Shanghai travel info

Stand on the Bund at dusk and Shanghai makes its whole case in one view. Behind you, a century-old wall of banks and trading houses in granite and bronze. Across the Huangpu, the Oriental Pearl Tower and the twisting glass column of Shanghai Tower start cycling through their light shows, while barges slide past with horns pitched low enough to feel in your ribs.

Walk one block inland and the scale drops away. Plane trees close over the lanes of the former French Concession, laundry hangs from shikumen windows, and somewhere a griddle of shengjian buns spits under its lid. Old men argue in Shanghainese over a chessboard; delivery riders glide by on silent electric scooters.

This is a city that runs on phones. Metro gates, dumpling counters and shared bikes all want a QR scan. Get Alipay working before you fly and you can land at Pudong in the afternoon and be burning your tongue on xiaolongbao by dinner.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA)