Shanghai is Overrated
Want a vacation in Shanghai? Consider rethinking your trip.
When I moved to China in 2020, many told me to visit Shanghai when I got the chance. Shanghai this, Shanghai that. Then I finally visited, and I’ll say point blank; Shanghai is overrated.
Is it the worst place to visit in China? I’m sure it’s not, but it’s my least favorite of the places I’ve had the chance to vacation. Admittedly I have not been able to visit an astronomical amount of cities within China, but after all the hype Shanghai received, I expected much more than I received.
After a week-long visit during the national Labor Day holiday in 2021, I left with much less money and much less enthused with Shanghai than we were when I came in, and here’s why.
Shanghai is Overpopulated
Shanghai is the most crowded place I’ve been in my entire life. It does make sense, as according to macrotrends.net, the population of Shanghai is now at a whopping 28,517,000. That’s a shit ton of people to be in one city, and it showed. The streets were dirty, the air was polluted to the point it blocked the skyline, and anywhere I went felt like a rat race to the destination.
Honestly, it’s our fault my friends and I chose the “golden week of traveling” to make the trip to one of the most populated cities in China. The overpopulation in Shanghai was exacerbated by the unholy influx of thousands of tourists trying to live the big city life (me included, I guess.)
I made plans with locals before arriving to visit lesser-known places, and I’m glad I did. I’ve never been a “touristy tourist,” I’d much rather check out a cool dive bar than the Eifell tour, which meant no Jade Temple for me, although I was dragged to The Bund by my friends.
Shanghai is Expensive as Hell
Don’t get me wrong, traveling to a large city like Shanghai requires serious spending money. But I wasn’t expecting to have my wallet mercilessly hammered into the ground so quickly. I had a budget of about 10,000 RMB for this trip, roughly $1,400, for a week. I’m not rich by any stretch, but I imagined this would be more than enough. I was wrong.
I spent money on things considered normal: food, drinks, and a taxi here and there. The difference is that buying a can of Coke at a restaurant took around 40 RMB ($5.75), a bottle of draft beer 50 RMB ($7.18), and any food I was interested in following the same trend.
My hotel room was a rinky-dink place, and it ran me about 4,000 RMB ($574) for five days. This may seem okay by other countries’ standards, but it’s a crazy price for China, especially as I was about 30 minutes by taxi out of the city center. I had to pay under the table because only 5-star hotels in China can house foreigners, but that’s a story for another time.
Visiting an expensive place for vacation is okay, but I expected more bang for my buck because of how much Shanghai has been hyped.
Shanghai nightlife wasn’t anything out of the ordinary
I can’t ultimately judge the nightlife in Shanghai as I was only there for one week, but the experience I had wasn’t anything to write home to. I spent each night going to various clubs and bars, and it was the same as any other city I’d been to, except ten times more crowded.
The only difference with Shanghai we’re that rooftop bars charge 200 RMB ($28) for a cocktail, and you are stuck shoulder to shoulder from the street to the entrance, to the bar, all the way to the bathroom; cover charges at every location brought me back to realizing I needed to find an old dive bar.
The redeeming quality of Shanghai’s nightlife is undoubtedly the unmatched selection that visitors are granted. There are so many options of all different kinds that anyone can find something they like, presented they are okay with the prices.
Maybe I’m just too cheap and hermit-like for Shanghai.
Visitors and tourists may love Shanghai if they have pockets that can brunt the hits, but I like to have lowkey, relaxing vacations. I do not doubt that you’ll enjoy Shanghai if you’re a big party person with more oversized pockets or less regard for your finances.
All the food I ate in Shanghai was stellar, whether Indian, American, or Chinese. It was my first time eating American pancakes with sausage and bacon in a year, giving Shanghai some points.
I’m not Shanghai’s target demographic, I wouldn’t say I like crowded places or situations, and I love being alone. Is that Shanghai’s fault? It doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s overrated.
Is Shanghai the worst place in the world, and should you avoid it at all costs? Of course not! I’m still glad I visited Shanghai but comparing it to everything people have told me over the years, it is overrated.
I’m currently in the middle of a 30-day writing challenge. You can find more of my daily stories on my Medium and my own personal portfolio and blog.
