Few skylines tell a genuinely good story, but the buildings that face off across the Huangpu River perfectly encapsulate Shanghai’s epic history of boom and bust – so who better to act as your narrator than an architect?
This expert-led walking tour will start on the iconic Bund, where the mishmash of building styles – art deco, neoclassical, gothic revival – evoke the city’s rapid transformation from swampy outpost to one of the world’s biggest, brashest cities in the 1920s. But Shanghai’s heyday was brought to a quick end by war and revolution, and for decades the city stagnated before roaring back to life in the 1990s. Hop on a public ferry and cross the river (warning: photo op overload) to Pudong. Here, factory and farm hinterland have been replaced by some of the tallest, most spectacular skyscrapers on the planet, setting the tone for the latest chapter in the Shanghai story and one that will round out the perfect introduction to the city’s colorful history.