Choosing a Shanghai Observation Deck: Comparison and Tips

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Before visiting Shanghai, I definitely knew, I wanted to go up one of the Shanghai towers’ observation decks. I absolutely love viewpoints and some of the world’s highest towers were of course on my to do list. There are 4 major observation decks in Shanghai’s Pudong area, which are all worth a visit, but with limited time a traveler has to choose one of them. If you don’t know which one to choose, you are like me before this trip. It was a tough choice, which one I wanted to go up to. All of them have their charm and reasons, why you would want to visit. So here is the breakdown of the major options, so that you can choose the best for your taste.

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Shanghai Observation Deck Comparison

Shanghai Tower

Price: 180 yuan for 118th floor, 268 – 118th plus 126th Floor Damper Show. You can buy tickets on the spot, however, if you don’t wish to queue, then you can buy them on either Trip.com website or Klook.

Obviously, China’s tallest and the world’s third tallest building (after Burj Khalifa and Merdeka 118) was on my list. The observation deck is located on 118^th floor. It is quite convenient to visit, with less queues and crowds than Oriental Pearl Tower. Being the tallest building around, it also gives a bird’s eye view over the whole city. Its elevator also looks fascinating. I saw a number of photos with the views from there and they definitely are fascinating. But having neither an open observation deck nor the glass floor made this not so appealing to us.

Jin Mao Tower

Price: 120 yuan for observation deck, 388 – for observation deck + skywalk. You can find discounts on Klook and Trip.com if you buy online.

Jin Mao tower interested me a lot. This was the tallest building till 2008, when Shanghai Financial tower was completed. But the reason for my interest was that they have a cool Sky Walk. This means, that they allow you to go out on the 88^th floor. You can walk across the glass walls on a glass floor, while you are securely fastened to the building with the special equipment. If you are not faint hearted and like heights, this is definitely for you.

I was certainly considering this one, despite its exorbitant price. But the day we visited was windy, so it was unfortunately closed, as the weather conditions are always taken into consideration for safety reasons. Otherwise, the observation deck is not so special, so we decided against visiting this one.

Shanghai Financial Tower (IFC)

Price: 135 yuan for all floors. Online tickets on Klook and Trip.com.

This used to be the most popular and tallest building in the city before Shanghai Tower was built. It remains the second tallest building in Shanghai. It has a corridor with the floor to ceiling windows and a glass floor on the 100^th floor. Seeing the photos of this though didn’t impress me as much, given that glass floor tiles are smaller. I heard from the people who visited that the glass floor doesn’t give much of a view.

Oriental Pearl Tower

Price: 195 yuans for two balls including outdoor observatory and sightseeing galeria, 399 yuans for three balls with space capsule and light show.

This is definitely not the highest building in Shanghai and your views won’t be as high, as from other skyscrapers – though it does have nice closer views of the surrounding area. This tower is also oldest on the list. Main reason for my visit was that it has a lovely glass floor and it didn’t disappoint.

Visiting Oriental Pearl Tower: Our Glass-Floor Experience

Tickets for Oriental Pearl Tower

There are two ticket options to visit the tower:

Tickets for the lower floors, up to 259 meters. This one has the nicest views and the glass floor. Cost: 195 yuan;
Tickets including the small space capsule with the light show at 351m. Cost: 399 yuan.

We didn’t care about any other offers the tower was making – like the space capsule, multimedia show or the museum, so we opted for the simplest and cheapest ticket, which gave us access to 259 m.

You have an option of buying the tickets on the spot, however, depending on the time you are visiting, it may be very crowded. During popular periods, like summer months, national holidays or weekends, you are better off buying tickets in advance. If you decide to buy tickets online, you can do so on Klook or Trip.com.

The Queues at the Oriental Pearl Tower

I had heard about the nightmarish queues, so we prepared ourselves for the long wait. While buying tickets on the spot was not difficult, we did have to wait for the elevators. I would say we waited about half an hour for the way up and a bit less for the way down. There were tons of people upstairs too. There are certainly not enough facilities to accommodate everyone, who wants to visit.

Despite this, we loved our experience and if you don’t mind the heights, I would recommend visiting this tower. The glass floor was awesome. We took hundreds of photos (some people even thought we were doing some photoshoot :D) and spent a lot of time there.

What to do Next in Shanghai

After coming down, we visited the Yang’s Fried dumplings near the Oriental Pearl Tower. I read good reviews about the place, but it wasn’t to our taste so I have no idea why people like it. The dumplings were extremely greasy and didn’t taste at all. We tasted a number of other dumplings in China and this was by far the worst in my opinion. However, people do love it, so we just have different taste. Oh, well, I didn’t expect much so close to the Pudong attractions anyway 🙂