One day in Shanghai: itinerary and highlights

Shanghai compares two banks of the same river: on one side the colonial buildings of the Bund, on the other the futuristic skyscrapers of Pudong, grown in just decades where fields once stood.

The Huangpu River, which divides these two architectural eras, remains the most natural point of reference to orient yourself in a single day.

The Bund is reached comfortably in the morning: the riverside flanked by over fifty buildings in styles from neoclassical to Art Déco, built when Shanghai was one of China's principal international concessions, offers views of the opposite shore skyscrapers on its own.

From here, crossing the river with the tourist tunnel or one of the ferries, you reach Pudong, where the Oriental Pearl Tower, recognizable by its pink spheres, and Shanghai Tower, China's tallest skyscraper with its observatory among the world's highest, stand.

Returning to the western shore, the Yuyuan Garden, a fifth-century classical Chinese garden with pavilions, ponds and ornamental rocks, is found next to the homonymous bazaar, a maze of alleyways dedicated to shopping and street food.

For lunch, the Yuyuan Garden bazaar offers xiaolongbao, soup-filled steam dumplings typical of Shanghai cuisine.

The Nanjing Road is the city's longest and most crowded shopping street, illuminated by neon signs connecting the Bund to People's Square.

The French Concession, with its tree-lined avenues and European-style villas, offers instead a different pace: today it houses independent boutiques and cafés in old colonial residences.

As evening falls, returning to the Bund, Pudong's skyline lights up: an evening river cruise remains a direct way to see both shores lit before dinner.

The Bund, Pudong, and the Yuyuan Garden manage to return the contrast between colonial Shanghai and futuristic Shanghai, while the afternoon choice between Nanjing Road and the French Concession adds the commercial or more intimate side.

The artistic M50 neighborhood, carved out in a former textile factory, and a trip to the nearby Zhujiajiao canal remain chapters for a second trip. Seeing Pudong's skyscrapers illuminated, viewed from a boat on the Huangpu River, is perhaps the sharpest memory of Shanghai.