Qibao Ancient Town
七宝古镇
A canal town you reach by metro, with snack alleys over stone bridges
- Hours
- The town is always open; shops roughly 09:00–21:00
- Tickets
- Free to enter; a few small museums charge
- Address
- Qibao Old Street, Qibao Town, Minhang (main entrance off Caobao Road)
Line 9 gets you from downtown to this thousand-year-old canal town in about half an hour. Stand on a stone bridge over the Puhuitang canal and black-tiled timber houses reflect in the water, with tangyuan, roast duck, skewers and stinky tofu stalls packed along both banks. It's a shopping street at heart, so don't expect a sleepy village, but nowhere this close gives you canal-town scenery and street food in one short trip. Small extras are tucked between the alleys: Qibao Temple, an old cotton-weaving workshop and a cricket-fighting house.