Shanghai in the rain: the plum rains, the typhoon months and a wet-weather plan that still feels like China

Shanghai gets about as much rain as Sydney, and it arrives in two concentrated spells that overlap with Australian school holidays. A wet day is not a lost day here; the city has some of the best museums in Asia, a covered old town, tea houses that exist for exactly this weather, and a public transport system that makes a dry route across the city possible. This is the plan we switch to when the forecast turns, and when the seasons mean you should expect it.

When it rains

• The plum rains (meiyu), from roughly mid-June to early July: three weeks of warm, grey, humid days with rain most days, sometimes all day. Named for the ripening plums, it is the one season we steer first-time visitors away from if they can choose.
• Typhoon season, August to September: hot, mostly sunny, with a typhoon or its tail every couple of weeks bringing a day or two of heavy rain and wind, occasionally closing the parks and the ferries.
• Spring and autumn bring showers rather than days; winter is grey and damp but rarely wet all day.

The best time to visit guide has the full calendar; this one is for when you are here and it is raining.

The museums: a wet day’s worth

Shanghai’s museums are free or cheap, mostly need a passport booking (a guide or your hotel does it), and are closed on Mondays:

• The Shanghai Museum East in Pudong, opened 2024, with the bronzes, ceramics and paintings, and a children’s gallery; the old Shanghai Museum on People’s Square for the furniture, seals and jades. Either is a half day.
• The Natural History Museum in Jing’an Sculpture Park: dinosaurs, a rainforest hall, a children’s discovery zone; the city’s best wet morning with under-tens.
• The Science and Technology Museum in Pudong, enormous and hands-on, with an IMAX; older children and teenagers.
• The Power Station of Art and the West Bund museums (the second-visit guide lists them) for contemporary art, with cafés to wait out a downpour.
• The Propaganda Poster Art Centre, a basement collection of Mao-era posters in the Concession, an hour and a conversation.
• The Shanghai History Museum in the old racecourse clubhouse on People’s Square, for the city’s own story.

The old town, the malls and the covered city

Yu Garden’s bazaar is largely arcaded; the garden itself is lovely in rain, with the ponds pocked and the crowds gone, and the Huxinting teahouse on the lake is the place to sit it out. The Nanjing Road East stores and the Jing’an and Xujiahui malls are connected to the metro underground, so a wet afternoon can be spent without surfacing: the malls’ upper floors are restaurant streets, the basements food halls, and places like Global Harbour and the IAPM have cinemas, ice rinks and children’s play centres. Shanghai’s malls are not the compromise they are at home; they are where the city goes when it rains.

Tea, food and hands

A wet afternoon is the right time for the things that need time: a tea house session (the tea guide has the where and how), a dumpling or cooking class (the experiences guide), a massage or foot massage, a long lunch in a lane restaurant, a tailor’s fitting in the Concession, or the ERA acrobatics show in the evening (the nights guide). Our guides keep a list of these for the day the forecast turns and swap the itinerary the night before.

Disneyland in the rain

A rainy weekday at Disneyland is the shortest-queue day of the year. Ponchos are sold at every shop, the big rides (Pirates, TRON, Soaring, the dark rides in Fantasyland) are indoors, and the parade is cancelled only in heavy rain. Families who go with the right clothes come back having ridden everything twice.

What the rain changes

• DiDi and taxis become scarce in a downpour, especially at 5 pm; the metro is the dry, reliable way across town, as the metro guide explains, and a private car booked for the day is the luxury that pays off most on a wet one.
• The Bund in rain is empty and moody and still worth a walk under an umbrella; the light show runs regardless. The ferries and the river cruise stop in strong wind.
• Day trips to Suzhou and the water towns are better than they sound: gardens were designed for rain, the canals are quieter, the stone is slippery; the Suzhou guide notes it.
• Footwear. Pavements flood at the kerbs; waterproof shoes or sandals, not suede. Umbrellas are sold at every convenience store for a few dollars.
• Air. Rain clears it; the day after a storm is the clearest for the Shanghai Tower.

Two rainy-day plans

Families: the Natural History Museum at opening, lunch in the Jing’an mall food hall above the metro, the afternoon at a dumpling class or the mall’s play centre, ERA in the evening by metro, and dumplings on the way home.

Adults: the Shanghai Museum East at opening, the ferry across the river if the wind allows, a long lunch in the Concession, the Propaganda Poster Centre, a tea house until the rain eases, then jazz at the Peace Hotel and the Bund lights with the promenade to yourselves.

How we handle it

On a day guide booking or a tour, the guide watches the forecast and rearranges: the outdoor day moves to the clear day, the museums and the tea house take the wet one, and the car does the running around. Nobody has ever asked for the rain back, but several guests have said the wet day was the best one, which is the point of having a plan for it.