City guide: Shanghai

Published on Friday 2 May 2008 13:34

China's most thrilling city mixes ancient gardens and timeless tea ceremonies with skyscrapers and futuristic bars

CHINA is permanently in the news at the moment, and the bad seems to outweigh the good – pollution, trade practices, human rights, animal cruelty. But on the ground you can see towns, cities and people's lives changing before your eyes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Shanghai, always the most cosmopolitan and open of this vast country's cities, and today booming as never before.

BEFORE YOU GO

You must have a tourist visa to get into China. It can take up to a month to be issued, so apply as early as you can. Speak to your travel agent and see if they can arrange it for you. Otherwise, the form and documents must be handed in to the embassy in person (www.chinese-embassy. org.uk). There is a visa-issuing office in Edinburgh, at 55 Corstorphine Road (0131 337 3220).

WHEN TO GO

Winters are cold, while June, July and August are best avoided since the high temperatures and humidity levels make walking around uncomfortable. Spring and autumn are the best seasons to visit.

PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES

Viking River Cruises (www.viking rivercruises.co.uk) runs a China's Cultural Delights tour, which comprises BA flights, a Yangtze cruise and accommodation at five-star hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and Xian, from around 2,545. If going it alone, Air France (0870 142 4343, www.airfrance.com) has return flights this month from Edinburgh to Shanghai (via Paris) from 428 return, including taxes.

GETTING AROUND

Shanghai is vast, but a lot of the sights are within walking distance, particularly if you're staying in the city centre. Taxis are cheap, but make sure your hotel gives you a list of all the tourist destinations, plus your hotel name and address, in both English and Mandarin, to show the drivers.

TOURIST TRAIL

Start off at the Bund, the long promenade by the Huangpu river, lined with elegant Art Deco buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. These housed banks and trading companies when Shanghai was known as the Paris of the Orient. They are still impressive, but are now dwarfed by the skyscrapers that dominate the city.

Cool down in the Yuyuan Garden of Leisurely Repose, a beautiful garden dating from the Ming dynasty with pavilions, courtyards, fish ponds and zigzag bridges. It's a lovely, serene setting, but can get very busy.

For a walk through the dynasties and the cultural evolution from Ming, Qing, through to the Chinese Republic, go to Shanghai Old Street and observe the traditional trades, crafts and teahouses. There's a more tidied up version of old Shanghai, rebuilt and with very spruce courtyards of shops, right next door to First National Congress of the Communist Party, at Xintiandi, while for a bird's eye view, try the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the third highest in the world. It is on the Pudong side of the river, now the commercial centre of Shanghai, which 15 years ago was marsh and farmland.

You can't beat the Shanghai Acrobat Show for sheer enjoyment – they taught the Cirque du Soleil all they know.

GO NATIVE

Going native in Shanghai means shopping and eating. Find traditional Chinese medicines, silks, jade, calligraphy, teas and fake designer goods on every street corner. Try eating Shanghai's signature dish, steamed soup buns or dumplings – minced pork (sometimes mixed with crabmeat) in the thinnest wrappers served in their soup – but choose your street stall carefully.

WHAT TO BUY

The best buy has to be silk. Ties, shirts, jackets and trousers for men, and everything and anything for women. But only buy silk in a reputable outlet; the 'silk' items you buy in the streets are more likely to be clever and synthetic fakes.

WHERE TO EAT

If Art Deco is your thing, you will love the Whampoa Club at 3 On The Bund. A restored building with fantastic interiors, it now houses smart restaurants and bars, with top chefs in the kitchens. The express lunches here can be a real bargain, with new Shanghai cooking for approximately 8 a head, and a view across the river to Pudong thrown in for free. For dinner, get the ultimate view from Pudong at Jade on 36. French chef Paul Pairet's menus are not French nor Chinese, but wholly original and world class.

NIGHTLIFE

New bars are opening all the time, but the Face Bar in the French Concession is well established and always fashionable. The New Heights Bar at 3 On The Bund also has quite a buzz.

WHERE TO STAY

The luxurious Shangri-La (www.shangri-la.com) in Pudong has great views of the Bund across the river. You won't want to close your curtains on the passing show of old rice barges and modern commercial traffic. Doubles start at 200 a night (including tax). A double room at the smart Sofitel Hyland hotel (www.accorhotels.com), well located right in the heart of the action on Nanjing Road, costs from 90 per night.

CAN YOU DRINK THE WATER?

No. All hotels offer bottled water and you would be unwise to drink, or clean your teeth, with anything else.