Shanghai with Parents and Kids: Getting Both the Night View and Short Walks

The Shanghai night view is really beautiful.

The Shanghai night view is really beautiful.

So you want to see it with your parents or kids, but on a family trip the way you choose a hotel is different from traveling alone.

Before the view out the window, what matters first is how much you walk each day and how many people can sleep comfortably in the room.

This article is about how to take care of both.

You can watch the night view from the riverside instead of the room

For a family trip, first decide whether you really need to see the Oriental Pearl Tower from the room.

If you go out to the Bund riverside, you see the Oriental Pearl Tower and the forest of towers across the river at a glance.

I tried taking photos with a phone, and they come out well no matter who takes them.

If you give up the room view, your choice of hotels gets much wider.

Instead, whether you can walk from the hotel to the Bund riverside becomes important.

If your kids are small or your parents walk slowly, this distance decides how tired you are each day.

The walk from an East Nanjing Road hotel to the riverside is in Walking from an East Nanjing Road hotel to the Bund.

Children's age rules differ by hotel

There's one thing to check before booking.

The age at which a child can stay free sharing the room's existing beds differs by hotel.

• At Grand Central Hotel, 11 and under are free, and from 12 they count as adults.
• At Puyan Hotel Shanghai The Bund and Hyatt On The Bund, 12 and under are free, and from 13 they count as adults.
• At Shanghai Marriott Marquis City Centre, 17 and under are free, and from 18 they count as adults.
• At JW Marriott Tomorrow Square, only 6 and under are free, and from 7 they count as adults.

If you're going with middle- or high-school-age kids, this difference is big.

Check it first in the policies on the hotel page.

Breakfast is priced by age at some places and by height at others

The way breakfast is priced also differs by hotel.

Where it's by age you only need the birthday, but where it's by height you need to know your child's height.

• At Puyan Hotel The Bund, children under 1.3m eat breakfast free.
• At Grand Central, the line is 1.4m, and children shorter than that pay half the adult rate.
• At Hyatt On The Bund and Marriott Marquis, 5 and under are free.
• At JW Marriott, 3 and under are free.

At all these hotels, breakfast is paid separately at the property.

Breakfast hours differ too, so if your child tends to sleep in, check the closing time.

Puyan Hotel ends at 9:30, while Marriott Marquis and Grand Central run until 10:30.

With parents: room size and the entrance

For a trip with your parents, look at Grand Central Hotel first.

The rooms are spacious and pleasant.

It's an especially comfortable hotel for parents or a big family to stay together.

The entrance is easy for getting in and out of a DiDi too.

The Deluxe Business Twin Room has two double beds and sleeps up to 3 adults.

There's also an indoor pool and sauna, nice for relaxing in the evening.

It's about a 10-minute walk to East Nanjing Road Station, a good location for going to see the Bund night view.

The housekeeping staff are thorough and handle requests well.

Check-in starts at 14h, so even if you arrive on an afternoon flight you can go straight to your room and rest.

If you want a bit more of a window view, also look at Radisson Collection Hyland.

If you get a high floor, some rooms see the Oriental Pearl Tower.

The standard rooms are on the small side, so if you have a lot of luggage, the Family Suite with a sofa bed is better.

The comparison of the two hotels is in Radisson Hyland vs. Grand Central.

With young kids: kids' rooms

If you're going with young kids, Puyan Hotel The Bund stands out.

It has kids' rooms with a slide and a ball pit inside.

It's a room where kids can start playing the moment they walk in.

They also have children's books and toys.

There's a self-service laundry room on the 4th floor, handy for washing kids' clothes.

You can see Suzhou Creek and the Oriental Pearl Tower out the window.

It's about a 5-minute walk to East Nanjing Road Station.

On the other hand, English doesn't work well, so you end up using a translator.

It's also a bit of a shame there's no full-length mirror in the room.

Check-in is after 16h, so if you arrive during the day, leave your bags and go out first.

If you ask for late check-out, they sometimes extend it to 4 p.m.

More about this hotel is in Puyan Hotel The Bund: watching the Bund night view with kids.

If you want to see the Oriental Pearl Tower head-on from your room, it's Hyatt On The Bund.

There are family rooms set up with a play tent.

If you have kids, the staff take thoughtful care of them.

It's about an 8-minute walk to the Bund.

There's an indoor pool, so you can splash around with the kids before heading out to see the night view.

The bathroom floor is marble and tends to be slippery.

If you're with kids or parents, be careful in the bathroom.

How to get a room facing the Oriental Pearl Tower is in Hyatt On The Bund: why to ask for the West Tower.

With older kids: People's Square

If your kids are older, Marriott Marquis City Centre is the one.

17 and under stay free when sharing existing beds.

It's about a 7-minute walk to People's Square Station, and you can walk to Nanjing Road and the Bund.

The Bund-view rooms look straight out at the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Kids really liked the scallion oil noodles and Shanghai-style pan-fried dumplings at breakfast.

There's also an indoor pool and hot tub.

The soundproofing is good, so you don't hear noise even in the middle of the night.

Keep in mind that check-in starts at 16h.

If your kids love museums, there's also JW Marriott Tomorrow Square.

It's about a 14-minute walk to the Shanghai Museum.

It has both an indoor pool and an outdoor pool.

On the other hand, from 7 they count as adults, so with older kids you need to think about a separate bed.

The hotel is old, so the shower booth is on the small side.

For a long stay, a room with a kitchen

If you're staying close to a week, there's also Citadines Apart Hotel Lujiazui.

It's an apartment-style hotel with a kitchen, and the room has a washing machine and a fridge.

You can do laundry and drying right in the room.

Children 12 and under stay free when sharing existing beds.

On the other hand, it's away from the riverside, so you get to the sights by taxi.

For the night view, go out to the riverside separately in the evening.

Think about Disney day separately

If your schedule includes Shanghai Disneyland, it's easier to think about that day separately from your night-view hotel.

Novotel Shanghai Clover is convenient because it has a round-trip shuttle bus to Disney.

It has theme rooms decorated with characters like Hello Kitty, which kids love.

There's also a kids' club and playground.

A robot brings delivery food to the room, which kids find amazing.

In the evening they lend foot baths, nice for easing fatigue after a day of walking.

On-site parking is free.

On the other hand, in the family room for 4, when one person uses the toilet, nobody else can wash inside.

If you book one night each before and after Disney, splitting between a city hotel and a Disney hotel, you move around less.

Plan the day like this

On a family trip, evenings are short.

To see the night view before the kids get tired, it's good to decide the order in advance.

• During the day, take a short walk near the hotel and rest once at the hotel in the afternoon.
• Head out to the Bund riverside around sunset. Lighting times are in When do the Bund lights turn on?.
• After taking photos at the riverside, walk back to the hotel. If the hotel is more than a 15-minute walk away, take a taxi back.

Doing it this way shows right away why the distance between the hotel and the riverside matters.

In short, choose like this

• If you're going with parents and long walks are hard, it's Grand Central Hotel.
• If you're going with young kids and want them to play in the room too, it's Puyan Hotel The Bund.
• If seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower from the room is the reason for the family trip, it's Hyatt On The Bund.
• If you're going with middle- or high-school-age kids, it's Marriott Marquis City Centre.
• If you're staying long and want to handle laundry and meals in the room, it's Citadines.

Other questions

Can three adults stay in one room?

At Grand Central, the Deluxe Business Twin Room and the Luxury Business King Room sleep up to 3 adults.

At Puyan Hotel, the Standard Two-Bed Room also has two double beds and sleeps up to 3 adults.

Which places have a pool?

Grand Central, Hyatt On The Bund, and Marriott Marquis have indoor pools.

JW Marriott has both indoor and outdoor pools.

What about rainy days with kids?

Ways to see the night view with kids on cloudy days are in Night views on cloudy or rainy days.

If you want to compare whole areas, see Shanghai Night-View Hotels: West Bank or Pudong?.

Prices change by date, so check them for your own dates.