Short City Breaks: Enchanting Shanghai

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Shanghai is just a city to enchant and inspire. Beautiful landmarks such as the Jade Buddha Temple and the Yuyuan Gardens attest to its significant devote Chinese cultural history while the city's vibrant, bustling energy demonstrates its viable share in the future. This matchless synthesis of old and new ensures something for anyone and makes Shanghai the right city break for the whole family.

If you're arriving from Shanghai's Pudong airport, make a thrilling entrance into the town via the world's fastest train, the Maglev, which runs from the airport to the Lujiazui Financial district. Kids will like the way the train generally seems to "fly" over the ground, forced upwards into the air by virtue of a strong magnetic field. The possible lack of surface contact allows the train to reach incredible speeds: up to 433 km per hour. Be sure to show your airport ticket when you yourself have one; this grants you a small discount on the train ride.

An attractive in addition to educational place to start your exploration of the city may be the Jade Buddha Temple. Though built relatively recently (between 1911 and 1918), the temple's upturned pagoda-like eaves and scarlet and yellow walls draw on centuries of Chinese architectural tradition. After admiring the colorful exterior, take a consider the treasures inside, the center-piece of that is the temple's namesake: an enormous white jade Buddha, covered in jewels, measuring nearly 2 meters high and believed to weigh about one thousand kilograms.

After inspecting the cultural treasures in the temple, invest some time in the open air with a visit to the Yuyuan gardens. With its beautiful layout and harmonic mixture of water, plants, zigzagging bridges, and dragon-lined walls, the gardens offer an unequaled introduction to the Ming Dynasty classical style. Many of the buildings house cultural artifacts including centuries-old furniture, artwork and literature. Kids will enjoy the Exquisite Jade Rock, a 5-ton porous, translucent and oddly-shaped mineral. After wandering through the gardens, read the bazaar just outside and browse through traditional Chinese products and jewelry.

If you're tired after wandering through the gardens but still desperate to ingest the sights, consider a cruise on the Huangu River, the longest river that passes through Shanghai. You are able to select from several cruises which run from 30 minutes to 3.5 hours. This is a great, relaxing solution to ingest both historic and modern components of the city. You'll overlook British colonial architecture on the city's historic east side (Bund) in addition to the futuristic skyline on the present day east side (Pudong).

After taking in the cultural sights of Shanghai, you will want to indulge in a little shopping? A fantastic place to begin is Xintiandi, a pedestrian zone shopping center built in restored shikumen, typically Shanghainese buildings which incorporate both Western and Chinese architectural styles. Combined with upscale shopping options, you can select from an array of international restaurants -- even the pickiest eater may find something to satisfy!

While it's still daylight, check out the very best of Jin Mao (literally "Golden Prosperity Building") tower to ingest the spectacular sunset over Shanghai's skyline. At 88 floors high, it's only been recently eclipsed as the second tallest building in china airport transfers.

End the afternoon with a bang by wowing the kids with the unforgettable spectacle of the Shanghai Acrobats. The jaw-dropping feats of strength and daring coupled with colorful costumes and props will keep everyone at the edge of these seats for your show.

Having its historical landmarks and vibrant cultural scene, Shanghai educates as well as delights the entire family.