Zhujiajiao Water Town
17-bridge canal town 45 km from downtown; gondolas under Ming bridges.
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:30-16:30 sights
- Ticket
- free town, 30-80 CNY combo tickets
- Suggested visit
- half day
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Why it's worth it
A 1,700-year-old water town at the end of Metro Line 17 — stone bridges over canals, teahouses with their feet in the water, and pockets of real residential life between the souvenir lanes. Zhouzhuang's quieter cousin, close enough for a half-day.
Don't miss
- Fangsheng Bridge — the five-arch stone giant that postcards of Jiangnan water towns are made of
- A hand-punted boat ride through the back canals past hanging laundry, not just gift shops
- North Street's old shopfronts at lunch — noodles in soup with river shrimp
Getting there
Metro Line 17 to Zhujiajiao terminus, then a 15-minute walk or short hop by cart to the old town entrance.
Tips
- Half a day is plenty — go morning to beat both crowds and tour buses, back in the city by mid-afternoon
- Entry to the town is free; the combined ticket for the small museums is optional and skippable
- Weekday vs weekend is the difference between a town and a queue — go Tuesday if you can
Photos
More in Shanghai
- Yu Garden
Ming dynasty rockeries, pavilions and the zigzag bridge of City God Temple area.
- Shanghai Tower
China's tallest building; observation deck on the 118th floor.
- The Bund
Colonial riverfront facing Pudong's sci-fi skyline; walk it at dusk both ways.
- The Bund
Shanghai's calling card and a microcosm of its modern history: a 1.5 km riverside stretch on the west bank of the Huangpu River, running north from Waibaidu Bridge (Garden Bridge) to Yan'an East Road, is lined with 52 historic buildings in Gothic, Baroque, Art Deco and other styles, collectively known as the "World Architecture Exhibition"
- Lujiazui 'Big Three' Viewing
The heart of Pudong's financial-district skyline: Shanghai Tower, at 632 m China's tallest building, rises in a twisting spiral form that reduces wind load; its 546 m "Top of Shanghai" observatory ranks among the world's highest, and on floor 125 you can see the thousand-ton damper nicknamed the "magic needle that steadies the building"
- Oriental Pearl Tower
A 468 m TV tower completed in 1994, once the tallest tower in Asia: three 9 m-diameter slanted columns support 11 spheres of varying sizes, inspired by the verse "pearls large and small falling onto a plate of jade"