We had a blast kicking off our adventure in Shanghai with our pal Jenna and her dad, John! Shanghai is a cool city that we agreed reminded us of NYC in a lot of ways – big, bustling, and very modern.

Here are our top 6 favorite activities from our long weekend here:

1. Rooftop Bars on The Bund

Shanghai has an incredible skyline and there are a lot of rooftop bars that offer amazing views of the city. We took advantage of these 2 of our 4 nights in the city and had a blast every time.

2. Yu Garden

We hit up the historical Yu Garden for a lovely Saturday morning stroll. It was cool to be in what felt like an oasis away from the bustle of the city. While there were some signs in English, we weren’t able to gather a ton of information about what we were looking at so we left with an appreciation for the beauty of the garden but not much knowledge about it’s significance.

3. Nanjing Road

Nanjing Road is kind of like the Times Square of New York with huge billboards, bright lights, and tons of shopping. We enjoyed getting tasty snacks and poking into stores looking for fun shirts.

4. Marriage Market in People’s Square

We accidentally stumbled upon the marriage market, a huge gathering of parents advertising their eligible children, which seemed like an old school (and potentially embarrassing) way to swipe right for a mate. Each parent had a description of their kid clipped to an open umbrella for easy viewing. We desperately wished we could read the descriptions – I’m sure that would only have added to the fun.

5. Shanghai Museum 

Museums aren’t typically our favorite activity, but this one was free so that was enough to entice us for a visit. We particularly enjoyed looking at coins from throughout China’s history, including some that were used in BC times.

6. Trying local food

Our first attempt at ordering food in Shanghai on Friday morning didn’t go quite as planned. After our visit to Yu Garden, we wanted to grab a bite to eat from a nearby dumping stall. After awkwardly and unsuccessfully trying to catch someone’s eye at the outside counter, inside counter, and near the cashier we became overwhelmed and left the store. We retreated to our hotel to eat our last bag of Sun Chips from the Detroit airport and laughed about how we might starve to death in China. Hunger eventually drove us to seek out food again and we succeeded in finding a noodle bar with English translations on the menu so we could point to what we wanted. Success! This continues to be our ordering strategy and it’s led us to some very tasty meals! Our favorite so far: Dumplings at Yang’s in Shanghai.