My favorite hidden gems to visit in Shanghai (2025 update)

I saw this message from Curt about how difficult it is to love Shanghai, and there’s some truth in that. I’ve now lived here for over seven years, and I think most tourist attractions are boring, or I have grown out of them. Or maybe Shanghai is too big a city to love. But below are several hidden gems, unknown places I love to visit in Shanghai and can recommend.

Let me have a go.

Ye Garden

Ye Garden (叶家花园), a ~100-year-old park in Yangpu, hidden behind a hospital. Usually very empty.

Jiangwan Stadium

Sitting on the stands in Jiangwan stadium (江湾体育场), again in the Yangpu district.

The North Bund

Watching people and listening to the humming sound of cargo ships at the North Bund.

Xinchang

Strolling Xinchang (新場古鎮) in Pudong, and eating these sesame buns (Named Crab shell yellow 蟹壳黄 because they look like that).

Tangzhen park

唐城绿地文化公园唐城绿地文化公园 (Tangcheng Greenland Cultural Park) in Tangzhen (唐镇), especially further from the entrance it doesn’t feel as fabricated as other parks.

Sijing

Sijing (古镇泗泾) in the Songjiang district, an old town being redeveloped as a cultural center.

Wet park

吴淞炮台湾湿地森林公园 (Wusong Paotaiwan Wetlands Forest Park) in the Baoshan district.

Book store

This second-hand bookstore near Fudan University (复旦旧书店).

Tianzifang

And Tianzifang (田子坊), even though it’s very touristic, these tiny alleys made me fall in love with Shanghai the first time I came here in 2017.

Gaoqiao

Gaoqiao is a gem because it’s super well preserved and not a touristified town.

Luodian Town

A similar gem is Luodian Town (罗店镇) — although very far out of the city!

The Lies We Tell

I left my hometown when I was 19. After nearly two decades in a dozen Dutch cities, Sydney and Shanghai, I’m back. I push Hasse’s stroller and see once again these streets and buildings that are old yet ever new. Everything is closer than I remember it, distances I travelled as a teenager seem now […]

October 27, 2026

Dit is ook China review

‘Dit is ook China’ by Cindy Zhu Huijgen isn’t a perfect book. And yet it’s enjoyable, and when you turn the last page and close it, you’re — rather than feeling relieved — you’re just glad you read it, and you’re glad you’re a person who reads books. Before starting, I was a bit discouraged […]

October 26, 2026

Travel plugs

In our new house, many appliances still get their power through a travel adapter. Eight years in China was long enough to not only put down roots and settle in, but also for everything we owned to end in a Chinese plug: my MacBook, the coffee machine, the rice cooker, the baby monitor. The appliances […]

September 21, 2026

Twenty-three years

In June we moved back to the Netherlands, six suitcases across 8000 kilometres, and after a brief spell at my parents’ place, we moved into our own home. This second move also involved putting down carpet, curtains, buying appliances and furniture — so that our new garage quickly filled with cardboard boxes and other packaging […]

August 29, 2026