Yu Garden (Yuyuan) is a classical garden in Shanghai’s old city, and it is one of the few major sights that still works well on a short first visit — provided you get two things right. The garden itself is a small, ticketed classical garden, separate from the bazaar and snack streets that surround it, and it closes one day a week. Tickets are sold at the north and south gates and through the official Shanghai Yu Garden mini program; opening hours are 09:00–16:30 and the last entry is at 16:00. This guide covers tickets, entry times and how to plan the visit.
Ticket prices, opening hours and entry rules below were checked against the official Yu Garden visitor notice. Last checked: 2026-09-22. Arrangements can change, so confirm on the official notice for your date before you go.
Before you go
The most common misunderstanding about Yu Garden is that it is the same thing as the busy shopping and snack district around it. It is not. Yu Garden is the walled classical garden with an admission ticket and fixed opening hours. The bazaar and the City God Temple area outside its walls are an open commercial district that you can walk through for free at any time of day. Plenty of visitors spend an hour in the streets, take photos of the rooftops from outside, and never realise there was a garden to enter — or discover it after the last entry has passed.
Opening hours are 09:00 to 16:30, with last entry at 16:00. The garden closes every Monday, except on national public holidays. Around Spring Festival, opening arrangements follow a separate official notice rather than the standard pattern.
Because holiday and festival arrangements can differ from the normal week, treat the garden’s own visitor notice as the authority for the day you plan to visit, rather than a general travel listing or a map app’s opening-hours field.
Tickets and entry
Tickets can be bought in person or online. Both the north gate and the south gate have ticket windows, and the official “Shanghai Yu Garden” mini program sells tickets online. You do not need to commit to a slot weeks ahead the way you would for a timed-entry national museum.
Prices are seasonal, and the difference is worth knowing before you assume a figure you read somewhere else.
| Season | Dates | Adult ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | 1 April – 30 June and 1 September – 30 November | CNY 40 |
| Off-peak | 1 July – 31 August and 1 December – 31 March | CNY 30 |
Half-price tickets are available for younger and older visitors with valid documents: visitors aged over 6 up to 18, and full-time students at undergraduate level or below, on production of valid ID or a student card; and visitors aged 60 and above on production of valid ID. Discount tickets are limited to one per person per day.
Free admission covers children who are 1.3 metres tall or under, or aged 6 or under, provided they are accompanied by an adult — one adult may bring up to three children, and this applies to individual visitors rather than organised groups. It also covers certain other categories, including visitors with disability certificates, active-duty military personnel, and other qualifying groups, on production of valid documents for verification at the gate.
There are two entrances, and they are not interchangeable. The north gate at 168 Fuyou Road serves both tour groups and individual visitors. The south gate at 279 Yuyuan Old Street, at the foot of the Nine-Turn Bridge, is for individual visitors only. If you are arriving on your own, either works; if you are with a group, expect to use the north gate.
How to plan the visit
The garden is compact. An hour to ninety minutes is enough to walk it properly on a first visit, which is what makes it easy to slot into a Shanghai day rather than treating it as a half-day commitment.
The single most useful ordering decision is this: do the garden first, then the streets around it. The garden has a hard last-entry time of 16:00, while the surrounding bazaar has no closing time you need to worry about. If you browse the streets first and leave the garden until the end of the afternoon, you can easily find yourself outside the gate with the ticket window shut.
Choose your season if the price matters to you. April to June and September to November are peak and cost CNY 10 more per adult; July, August and the December-to-March stretch are off-peak. The garden is also a genuinely different experience in different weather — the planting and the light change through the year, so there is no single “correct” season, only a cheaper and a busier one.
Plan for rain and crowds together, because they interact. The garden is small, with pavilions and covered corridors that give you some shelter, but the streets outside are largely open-air and offer very little when it rains. Crowd pressure concentrates in the same narrow passages, so a wet weekend is the worst combination: everybody moves into the same covered corners at once. An early weekday arrival, close to 09:00, gives you the most room and the best chance of photographs without a queue of phones in the frame.
If your dates are fixed and land on a public holiday, check the official notice rather than assuming the standard week applies. Holiday arrangements are the one part of the schedule that genuinely moves.
Common mistakes
- Coming on a Monday. The garden closes every Monday except on national public holidays. This is the single most common wasted trip.
- Arriving after 16:00. Last entry is at 16:00 and the garden shuts at 16:30. Late afternoon is exactly when people drift over from the Bund and miss it.
- Thinking the bazaar is the garden. The ticketed garden and the surrounding streets are separate things. Walking the bazaar is not visiting Yu Garden.
- Assuming you must book far in advance. Tickets are sold at both gates and through the official mini program; this is not a timed-entry reservation system.
- Mixing up peak and off-peak prices. The adult ticket differs between the two seasons, so a figure quoted for one period can be wrong for yours.
- Going to the wrong gate. The south gate is for individual visitors only; groups use the north gate.
What to combine nearby
Yu Garden’s real advantage is its position: it sits in the old city, close enough to the river that the Bund walk is a natural next stop on foot rather than a separate trip. Most first-time visitors pair the two — garden and streets in the late morning, then the waterfront later, when the light on the Pudong skyline is better anyway.
If you are still assembling your Shanghai plan, start with our Shanghai first-time guide, which covers what to see, where to stay and how to move around. For the practical layer, the Shanghai subway guide explains lines, payment and airport connections without sending you hunting for a specific exit, and the Shanghai Maglev guide covers the airport transfer if you are arriving by air.
On food, the old city is soup-dumpling territory: our xiaolongbao guide and shengjianbao guide explain what the two styles are and how to eat them without burning your mouth. If you want another garden day, the Suzhou travel guide is the obvious extension — Suzhou’s classical gardens are a short train ride away and make a clean day trip from Shanghai.
FAQ
Is Yu Garden open every day?
No. Yu Garden closes every Monday, except on national public holidays. Spring Festival arrangements follow a separate official notice, so check the garden’s own visitor notice for your date.
What time does Yu Garden close?
The garden is open from 09:00 to 16:30, and the last entry is at 16:00. Arriving after 16:00 means you will not get in, so do the garden before you browse the surrounding streets.
How much is a Yu Garden ticket?
An adult ticket is CNY 40 in peak season (1 April–30 June and 1 September–30 November) and CNY 30 in off-peak season (1 July–31 August and 1 December–31 March). Half-price tickets are available for qualifying younger, student and older visitors with valid documents.
Do I need to book Yu Garden tickets in advance?
No advance booking window is required. Tickets are sold at the ticket windows at both the north and south gates, and online through the official “Shanghai Yu Garden” mini program.
Where are the entrances to Yu Garden?
The north gate is at 168 Fuyou Road and serves both groups and individual visitors. The south gate is at 279 Yuyuan Old Street, at the foot of the Nine-Turn Bridge, and is for individual visitors only.
Is Yu Garden the same as Yuyuan Bazaar?
No. Yu Garden is the walled classical garden with an admission ticket and fixed opening hours. The bazaar and City God Temple district around it are an open commercial area that you can walk through for free.