Yu Garden
A two-hectare Ming garden, folded away behind the walls of old Shanghai.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs
Best time
At opening
Open
Closed on Monday
Entry price
To confirm
The Yu garden was laid out from 1559 by a Ming official for his parents, and it took him nearly twenty years and his entire fortune. Only two hectares, but cut up by walls, rocks and ponds so that you never see the whole: that is the principle of the classical Chinese garden.
The dragon wall, the Lake Tai rockery and the Nine-Turn Bridge pavilion are its known pieces. The bazaar around it is a modern reconstruction in an old style, heavily commercial — but the Huxinting teahouse in the middle of the pond genuinely dates from the nineteenth century.
Getting there
Metro line 10, Yuyuan Garden station, then five minutes on foot through the bazaar. The garden ticket office is at the back of the square.
What the price covers
paid entry, rate to be checked on site; the bazaar around it is free
Rules on site
Closed on Mondays, unlike the bazaar. The Nine-Turn Bridge becomes unwalkable at weekends and during Chinese holidays, when you shuffle across.
