I'm seeking to travel to Shanghai at the end of August, and I'm interested to know from the experts which of these hotels would be best for a first-time visitor to Shanghai who wants to be close to either the major sights or the major nightlife areas in Shanghai:

1. The Bund Hotel at 525 Guang Dong Road;

2. City Hotel Shanghai, 5-7 Shanxi Road South; or

3. The Bund Riverside Hotel, 398 East Beijing Road.

I'm getting all of them for less than $100/night through continental.com.

Thanks so much for your insights!

I've used the City Hotel once on a biz trip when our partner got us a corporate rate there. More convenient for business than sightseeing, but all in all not a bad place to stay.

If staying at the Bund, I don't think the street is especially glamorous nowadays so better insist on river view rooms.

Shanghai can have temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius in August so hope the OP is used to warm and humid climates.

Hey, I sweated it out for 3 nights last year in Dubai in the middle of August, so I'm not too worried with respect to weather (so long as the typhoons stay away!).

The one thing I have come to greatly value, though, is a hotel in a good location -- I recognize that taking the subway and taxis is more or less inevitable in any large city, but a poor location means I'm doing so too much.

I stay at the Bund Riverside frequently. It's within a few blocks of the any of the attractions of The Bund, as well as one of the main walking/shopping streets Nanjing Road. The staff is courteous, english speaking, and the hotel is fairly clean. It's certainly not a 5 star, but it's not bad for under $100. My biggest complaint is that the A/C isn't as good as I would like it to be.

I don't know any of the hotels you mention but, as a recent arrivee in Shanghai, it was hard for me to find maps of the city online. The link below is a decent one. It has a collection of maps, one even for happy hour spots. As one can see on that map, there are a decent amount of bars and cafes in the French Concession which isn't too far from the hotel on Shaanxi Nan Lu (near Nanjing Xi Lu or Beijing Xi Lu). That said, being on the Bund puts you close to the Nanjing Dong Lu metro stop which can whisk you east across the river or west to the French Conc - - and the Metro is laughably cheap (3 or 4 RMB per ride).

http://www.smartshanghai.com/maps/smsh_map.php

Sorry, in case it's not in your guide book (and I recommend TimeOut):
Lu = street
Nan = South
Bei = North
Xi = West
Dong = East
Zhong = Middle

Although I started a different thread about major chain hotels, the price of these possibilities certainly bring some interest. Will be watching to see if these locations might also work out well.

You ain't kiddin!

Shanghai is the second worst (weatherwise) destination I have ever been to. Super hot, super humid, super, super polluted beyond, way beyond, anything else I have ever experienced. Only exception, Beijing was worse.

And, I survived August in NYC.

I stayed at the Bund Riverside in November 05. Not a bad location in "new" Shanghai, easy access to the Bund tunnel, Pearl Tower, etc. But nowhere near "old" Shanghai, but cabs are pennies, so I guess that is no matter.

God, Shanghai is an oven. I remember my first trip to Shangha in July of 2003. With the heat index, the temperature on the day I left from SHA to fly to CTU was 53 celsius. It was murder....

Chengdu wasn't much better, but at least the constant cloud cover blotted out direct sunlight...

Are you sure it was cloud cover?

SiChuan province in July (at least in 2003). Yah, I'd be willing to take that bet. Beijing? Um....No.