4D3N in Shanghai - what’s there? Is it BORING? 👁️👁️

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So to be honest, there is really not much to do in Shanghai. Every time a local asks me how long I’ll stay in Shanghai for, they'll always ask me like oh so long? What are you doing there? There's not much to do there

(P.s. my answer is ALWAYS 3 days lol 😭 for both my trips to Shanghai)

So yeah... clearly there is really not much to do there 😭 with that in mind, here's my recommended itinerary:

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Day 1 – 

I usually dont arrive too early in Shanghai cos I'm always coming back from another city. So it's always late afternoon or evening by the time I arrive. I'd just go have a nice meal - I'm more familliar with the IFC shopping mall 国金中心 so I tend to head there as there's a few food options that I'm pretty okay with. Food recommendation guide coming soon 🍜

At night, head over to 北外滩滨江绿地 to see the gorgeous night view! The lights turn on at 7pm and you’ll get a beautiful night view of the cityscape from across the river! Do take note that the lights turn off at around 10 or 11pm, depending on the season.

It’s much less crowded here, than to take pictures of the cityscape at 外滩 itself. But if you’re into the western style colonial buildings, then you’ll have to head to 外滩 as you won’t be able to see them from 北外滩. Take note that it’s A LOT more crowded there especially because of the western buildings though! There are several bars that can get you a good view of the buildings - check out 京衹KYOKY or Casanova (外滩6号). We weren’t interested in buildings at all so we headed straight to 北外滩滨江绿地. There were several events going on when we were there, like this ginormous Kaws display in p1, and JJ Lin also had a limited pop up stall for his Miracle Coffee. The queues were SO long and we were just walking past like "lmaooo losers! guess who has a Miracle Coffee back home". There is also a cafe there called Manner Coffee, so you can get a drink and admire the scenery.

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Day 2 –

It’sssss Disney Day! I truly love Disneyland so if there's a Disney, I'm going. Irregardless of matter how many times I've been in a year! In my 2 trips there, I've stayed from 8.30am to 8+pm ish so you’ll really end up spending a full day especially if you don’t intend to purchase any fast pass tickets! You'll generally be dead tired by the time you arrive at your hotel, so unless you're feeling super ambitious you probably won't want to head anywhere else. Consider trying out some meituan food delivery? 😉

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Day 3 – 

The last full day in Shanghai! Which means it's time for shopping, food and any other type of experiences/sightseeing. For shopping, it depends on the type of shopping you like, so I'll be breaking this down into sections.

a. luxury shopping

The luxury shopping malls in China tend to be EMPPPPTYYYYYY! It's very strange and totally not what I expected. I actually thought that the malls and stores will be so crowded that the stores won't have anything to sell. I guess it's just a stereotype since I tend to see LOADS of China Chinese at the luxury stores in SG, Japan, Korea, Europe etc... Maybe the locals tend to do most of their shopping overseas...? I'm not too sure. I'll recommend staying away from Hermes in particular, as I've read posts regarding Hermes staff offering REPLICA (!!!) BKC bags to their customers. My guess is that they have a severe lack of bags to supply that customers get unhappy, and they dont get commission or smth like that. But yeah I'd recommend not bothering to look for BKC in China, justttt in case!

If you're looking for luxury shopping, check out these malls: IFC Shopping Mall 国金中心, Lane Crawford 连卡佛, 恒隆广场，环贸 iAPM, 前滩太古里.

They definitely have a wider selection than what we have in Singapore, even the luxury brands! They tend to carry slightly different things.

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b. young adults/trendy shopping

this one is a little more complicated, there is no one set mall for us. I've been to 淮海路 which is where they claim to have alllll the trendy clothing stores in one place, and it's true! But for some reason I just walked away with nothing. It's a bit tooooo Y2K for my style, so if that's your kind of fashion then definitely check out TX 淮海 mall.

For me, I personally just grab a Didi taxi to individual shops, cos I can't find a place that collectively has all the stores I like. Didi is SO affordable that I find it makes no sense to NOT take Didi. So I'll list out the shops that I like instead of a particular mall instead.

- Urban Revivo – 吴江路四季坊点 Wujiang Road outlet is their biggest store with 2 stories. They also have a section for male clothing!

- 13De Marzo – super adorable brand that has been worn by Chinese and Korean celebs. They also have an adorable cafe where lots of people like to buy their drinks to take pictures of 🤭

- Peace bird 太平鸟 – Chinese brand with rather nice clothes for both females and males. My brother actually spent a BOMB in this store and he's not even a big shopper in general 😭

- Snidel – it’s actually a Japanese brand but they have several stores in China.

- Bolon – a Chinese spectacles/sunglasses brand endorsed by several Chinese celebs. They do prescription sunglasses which is AMAZING! I heard its slightly more affordable than Owndays too.

- Wow Colour/The Colorist 调色师 – stores with a huge range of trendy Chinese make up brands which don't usually have physical stores! So it’s the best chance to test out their products there. They also have certain Korean and Japanese brands. It’s make up heaven there!

- Maogeping 毛戈平 – a famous Chinese celebrity MUA's make up brand

- Miniso Pink 华狮广场店 – no intro needed for Miniso I believe

- Popmart/TOP TOY – no intro needed I'm guessing? Both stores sell adorable blind boxes.

- uBras – for my fellow females, I'm not sure if you've tried shopping for lingerie on Taobao before but they always look so comfy?? I've checked out a few Chinese brands such as Neiwai 内外 and Youkeshu 有颗树 before but they don't have as many styles as ubras imo. If you're in the market for some lingerie, I recommend uBras!

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OR… if you’re not into shopping, why not try out a themed photoshoot? There’s so many photo studios in China. If you’re travelling with family, I highly recommend you bring your family to do a traditional qipao photoshoot, especially if you’ve yet to have done a family portrait shoot before. There are many studios in China - private ones (where you’re the only ones in the whole studio), and public commercialised/chain studios such as 海马体照相馆. Depending on the studio type and theme chosen, the price ranges A LOT. It can go up to several hundreds SGD for a private studio, but I think that’s probably still more affordable than what we have in Singapore where the options are so limited. And it’s so fun and wonderful for the memories, and the pictures are amazing. Check out my previous post regarding my qipao photoshoot with my mom! We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. I’d love to have had my entire family do the whole shoot, just for the memories!

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At night, I’d recommend heading over to Yu Garden 豫园's 城隍庙 for a nice stroll! It's beautiful at night, when it's all lit up. Despite having the word “temple” in its name, it’s not literally a temple! It’s commercialised now so it hosts modern shops within the beautiful historical buildings! There’s also many food stalls outside, like a night market. So it’s a really nice stroll at night! I unfortunately reached a bit too late, just right as they were closing 😭 so… yeah don’t go near 10pm 🥲

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Day 4 –

Unless there's any last min shopping, I'm not usually too ambitious in planning since I usually head to the airport at 1+pm. So I just spend the morning in a mall like IFC and head off after having lunch!

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Honestly, I definitely don’t think it’s boring for your first trip to China. However, it IS a modernised city. If you’re already living in a city, then you may find it boring, unless you’re into shopping. However, Shanghai is an awesome gateway to loads of other beautiful cities, like Suzhou and Hangzhou. And honestly, can a SINGAPOREAN complain that anywhere in the world is boring? I don’t think so 😭

Up next, food recommendations in Shanghai 👀

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