In short
The Bund lines up the Art Deco banks of the thirties on one bank; Pudong raises its towers on the other. Fifty metres of water separate two centuries.
The former French and International concessions left districts of low buildings and plane trees, unique in China, where the café life is concentrated.
What it really costs
Shanghai is the most expensive city in mainland China for housing. The former concessions cost markedly more than the metro-served outskirts.
The metro, the largest in the world, and the high-speed rail put Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing within an hour and a half for a few dozen yuan.
What nobody tells you
Mobile payment is the norm and depends on a phone number receiving codes. Keeping your French line on roaming rather than switching to a local SIM avoids breaking the authentication.
Addresses are given in characters, not in Latin transcription. Showing them on a screen to a driver is the method that works.
Summer is heavy and wet, with a rainy season in June and July and a typhoon risk in August and September. April–May and October–November are the windows.
