What's on in Shanghai (Pudong), China through the year

Busy — Winter break (around Chinese New Year) in China, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Spring Festival

  15–23 FebLunar New YearClosuresBook early

  The one week the city is quiet: migrant workers go home, small restaurants and shops shut for days, and the Bund belongs to visiting families. Museums and malls stay open, the neighbourhood noodle place does not. Source ↗

Still on: Winter haze (15 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))

Peak crowds — Spring Festival, Winter break (around Chinese New Year) in China

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Spring Festival (15–23 Feb), Winter haze (15 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))

Busy — Cherry blossom, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Cherry blossom

  10 Mar – 10 Apr · usuallyCrowded

  Gucun Park in the north holds the city's largest cherry planting and runs a month-long festival with late gate hours at peak. Century Park and the Bund gardens do it on a smaller scale without the queue. Source ↗

Still on: Spring Festival (15–23 Feb)

Peak crowds — Cherry blossom, Qingming tomb-sweeping break

• Holiday

  Qingming tomb-sweeping break

  4–6 AprNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  A three-day national break in the first week of April: the cemeteries on the edge of the city are packed, the high-speed trains sell out and the gardens take a domestic crowd. Source ↗

Still on: Cherry blossom (10 Mar – 10 Apr (usually))

Busy — May Day holiday, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  May Day holiday

  1–5 MayGolden WeekCrowdedBook early

  The other national travel week, and in a good-weather month it is worse than October in the centre. The Bund, Yu Garden and the Disney park run at capacity and hotel rates double. Source ↗

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Festival

  Shanghai International Film Festival

  12–21 JunBook early

  Ten days of screenings across cinemas all over the city in the middle of June, with tickets released in one online rush a week ahead and the good ones gone in minutes. Source ↗

• Season

  Meiyu, the plum rains

  15 Jun – 12 Jul · usuallyMonsoon

  The stationary rain front parks over the delta for about three weeks from mid-June: grey, close and wet rather than stormy, and the one stretch of the year when laundry does not dry indoors.

Busy — Summer break in China, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Typhoon season

  15 Jul – 30 Sep · usuallyClosures

  A system tracking up the coast suspends the metro's above-ground lines and the Pudong flights for a day, usually with two days of warning. Late August and September are when it is most likely. Source ↗

Still on: Meiyu, the plum rains (15 Jun – 12 Jul (usually))

Busy — Summer break in China, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Typhoon season (15 Jul – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Mid-Autumn Festival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Mid-Autumn Festival

  25–27 SepNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  Mooncakes from every bakery and a short national break that some years runs straight into the October holiday, making one very long one. Family travel books out the trains either side of it. Source ↗

• Nature

  Osmanthus in flower

  20 Sep – 20 Oct · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  For a fortnight the older streets and every park smell of osmanthus, and the bakeries and tea houses put it into everything. Guilin Park in Xuhui is planted for it. Source ↗

Still on: Typhoon season (15 Jul – 30 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — National Day Golden Week, National Day Golden Week in China

• Holiday

  National Day Golden Week

  1–7 OctCrowdedBook early

  Seven days off nationally, and the Bund, the Yu Garden and Nanjing Road take the whole country at once. Trains and flights sell out a month ahead and hotel rates roughly double. Source ↗

Still on: Mid-Autumn Festival (25–27 Sep), Osmanthus in flower (20 Sep – 20 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Hazard

  Winter haze

  15 Nov – 28 Feb · usuallyWinter smog

  Still, cold weeks trap particulates over the delta and the skyline goes flat grey for days until a front clears it. Better than it was a decade ago, and still the worst air of the Shanghai year. Source ↗

• Festival

  Shanghai Marathon

  6 DecMajor festivalCrowdedClosures

  Thirty-eight thousand runners from the Bund out to Xujiahui on a Sunday morning, which closes Zhongshan Road and a string of central junctions until early afternoon. Source ↗

Busy — Shanghai Marathon, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Winter haze (15 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)), Shanghai Marathon (6 Dec)