Shanghai doesn't have Beijing's imperial palaces, but there is plenty to occupy visitors for three days, or so. The Shanghai Observatory, opened in September 2008, offers sky-high 100th floor views over the city, and gives visitors their bearings from above.

2010 is the year Shanghai has been waiting half a decade for, the hosting of the six-month-long World Expo. The city's buildings, roads, railways and airports have all received a major makeover, and several new metro lines have been opened, a handful of which connect to the 5.28 sq km Expo Site (which straddles both the Puxi and Pudong sides of the Huangpu River near to the Lupu Bridge). In fact, Shanghai has more than doubled its total underground track length since the end of 2008. (an up-to-date metro map is here. After the World Expo finishes on 31 October, some of the custom-built attractions will remain permanently open to the public, including the China Pavilion, the Shanghai Convention Centre, and the flying saucer shaped Expo Pavilion, which will be converted to become the Mercedes-Benz Arena, and will host concerts, musicals and sporting events.

Other sites worth visiting include the Jade Buddha Temple in the north of the city, the Moganshan Lu contemporary arts district, and Taikang Lu for boutique clothing, crafts and cafes. Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art is one of the main attractions in People's Square, as well as the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.

One thing you will want to do here is eat — Shanghainese love to dine out and there are scores of restaurants worth exploring. Another highlight is trying the street snacks, especially xialongbao (meat-and-soup dumplings) and jian bing (thick savory breakfast pancakes). A good place to try these treats is the always-buzzing food market behind the Yu Yuan Garden Bazaar. For a more formal option, Din Tai Fung has six restaurants citywide serving up delicious dumplings.

For the remainder of your stay, taking advantage of China's new CRH (China Railways High-Speed) bullet trains enables you to visit two other much-revered cities.

Both Hangzhou (currently 78 minutes, though this will fall to just 38 minutes when a new super-high-speed service launches in October 2010) and Suzhou (30 minutes) are easily managed day trips by train. Suzhou was once eastern China's wealthiest and most culturally rich cities, and is characterized by one-story whitewashed 'scholar' houses with grey slate roofs. It is also famous for its Chinese water gardens, with several open to the public.

Blending historic Suzhou architecture with modern angles and a collection of city artefacts is, I.M. Pei's eye-catching Suzhou Museum. Pei's family used to live in Suzhou, and although 90 years old, he has designed perhaps the finest new building constructed in China in recent years.

Hangzhou's most famous attraction is Xi Hu (West Lake) — around which the city is built. This famous body of water has been a retreat for Chinese emperors, leaders and artists down the ages, and is framed by hills an temples. Locals take boat rides around the lake, and watch the hourly dancing fountain show on the lakeshore.

Hangzhou is also famous for two well-known Chinese products, tea and silk. The hillsides around Hangzhou are used to grow Longjing Tea, one of the nation's favorite infusions, and the interesting China National Tea Museum is set amid the tea plantation valleys of Longjing (Dragon Well) district southwest of the lake. Silk fans have plenty of choice — stores selling gifts and clothes can be found everywhere, but remember the time-worn China rule: barter hard, and then a little bit harder again.