Five Things to Expect During Your Shanghai Visit

When we provide tours to customers visiting Shanghai, we strive to make everything as smooth as possible. Many of the things we do such as scope out restaurants, plan the best routes to sites and order cars in advance are not even seen by the customer. But regardless of how much we plan, there are some things that are out of our control. This is especially true when you consider that one goal we have for customers (and they usually desire) is to provide as authentic of a local experience as possible. 

When you visit, here are some that may seem unexpected to you, but something that we see regularly and ask you to plan for: 

1. Your credit card won't always work - Many shops and restaurants will take Western credit cards with no problem, especially the larger ones and those targeting westerners. But many of the smaller shops and local, authentic restaurants will only accept cash or a local credit card. While ATMS are very common, scrambling to find one at the last minute is no fun. To avoid any problems, you should always have at least 1000RMB (about 150USD) in cash. You never know when you want to buy something or just pay for a meal. 
2. You may not get a sit-down toilet (or one at all) - The sit-down toilet has become more common in Shanghai, but the traditional Chinese toilet is basically a porcelain hole in the ground. Many Westerners find this uncomfortable (to say it nicely.)  Many of the more authentic restaurants, public toilets and even train stations will only have traditional toilets. Our only advice is to use the bathroom whenever the toilet of your choice presents itself. And if nature does call when one is not available, keep an open mind and go local :) 
3. Taxis are getting (MUCH) harder to flag down - With the growing popularity of Didi and other taxi-APPs, it's getting very hard to find a Taxi on the street that you can just raise your arm and flag them down. This is especially true when it rains since everyone wants a taxi at once! This can be very frustrating since using the apps is not easy for westerners since most drivers don't speak English and GPS is never perfect. When you need a car, always order one from the hotel in advance or of course, our guides can help. 
4. Traffic and crowds are part of Shanghai life - Popular Shanghai sites can have a wide range of crowd sizes depending on the time of year and particularly during holidays when the Chinese have time to travel. Traffic in Shanghai can also be difficult during peak hours. We will always try travel at the best times and to warn you if large crowds are expected, but just expect that sometimes there will be large crowds. We just ask visitors to accept that crowds, traffic and the associated delays are a fact of life in large cities such as Shanghai.
5. Seeing everything in one day is not a good idea - We recently received one a tour request that had (literally) ten different sites listed from all over Shanghai... all in one day. We know you have limited time, but trying to see too much in a day just makes you (and your tour guide) too tired to enjoy it! We will need to rush you from site to site and not even have time to go inside many sites. We try to fill the day with you as best as possible to see the most you can, but also ensure we have time to rest, share interesting information or have a snack. 

Working with a tour guide is two-way relationship. Our guides are super-flexible and are happy to change itineraries at any moment, but we also ask that visitors understand that not everything is in our control. We hope to see you in Shanghai soon!