Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Road)

Address: Shanghai
Admission: Free

ATTRACTION Keywords:
Walking/Hiking, Shopping / Entertainment Center, Street / Avenue

8:00 AM Sunday, May 26
Sunny. Mild.
7 day forecast

Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Road) is a shopping street with a history. When the British began trading in Shanghai after the Opium Wars of the 19th century, this was one of their commercial centers. In those days it was called Nanking Road, the 'k' being a more popular form of Anglicization.

Today it's not only the hectic heart of Shangai's shopping and tourism scene, but the longest shopping district in the world (6 km/3.5 mi of go-go-go). Even back in its earliest days when it served the International Settlement, it quickly became dominated by big department stores. The chains have well and truly moved in here, but really it's for the experience as much as anything that you should come.

The street is divided into two lengths, east and west. The eastern section is pedestrianized. Avoid the Western generic stuff and concentrate on what are still the Shanghai specialties - silk, jade, clocks. If it all gets a bit much, there's a sight-seeing trackless train that can take you the length of the street at night.

Latest Reviews

Add review

All Nanjing Lu (Nanjing Road) Reviews

Review by Melissa H, USA, June 2012
Doing what: Huangpu River Cruise and Bund City Lights Evening Tour of Shanghai

We were pleasantly surprised to have a private tour for the 4 of us! Rita (our tour guide) was friendly, informative, organized, and easy to understand. The river cruise was full of breath-taking views, and the walk down Nanjing Street was a great introduction to Shanghai. My father-in-law was having trouble walking, and Rita was flexible in her plans to include a trolley ride down Nanjing street so he could enjoy everything. I highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants to unique Shanghai experience!

Report problem

Review by DONALD C, USA, March 2012
Doing what: Huangpu River Cruise and Bund City Lights Evening Tour of Shanghai

Seeing the boats lit up on the river was nice but the boat was just crammed with people. Our tour had only a total of 5 people but combining many, many other tour groups made it a bit overwhelming. Riding the little tram going down the Nanjing center is pretty pathetic. Price is way too high for this tour.

Report problem

Review by Leanna M, November 2010
Doing what: Huangpu River Cruise and Bund City Lights Evening Tour of Shanghai

While the lights and skyline of Shanghai are lovely from the Bund, this tour experience was quite awful. We hope it was just the Expo crowds, but we were abandoned by our guide in the boat cruise queue for 40 uncomfortable minutes amidst a throng of drunken, shoving and rude non-English speaking tourists. It was impossible to hear the English narration on the cruise, so we have no idea what we were seeing. While the Nanjing Road trolley ride was somewhat better we were also accosted constantly by street vendors. We wish our guide would have a) protected us from the vendors more and b) provided some actual guide info/helped us understand what we were seeing. And most importantly, please do not EVER abandon a group on the street alone -- we paid for a service we did not receive.

Report problem

Practical Info

The Eastern section of Nanjing Road runs from The Bund to People's Square. The Western section runs from People's Square to the Jing'an Temple. You can take Line 2 of the subway and get off at either East Nanjing Road station or West Nanjing Road station.

Explore map