Songjiang - THAMES TOWN - Check out

We heard about this place and decided to go check it out.
The town is very nice! Lovely little town to just walk around and escape Shanghai! You'll find Thames town on the outskirts of Shanghai in Songjiang District. It takes a while to get there via public transport so be prepared to spend a whole day (From the city about 1 - 1.5 hours by subway). Take line 9 to SongJiang University Town station, and after that a taxi (about 20RMB) another 10 to 15 min journey. Entry is free to the area.
You'll find several statues of British people/ characters, such as Shakespeare, Dickens, James Bond and Harry Potter along with rows of shops, homes and restaurants. Doesn’t feel like you are in China or Shanghai at all. On the edge of the town, you'll find a large lake. Many of the shops were closed or empty when I visited, but there were still plenty there, and many restaurants too, ranging from British to Italian to Chinese. The main attraction of visiting is to wander around the streets and enjoying the architecture and buildings, and I also enjoyed watching the Chinese couples having their wedding photos taken.
Take your time to walk around. You will feel like you are not in China but at the suburbs of an English town, complete with a square, a Catholic church, bridges over water, quaint coffee shops and bookstores, etc
Grainger & Co with stood out to me as a place with decent food/drink choices. Prices are relatively cheap here and not boosted up due to the tourist area.
Thames Town was completed in 2006, and it’s part of a government project “One City, Nine Towns” which aimed to build desirable places for citizens to live outside of the city. The aim was to attract people away from the center, thereby reducing congestion and overcrowding.
If you want to visit a copied English town and get a taste of a UK town here in Shanghai, come here!
Address: No.900 Sanxinbei Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai 201620

#chinalife #interesting #gateaway #2023 #shanghai

Post by B.B. | Jan 8, 2023