Shanghai's Pudong from river level to the 118th floor

River level along Binjiang Avenue

Lujiazui Riverside Promenade (Binjiang Avenue) is that walkway, raised stone with glass balustrades and benches set under plane trees. The Bund's 1920s stone facades stand directly opposite across brown water, and tugs and container barges work the channel between. It is free, open around the clock, and the best place to see the Bund as a whole.

The promenade is public space with no door policy. Cafés along it let you wait out a shower without buying a tower ticket.

Lujiazui Circular Skywalk is a near-400-metre circular steel pedestrian bridge, 5.5 metres above the traffic roundabout and wide enough for fifteen abreast. The three supertowers rise on all sides of it and buses stream underneath. It is where the ground-level photograph of all three towers together gets taken, and standing there costs nothing. Keep to the side at the photo spots.

The bridge links the metro, Super Brand Mall and the river walk, so you move around Lujiazui without crossing traffic.

Oriental Pearl Cruise Dock (2852 Binjiang Avenue) is a floating pontoon under the Pearl Tower's legs, where double-deck sightseeing boats load passengers for their open top decks. A 45-minute sailing starts at ¥105 to ¥110. A combined tower and cruise ticket is ¥259. Boats run 10:00 to 22:00, and the neon skyline reflects on the water from the 19:00 departures onward.

Guided evening cruises leave from here every day of the week. Pre-book a dated sailing to hold a departure time.

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel moves driverless glass pods under the Huangpu through strobing LED tubes and fog jets, lit purple and green. It is kitsch, and it is the fastest crossing from the Bund that involves no walking. A single ticket is ¥50. Tickets bundling one or both themed exhibition halls are ¥90 and ¥130. It runs 09:00 to 22:30 with last entry at 22:00, and weekends are busy. The ¥2 ferry makes the same crossing.

Which observation deck to pay for

Shanghai Tower Observation Deck on the 118th floor is the highest in Pudong, and from it every other tower sits beneath you. The curved window wall looks straight down onto the Jin Mao pagoda crown and the trapezoid top of the bottle-opener next door, with the river bend wrapping Lujiazui. Adult entry is ¥180. The combined ticket adding the 125/126 decks is ¥268.

The tower opens 08:30 to 22:00 with last entry around 21:30. Tickets are timed and sold through the tower's own ticket office, which also handles charters; large parties should pre-book a slot.

Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory holds the Sky Walk, the glass-floored corridor where visitors stand on transparent panels above the rooftops of Lujiazui. That is the most physical thrill of the Pudong decks. The 94th-floor ticket is ¥99 and all three levels cost ¥180. It opens 10:00 to 22:00, last admission 21:30. The deck looks across at Shanghai Tower.

Ticketing is in a separate hall with several windows. Queues build at weekends, so buy ahead for a Saturday or Sunday visit.

Jin Mao Tower 88th Floor Observatory is cheaper and quieter than its two neighbours, and half of what you came for is indoors. A railing looks down a 33-storey circular hotel atrium that spirals away like a drill bit. The outside is art deco, stepped ribbed steel and glass. Adult entry runs ¥120 to ¥180, concessions ¥90, and typical hours are 08:30 to 21:30. The atrium rail is narrow, so split a big party.

Oriental Pearl Tower is the building most people picture when they picture Shanghai, and the busiest attraction in Lujiazui. Eleven legs carry the pink-and-grey concrete shaft and its two spheres, and a 259-metre all-glass suspended walkway rings the lower ball with river ferries crawling beneath. The base holds a city-history exhibition, the only one at a Pudong tower.

Tickets come in tiers A, B and C. The standard ticket is ¥199, the 350-metre sphere takes it to ¥259, and the revolving-restaurant buffet to ¥368. Hours are 09:00 to 21:00 with last entry at 20:00. This is the longest queue in Pudong, so arrive at opening. Coaches have their own drop-off.

Drinks at height in Lujiazui

Flair Rooftop Restaurant & Bar has the highest al-fresco terrace in the district, on the 58th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in IFC. Low sofas and fire bowls sit at the parapet and the Oriental Pearl Tower stands lit almost at eye level. Cocktails run ¥130 to ¥180, and terrace tables carry a minimum spend. It is open 12:00 to 01:00, later on Friday and Saturday. Dress is smart casual, the rail seats need a reservation, and the terrace closes in bad weather. The bar takes group bookings and will buy out the terrace for an event.

Cloud 9 occupies the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower, higher than the observatory downstairs in the same building, inside 360-degree glass with art-deco metalwork. Cloud sometimes streams past the windows below the room. Drinks start at ¥120 and prime window seats carry a minimum charge. It is indoors only and open until 01:00 daily, which makes it the fallback when rain shuts the open terraces. Book ahead for a window table.

Museums on Century Avenue and the riverbank

Museum of Art Pudong is a white stone box by Jean Nouvel on the riverbank, and its full-height glass Mirror Hall frames the Oriental Pearl Tower live inside the window like a hanging painting. This is the serious art stop on the Pudong side. Admission is ¥100 on a weekday and ¥150 on a weekend fixed date. An evening ticket after 17:00 is ¥80 to ¥120, the cheapest good skyline view in Pudong. Doors stay open to 21:00, last admission 20:00. Tickets are timed, and a cloakroom and lift access are inside.

Shanghai Museum East (Century Avenue) is a pale curved-stone cliff of a building holding China's best classical art collection. Inside, a spiral of bronze-age ritual vessels gives way to Ming furniture and jade under pinpoint spotlights, around a five-storey atrium stair. Individuals walk into the permanent galleries free with ID through the B1 East Gate and need no reservation. Special exhibitions cost extra, and the Curio-City and Digital Gallery need advance booking. Hours are 10:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:00.

Shanghai Science and Technology Museum reopened on 17 February 2026 after a three-year, ¥820m rebuild with ten new halls, so it is effectively a new museum. The building is a glass-and-steel sphere set into a sweeping curved facade at the edge of Century Park. A rainforest hall keeps live animals indoors, and the interactives cover AI and quantum physics. Entry is modest and the giant-screen and dome cinemas are charged separately. Ten permanent halls spread the crowd out. It opens Tuesday to Sunday.

The aquarium and IFC Mall out of the weather

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium is the Lujiazui attraction that works in rain and with bored children. A 155-metre curved acrylic tunnel carries you along on a moving walkway while sand tiger sharks and rays pass overhead in blue light, and the tanks hold Chinese sturgeon and a giant salamander. Entry is ¥180 for an adult and ¥90 for a child through the aquarium's own WeChat system, and a family booking takes ¥10 off per ticket for up to three companions. For most of the year it opens 09:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:30.

Shanghai IFC Mall is the sheltered half of Lujiazui, a polished-stone atrium under twin office towers with flagship boutiques, a basement food hall and a direct tunnel from Lujiazui metro. Apple's sunken glass cylinder marks the entrance outside. Coffee is ¥35 to ¥50 and the restaurants climb to fine-dining prices. It opens 10:00 to 22:00 daily with no door policy, and it is where you eat, find a clean toilet and wait for a tower slot without going back outside.

Best time to go

Plan the day around the light. Take Shanghai Tower late, skip hazy afternoons, and leave the river sailing until 19:00 or after, when the lights are on.

Weekday late mornings in IFC Mall are near-empty, the easy hour to sit before an afternoon deck slot. Weekends push the ticket halls and the Pearl Tower queue hardest.

The aquarium extends its closing to 21:00 in the school holidays between 1 July and 31 August and on some festival days.

Whether to buy a deck ticket

Pudong suits a visitor with half a day and a head for height, since four paid decks, a free bridge and a free promenade sit within a few hundred metres of one another. Paying buys you a window and the drop beneath it. The promenade and the skywalk give you the three towers and the Bund for nothing, and the 45-minute sailing gives you the lit skyline from the water. Pay for one deck and spend the rest of the time at river level.

Closed days and what to book

Shanghai Museum East closes on Tuesdays except public holidays and the science museum closes on Mondays; everything else here runs daily. Book the Shanghai Tower slot, a weekend observatory ticket, the Flair rail seats and a Cloud 9 window table in advance. See the Shanghai guide and the Shanghai hotel search.