Shanghai Zoo

Lonely Planet review

As Chinese zoos go, this is just about the best and it makes for a good day out for those with kids in tow. There's a decent selection of beasts - from woolly twin-humped Bactrian camels to spindly legged giraffe, gorillas, lions, lots of different monkeys, giant pandas and polar bears - but some of the enclosures they're housed in are less than ideal.

Shanghai folk flock here to enjoy one of the city's most picturesque and well tended acreages of green grass. Picnic-goers dive onto the lawns for a spot of sun, while electric tour buggies whirr along shaded paths through old-growth woods every 10 to 15 minutes.

There's a Children's Zoo, where the little ones can shower chubby piglets and billy goats with handfuls of grain, fish for goldfish or ride ponies. A big old creaking wheel revolves above the whole menagerie, itself navigable on foot with a map from the information kiosk at the entrance or by following the signs. The elephant show will have adults cringing, but kids will adore handing out sticks of sugar cane to be scooped up by inquisitive trunks.