Shanghai, an insider guide to China's cosmopolitan city from wisepowder's blog

It's China's most cosmopolitan city, with a population of some 25 million people, including more than 160,000 millionaires and a couple of dozen billionaires. It's a town of wheelers and dealers, go-getters and glamour pusses, big business and flash brands – but it's not all about the money.To get more news about Shanghai travel tips, you can visit shine news official website.

Beyond the 100-storey buildings, glowing pink and purple Pearl Tower and business-like veneer of Pudong, you'll find quiet tree-lined streets, sweet boutiques and artsy cafés in the Former French Concession; the Bund's majestic waterfront promenade; one of the finest collections of Art Deco architecture anywhere in the world; as well as Buddhist temples, ancient gardens and a handful of lilong (low-rise, gated) neighbourhoods which have managed to escape the wrecking ball, for now.
Designed by British architect David Chipperfield and hailed as 'the largest ever artistic exchange between France and China', the Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum project is a welcome addition to the city's burgeoning art scene. The dramatic space, which opened in November 2019, rolls over four levels and features three galleries, a museum shop and a sunken courtyard with a café and bar. Kicking off the five-year collaboration is a mesmerising exhibition called The Shape of Time.
Sprawling across the top floor of a beautiful Bund-side Beaux Arts building, Ce La Vi (27 The Bund; 00 86 21 6333 5877) is the city's newest hot spot. As well as lounge, cocktail bar and nightclub, there's also a tip-top restaurant serving pan-Asian cuisine – barbecue chicken and papaya salad, burrata with XO sauce, cevice with lemongrass. But it's the views from the terrace which are most memorable, an eyeful of the candy-coloured space-age Pudong skyline.

There's been a burst of hot luxury hotel openings in Shanghai. The coolest of them all is The Middle House (366 Shi Men Yi Road; 00 86 21 3216 8199), with its hip city-centre location, calming rooms, fabulous restaurants and serene subterranean spa. Doubles from CNY 2,840 (£330).

Ideally, you'll want to tick off the big landmark sights first, beginning with an early morning amble along the Bund, Shanghai's colonial-era riverfront promenade. Start on the northern end at Waibaidu Bridge on Suzhou Creek, where newly married grooms in bow ties and brides in flowing red dresses love to pose for wedding photographs.

From here, move south, passing a dazzling collection of Gothic, Baroque, neoclassical, Art Deco and modernist buildings; looking out for the Jiang Hai Custom House, built in 1927 with a clock tower modelled on Big Ben; the striking HSBC building, with its Roman columns and domed roof; and modernist masterpiece Sassoon House, now the Fairmont Peace Hotel (20 Nanjing E Road; 00 86 21 6138 6888). The hotel has a small museum open to non-guests crammed with fascinating remnants from the Golden Age of Travel – Art Deco furniture, antiques, keys, postcards and photographs of celebrity guests from a bygone time. Ask the front desk to give you a tour.From here, it's a short stroll for a three-course set lunch on the rambling terrace at M on the Bund (5 The Bund; 00 86 21 6350 9988), where you can tuck into salmon gravlax on ribbons of beetroot and pink pomelo, Iberian pork crusted with olives, and cold lemon soufflé, while staring at the phenomenal Pudong skyline opposite.

Hop on the metro from the 19th-century Bund to future-shock Puxi on the other side of the Huangpu River. You're here climb the silvery, serpentine, 128-storey Shanghai Tower (501 Yincheng Middle Road; 00 86 21 2065 6999), the second tallest mega-structure in the world, currently only superseded by the Burj Khalifa. Don't want to come back down to earth just yet? Nip a few buildings along to Flair Bar (8 Century Avenue; 00 86 21 2020 1717), stepped outdoors on the 58th floor at Ritz-Carlton hotel with looming views of the surrounding skyscrapers.

Also in the vicinity is A.P. Plaza, or the 'Fake Market' (2002 Century Avenue). As its moniker suggests, it is mainly known for its counterfeit goods. Buyer beware – it's illegal to bring counterfeit goods into the UK. Instead come here to pick up cheap souvenirs such as silk pyjamas, painted fans and phone covers. You'll need to haggle like a pro - as a guideline, prices usually start around 80 to 90 per cent over the closing price.