Last verified: July 2026

Five days lets Shanghai breathe and adds the classic escape: three days in the city — old town, concession streets, Disneyland — then the 45-minute hop to Hangzhou for West Lake, the Lingyin temple and the calm of a tea-country wetland. It’s the most natural first extension out of Shanghai, and the high-speed rail makes it effortless. Year-round route.

Day 1: Shanghai — Old City and the Bund

City God Temple / Yuyuan Bazaar (1h) → Yu Garden (1h) → Nanjing Road (2–3h) → the Bund (evening)

The origin-city day: snacks in the City God Temple bazaar — lunch at Nanxiang for the soup dumplings that made the lane famous — the 400-year-old Yu Garden it surrounds (“advance reservation required; closed Mondays”), then Nanjing Road walked west to the Bund. Dusk on the Puxi (west) side: colonial waterfront behind you, Pudong’s skyline lighting up across the river.

Day 2: Shanghai — Concession Streets

Xintiandi (2h) → Huaihai Road (2h) → Wukang Road (1h) → Tianzifang (2h)

The city’s most walkable, most European day. Xintiandi’s restored shikumen blocks, the department-store elegance of Huaihai Road, the plane-tree villa-lined Wukang Road (the prow-shaped Wukang Mansion is Shanghai’s most photographed corner), and the lane-house maze of Tianzifang. This is the Shanghai international visitors fall for — leave time to simply sit in a concession café and watch it go by.

Day 3: Shanghai — Disneyland

Shanghai Disney Resort (full day)

The whole day inside the park. Arrive at opening, download the Shanghai Disney Resort app for live wait times and mobile ordering, and pace it your own way. Metro Line 11 to Disney Resort station. Then pack: tomorrow you move to Hangzhou.

Day 4: Hangzhou — West Lake

High-speed rail to Hangzhou (~1h) → West Lake (afternoon)

A slow morning, then the ~45–60 minute bullet train to Hangzhou (train booking options). Drop bags, eat, and spend the afternoon on West Lake — the lake that has defined Chinese ideas of scenic beauty for a thousand years. Its “one mountain, two pagodas, three islands, three causeways” framing carries the classic Ten Scenes; walk the Su Causeway, or take a rowing boat out among the islands. Sunset over the water earns the reputation.

Day 5: Hangzhou — Temple and Wetland

Lingyin Temple (2h) → Xixi National Wetland Park (afternoon) → evening train back

Morning at Lingyin Temple — Hangzhou’s oldest and most important Buddhist monastery, backed by the carved grottoes of the Feilai Feng (“Peak Flown From Afar”); note you buy the Feilai Feng scenic-area ticket first, then the temple ticket separately. Afternoon decompression at Xixi National Wetland Park — reed channels and waterways best seen from a hand-poled boat (the Non-Cha / “If You Are the One” filming location, for the film-literate). Evening train back to Shanghai closes the loop, or roll straight onward.

The practical layer

• The Shanghai–Hangzhou hop: trains run constantly from Shanghai Hongqiao to Hangzhou East in roughly an hour; no need to plan far ahead outside holidays, but booking on China rail booking system saves queueing (train booking options).
• Where to stay: central Shanghai (People’s Square/Nanjing Road) for Days 1–3; in Hangzhou, the West Lake shore or the Lingyin area for Days 4–5.
• Payments & maps: QR payments across both cities; Apple Maps works, Google Maps doesn’t: Alipay guide / China travel essentials.
• Entry: most Western passports enter visa-free for 30 days; Shanghai is also a 240-hour transit gateway: China visa-free policy.
• Want Shanghai alone, or a deeper Jiangnan loop? Shanghai 3-day itinerary / Shanghai 4-day itinerary / Hangzhou 3-day itinerary / Jiangnan 9-day itinerary

Every Trawoa itinerary carries a “Last verified” date — reservation rules, ticket structures and transit details were checked on the date shown. If the ground disagrees, tell us: hello@trawoa.com

Every Trawoa itinerary carries a Last verified date. Route logic and planning details were checked in July 2026. If the ground disagrees, tell us: hello@trawoa.com