Travel Notes Shanghai World Financial Center: the 474-metre observatory
A plot that waited thirteen years
In 1995 a Japanese developer took the land-use rights for plot Z4-2 in Lujiazui, planning the world’s tallest building at 460 metres, then shelved it when the Asian financial crisis hit. The project restarted in 2003 at 492 metres, topped out in November 2005 and opened on 29 August 2008 — then the tallest building in mainland China and the tallest flat-roofed tower anywhere.
Why the opening is a trapezoid
The opening at the top was designed as a circle and later changed to an inverted trapezoid, which cuts wind load and makes the crown look lighter. The structure is a mega-frame with a core and outrigger trusses: eight giant steel columns and four sets of outriggers, rated for a seismic intensity of seven. The facade is double-skin low-emissivity glass, about 100,000 square metres, with low reflectance that reduces light pollution.
The glass floor on floor 100
The observatory on floor 100 sits at 474 metres, about 1,500 square metres and room for roughly 800 people, with a stretch of fully transparent floor fifty-five metres long and three metres wide — traffic and the Huangpu directly below. Floor 97 is a sky bridge at 439 metres with an open glass canopy and plenty of wind; floor 94 at 423 metres is mainly exhibition space with a cafe and gift shop.
What you see from 474 metres
A full circle: the mouth of the Yangtze to the east, the foreign-style buildings of the Bund to the west, the Expo site to the south, and the Baoshan direction to the north. On a clear day the view stretches tens of kilometres; on a hazy one there is only fog. The floor-94 gallery has shown Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms, and Zhan Wang’s Rockery stands on the entrance plaza.
Tickets and the annual stair race
A 180-yuan adult ticket covers floors 94, 97 and 100; children and seniors pay 120, students 150, and a fast-track ticket costs 260. Hours are 8:30 to 22:00 with last entry at 21:30. The tower hosts an annual stair race up 2,726 steps to floor 100, and it is where the climbing scene in the fourth Mission: Impossible was shot.
Getting there and when to go
Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui, exit 6, is about five minutes on foot; Line 14 to Pudong South Road, exit 3, about eight. The address is 100 Century Avenue with the entrance on the Yincheng Middle Road side; parking runs 15 yuan an hour, capped at 120 a day. Arrive an hour before sunset to catch daylight, dusk and night in sequence, and check the weather first on wet days.
The World Financial Center was the first of the three to look out over the city: in 2008 it stood at 492 metres and gave Shanghai its first observation deck above 400 metres. That glass floor is still the most direct way to feel the height — more memorable than any number.
Practical information
- Hours: daily 8:30-22:00, last entry 21:30.
- Tickets: 180 yuan adult for floors 94, 97 and 100; 120 for children and seniors; 150 for students; 260 fast-track.
- Getting there: Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui, exit 6, about five minutes; Line 14 to Pudong South Road, exit 3, about eight.
- Driving: 100 Century Avenue, entrance on the Yincheng Middle Road side, 15 yuan an hour up to 120 a day.
- Tip: arrive an hour before sunset; tripods are not allowed on the glass floor of floor 100.
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