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The Shanghai Tower Observation Deck, often marketed as "Top of Shanghai," occupies the uppermost public levels of Shanghai Tower in the Lujiazui financial district, and it's the specific feature most visitors are referring to when they say they're going up Shanghai Tower. While the tower itself is a mixed-use skyscraper with offices, a hotel, and sky gardens throughout, the observation deck is the part designed purely for taking in the view, and it delivers one of the highest and most complete panoramas available anywhere in the city.

From the deck's 360-degree viewing floor, the perspective on Shanghai flips in an interesting way: buildings that feel enormous at street level, including the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and Shanghai World Financial Center, all appear well below eye level from up here, clustered together as a single skyline rather than towering individually. Looking further out, clear days reveal a much wider span of the city, from the former World Expo grounds along the river to the old City God Temple area, an 80,000-seat stadium, and, in the distance, Hongqiao Airport. The Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River are both visible winding through the cityscape below, tracing their path toward the Yangtze and, eventually, the East China Sea.

Getting to the top involves a high-speed elevator ride that is itself part of the experience, moving passengers up the building's considerable height in well under a minute. Once at the top, most visitors spend around an hour taking in the views, and weather makes a real difference here: a clear day dramatically extends how far you can see, so it's worth checking conditions before committing to a visit rather than going up on a hazy or overcast day if it can be avoided. Weekday mornings tend to be less crowded than weekend afternoons, when both queues and haze levels are often at their worst.

Because it sits directly above Lujiazui's other towers, the observation deck pairs naturally with visits to the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Ocean Aquarium at street level, letting visitors see the same skyline first from below and then from above as part of one Pudong-focused day.