Private Shanghai tour: History Museum, Xintiandi, Shanghai Tower

Free cancellation

1/9

Duration9h–10h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · DE +4

PickupAt your hotel

A private guide means you move at your own pace through seven distinct Shanghai neighborhoods in a single day.

This private full-day tour of Shanghai pairs a knowledgeable guide with hotel pickup and covers People's Square, Shanghai History Museum, Shanghai Great World, the Bird and Flower Market, Xintiandi, the Former French Concession, Shikumen Open House Museum, Shanghai Tower's observation deck, and Yu Garden's Old Street. The guide speaks English, Spanish, French, German or another language of your choice, and the itinerary stays flexible—you choose how long to linger at each stop. Lunch, coffee, bottled water, and all attraction entry fees are included; you travel by public transportation (bus, metro, taxi) like a local rather than in a tour coach.

9h–10h

Step-by-step itinerary

The Experience

Your guide meets you at your hotel at 9 a.m. and the day starts at People's Square, the geographic center of Shanghai and the boundary between East and West Nanjing Road. The square sits on the site of a 19th-century racetrack—the "No. 1 Racetrack in Far East"—and the ruins of the original main building still stand at the northeast corner. From there you walk to Shanghai History Museum, where over 400 cultural relics trace Shanghai's 6,000 years of civilization from ancient times to the modern era.

The afternoon splits across the neighborhoods that define how Shanghai actually lives. Shanghai Great World, a former nightlife hub in the foreign settlement, still houses the "magic mirrors" brought from the Netherlands decades ago and a street of small eateries behind it where lunch happens. The Bird and Flower Market near the crossing of Tibet and Fangbang Roads fills with flowers, bonsai, birds, fish and crowds hunting for whatever catches their eye—a genuine local scene, not a tourist overlay. Xintiandi preserves Shikumen architecture (the narrow stone-gate houses built in the 1920s) in its northern section while the south shows modern design; the result is a pedestrian street of outdoor cafes, bars and restaurants that represents how the city's new generation actually spends leisure time. The Former French Concession, tree-lined and quiet, holds European villas and early-20th-century buildings that feel utterly separate from Shanghai's skyscraper core. The Shikumen Open House Museum, a renovated 1920s house, walks you through seven rooms—guest room, study, old people's room, master room, daughter room, pavilion room, oven room—that show how a Shikumen family lived and what the architecture meant to daily life.

The day ends at Shanghai Tower, the city's tallest building at 632 meters. The express elevator reaches the 118th floor in 55 seconds at 18 meters per second, opening onto the world's highest indoor observation deck. You have time to stop, look out over both sides of the Huangpu River, and drink coffee or tea on the 119th floor—if the weather holds, you'll catch the sunset. From there the guide transfers you back to your hotel by public transportation, ending around 6 or 7 p.m. depending on how the day unfolded.

What’s included

Knowledgeable private guide in your choice of language.
hotel pickup at 9 a.m.
lunch at a local eatery.
coffee or tea on Shanghai Tower's 119th floor.
bottled water throughout the day.
entry fees to Shanghai History Museum, Shanghai Great World, Shikumen Open House Museum, Shanghai Tower's observation deck, and Yu Garden.
public transportation (metro, bus, taxi) for all transfers between stops.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePets welcome

Operated by MoreFunAsia

Is this one for you?Book this tour if you want to move through Shanghai at your own pace with one guide who knows the city, rather than on a fixed group schedule. The private format means you can linger in the Former French Concession or spend extra time at Xintiandi without holding up other travelers, and the guide adjusts the day around what actually interests you.

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