Shanghai

Shanghai is the easiest place in China to be a foreigner: English signage, a metro that reaches everything, and enough international food that nobody has to eat adventurously unless they want to. It is also the natural start or finish for most itineraries, which is why it often gets less time than it deserves.

Three or four days is right. Two covers the postcard; the fourth is for a water town, a museum and a proper neighbourhood afternoon.

The skyline, done properly

The Bund is the one sight in Shanghai that lives up to its reputation, but mainly at night, when the Pudong towers light up across the river and the colonial facades behind you are lit. At midday it is a hot, crowded promenade with nothing to look at but haze. Walk it from north to south and then get off it.

Shanghai Tower is the expensive view, and on a clear day it earns the ticket. On a hazy day it does not — look at the skyline from street level first, and if the top of the tower has vanished into the murk, skip it and come back tomorrow. The former French Concession around Wukang Road is the better free alternative: plane trees, 1930s villas, coffee, no queue.

Old city, gardens and the easy day trips

Yu Garden and the Old City are the most commercial square kilometre in Shanghai. The garden itself is small and genuinely lovely; the bazaar wrapped around it sells the same souvenirs at three different prices. Go when it opens, then leave.

The real advantage of Shanghai is what sits within an hour of it. Suzhou is 23 minutes by high-speed rail and Hangzhou 39 to 45 minutes, so base here and day-trip instead of repacking. Hangzhou and West Lake need a full day; Suzhou’s gardens and museum make a gentler one. Zhujiajiao water town is the closer option if you would rather not take a train at all.