Shanghai · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A costly city with a cheap spine: metro, dumplings, and a riverfront that charges nothing.
Former French Concession
Hostels hide in lane houses around Jing'an and the plane-tree streets south of Huaihai Road — walkable, leafy, and close to two metro lines.
What a day costs
Around ¥200–400, roughly $28–55: dorm ¥80–140, noodles and dumplings ¥60–120, metro ¥15–25, one museum or bar on top.
Metro passes and the maglev
Fares run ¥3–9 and a one-day unlimited ticket costs about ¥18. The maglev reaches Pudong airport in eight minutes for less than a taxi tip.
Free by day
The Bund promenade, the Shanghai Museum on a booked free ticket, and the lanes around Yu Garden bazaar all cost nothing to walk.
The Bund at dusk
Everyone ends up on the elevated walkway when the Pudong towers light. Afterwards, the sunken bar courtyard at Found 158 in Jing'an runs late.