Shanghai, China

The Bund's row of early-20th-century colonial-era buildings faces Pudong's cluster of ultra-modern skyscrapers, including the distinctive Oriental Pearl Tower, directly across the Huangpu River — a contrast that's especially striking after dark when both sides light up. An evening riverboat cruise is an easy, low-effort way to take in both skylines from the water.

Like our Beijing guide, a Chinese visa arranged in advance is standard for US citizens visiting Shanghai. Shanghai's high-speed rail network also makes it an easy base for extending a trip to nearby cities like Suzhou or Hangzhou in a single day.

United and China Eastern both fly nonstop from several US cities, with flight times ranging from about fourteen hours on the West Coast to around sixteen from the East Coast. September through November and March through May bring the most comfortable weather; summer turns hot and humid, and winter runs cold.

Shanghai's Bund waterfront offers a direct view across the river to Pudong's futuristic skyline, a contrast between colonial-era architecture and ultra-modern skyscrapers that captures the city's rapid transformation. The French Concession neighborhood preserves tree-lined streets and early-20th-century architecture distinct from the rest of the city, and Shanghai's high-speed rail connections make day trips to nearby water towns like Zhujiajiao an easy addition.

Three to four nights covers the Bund, French Concession and a water-town day trip. It suits travelers interested in contrasting historical and ultra-modern architecture, and China's visa requirements are worth confirming well ahead given they can take longer to process than many destinations.

Getting there: About 14-16h nonstop, depending on gateway — United and China Eastern both fly direct from several US cities. Voldeluxe compares routing and cabin options for Shanghai, China rather than booking the first itinerary a search engine surfaces, and times the trip against September to November, or March to May rather than whatever dates happen to be cheapest.

Shanghai was a relatively minor fishing and textile town until the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the First Opium War and forced China to open the city as a treaty port to foreign trade — Britain, France and the US each established semi-autonomous concessions here, and the French Concession's tree-lined streets and European-style villas, now one of the city's most fashionable districts, are a direct physical legacy of that colonial-era foreign presence. The Bund, Shanghai's riverfront promenade, is lined with grand early-20th-century buildings in Beaux-Arts, Gothic and Art Deco styles built by foreign banks and trading houses during that concession era, creating a deliberately jarring contrast with the ultra-modern Pudong skyline, including the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, directly across the river — a visual timeline of roughly a century of the city's transformation viewable in a single glance. Shanghai's cuisine, distinct from both Cantonese and Sichuan cooking more familiar internationally, centers on xiaolongbao (soup dumplings, requiring a specific bite-and-sip eating technique to avoid a scalding mouthful of broth) and a generally sweeter, soy-and-sugar-forward flavor profile characteristic of the wider Jiangnan region. The city's former French Concession also houses several sites connected to the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, a significant piece of modern Chinese political history often overlooked amid Shanghai's commercial reputation.