Shanghai Private Tours & Luxury Travel

Overview

China's dazzling commercial capital, where colonial-era Art Deco facades face a forest of futuristic towers across the Huangpu. Behind the skyline, plane-tree avenues and stone-gate lane houses hide a softer city of teahouses and tailors. Cosmopolitan, brisk and endlessly stylish, Shanghai is where old China meets the world — and, quite often, buys it a drink. Come for the energy; stay for the elegance hiding behind it.

Good to know before you go

Shanghai at a glance

Ideal length

3 nights

Best season

March–May and September–November; summer is humid, winter damp and cold

Getting there

Pudong (PVG) and Hongqiao (SHA) airports, both with private transfer in 40–70 minutes

Insider note

The Bund is best at dawn for photographs and after dark for the skyline lights

Signature experiences

Four ways to meet Shanghai.

Pudong Skyline & an Art Deco Architecture Walk

The Bund & an Art Deco Architecture Walk

Walk the Bund at dusk with an architectural historian as the colonial facades light up and Pudong's towers glitter across the water. Trace the Art Deco and neoclassical detail of the Peace Hotel, the old Shanghai clubs and trading houses, then slip inside for live jazz in a room that has been swinging since the 1930s. It is Shanghai's past and future in a single, elegant sweep of riverfront.

Yu Garden & a Xiaolongbao Masterclass

Wander the Ming-dynasty Yu Garden — rockeries, carp ponds and zigzag bridges — then learn to make Shanghai's signature soup dumpling. In a hands-on masterclass you fold and pleat the delicate skin and master the trick of trapping hot broth inside, before sitting down to eat your own steaming basket. A delicious bridge from old Shanghai to its modern energy.

Tianzifang, the French Concession & a Tea Ceremony

The plane-tree avenues of the former French Concession, with their shuttered villas and wrought-iron gates, are Shanghai at its most romantic. Wander the lane-house alleys of Tianzifang and the restored shikumen of Xintiandi, pausing for a gongfu tea ceremony with a young tea master — a slow, aesthetic counterpoint that reveals the residential city behind the neon.

Zhujiajiao Ancient Town

Zhujiajiao — ancient water town near modern Shanghai✨ Escape Shanghai’s skyscrapers for real Jiangnan charm. Canals, stone‑arch bridges, wooden sculling boats. Walk old streets, taste local snacks, sail under historic Fangsheng Bridge. Where ancient China meets modern China, just one‑hour metro ride away.

Eat, stay, see & feel

The finer details.

Food & Dining

XiaolongbaoShanghai's soup dumplings — paper-thin skins cupping scalding broth and pork, eaten in one careful bite.
ShengjianbaoPan-fried pork buns with a crisp base and juicy centre; the city's beloved breakfast.
Hairy CrabIn autumn the Yangcheng Lake crab becomes a ritual — steamed, then picked apart with vinegar and ginger.

Where to Stay

AmanyangyunRescued Ming and Qing buildings reassembled among a thousand ancient camphor trees — a forest sanctuary.
Fairmont Peace HotelThe Art Deco icon on the Bund, its jazz bar steeped in 1930s glamour.

Culture & Craft

Bespoke Qipao TailoringHave a cheongsam cut and fitted by a Shanghai tailor on historic Maoming Road.
Gongfu Tea CeremonyPause for a slow gongfu tea service in a lane-house teahouse in the French Concession.

Signature Show & Unique Transport

ERA — Intersection of Time — the city's long-running multimedia acrobatics spectacular at Shanghai Circus World, blending aerial feats, water screens and the globe of death.
The 430 km/h maglev — the world's first commercial high-speed line, a ten-minute blur between the city and the airport.

Fitting it into a longer journey

How Shanghai fits into a longer journey

Shanghai is where most journeys through China either begin or end, and it works in both directions: an easy international gateway, and the city that makes sense of everything you saw inland. It pairs with Hangzhou and Suzhou on the same rail line, and with Beijing on the classic ten-day triangle.

Straight answers

Questions travellers ask us

Written by our team on the ground, and updated as opening hours and entry rules change.

How many days do I need in Shanghai?

Three nights: one for the Bund, the former French Concession and Yu Garden, one for the museums and a modern art district, and one for a cooking class, a jazz evening or a day trip to Zhujiajiao water town. Two nights works for a first visit if you accept a fast pace.

What is the best time of year to visit Shanghai?

April, May, October and November, when temperatures sit between 15 and 25°C and the humidity drops. June brings the plum rain, July and August are hot and sticky, and winter is damp, cold and rarely below freezing but feels colder than it is.

Is Shanghai expensive compared with the rest of China?

It is the most expensive city in mainland China for hotels and fine dining, though still below London, New York or Moscow at equivalent quality. A private guide and driver, good meals and a five-star room typically cost less per day than the same combination in western Europe. We quote per journey, not per head, so you know the total before you commit.

What is Shanghai famous for?

The Bund — a kilometre of 1920s banks and trading houses facing the glass towers of Pudong across the Huangpu river — plus the plane-tree streets of the former French Concession, Art Deco interiors, the best restaurant scene in China, and the Yu Garden bazaar that predates all of it by four centuries.

Should I fly into Shanghai or Beijing first?

Whichever gives you the better fare; both are excellent international gateways and the high-speed rail between them takes 4.5 hours. We usually suggest flying into Beijing and out of Shanghai, which puts the imperial north first and lets you finish somewhere with better shopping and dining.

Shanghai