Destinations / The East
Shanghai上海
Art-deco lanes and megacity futures — China's most international city, where the skyline reinvents itself every decade.
The city, plainly
Shanghai is where China's story accelerates. Morning takes you through the French Concession's plane-tree lanes and wet markets; afternoon puts you inside a tech campus or an autonomous vehicle; night belongs to the Bund, colonial facades facing a futuristic wall of light. It is the easiest city in China for a first-time visitor — and the deepest for a second look.
What we never skip
The Bund at first light
The colonial riverfront at 6 a.m., when the light is soft and the tai chi groups own the promenade.
China, on rails
Ride a maglev at 300 km/h, then meet the engineers and startups rewriting urban life.
Xiaolongbao, properly
A soup-dumpling crawl through old lanes with a Shanghai food-writer guide.
Experiences in Shanghai
Tai Chi & Baduanjin at Dawn太极 · 八段锦
Join the park regulars — not a tourist class — as a master takes you through the opening forms, then tea and sesame biscuits after.
1.5 hours, morning
Calligraphy in a Courtyard Studio书法
Grind your own ink and learn the eight strokes that build ten thousand characters, in a working hutong studio.
2.5 hours
Soup-Dumpling Crawl小笼包
Four counters, one guide who has eaten them all, and the rules of eating xiaolongbao without wearing them.
3 hours
Autonomous Ride Experience自动驾驶
Ride a driverless taxi as a passenger, then meet a team working on the stack that drives it.
Half day
Maglev & Metro Systems磁悬浮
300 km/h to the airport and back, with an urbanist guide decoding how China builds and runs mega-transit.
3 hours
Startup Campus Visit科技园区
Inside a Chinese tech campus: the labs, the cafeterias, the pace — and honest Q&A with people who work there.
Half day
Themes here: Cultural Immersion · Food & Tea · City & Tech
Journeys through Shanghai
The Golden Triangle, in Depth
Beijing · Xi'an · Shanghai
China's three great cities, done properly: dawn on the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army with a historian, and a Shanghai most visitors never find — with food stops that locals queue for.
Monthly, April–October
from US$2,890
Shanghai Now
Shanghai
Three days inside China's most futuristic city: driverless rides, the maglev, startup campuses — balanced with the lanes and dumplings that make it livable.
Twice monthly, year-round
from US$760