The Bund

The Bund is a roughly one-kilometer promenade running along the western bank of the Huangpu River in central Shanghai. It's lined with around 52 monumental buildings — banks, trading houses, hotels, and clubs — mostly built between the 1860s and 1930s in a parade of Western architectural styles: Beaux-Arts, Art Deco, Gothic Revival, Romanesque. In its heyday, this strip was the financial capital of the Far East, controlled by British, French, American, and other foreign powers during the treaty port era. Today it's a UNESCO-recognized historic streetscape and one of the most visited urban waterfronts in the world.

The experience is fundamentally about contrast. You walk the elevated riverside promenade with the old colonial facades at your back and, across the river, the shimmering towers of Pudong — particularly the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Tower, and the Jin Mao Building — rising up in front of you. It's one of the great urban views anywhere. During the day, you can read the plaques on each building and trace the history of each former institution; at night, both sides of the river light up dramatically, and the Bund becomes genuinely spectacular. The promenade is always busy, but there's room to stroll, stop, and take it all in.

For the best experience, arrive early morning — around 6 or 7am — when locals practice tai chi along the water and the crowds haven't yet arrived. The northern end near Waibaidu Bridge (the historic iron bridge built in 1908) is slightly less trafficked and worth the extra few minutes' walk. If you want to go inside the buildings, the former HSBC Building (now a bank) occasionally opens its ornate mosaic lobby, and the Waldorf Astoria occupies the old Shanghai Club — the Long Bar in the lobby is one of the better spots for a drink with genuine historic atmosphere.