Even if Shanghai offers a lot of different places to visit, China is a great country to travel in general. If you want to spend some days around this huge city, here are some really interesting destinations
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Hángzhōu 杭州
Hangzhou is only 180km far from Shanghai so it will take you an average 45 minutes to get there by train from the Shanghai South Railway Station.
Once you’re there, you can make your way through more than 40 different tourist places and create your own list. But the majority of the interesting ones are around the West Lake. You will enjoy it whatever the season but the best period to visit the city is during April and October. After walking around the lake, you can taste the famous food from Hangzhou and then make your selection among the different temples where the statues are impressive. Just one last advice, try to create your own list; the tourism agencies will maybe guide you through expensive places.
Sūzhōu 苏州
Based100km away from the West of Shanghai, this “Little Venice” is another pretty location to spend one or two days. The little stone bridges will seduce you and distract you from the subtropical weather, but be careful to avoid the city during August or you might be discouraged by the rain.
Among the different places that you are able to visit, do not miss the Beisi Pagoda (Běisì Tǎ 北寺塔) and its 9 floors which stand since the 14th century. The other one is the Lingering Garden (Liú Yuán 留园, categorized as World Heritage by the UNESCO) which is divided into 4 different places (where you will find some statues, bonsais, cave…).
The city is also famous for its embroidery skills, so do not hesitate to have a look at it.
Huángshān 黄山
Also enlisted as World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Yellow Mountain offer wonderful sceneries. About 500km southwest of Shanghai, 50km of scenic area and long walks are awaiting for you.
The famous spots are: the Sea of Clouds, the Oddly-Shaped Rocks, and the Imaginatively Named Pines; you can walk by the two lakes (Taiping and One Thousand Islets) and the three waterfalls (the “Renzi Waterfall", "Baizhang” and the “Jiulong Pu” which means “Nine Dragon Waterwall”).
You can climb most of the mountain by walking or by cable railway which can save you some time. Moreover, the walking routes do not have great scenery every time so you can make your choice regarding which part of the mountain you want to climb. You can have an idea of the sceneries by watching the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which is really famous as well.
Mògàn Shān 莫干山
This bamboo mountain is not really famous among the foreign community and the Chinese one as well, which is a pretty nice opportunity for you to discover this place without meeting anyone on your trip. So if you want to get away from the noise and lights of Shanghai, this is the perfect place to be. You can get there by taking a train to Hangzhou and then catch a van to reach the mountain.
Because this is not a typical destination for the foreigners, you will maybe face a lack of English signals but sometimes it is quite interesting to be left by yourself. The Chinese people will anyway manage to
help you finding your way and if you still have some problems. Just ask the driver to go to the “place where the foreigners gather” and you will surely arrive to a little and charming hotel restaurant which is hold by an English couple. So you will not have difficulties to have a typical western style breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Moganshan has some really charmful walking routes lost in the mountain; some of them will lead you to the top where the clouds often pass by.