Sunny Private Tours · Downtown Shanghai
A private guide picks you up downtown and builds your day from the Bund, Yu Garden and the old town, the Jade Buddha Temple, the French Concession and Nanjing Road. Pick it if you have one day and want someone else to handle tickets, transport and the route.
This is the most-reviewed private tour with Yu Garden on the route: 1,371 reviews and a 5.0 average. Sunny Private Tours sends a guide to your downtown hotel, and the day runs on a menu of stops from the listing: the Bund (30 minutes), Yu Garden (50 minutes) and the old town around it (60), the Former French Concession (50), Nanjing Road (90), the Jade Buddha Temple (60) and the Shanghai Tower (90). That adds up to more than seven hours before any driving or lunch. You won't do all of it. The guide shapes the route with you, and guests report changes on the day for rain, crowds and the Golden Week holiday.
Read the four options before you book, because they decide what the price covers. Uber/Metro Only and Guide Service Only are the cheap ones: you ride Didi cars and the metro, or bring your own transport. Private Guide & Car adds a driver. Only the Private All Inclusive Tour adds lunch and the Yu Garden ticket. On the other three you pay at the gate: 40 RMB per person in peak season, 30 RMB from 1 December to 31 March (official visitor page). The Shanghai Tower observation deck is extra on every option.
Two more caveats. The from-price is per person and tiered by group size: $115 is the lowest tier, so a couple or a solo traveller pays more per head. Set your real group size in the calendar. And Yu Garden is closed every Monday except public holidays, which the listing flags too, so a Monday tour drops the garden and leans on the temple, the Bund and the tower.
Your guide meets you at your downtown hotel. Pudong airport, Disneyland and other outskirts cost extra; the Wusongkou cruise port is USD 50 per group for 1 to 4 people, USD 80 for 5 or more.
The riverside promenade and its old banks, with Pudong's towers across the Huangpu.
Rockeries, ponds and the dragon walls of the Ming garden begun in 1559, then the old-town lanes, the Nine-Turn Bridge and the Huxinting teahouse in the free bazaar.
A local restaurant on the All Inclusive option. On the other options the guide suggests a place and you pay.
A working Buddhist temple. The listing's dress code: no sleeveless or crop tops, no sheer clothes, no shorts or skirts above the knee, no flip-flops.
Choose what fits: plane-tree streets, the shopping street, or the deck of China's tallest building (ticket extra).
★★★★★If your time in Shanghai is limited, this is a wonderful way to see the highlights of the city. Wing had a suggested itinerary but made it clear that it could be adapted to our needs. A private car and driver meant time getting to/from each stop was kept to a minimum.
★★★★★The private full day city tour was fantastic and a wonderful way to see and hear about the city. The tower was well worth the additional fee. Being early in the day, the queues were short and the view was clear. [...]
★★★★★Annie is an exceptional historian. [...] Annie will point out details that you would have otherwise not known or seen. Lunch was at a restaurant that she was able to convince to make a special meal that would comply with my food allergies and it was delicious.
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Only on the Private All Inclusive Tour option, which also adds lunch and the car. On Uber/Metro Only, Guide & Car and Guide Service Only you pay at the gate: 40 RMB per person in peak season (April to June, September to November), 30 RMB the rest of the year.
$115 is the per-person price for the largest group tier. Private tours here are priced per person by group size, so a couple or a solo traveller pays more each. The calendar shows your real price once you set the number of travellers.
Yu Garden is closed every Monday except Chinese public holidays, and the listing says so. The guide builds the day around the Bund, the old town and bazaar, the Jade Buddha Temple and the tower instead.
No. The listed stops come to more than seven hours before driving and lunch. Pick four or five with your guide; the old town and garden, the Bund and the temple make a common core, plus Nanjing Road or the tower.
Ready to book
Your own guide for a whole day: Yu Garden, the old town, the Bund, the Jade Buddha Temple and Nanjing Road, with hotel pickup.
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