles and locals drink hot water everywhere.
Safety: China is very safe for visitors day-to-day — violent crime against tourists is rare and cities feel secure late at night. The real friction is digital: bring a VPN installed BEFORE arrival (Google, WhatsApp, Instagram are blocked), and set up Alipay/WeChat Pay with a foreign card — cash is nearly dead here. Scams target tourists at tea houses and 'art galleries' near sights.
Emergency: 110 police · 120 ambulance · 119 fire
🛂 Visa & entry
For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Set up your phone before you fly — China runs on QR payments and behind the Great Firewall. Before arriving: install a VPN (Google, WhatsApp, Instagram are blocked), and link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay — you'll pay for metro, noodles and everything else by phone. Do this at home; it's much harder once you land.
@firewall.ready · May '26 · ▲ 142