The Bund costs nothing, never closes and needs no booking. It is a 1.6 km strip of riverfront on the west bank of the Huangpu with 52 buildings along Zhongshan East Road, most of them banks, hotels and trading houses from the first half of the twentieth century, and a raised promenade along the water. Across the river stand the Pudong towers. The renovated waterfront reopened on 28 March 2010.
Almost everybody comes once, at night, from East Nanjing Road, and meets everybody else doing the same thing. This guide is about doing it a little differently: when the lights actually come on in 2026, which buildings are worth knowing by number, where the view is better than the promenade, and how to get there during a holiday when the nearest metro station shuts. It pairs with our Yu Garden guide, ten to fifteen minutes’ walk to the south.
- Cost
- Free, open 24 hours
- Lights on
- 19:00 daily in summer 2026; 18:00 on holidays
- Lights off
- 23:00 in summer; plan on 22:00 in winter
- Metro
- East Nanjing Road, Lines 2 and 10
- Walk
- 30–40 min end to end without stops
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Length, building count and reopening: Wikipedia. Lighting: Guangming Daily (27 Aug 2026) and The Paper (20 Aug and 30 Sep 2026), detail below. Walking time: Nomadotravel.
The Bund light show: what time, and for how long
The lighting is not a show with a start and an end so much as a switch. Every evening at 19:00, 38 buildings and nearly 30,000 fixtures come on in under ten seconds, and they go off at 23:00. That is the summer 2026 schedule as reported by Guangming Daily in August and confirmed by The Paper. There are three modes, for ordinary days, holidays and special events.
On holidays the lights come on an hour earlier. For the National Day holiday, 30 September to 7 October 2026, the city announced 18:00–23:00 and called it “one hour longer than winter hours”. New Year 2026 ran 18:00–23:00, with 18:00 to 00:15 on New Year’s Eve. During the World AI Conference in July 2026 it was 18:30–23:00.
Winter is where the sources split. The city’s own wording implies a four-hour winter evening. Travel guides give 18:00–22:00, 17:00–21:00 or 19:30 on in summer; none quotes an official notice. Our advice: in winter, be on the waterfront by 18:00 and do not count on the lights after 22:00. The city has also switched them off to save power before, on 22 and 23 August 2022.
The crowd follows the switch. At 19:00 on 19 August 2026, 34,000 people were on the waterfront at the same moment, and the day’s total was 210,000; the peak that month was above 40,000 on 15 August (The Paper). The square around the Bund Bull is where people bunch.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Guangming Daily (27 Aug 2026); The Paper (20 Aug 2026) for crowd counts; The Paper (30 Sep 2026) for National Day; Xinmin Evening News (31 Dec 2025); China Daily (23 Aug 2022). Travel-guide winter times from China For Travelers, WanderInChina and IntoTravelChina, which disagree with each other.
The buildings worth knowing by number
The Bund buildings carry street numbers that run from No. 1 at the Yan’an Road end in the south to the Waibaidu Bridge in the north. You do not need all 52. These are the ones with a story you can check.
| Building | Year | Why look |
|---|---|---|
| No. 1, Asia Building | 1916 | Built as the McBain Building, bought by Shell’s Asiatic Petroleum in 1917; now the Jiushi Art Museum, open daily, Fridays and Saturdays to 21:00, fee per exhibition |
| No. 12, former HSBC building | 1923 | Octagonal hall with a mosaic dome of the bank’s cities, covered over in 1956 and restored in 1997; now SPD Bank |
| No. 13, Customs House | 1927 | The clock tower, modelled on Big Ben; still a customs house |
| No. 18, former Chartered Bank | 1922 or 1923 | Neoclassical, Italian marble columns inside; now galleries and restaurants |
| No. 20, Peace Hotel (Sassoon House) | 1929 | The green pyramid roof; reopened as the Fairmont Peace Hotel in 2010 |
| No. 23, Bank of China | 1937 | Kept one foot lower than the Sassoon House spire next door, at Victor Sassoon’s insistence, according to Wikipedia |
| Waibaidu Bridge | 1907–1908 | China’s first all-steel bridge, 104.9 m; reopened to pedestrians on 8 April 2009 |
Three more things you will walk past. The Bund Bull, Arturo Di Modica’s 2.5-tonne bronze, was unveiled on 15 May 2010. The Gutzlaff Signal Tower, the slim tower of 1907 near the south end, was moved 22.4 m in 1993. At the north end, Huangpu Park dates from 1868 and was the city’s first public garden; the three-rifle Monument to the People’s Heroes stands at its tip.
Can you go inside the HSBC building to see the dome? We could not confirm it. Reports from 2022 say the hall was open 9:00–16:00 to people doing bank business, and a September 2026 listing ran a free guided visit by reservation. If you want the mosaics, ask at the door on a weekday and be ready to be turned away.
Two blocks behind the waterfront, the Rockbund Art Museum (20 Huqiu Road) has been free since 2 May 2025: Wednesday to Sunday 11:00–19:00, last entry 18:30, with no booking needed on weekdays since 19 July 2025.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Building dates and facts: Wikipedia articles on each building; HSBC History for the 1923 opening; The Paper (1 Mar 2022) for No. 18, which gives 1922 where other sources give 1923; Shanghai Observer (3 Aug 2026) for the Jiushi Art Museum; The Paper and Shanghai Observer (Jan 2022, Sep 2026) for HSBC access; Rockbund Art Museum. Huangpu Park: Sina Finance (Mar 2023).
Where to watch from
Here is the catch with the promenade: from the Bund you look at Pudong. The towers are what you see; the old buildings are behind you. To see the Bund itself lit up, you need to be on the river or on the other bank.
The promenade
Free and open all hours. IntoTravelChina rates the stretch between Nanjing Road and the Peace Hotel as the best section for views, which is also why it is the most crowded.
North Bund and the Waibaidu Bridge
WanderInChina suggests the riverside north of the bridge, and the Zhapu Road Bridge, as alternative angles on the Bund. The section by the International Cruise Terminal is open 6:00–22:00 and is about 2.5 km long; the nearest metro is International Cruise Terminal on Line 12, Exits 2 and 3.
The Pudong riverside
Free and open around the clock, about 2.5 km of path facing the lit Bund. This is the view on the postcards. The cheap way across is the ferry, below.
Rooftop bars
We found no published minimum spend for the Bund-side rooftops. Indicative cocktail prices run about ¥100–200 (an aggregator, March 2026). Vue Bar on the 32nd floor of the Hyatt on the Bund reopened quietly in 2025. Bar Rouge at Bund 18, still on some lists, closed in July 2022 and we found no confirmed reopening. The Peace Hotel’s Jazz Bar, with a band whose average age was put at about 82, played nightly 19:00–23:30; its minimum charge was ¥418 plus 16.6% service in June 2025, and a July 2026 report puts it at about ¥300 plus 15%.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Viewpoints: IntoTravelChina (2026), Nomadotravel, WanderInChina (Jul 2026). Bars: SmartShanghai (Jul 2025 on Vue; Jul 2022 on Bar Rouge), Rachel Gouk (Jun 2025), Sina (Jul 2026), Chinasurvivalkit (Mar 2026).
Crossing the river: ¥2 ferry or a cruise
The public ferry costs ¥2 for a foot passenger and takes a few minutes. Two lines matter here. The Dongjin line runs from East Jinling Road pier (141 East Zhongshan No. 2 Road), at the south end of the Bund, to Dongchang Road on the Pudong side, 7:15–18:30 from Puxi; it is daytime only. The Dongfu line, from Fuxing Road pier (1 East Fuxing Road) to Dongchang Road, runs until 21:00 according to the city government, so it is the one to use after dark; two travel sites say 22:00. Pay with an Alipay transit code or cash, and do not expect change.
Sightseeing cruises leave from Shiliupu and the East Jinling Road pier. Expect ¥60–150 for 45–50 minutes on an ordinary boat, more for a VIP deck or dinner, and evening departures roughly between 18:00 and 21:00. Every price we found came from resellers or travel sites, and they disagree; buy at the pier or from a booking app the same day and compare.
The 647 m tunnel under the river, with its light effects, costs ¥50–70 one way, takes three to five minutes and scores 2.7 out of 5 on TripAdvisor. One reviewer in 2026 was charged ¥90 for a “VR experience” and suggested the ferry instead. So do we.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Ferry: Shanghai government (10 Sep 2025); later closing times from EastChinaTrip (Aug 2026) and Cities Insider. Cruises: Trip.com (Aug 2026), EastChinaTrip (Aug 2026), Trvlogue (Sep 2026), Dahepiao; no official operator price list found. Tunnel: TravelOfChina (Oct 2025), TripAdvisor review (May 2026).
Holidays: one-way flows and closed stations
On big holidays the police run the Bund like a stadium. For Golden Week 2026 the plan is to intercept and divert, release people in phases and keep one-way circulation on Nanjing East Road, Zhongshan East No. 1 Road and the ramps up to the river wall. East Nanjing Road station (Lines 2 and 10) closes from 16:00 each day from 1 to 7 October until the end of service, entrances included; so does the Line 14 platform at Yuyuan Garden. Line 10 at Yuyuan stays open. Even outside holidays, Exit 7 at East Nanjing Road was closed in summer 2026, with signs sending people to Exit 6.
The workaround is to come from the south. Get off at Yuyuan Garden on Line 10, or start at Yu Garden, and walk north along the river to the Bund; one guide published on 3 October 2026 recommends exactly this, about 40 minutes at a stroll. If you can choose, avoid the Bund on Chinese public holidays altogether; SmartShanghai tells its own readers to.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 The Paper (30 Sep 2026) for police measures; Guangming Daily (28 Sep 2026) for station closures; Shanghai Observer (4 Aug 2026) for Exit 7; Trvlogue (3 Oct 2026) for the route from the south.
Morning: the other Bund
Between about 6:00 and 9:00 the promenade belongs to joggers, dog walkers and small groups doing tai chi, and the crowd builds from about 10:00. If you want photographs of the buildings without a hundred people in them, this is when. The trade-off: at 8:30 on a weekday most of the buildings are not open yet. A morning walk followed by Yu Garden when it opens at 9:00 is the most efficient half-day in central Shanghai.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Nomadotravel; GoAsia (Jun 2026); WanderInChina (Jul 2026); China Highlights (Aug 2026).
Canada’s official travel advice names the Bund for the tea-invitation scam: a friendly stranger suggests tea, and the bill runs to thousands, “sometimes under threat of injury”. SmartShanghai describes the same people offering calligraphy or art “exhibitions”, with bills around ¥3,000 and up to ¥10,000 for the massage and karaoke versions. Nobody legitimate needs you to come with them to see something on the Bund; it is all visible from the street, free.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 travel.gc.ca; UK FCDO China advice (27 Aug 2026); SmartShanghai (21 Jan 2026).
Bund, Yu Garden and Nanjing Road in one go
The city’s own walking route number one strings Yu Garden, the Bund and the Nanjing Road pedestrian street together over 3.6 km and allows half a day to a day. Yu Garden to the waterfront is about 800 m, 11 to 15 minutes depending on who is timing it. The eastern end of Nanjing Road, from Henan Road to the river, is about 500 m.
A sensible order for a first day: Yu Garden at 9:00, lunch, the Bund buildings in the afternoon, the ferry to Pudong before 18:30 or the Dongfu line after, and the lights from the Pudong side. Our three-day Shanghai itinerary builds the rest of the trip around it, where to stay in Shanghai compares the Bund with the other districts, and things to do in Shanghai covers the rest of the city. Back to the Shanghai travel guide.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 Route: Shanghai government (Jan 2024). Walking times: China For Travelers (Sep 2026), Babagoes China (Feb 2026), WanderInChina (Jun 2026).
The Bund Shanghai: quick answers
Is the Bund free?
Yes. The promenade has no ticket and no opening hours. You pay only for what you choose: a cruise, a bar, a museum.
What time do the Bund lights turn on?
At 19:00 every evening in summer 2026, off at 23:00; at 18:00 on public holidays. In winter, plan on 18:00 to 22:00.
Is the Bund better at night or in the morning?
Night for the skyline and the lit buildings, morning for space. Before 9:00 the promenade is close to empty.
How long does it take to walk the Bund?
About 30–40 minutes end to end without stopping; 45–90 minutes if you stop to read the buildings.
We have not visited the Bund ourselves. Figures come from the sources named under each section; see how we check.