Oriental Pearl Tower

Honest framing first: the Oriental Pearl Tower is no longer Shanghai's highest viewpoint, and it has not been since the newer Lujiazui towers overtook it. What it still owns is the skyline itself. Completed in 1994, the 468-metre broadcast tower with its eleven pink-tinted spheres was the first tall thing on the Pudong side, and it remains the building everyone photographs from the Bund. Going up it is as much about standing inside the city's most famous silhouette as about the view.

Pick your level

Tickets are tiered by height, so know the levels before you buy:

• 259 m, Transparent Observatory: the glass-floored outer corridor, the tower's best feature. You walk a full circle on glass with the river and traffic straight below.
• 263 m, Sightseeing Galleria: the main indoor deck inside the largest sphere, 360-degree windows.
• 267 m, revolving restaurant: a full rotation roughly every 90 minutes while you eat.
• 351 m, Space Module: the highest pod, small windows and a sci-fi fit-out. A premium add-on that most visitors can skip; the 259 m glass floor is the memorable part.

At the base, the Shanghai City History and Development Exhibition Hall recreates old Shanghai with life-sized street scenes and vintage trams. It comes bundled with most combination tickets and deserves a full hour.

Worth it versus Shanghai Tower?

If you want maximum altitude, the 632-metre Shanghai Tower across the street goes far higher. Choose the Pearl for the glass-floor circle, the history museum and the retro-icon factor; choose Shanghai Tower for the biggest view. Doing both on the same day is overkill for most people.

Tickets and queues

Buy a timed ticket in advance rather than at the door; pricing is tiered by how many spheres you visit and changes often enough that you should check current rates when you book, at the ticket office, on the tower's official channels, or in English through platforms like Klook. The tower opens daily from morning until late evening (generally about 08:30 to 21:30, last entry roughly an hour before closing). Lift queues peak sharply around sunset; on public holidays waits can pass an hour.

Getting to Lujiazui

Take Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui station, exit 1; the tower is a short signposted walk. From the Bund side, the river ferry is the cheap scenic approach, and the kitschy Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is the novelty one.

When to go up

Clear days right after rain give the sharpest visibility. Arriving late afternoon lets you catch daylight, dusk and the city lighting up in one visit; just accept the sunset crowds, or come at opening time for near-empty decks.