I recently returned from a trip to Shanghai that quite literally changed the way I look at travel in general – but more to come on that. I had previously been to Beijing, the Great Wall, and Hong Kong, but this trip to Shanghai opened my eyes to so much about China that most of us in the West just aren’t aware of. From all the Google searches before my trip to figure out what would work there and what wouldn’t to worrying about having the right credit cards, honestly all of that worry was for not. My trip to Shanghai was easy and had me fall deep in love with the city. So forget everything you know about China, here is what it’s actually like to travel to China right now from the US and all the tips I have for you before you visit!
You will need a Visa – but if you have a valid one in an old passport, that’s fine.
When we went to Beijing 9 years ago, we got a 10 year China visa and still have about a year left on ours now. It is, however, in our old passports, but that was totally fine. You will need a visa if you’re from the US but the process is fairly easy to go through and I share our journey here. With a visa though, you can have it in your current passport or an old one – just bring both if it’s in an expired passport, as long as the visa is still valid, it will be fine.
When we arrived, I was a little worried about entry just because of all the stuff we hear in the West about China – none of it was the case. Immigration was quick and easy and we were on our way into Shanghai for an incredible visit.
Ignore what you read on the internet – all my email and apps worked just like normal.
I read a lot on the internet about what works in China and what doesn’t because so much is blocked by China’s firewall. Last time we were in China we used VPN a lot but they have really cracked down on that so we wanted to try to go without it this time and we did the whole time. Here’s the tip – if you’re from the US and have data on your cell phone for your trip, just turn it on like normal when you land and it will connect to a local signal but keep the eSim data from somewhere in the US which means you have access to all the stuff that’s blocked in China like Gmail, Google, and Instagram. I had even set up a Yahoo email to forward emails too just in case I didn’t have access to all my Gmail accounts and in a funny twist of fate, Yahoo is actually blocked now in mainland China, but my Gmail worked totally fine as long as I didn’t connect to wifi.
On your computer, the tip is this – use your personal hotspot on your phone to connect to internet – you’ll get the same privileges that you get on your phone and all the apps and websites work just like normal!
Shanghai is a vibrant and international city.
I was truly blown away by Shanghai in a way I haven’t been by a place in a long, long time. While a huge city of some 27 million people, it never felt crowded, but it did feel vibrant and international. I actually said many times, it reminded me a lot of London and it quickly moved to the top of my list of top 5 favorite places I’ve ever been. So much so, that I’d love to go back in the near future and explore more!
A lot of people speak a little bit of English and we never had trouble communicating.
In Beijing a few years back, we definitely felt more of a language barrier. In Shanghai though, there wasn’t really a time during our 5 days there that we ever had trouble communicating. Most people spoke a little English, at least enough to get by, and we knew a tiny bit of Mandarin. Between that and Google Translate, we never had an issue. People were very willing to help and would give you the biggest smile when you started with “ni hao” and left with “xièxiè”. My dad speaks a little Mandarin and everyone was so excited when he would start speaking but overall, I found the people in Shanghai some of the kindest I’ve ever met while traveling.
Use WeChat and AliPay for payment but have some cash and your credit cards too.
Before we left, I had read that most of China pays digitally now with AliPay and WeChat so we downloaded both apps and set up our credit cards in them and we did end up using that the majority of the time. It’s basically like ApplePay but through a third party app and it was simple and easy. Some restaurants only took one or the other, so it was handy to have both. Also sometimes due to issues with the app, if it didn’t work, we would just use credit card but just make sure the place you’re in takes card – some of them didn’t – especially the smaller food spots. Cash was fine too and we had about $200 USD worth of Chinese yuan with us and we did end up using it for random small purchases, but honestly you could get by your whole time in Shanghai without any cash at all.
Download the DiDi app before you go.
Another app to download before going to China is DiDi – basically the Uber of China. And while I could download the app in the States before leaving, it didn’t actually start working properly until I was in China – once there, it was super easy to use and we took DiDi all over the city of Shanghai while there. It works exactly like Uber and Lyft do but it’s pretty cheap to get around this way and the app is super helpful finding where you are and getting you to where you need to be.
Shanghai is easy to get around – between DiDi, the Metro, and on foot.
We spent 5 days in Shanghai and were all over the city during that time. Between DiDi (see above) and walking, you can see a huge majority of the city. Shanghai also has an incredible skyline so those ways of seeing the city are the most scenic. The Shanghai Metro though was also super easy and efficient and we used that several times as well. In all honesty, it was one of the cleanest and easiest metros that I’ve used in cities all over the world and I think next trip, we would use that even more.
Shanghai is special.
I had heard this from people that have been to Shanghai prior to our trip, but I have to say, it’s undoubtedly true. It’s been a long time since I’ve fallen so hard, so fast for a place and Shanghai definitely was that for me. I was sad to leave and we had an incredible 5 days there, sure we’ll be back for a return visit. The city is fast paced but calming, intoxicating but familiar, bright, bright colors alongside historic structures. Shanghai is truly special and I can’t recommend it enough.
Heading to Shanghai?