Shanghai Trip Plan — 5-Day Itinerary
China🗓️ Best season: March to May and October to November — April and October are the sweet spots (15–25°C). Avoid the mid-June to early July plum-rain season, July–August heat and typhoons, and the 1–7 October National Day and 1–5 May Labour Day Golden Weeks (crowds and prices spike)
🛂 Visa from Pakistan: Visa REQUIRED for ordinary Pakistani passports — no visa-free entry and no visa on arrival. Apply online (COVA) and then submit your documents at Gerry's Chinese Visa Application Service Centre in Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi (by residence). Pakistani ordinary passports are exempt from the visa fee (PKR 0); the centre charges a service fee of PKR 13,200 (regular) or PKR 19,800 (express), including GST. Processing is about 4 working days. You will need a passport valid 6+ months with a blank page, a CNIC copy, a police character certificate (age 10 and above; apostilled by MOFA if it has no QR code), and a 6-month bank statement (about USD 100 per day). The Embassy lists the tourist (L) visa for groups of 5 or more with a group invitation letter from a Chinese tourism authority — check the official instruction page for your own case. Fingerprints are exempt for short stays of 180 days or less until 31 December 2026. Apply about 1 month before travel, and not earlier than 3 months before.
⚠️ Not visa-free: Ordinary Pakistani passports are NOT on China's visa-free list — only diplomatic and official passport holders are exempt (up to 30 days). Ignore websites that claim otherwise.
The Bund, the French Concession and a water town — China's biggest city in five days.
🌡️ Live weather: loading…
Route: No direct flights from Pakistan to Shanghai Pudong (PVG). The fastest one-stop is Islamabad–PVG in about 9h 35m–10h 45m via Beijing (Air China); also via Guangzhou (China Southern, about 12h 20m), or via Dubai, Doha or Bangkok from Karachi (about 13–16 hours in total). Pudong (PVG) is about 30 km east of the centre — the Maglev train reaches Longyang Road in about 8 minutes, then take the Metro; Metro and taxi cover the rest.
- Day 1: Arrive Pudong; Maglev + Metro into the city. Evening on the Bund — the skyline across the Huangpu River, then Nanjing Road pedestrian street
- Day 2: Yu Garden and the Old City, then the Oriental Pearl Tower / Shanghai Tower observation decks in Lujiazui
- Day 3: The French Concession — tree-lined lanes, Tianzifang, and Xintiandi in the evening
- Day 4: Zhujiajiao water town (day trip) or Shanghai Disneyland (full day) — pick one
- Day 5: Shanghai Museum and People's Square, last shopping on Nanjing Road, a farewell evening at the Bund; Maglev back to Pudong
What to carry & what you need:
- Your printed visa and passport (valid 6+ months)
- Return or onward ticket and hotel booking proof
- Bank card plus some yuan cash — set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you travel (cash is rarely used)
- A VPN installed before arrival
- Light layers and an umbrella in spring and autumn
- Your hotel address written in Chinese characters — useful for taxi drivers
Official visa page: Chinese Embassy in Pakistan — visa instruction (official) ↗
Note: Visa rules change — always re-check the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan's instruction page before you apply. A visa lets you travel to China; the final stay period is decided by the immigration officer.
Weather on this page is live at the moment it loads — always check it again on the day you travel, and follow official road and weather advisories. Photo: DvTor8303 — via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0).