Shanghai is visited by huge numbers of tourists every year, as there are so many places to visit. Shanghai streets are some of the most famous places in China. You can also find skyscrapers, gardens, rivers and museums in Shanghai.

Here are some places that are worth a visit during holidays to Shanghai:

The Bund – This place is known for its atmosphere, and musicians often play at night. You can spend a quiet evening here and observe the activities which take place on the Huangpu River. There are also many complexes located in this area.

Nanjing road – This is a well known shopping street, which is often compared to the Champs-Elysees in Paris. This is one of the most popular shopping streets in China and you can buy Chinese handmade crafts and many other unique gadgets and luxurious goods.

The Buddha Temple – The Buddha Temple is one of the most popular ancient locations in China. The statues of Buddha which are placed in the temple were specially brought over from Burma during the 19th century.

The Yuyuan garden – This is one of the most popular places in Shanghai, as it is a very old garden which was developed in 19th century. The garden is divided into three areas and each one of them are has a special theme.

There are number of festivals which are celebrated in Shanghai, so holidays during the festive season are particularly popular.

If you are a person who has interests in culture and history then considering holidays to Shanghai is a great option. Shanghai is one of the most loved places that tourists like to visit. There are many sights and locations to visit in Shanghai. A lot of places are extremely rich in culture whereas the others are of historical importance.

Apart from cultural and historical locations, Shanghai offers a variety of places that people can visit according to their interests. Shopping in Shanghai is one of the best activities. The following are some of the places that you should not miss visiting when you go to Shanghai for your holiday:

The Bund
What could be more attractive and soothing than to spend an evening at a place which has a blissful and relaxing atmosphere? The bund is a place that is decorated with beautiful lights and musicians play some wonderful music in the night time. It is the ideal place to spend a peaceful evening. You can also observe the various activities that go on around the Huangpu River.

Nanjing Road
This is the most popular and famous shopping street in the whole of China. This shopping street is compared to the Champs-Elysees of Paris. Nanjing Road grabs the attention over 1.7 million people on a daily basis. There are approximately 600 shops that are located throughout the street. If you are on a cheap holiday, you can still go shopping here. There are goods available at prices for every type of budget.

Apart from these two places there are various other wonderful locations that will make your holiday to Shanghai memorable.

The InterContinental Hotels Group have just managed to set a new unusual world record for the biggest bed-jump every seen involving 22,665 holiday makers and local people who bounced on huge beds for over 16 hours.

Each bed was 15 x 10 metres and especially built at four major cities across the globe; London, Shanghai, New York and Paris.

All the bed-jumping sessions were commenced by Olympic gymnasts James Higgins and Jaime Moore.

The Intercontinental Hotel Group decided to organise the bed-jumping world record for the launch of a their latest promotion where it is going to give away 5 million hotel rooms absolutely free to lucky holiday makers across 4,000 of the hotel group’s destinations in 100 countries worldwide.

Chief marketing officer of IHG Tom Seddon commented:

“We invited people to come and bounce on our massive beds to rediscover the fun of bed-jumping and put a smile on their faces. We felt it was the perfect way to celebrate the fact we’re giving away over 5m free nights available in over 4,000 hotels across 100 countries.”

Holiday Inn is currently being revamped by their holding company IHG and has a property which has just opened in the Chicago O’Hare area.

There is a large scale tourist festival which is held by Shanghai Tourism in September which takes place in the centre of the city called “walking into happiness and joy.”

The occasion is a huge joint venture which is sponsored by the Shanghai municipal people’s government tourism administrative commission along with Shanghai municipal culture and economic commission.

The festival is held on the third Saturday of September and continues to October 16th and not only does the city have much in the way of interest to holidaymakers but it is also the perfect festival for attracting the locals, helping them to further discover the history and fascination of ancient Chinese culture.

There is also much in the way of less traditional entertainment which will be held at venues across the city of Shanghai. The festival in 2005 included a “rose wedding” ceremony, street markets, float parades, a folklore tour of the city’s older streets and lanes, a huge Chinese festival at Yu garden with musical accompaniment and a huge firework display in Century Park.

Marking the opening ceremony each years is a huge and colourful parade which includes floats and performing entertainment. There have usually been over twenty floats in varying styles and over twenty individual performing teams who perform entertainment relating to the culture of each of their local areas.

Every September, Shanghai is full of excitement and buzz, as this is the largest festival in their calendar year and never fails to attract hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers.

Just recently the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) held a conference in China to discuss how the tourist industry has direct relevant impact on and from the global recession.

The conference pinpointed that the Pacific Asian market was the fastest growing in the tourism / holiday market throughout the world, however, it has also been directly affected by the recent economic down turn.

Tourist arrivals in the Pacific and Asia have been estimated to have increased to 3% from January2008 and October 2008, however this is a small rise in comparison to the 10.5% rise over the 12 months of 2007.

This now is a pattern that is being recorded in all world regions,though UNWTO are now stressing that holidays and tourism are emerging as ‘strong potential contributors for global economic recovery’.

Geoffrey Lipman, UNWTO assistant secretary general stated:

Tourism can deliver more than most sectors for the economy as a whole. Mobility is hardwired into the human gene. Tourism – for business and leisure – underpins trade, communication and modern lifestyles. It is one of the biggest export sectors and a vital increasingly important part of the development agenda.

The conference was a two day event and also covered the long term future of the holiday and tourist industry in general considering the positioning of the industry in facing the global economic challenges ahead.

In China, the first full moon of the New Year is a great reason to celebrate, and a great reason for travellers considering luxury holidays to choose this country, in particular the city of Hong Kon.

The annual Spring Lantern Festival is held in Hong Kong city to celebrate the first full moon and takes place at the beginning of February.

After the sun has set, thousands of lanterns light up the sky in Hong Kong.  Chinese tradition dictates that lanterns protect the people from different spirits, which can inhabit the physical world, and the lanterns guide them back to the land of the dead.  Visitors can buy local lanterns to take part, or just watch in awe at the vast number of lit lanterns trawling the streets.

Strangely, the festival is also considered an east-Asian Valentine’s Day as youths go on dates to celebrate their relationship during this festival.

This tradition celebrates good luck and fortune, so holidaymakers may wish to travel to Hong Kong at the start of February to experience the fun side of this impressive city.

In 2009, the Spring Lantern Festival is due on the 9th February so if you want to see Hong Kong at its best, book your flights now.

Those who are looking for luxury holidays to get away over the Christmas period may wish to take note of the recent announcement from the JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai.

The hotel has announced they intend to run a special ‘western style’ Xmas service this year to make visitors feel at home.  For anyone on a three night stay from the 24th December to the 27th December will be able to take advantage of luxuries such as a glass of Champagne upon arrival, daily breakfast, a Christmas hamper full of festive treats and a special Christmas Eve gala dinner.

Tomorrow Square’s Marriott Hotel Shanghai has described itself as:

‘the perfect integration of old and new, east and west’

The hotel has 342 guest rooms and suites and offers particularly impressive views of Shanghai from all restaurants, public areas and guest rooms.

The JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai also comprises two bars, both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, three restaurants, an award-winning spa and a 24 hour health club, all in the hotel’s grounds.

Tourist attractions close by include the Grand Theatre, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Shanghai Museum, as well as some great sights, restaurants and places to see.

2008 and 2009 have been announced as the Tour Taiwan Years, as Taiwan aims to attract a record-breaking number of tourists to the country.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau is organising different events and attractions and focussing on Taiwan as a fabulous destination for healthcare tourism.

As one of these attractions, Taiwan invited more than 2,000 to take part in a new Guinnes world record.  The record was for the largest number of people having a foot massage at the same time!  The invites included 1,000 foot reflexologists and around 850 tourists.  The previous world record was for just 200 reflexologists so Taiwan broke the record quite easily.

In addition, Taiwan is hoping to get the Guinness world title for the largest ever game of ‘head, shoulder, knees and toes’.

Taiwan has been described in a Lonely Planet travel guide as a:

“modern industrialised megalopolis clinging to the fringes of an ancient culture”

Flights to Taiwan are available from most major UK airports.

Around 50,000 tourists are expected to take flights to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

For those who have been before, they may be relieved to hear that many of their city restaurants are changing their menus to remove the strange and sometimes off-putting meal names.

For example, one delicacy was called ‘husband and wife’s lung slice’!  This meal will now be renamed to the slightly more aptly named ‘beef and ox tripe in chilli sauce’.  Similarly, ‘bean curd made by a pock-marked woman’ will be changed to ‘mapo tofu’ and ‘chicken without sexual life’ to ’steam pullet’.

Although these names, which amount to around 2,000 different meals, are being renamed, some fear the changes are removing some of the individuality of the city.  The names have been published in a book that is being passed around between the Beijing hotel chains and restaurants.

One hotel manager said:

“Thanks to the pamphlet, we do not have to struggle to come up with the English translations of dishes any more, which is usually time consuming.”

The Chinese meal names were often based on the appearance of food and were intended to have an element of fun.  In comparison, our western names are based purely on ingredients and the way in which they have been cooked.

The 2008 Olympics will commence in Beijing on the 8th August.

The name “Shanghai” is made up of two Chinese Characters that mean up or on or above the sea. Shanghai is becoming a hotspot of modern China, a cosmopolitan going through a swift cultural change. Shanghai is one of the busiest ports in the world and is the business centre of China.

Shanghai may not have the grandeur of Beijing or Xi’an but it boasts of some lovely sites. A short distance of 40 km away is the ancient China. Yuyuan is an old Chinese garden in the old part of Shanghai. The four hundred year old garden has beautiful pavilions, miniature lakes, crisscrossing bridges and enchanting rockeries.

The Jade Buddha Temple or Yùfó Sì is an active Zen Buddhist monastery. It’s popular tourist attraction are the two gorgeous white jade Buddhas and the monks’ serving ceremony. Shanghai Museum on People’s Square houses ancient Chinese art. The museum has a big collection of ceramics, calligraphy, bronzes, ancient coins and paintings.

The Bund is a famous tourist attraction. It has 52 buildings influenced over hundreds of years by European architecture. They all face the Huangpu River. The Bund waterfront has smart restaurants and shops.

Zhujiajiao is Shanghai’s Venice. It is a 1700-year-old water town. The town is crisscrossed with ancient bridges. The bridges, the ancient North Street and Ke Zhi Yuan (Course Plant Garden) were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Shanghai is a must-see city for anyone who visits China.