What should I avoid in Shanghai?

The tea ceremony scam is Shanghai's most persistent con, and it runs on a simple script. A pair of friendly twenty-somethings will approach you near the Bund or along Nanjing Road East. They'll ask to practice their English or take a photo together. After 5 or 6 tea samples at a 'traditional tea house,' the bill arrives at ¥1,500 to ¥3,000 per person. The 'students' vanish before your Alipay clears. The same pattern runs with 'art exhibitions' near People's Square, where you're walked into a small gallery and pressured to buy paintings at ¥2,000+. Anyone who approaches you on Nanjing Road East and suggests going somewhere together is working.

The Oriental Pearl Tower charges ¥220 for views at 263 meters. Shanghai Tower, 3 kilometers away in Lujiazui, reaches 561 meters for ¥180. That's twice the height for less money. Yu Garden is worth the ¥40 entry. The Dianchun Hall smells like damp wood and old lacquer, and the Ming-dynasty rockeries earn the price alone. But the surrounding Yuyuan Bazaar marks up xiaolongbao to ¥48 for 8 when Jia Jia Tang Bao on Huanghe Road sells better ones for ¥25. Nanjing Road East runs 5.5 kilometers of LED screens, chain stores, and souvenir shops at 3-4× Jing'an prices. Walk Nanjing Road West toward Jing'an Temple for actual Shanghai retail.

Pudong International Airport sits 30 kilometers east of central Shanghai. The licensed taxi queue is on the arrivals level, metered, and costs about ¥170 to People's Square. The unlicensed drivers who approach you inside the terminal will quote ¥400-600 for the same trip. Metro Line 2 covers the distance for ¥7 in about 70 minutes. The Maglev train runs the first 30 kilometers in 7 minutes and 20 seconds for ¥50. It connects to Longyang Road station, where you transfer to Metro Lines 2, 7, or 16. Worth noting, the Maglev hits its top speed of 431 km/h only during certain daytime runs. After 5:45pm it tops out at 300 km/h, which still beats any taxi.

Shanghai's plum rain season, called méiyǔ, runs from mid-June through mid-July. Temperatures sit at 28-30°C with 90%+ humidity. The air turns into a warm, sticky fog and everything smells faintly of mildew. Your clothes feel damp within 5 minutes of stepping outside the metro. July and August push past 37°C, and heat stroke sends tourists to Huashan Hospital every summer. If you visit between June and September, carry water and plan indoor stops between noon and 3pm. The Shanghai Museum on People's Square has free entry and cold air conditioning. Typhoon season runs August through October, and storms can ground flights at Pudong and Hongqiao for 24-48 hours.

Don't drink the tap water in Shanghai. Bottled water costs ¥2-3 at any FamilyMart or Lawson. Google Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram, and most Western apps are blocked in China. Download a VPN before you land at Pudong, because you won't be able to reach the App Store or Google Play to get one after arrival. An eSIM with a Hong Kong carrier number bypasses the restrictions and costs about ¥100-150 for 7 days of data. The fake market at AP Plaza sits directly underneath the Science and Technology Museum metro station on Line 2. First-quoted prices run 10× what the vendors will accept. Start at 15% and walk away once. They will follow you to the AP Plaza escalator.