There are too many scenic spots and shopping places worth visiting in Shanghai, China. You may feel difficult to choose routes with combination of scenic spots and shopping places with limited time to stay in Shanghai. The heavy traffic in the international city makes your schedule tighter. To improve the efficiency of your trip in Shanghai and make your trip enjoyable, here I list some routes suggested by professional tour guides, most of which can be done in one day if not specified. If you know a better route, have any question, or feel weird or uncomfortable with a route suggested by a tour guide or friend, just let us know.

 

Route 1: House of 1st President of Democratic China - Little White House - Grand Theater - The People's Square - Shanghai Art Gallery - lunch - French Concession - The Bund - Shanghai Xintiandi. 

Route 2: Jade Buddha Temple - The People's Square (passing by the City Hall, Grand Theater) - Shanghai Museum - lunch - Yuyuan Gardens - The Bund - Pudong Lujiazui Zone (passing by the Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower). 

Route 3: Longhua Temple - The People's Square (passing by the City Hall, Grand Theater) - Shanghai Museum - lunch - Yuyuan Gardens - The Bund - the Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower. 

Route 4: Duolun Road - Fuzhou Road -  Nanjing Road - lunch - The Bund - Yuyuan Gardens - The Temple of the City God.  

Route 5: Xujiahui - Huaihai Road -  Nanjing Road - lunch - Pudong Lujiazui Zone (passing by the Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower).   

Route 6: French Concession - Shanghai Xintiandi - The Bund - Shanghai Acrobatic Show. 

Route 7: Yuyuan Gardens for breakfast - The Bund - lunch- The People's Square (passing by the City Hall, Grand Theater) - Shanghai Museum - Fuzhou Road.  

Route 8: The Bund - lunch - The People's Square (passing by the City Hall, Grand Theater) - Shanghai Museum - dinner - Nanjing Road. 

Route 9: Zhujiajiao Water Village.

Route 10: Huaihai Road - The People's Square - The Bund - River Cruise - Shanghai Xintiandi bar & restaurant area. At night.

Route 11: The Bund - Yuyuan Gardens - Shanghai Old Street - Shanghai Xintiandi - French Concession area. Half a day.

 

Here are a few tips for choosing a travel route in Shanghai: 

1. It is better to have dinner than lunch in Shanghai Xintiandi. 

2. You'd better wander along The Bund and the Huangpu River at night except that you want to enter the buildings along The Bund. 

3. If possible, eat in Wujiang Road or Yuyuan Gardens area. Zhongshan East first street and Nanjing Road are also good choices if you are in The Bund area.  

4. You can take buses and subways to almost all of the scenic spots in Shanghai. Sometimes, you can even walk to certain places. Taxi is the last choice.  

 

Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center is a self-aid Tourist Center Specially set up by Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration for the Convenience of Making Tours by Individual Chinese and Foreign Tourist. The Center mainly offers self-aid tours and Supplies different kinds of package tour tickets. The package tickets include the bus tickets forth and back from the center and entrance tickets to tourist scenic spots. It can also arrange accommodation for tourists in some tourist areas. The center provides guides on the buses to introduce the scenic spots to tourists. Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center offers over 108 tour routes, dispatching over 400 buses and a tourist volume of over 5000 persons every day. The bus lines connect Shanghai with the various major tourist attractions in Shanghai suburbs and its neighboring cities. These are bus lines to such well-preserved ancient river towns like Zhouzhuang, Wuzhen, Xitang, Tongli, known for their "stone-paved streets built along the rivers spanned by numerous bridges, lined with old-fashioned dwellings, and deep and quiet alleyways." There, tourists may experience the Jiangnan culture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are also sightseeing bus lines to properous commercial centers where are found commodities and specialties from different places in the country and to gardens with beautiful, natural landscape, where tourists may breathe the fresh air of a modern metropolis.

 

If you need help from private tour guide, please visit personal tour guide in Shanghai.

You can also check these travel agencies in China to find a great travel deal. 

Do not forget these important websites on Shanghai and blogs talking about Shanghai. You may want to check these bars and hotels in Shanghai.