Yu Garden

豫园

Ming garden folding ponds, rockeries and a dragon wall into one plot

⚠ Closed Mondays

Hours

Tue–Sun from 8:30am; closes 5pm in spring/autumn and 4:30pm in summer/winter, last entry 30 minutes before. Closed Mondays except public holidays.

Tickets

¥40 in peak season, ¥30 Dec–Mar; under 1.3 m free, students half price. Buy at the gate or online (the 豫园票务 mini program). Sources disagree on July–August pricing.

Address

218 Anren Street, Huangpu, inside the Yuyuan bazaar, just north of the zigzag bridge

Cross the zigzag bridge, duck through the gate, and the hawker racket outside drops away. A Ming-dynasty official, Pan Yunduan, built this garden for his ageing parents in the 16th century, and it's a lesson in folding a whole world into a small plot: rockeries, carp ponds, moon gates, and a whitewashed wall with a dragon rippling along its top. Every corner reframes the view. Find the pond where Shanghai Tower pokes up over the eaves — 450 years in one frame. Go at opening time, before the tour groups roll in.