Where to stay in Shanghai: the 5 neighborhoods to know in 2026
In Shanghai, you pick a metro station before you pick a neighbourhood. The Bund and the towers of Pudong face each other across the Huangpu, ten minutes apart by tunnel; but a hotel at the wrong end of a line costs you an hour a day underground. Look at the metro entrance first, the charm can come later.
A dorm bed will run you $17 to $34* a night, a 3-star by a station $68 to $101*, and the palaces of the Bund start at $310*. Five neighbourhoods, from the Old City to the towers of Lujiazui, each with three verified addresses and what our members wrote about it.
The traffic and never ending jams on the urban highways, the crowded shops, and the trendy restaurants...
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At a glance: our picks by traveller type
Pick the profile that suits you to head straight to the recommended neighborhood.
The neighborhood map in Shanghai
Get your bearings on the neighborhoods and must-see sights before choosing where to drop your bags. Click a name to jump to its description.
The Bund and Nanjing Road Huangpu: the Bund, Nanjing East Road, People's Square
for a first visit, everything on foot
In the morning the Bund belongs to joggers and tai chi groups; in the evening, to the crowd that comes to watch the towers across the river light up. Behind the 1920s facades, Nanjing East Road runs towards People's Square and its museums, pedestrian and packed until nightfall. You sleep where lines 2 and 10 cross, and the rest of the city is within reach. The downside: the street never empties, and touts offer a "tea ceremony" that ends with a three-figure bill.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Fairmont Peace Hotel Luxury
The art deco palace of the Bund, opened in 1929, with its jazz bar where a band of veterans plays every night, an indoor pool and rooms over the river.
MaxX by Steigenberger Shanghai on the Bund Mid-range
The former Les Suites Orient, at the southern end of the Bund: art deco rooms facing the Huangpu, a gym open day and night, and a 4-star price for a palace address.
Shanghai Blue Mountain Bund Youth Hostel Budget
The neighbourhood hostel, on the sixth floor of a building on Shanxi South Road, five minutes from Nanjing East Road station: dorms of four to eight beds, a bar and a common lounge. Cash only.
Pros
- The Bund, Nanjing Road and the museums of People's Square on foot
- Lines 2 and 10 at the hotel door, towards Pudong as well as the Concession
Cons
- Nanjing East Road is crowded from the moment the shops open until night
- River-view rooms are the most expensive in the city
The Old City and Yu Garden Southern Huangpu: Yuyuan, Old Street, Dongtai Road
for a Chinese atmosphere and low prices
Between the rockeries of Yu Garden and the City God Temple, the bazaar lines up its upturned roofs, its steamed dumpling sellers and its queues. Megane Odyzea, who happened upon the Lantern Festival there, sums the garden up this way: "A bit crowded, but it is well worth it." Around it, the lanes of the Old City disappear year after year under building sites, and what remains is best seen early in the morning. In the evening everything closes fast: a good place to sleep, not to go out.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Renaissance Shanghai Yu Garden Hotel Luxury
A Marriott tower a hundred metres from Yuyuan Garden station (line 10), with an indoor pool and a 17th-floor lounge looking over the roofs of the Old City.
Ji Hotel Shanghai The Bund Jinling East Road Mid-range
A clean, no-surprises Chinese chain hotel on Jinling East Road, ten minutes' walk from Yu Garden and as far from the Bund.
Pu Chun International Hostel Budget
A simple hostel on the third floor of a building on Zhonghua Road, dorms and double rooms, with an English-speaking manager and the Old City at the bottom of the stairs.
Pros
- Yu Garden and the bazaar when you wake up, before the groups
- The cheapest nights in the centre, twenty minutes' walk from the Bund
Cons
- Building sites everywhere, and whole streets gone
- The neighbourhood switches off around nine in the evening
The former French Concession Xuhui and Huangpu: Huaihai Road, Xintiandi, Tianzifang
for the plane trees, the cafés and the nights out
Plane trees planted a century ago, villas behind their gates, and a café on every corner: this is the Shanghai you walk through for pleasure. Xintiandi has turned its brick houses into terraces and boutiques, Tianzifang keeps its narrow lanes and its workshops. Fuxing Park fills from dawn with dancers and card players. You will pay more for your room than in the Old City, and the bar streets can be heard late at weekends.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Okura Garden Hotel Shanghai Luxury
The former French sports club of the 1920s on Maoming South Road, with nearly three hectares of garden in the middle of the Concession, an indoor pool and a tennis court.
Donghu Collection Hotel Mid-range
Opened in 2023 at no. 7 Donghu Road, between Huaihai Road and Jing'an: contemporary rooms, an indoor pool and the villas of the neighbourhood all around.
Dayin Youth Hostel Budget
A brand-new hostel at the end of a lane off Sinan Road, between Fuxing Park and Tianzifang: a garden, a bar, free laundry and an English-speaking reception day and night.
Pros
- The city's loveliest streets right outside the door
- The best places to dine and go out, without taking the metro
Cons
- The most expensive rooms after the Bund
- The noise of the terraces on Friday and Saturday nights
Jing'an Nanjing West Road, the temple, Suzhou Creek
for line 2 and the shopping
A temple with golden roofs ringed by glass towers: that is the picture of Jing'an, and it is also the instructions for use. Jing'an Temple station puts the Bund four stops away and Pudong seven, on line 2, which then runs on to the airport. Nanjing West Road lines up the luxury malls, the park offers a break in the shade, and to the north, along Suzhou Creek, the M50 galleries and the Jade Buddha Temple change the scenery. In the evening the business streets empty out: to go out, head back down to the Concession.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
The PuLi Hotel and Spa Luxury
At 1 Changde Road, five minutes from Jing'an Temple station: a twenty-five-metre infinity pool, a spa, a Michelin-starred table and floor-to-ceiling glass rooms.
Hotel Equatorial Shanghai Mid-range
An older-generation 4-star, well kept, at the exit of Jing'an Temple station: an indoor pool, three restaurants, and line 2 to the airport at the foot of the building.
Shanghai Desti Youth Hostel Budget
A hostel on Xikang Road, one street from the metro, with a café at the entrance, a retro lounge and an English-speaking reception at any hour.
Pros
- Line 2: the Bund, Pudong and the airport without changing
- The widest choice of hotels in the city, at every price
Cons
- A business district, quiet and a little cold after eight in the evening
- Little charm in the streets between the malls
Pudong and Lujiazui Pudong: Lujiazui, Century Avenue, Century Park
for the view, the towers and families
Three towers over four hundred metres tall, the Oriental Pearl, the aquarium, and a riverside promenade facing the Bund: Lujiazui is postcard Shanghai, seen from the inside. In the evening, from a room high up, the city lights up beneath your feet. The downside fits in one sentence: nothing can be done on foot. The avenues are motorways, footbridges replace pavements, and the restaurants close with the offices. The Dongchang Road ferry reaches the Bund in a few minutes for two yuan.
It is after dark that Shanghai lights up and offers a show unlike anywhere else in the world.
What to see & do in the neighborhood
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Grand Hyatt Shanghai Luxury
In the upper floors of the Jin Mao tower, on Century Avenue: glass-walled rooms over the river or the towers, an indoor pool and a dozen restaurants.
Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Mid-range
On Dongfang Road, five minutes' walk from Pudian Road station (lines 4 and 6): an indoor pool, a pub and spacious rooms at a 3-star price.
Dengba Inn Shanghai New World Plaza Budget
The neighbourhood hostel, on the second floor of a shopping centre on Nanquan North Road, a kilometre and a half from the towers: dorms, simple rooms with bathroom and a bar.
Pros
- The rooms with the best view in the city, and the newest hotels
- The aquarium, the science museum and Century Park for the children
Cons
- A business district: nothing open in the evening outside the hotels and the malls
- Distances made for the car, not for a stroll
Our tips for booking the right place
- Look for the metro entrance, not the address: Line 2 is the city's backbone: Jing'an Temple, People's Square, Nanjing East Road, Lujiazui, then Pudong airport. A hotel less than five minutes from one of these stations is worth all the charming neighbourhoods put together. The last metro leaves around eleven at night: after that it is the taxi, and the jams Vaness talks about.
- The weeks when prices double: The first week of October, during the national holiday, and the fortnight of Chinese New Year, the hotels are full and expensive. The Formula 1 Grand Prix, in spring, fills Jing'an and Pudong. Outside those dates, booking three weeks ahead is enough, even on the Bund.
- Before you land: Install the two mobile payment apps before you leave: they now accept a foreign card, and many shops no longer take cash. Your passport is asked for at every check-in, and a few cheap hotels are not licensed to host foreigners: read the listing's conditions before you book.
- A hotel "in Pudong" outside Lujiazui: the district is the size of a county, and an address near the airport or the theme park puts you an hour from everything.
- The hotels by Hongqiao station or the South station chosen for their price: forty minutes of metro morning and evening, and the saving melts away in the journey.
- A room on Nanjing East Road itself if you are a light sleeper: the street lives until midnight, neon signs included.
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