Lonely Planet Shanghai

by Lonely Planet, Kate Morgan, Helen Elfer

#1 best-selling guide to Shanghai*

Lonely Planet Shanghai is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Get a feel for the latest trends in the French Concession, whizz down to Hangzhou on a high-speed train, or explore the city's traditional laneways in Jing'an -all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Shanghai and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet Shanghai Travel

Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, religion, architecture, cuisine, visual arts, literature, music, Chinese opera, cinema, fashion, martial arts, festivals Free, convenient pull-out Shanghai map (included in print version), plus over 30 colour maps Covers The Bund, People's Square, Old Town, French Concession, Jing'an, Pudong, Hongkou, Xujiahui, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Tongli, Zhujiajiao, Zhouzhuang, Sheshan and more The Perfect Lonely Planet Shanghai, our most comprehensive guide to Shanghai, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled.

Looking for just the highlights of Shanghai? Check out Pocket Shanghai, a handy-sized guide focused on the can't-miss sights for a quick trip. Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet China guide for a comprehensive look at all the country has to offer. About Lonely Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits!

Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

*Best-selling guide to Shanghai.

Genres: Travel, China, Nonfiction, Asia

760 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 12, 2001

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Michael Flick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just back from 8 days in Shanghai. This book was moderately interesting for background information before the trip, but its organization and spotty coverage made it pretty much useless once there.

[alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Shanghai LP proved invaluable this week for its inclusion of addresses written in both Pinyin and Chinese characters. If you are taking taxis and don't speak Mandarin, just point to the address and you will get there. Brilliant!

As usual, I loved reading the history portions of this LP prior to visiting Shanghai.

The business turnover rate is high in Shanghai, and several restaurant locations listed in this book are no longer there. In other cases, the hours are no longer the same. The most up-to-date guide book would be essential if you are depending solely on recommended restaurants.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent maps and other essentials, but some lazy mistakes in the surrounding narratives. Also it would have helped to have more explicit instructions for how to get a refillable subway card.

Loved that the "Useful phrases" section included "I don't like innards." Useful indeed.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful for my brief trip to Shanghai. I wish the practical and architecture sections had been earlier in the book, though, as I didn’t finish reading before my trip and would have found them helpful when I was there.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great up-to-date advice that I made use of on my recent trip.

[Mojca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3½ - 4 stars

[Jaap Grolleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an impossible task to describe a massive city like Shanghai in a book, especially coupled with the pace that Shanghai is cycling through its restaurants and shops that are mentioned inside.

[Barry D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

General information is Good, but some of the places mentioned (restaurants and bars) could not be found or were closed down.

The problem with these books is that they need to be reevaluated on a regular basis. As the book mentioned Shanghai consumes a large portion of the world concrete production that means that the city changes a lot.

In general a lot of useful tips, maps and tourist information.
I would recommend to have these kind of books in digital form with you. The lonely planet book series tend to be a bit large and heavy to just carry around in your luggage (with the exception of the pocket editions).

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously offering more detail than the big LP guidebook. For the most part, this series delivers the goods. But most frustrating is how practically every restaurant mentioned is no longer in existence. Other than that, it's been very helpful for finding my way around (and things to do) in both Shanghai and Hangzhou. Highly recommended for those who feel the need for at least a LITTLE sense of direction

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took a trip to Shanghai for the 2010 expo and brought this along. The information is alright, but the book is not written by a local. We tried one of the restaurant recommendations in a tourist area, and it was the worst meal of our stay. Lonely Planet puts out reasonable travel guides, and this one fits the bill, but it needs more local insight if it wants to earn its keep as one of the better guides.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Shanghai was one of the few safe havens for Jews fleeing the Holocaust in Europe as it required no passport nor visa to stay. Gestapo agents followed the refugees and, in 1942, tried to persuade the Japanese to build death camps on Chongming Island. Instead, in 1943, the Japanese forces Jews to move into a 'Designated Area for Stateless Refugees' in Hongkou."

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

really helpful, that's how i got around, open up this book and keep on reading.. i still haven't been to all the places it mentioned even after 3 months of my stay here.

[Sagar Jethani]

Pretty good overview, as are most of the LP review guides.