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Shanghai Private Tours
Day Tour · Private

Shanghai Highlights Private Day Tour: Museum, Yu Garden, Tianzifang & Bund

Four of the city’s main places in one planned day.

Pavilion and pond in Yu Garden, Shanghai · Photo: Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 3.0

Duration
About 9 hours
Price
From US$220 (estimate)
Pace
Steady, with breaks
Pick-up
Your Shanghai hotel
The journey

Shanghai Highlights Day

“The art of Chinese gardens is to compress infinite nature into a finite space, where every window frames a painting and every pavilion offers contemplation.”

Ji Cheng, Ming Dynasty Master Architect & Author of Yuanye (The Craft of Gardens, 1631). Yuanye: The Craft of Gardens / UNESCO Classical Gardens

Ideal for

  • First-time visitors with one day
  • Cruise and layover guests

Getting around

Private air-conditioned vehicle

Pick-up: Your Shanghai hotel

Destinations

People’s Square & Shanghai Museum 人民广场 · 上海博物馆 · Yu Garden & the Old City 豫园 · 老城厢 · The Former French Concession 法租界 · The Bund & Pudong 外滩 · 浦东

Highlights

Moments to look forward to

  • Shanghai Museum
  • Yu Garden
  • Tianzifang
  • The Bund
Itinerary

Your day, unhurried

  1. Morning

    Shanghai Museum East

    Selected galleries with your guide, in Pudong.

    • SeeThe permanent galleries of bronzes, ceramics, jade, calligraphy and painting. The collection has over 120,000 pieces and the East building has 20 galleries, so we choose a few with you instead of rushing through all of them.
    • PlanWe drive to 1952 Century Avenue in Pudong and enter by the B1 East Gate near Dingxiang Road. The museum’s homepage lists East as open 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:00 and no booking needed for the permanent displays.
    • NoteEast is closed on Tuesdays except national holidays. If your day is a Tuesday we move the museum to another day or swap it for another stop. The People’s Square building shows only an Americas exhibition until 14 November 2027.
  2. Midday

    Lunch

    A table chosen with you.

    • PlanWe choose a table with you beforehand, so that you do not queue or search with a hungry group. Meals are paid by you and are not included in the price.
  3. Afternoon

    Yu Garden or Tianzifang

    Choose the garden or the lanes, or both if the pace allows.

    • SeeYu Garden (the Grand Rockery, 12 m) or Tianzifang (the 1933 shikumen lanes), or both if the pace allows.
    • PlanWe decide on the day, depending on how you feel after the museum.
  4. Evening

    The Bund

    A dusk walk along the 1.6 km riverfront.

    • SeeThe Bund, a 1.6 km riverfront of 52 buildings. The HSBC building was completed in 1923 and the Customs House in 1927. Across the Huangpu stand the Lujiazui towers, including the 632 m Shanghai Tower.
    • PlanYour guide walks the promenade with you and tells you which building is which. We time the walk for the light you want: late afternoon for the glow on the old buildings, dusk for the Pudong skyline lit up.

Included

  • Private air-conditioned vehicle with driver
  • English-speaking guide
  • Hotel pick-up and drop-off
  • Parking and road tolls
  • Bottled water

Not included

  • Entry tickets
  • Meals
  • Gratuities
Make it extraordinary

Private upgrades

  • 珍River cruise
  • 珍Dinner reservation
Before you go

Practical tips from official sources

Each tip names the page it comes from. These are published facts, not our own trip reports, and they can change; we re-check them before your date.

  • Shanghai Museum East lists opening hours of 10:00 to 18:00, with entry stopping at 17:00, and is closed on Tuesdays except national holidays; its permanent displays need no booking. This is from the museum’s homepage, read on 9 November 2026. Shanghai Museum homepage (Chinese)
  • Yu Garden’s ticket price is 40 yuan per person, per the Shanghai government page updated 22 October 2025. Tickets are extra on our tours, and prices change, so we confirm the current price before your date. Shanghai government, Visit Shanghai’s classical gardens
  • Tianzifang is near Metro Line 9’s Dapuqiao station. Xintiandi is near South Huangpi Road (Line 1), Site of the First CPC National Congress · Xintiandi (Lines 10 and 13) and Madang Road (Lines 9 and 13), per Wikipedia. We did not find official opening hours for either. Wikipedia, Tianzifang and Xintiandi
  • The Bund’s length is given as 1.6 km (one mile) by Wikipedia, but the Shanghai government’s scenic-spot index says “1.5-kilometer-long waterfront”. We use Wikipedia’s figure in our text. Wikipedia, The Bund
Choosing between tours

How this differs from similar tours

Frequently asked questions

How much does the Shanghai Highlights Day cost?

From US$220 per private group of up to 2 travellers, with driver, guide and vehicle (estimate). Entry tickets and meals are extra. We confirm the final price in writing within 12 hours.

Can you fit everything in one day?

We plan two or three main stops. If you want all four, we shorten each, and we say so in the quote.

Sources for the facts on this page

The places and figures named here were read from these pages on 2026-11-09. The route, timing and inclusions are our own plan.

Continue your journey

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