Start the day on a high atop the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Almost half a kilometer in the air, the glass-bottomed Skywalk 100 hangs from the upper section of the trapezoidal hole at the building's summit. Get a feel for the layout of this increasingly high-rise city, and street cred for braving the world's second-highest observation platform.

Now cross the Huangpu River to the Shanghai Museum on People's Square. This giant museum houses a ton of historic paintings, ceramics, calligraphy, clothing and artefacts. If you pay close attention to the finer points of Chinese porcelain production, by the time you emerge you'll recognise that the museum is shaped like a traditional cooking pot. If you're more interested in the future than the past, the Urban Planning Museum across the Square showcases Shanghai's urban ambitions with a fun walk-through scale model of Shanghai as it will appear in 2020.

Time for lunch and a spot of souvenir shopping at Taikang Lu. The former lane houses, factories and warehouses have commercialised markedly since being turned into an artists' enclave in the late 1990s, but the area still has a bit of a bohemian air (a rarity in Shanghai) and has attracted a savvy selection of local designers. Check out Nest, Shokay, Urban Tribe and JIP. Café Mojo and Origin do healthy lunches in an alfresco seating.

After a day of heights, history and a hearty lunch, you'll need some therapy. Dragonfly is a popular local chain of well-priced day spas with branches across Shanghai — the nearest one to you now is on Donghu Lu. The one-hour Japanese Shiatsu massage subtly revives the spirit in this relentlessly fast-paced city.

Now head west along Fuxing Road for a happy hour beer at Boxing Cat Brewery , the city's best microbrew pub. Four rotating home-brewed beers are always on tap, plus bespoke brews for special occasions, such as a fine pumpkin ale for Thanksgiving. A hearty menu of Cal-Tex dishes complements the excellent ales.

Lost Heaven is a charming Yunnanese restaurant serving the folk cuisines of the Dai, Bai and Miao ethnic hill tribes. The food emanates from the 'Ancient Tea Horse Trail' that runs through China's Yunnan province and into Burma and Laos. Expect richly spiced curries, Southeast Asian flavors and an exotic villa-style dining room. Book in advance, though, as this is a popular haunt with local dudes and divas.

The French Concession is dotted with good bars, like El Coctel, The Apartment, Manifesto, Cotton's and Constellation I (Xinle Lu), II (Yongjia Lu) and III (Huangpi Bei Lu). M1NT on Fuzhou Lu, and Glamour Bar and Vue, and Sir Elly's on the Bund attract a beautiful, loungey crowd. Clubbers can then get hedonistic at MAO and wind up for post-dawn drinks at Dragon club.