9 awesome Airbnb properties in Shanghai

Embrace your inner hipster at this rustic Jingan studio, with its exposed brick and cement walls, heavy wooden features and vinyl records, pans and a bike as decoration.

Sleeps Up to two. 

Price Around 260RMB per night; 480RMB per night (weekends).

Near Jingan.

Airbnb recommendation.

You're not in Bali or some dreamy island on the Pacific rim, but with those indoor palm trees and wooden chairs, you might as well be. Get the best of urban comforts and seaside shack at this sunkist retreat within walking distance of the metro station.

Sleeps Up to two.

Price Around 365RMB per night; 630RMB per night (weekends).

Near Huaihai Zhong Lu.

This apartment’s name is no exaggeration. It is in a historical building, as small as a time capsule, and packed with old-Shanghai ephemera – or at least reproductions of it – from the floor, to the load-bearing neoclassical columns, to the ceiling trim that you might hit your head against when you get up from bed. It's a cosy (cool-small) place with an old school vibe.

Sleeps Up to four.

Price Around 650RMB per night; 900RMB per night (weekends).

Near Nanjing Xi Lu.

Airbnb recommendation.

Sleeps Up to two.

Price Around 500RMB per night; 640RMB per night (weekends).

Near Yuyuan.

Not actually a treehouse, but the designers of this loft aimed to make it feel like one – and quite a spacious, clean and modern one at that, complete with a cute garden and a sleek bathroom. It’s located in a quiet alley not far from Shanghai Library and Wukang Road. For about 722RMB a night, you get a fully equipped, very modern-zen apartment that will feel like a den at a spiritual retreat.

Sleeps Up to three.

Price 750RMB per night; 820RMB per night (weekends).

Near Shanghai Library.

Recommended by Airbnb.

This isn't some canal-side loft in Amsterdam, although we'd forgive you for thinking so. This tight and cosy one-bedroom apartment with a fireplace is perfect for those cold winter nights.

Near Anfu Lu.

An Airbnb made for get-togethers with friends, this apartment has a beautiful front garden perfect for barbeques, decorated with a colourful mural. Miss Can, the super-friendly Sichuan native that rents out the space, collaborates with nearby breweries and stocks the apartment’s fridges with craft beers. Crash on the queen bed upstairs (after all the guests leave, obviously).

Sleeps Three beds (up to 16 guests for gatherings).

Price Around 500RMB per night; 579RMB per night (weekends). 

Near Shaanxi North Road.

This sleek modern loft exemplifies chic urban modernity. Located just behind the West Bund, it's got views that stretch for kilometres and a bright white interior will make you feel like you’re sleeping in the clouds.

Sleeps Up to four.

Price Around 615RMB per night; 670RMB per night (weekends).

Near West Bund.