Shanghai

Opium dens, gangsters, gamblers, exotic good-time girls and fortunes made and lost on the Bund, pre-World War II Shanghai was a far-eastern outpost that ticked by a western clock, with more art deco buildings than pagodas. The Communist takeover meant an abrupt curtains-down, but in the past decade Shanghai's rehabilitation has been gaining steam and the city is riding high again.

Along the Huangpu riverfront, the Bund - once Asia's feverish Wall Street - has been dusted off and is now one of the city's must-see attractions, a strip of grand neoclassical buildings heaving with hotels and nightclubs.

Nanjing Lu, the enduring main shopping thoroughfare, runs between the Bund and Renmin (People's) Park. The new hotspot to give your credit card a vigorous workout is Frenchtown, around Huaihai Lu and the Jinjiang Hotel, which is also fast becoming a foodies' paradise.

In the Old City south of the Bund, you'll discover a world of narrow alleyways and bustling markets selling anything from street fare to antiques. Try dian xin, Shanghai dim sum, in the Chenghuang Miao area and negotiate your way through the old-style bazaar to the Yu Yuan (Jade Garden) a classical 16th-century Chinese garden complete with pools, walkways and bridges.

Here, taking the zigzag bridge, do what every visitor - from the typical Chinese tourist to the Queen of England - has done: drop in for tea, and maybe some quails' eggs, at the Huxinting (Mid-lake) Teahouse.

Shanghai's power may have been built on foreign commerce rather than Chinese culture but the city is happy to showcase its country's past, and the Shanghai Museum's 120,000 works offer an unforgettable trail through China's art and history.