Yearning for a laid-back weekend in the city? Looking to enjoy nature and sports fun? Or just seeking a place to sit idly and spend a pleasant spring afternoon? Here are some tips.

Amid urban concrete, green is a soothing color. Shanghai is becoming an “ecological city,” featuring blue skies, lucid waters and green spaces.

The city’s super greenbelt ring, like a green necklace, now totals 98 kilometers and covers 6,208 hectares.

In spring, mild breeze and birdsong attract people to photograph flowers, do some exercise or just sit in contemplation. In summer, trees and lush greenery provide relief from sizzling summer heat. In autumn, the foliage turns color with splashes of crimson and gold. And in winter, dull gray days are brightened by nature’s landscape.

The belt is now dotted with 40 parks, and by the end of this year, the figure will be 50.

We take you to some major sections of the greenbelt. Enjoy the fun of walking, jogging and cycling!

Minhang section

The Minhang section covers a total green area of 494 hectares and stretches 13 kilometers. Now, this lush greenbelt has yielded fruitful results, featuring eight parks — Minhang Culture Park, Minhang Sports Park, Li’an Park, Xinzhuang Plum Blossom Garden, Meilong Ecological Park, Chunshen Park, Jinmei Garden and Meixin Longyun Park.

It is recommended to stroll along the 1,000-meter flower path in Minhang Sports Park in April, and photograph hydrangeas and explore the magic world of frogs at Meilong Ecological Park in May.

Moreover, Minhang Sports Park and Minhang Culture Park also feature a variety of colorful foliage trees, including ginkgo, red maple and Chinese tallow.

It is an ideal weekend option for sports enthusiasts.

Minhang Sports Park, as a core part of the greenbelt, has a wetland eco-garden, a pebble stream area and an emerald hill forest area, along with sports and fitness facilities such as a hillside slide, a mini-golf course, and boating and fishing areas.

It boasts two islands and a 1,000-meter flower path with 3,500 trees and shrubs, as well as flowers such as begonia, cherry blossoms, magnolia, peach and tulip.

Minhang Culture Park

Address: 2019 Wuzhong Road

吴中路2019号

Minhang Sports Park

Address: 456 Xinzhen Road

新镇路456号

Putuo section

The greenbelt is an ideal option for camping enthusiasts and peach blossom lovers.

The design of the greenbelt centers on two parks — Qidong Forest Park and Chunguang Park.

The 140,000-square-meter Qidong Forest Park, a key part of the city’s Outer Ring greenbelt, is located east of the Outer Ring Road, with its main entrance on Wuwei Road.

The Maple Forest Landscape transforms former palm trees into red maples beside a lotus pond, crafting a poetic scene. The Peach Brook Origin attraction features a flower stream in a mixed forest and glade, inviting visitors to stroll along a peach blossom water garden.

The park is also worth a visit for its two lawns — a 2,000-square-meter central one and a 1,000-square-meter lakeside one, both ideal for camping.

Chunguang Park, one of the first parks on the belt, draws inspiration from “The Peach Blossom Land,” a fable written by Chinese scholar Tao Yuanming in AD 421 about an ethereal utopia where people lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature.

Focusing on peach blossoms, the park introduces red and white peach varieties. The central island, connected by a boardwalk and surrounded by peach trees, resembles a “peach blossom island,” creating picturesque scenes with lakeside reflections.

As a key node, Chunguang Park uses spaces under the Wuwei Road Bridge and along the Xinchapu River to connect the whole greenbelt from south to north.

It features scenes envisioning a beautiful rural life. A lake often sees egrets and little grebes foraging.

Qidong Forest Park

Address: East of 1012 Wuwei Road

武威路1012号东侧

Chunguang Park

Address: 1005 Wuwei Road

武威路1005号

Xuhui section

Millipede loungers, stick-insect swings, cup moth exploration caves and silkworm-themed playground ... There is a 3-hectare “Forest Insect Secret Realm” in the West Bund Nature Art Park in Xuhui District. Here, children can swing under stick-insect frames, climb and slide in the silkworm-pupa playground, or play hide-and-seek in cup moth caves.

These installations encourage children to explore nature with imagination and adventure.

Once an ordinary urban greenbelt, the park on the Xuhui section of the greenbelt has been transformed into a child-friendly haven and a nature classroom.

The park features refined, eco-integrated design. It uses an axis and belt to connect diverse habitats and employs colorful plants to create a colored forest, ensuring ecological stability and boosting biodiversity. It has also created habitats for amphibians, forest birds and pollinating insects.

The first phase of the Xuhui section of the greenbelt starts from Laohumin Road in the west and extends to Longwu Road in the east, the Outer Ring Road in the north and Huajing Road in the south, covering about 37 hectares in total.

A multi-dimensional greenbelt system has been created, with walking, jogging, cycling paths and elevated sections. It connects the park’s slow traffic with a 500-meter elevated boardwalk, creating a walk-friendly space.

Vitality Park offers eco-friendly sports and fitness functions. The 1,400-square-meter site includes basketball courts, table tennis and fitness facilities, blending fun and interaction to meet the needs of different ages.

Address: 190 Huajing Road

华泾路190号

Pudong New Area section

The green ribbon along the Outer Ring Road features several sections in the Pudong New Area, each varying in themes. You can feel nature’s breath and enjoy a moment of tranquility from the urban hustle and bustle.

In total, 16 parks are planned on the greenbelt in Pudong, with seven already open to the public.

• Yanbei Park Greenbelt

Starting from Zhouyuan Road in the west and extending to Luoshan Elevated Road in the east, this 1.4-kilometer-long green corridor is lined with nuttall oak and golden rain trees, dotted with red maples, cherry blossoms and apricot trees. Sculptures, bridges and pavilions along the way add a cultural touch.

Address: 2888 Junmin Highway, Kangqiao Town

康桥镇军民公路2888号

• Tangxiang Park Greenbelt

Stretching 1.5 kilometers from Luoshan Elevated Road to Kangxin Highway, this green scroll features cherry blossoms in spring and Chinese parasol trees in summer. It’s a paradise for sports enthusiasts and a great spot for leisurely strolls.

The sports area, covering 23,000 square meters, offers fitness and sports facilities, including six types of sports namely a skateboard field, cycling path, football field, basketball court, tennis court and gateball court.

Address: 570 Kangren Road, Kangqiao Town

康桥镇康人路570号

• Xiunan Park Greenbelt

The 1-kilometer-long waterside greenbelt runs from the Outer Ring Nanhe Bridge in the west to the Zikang River Bridge in the east. Just across the bridge is the Shanghai Shenhua Football Club training ground. The park features unique structures like a forest reading room, calligraphy pavilion and wind chime corridor, offering a delightful forest reading experience.

Address: 197 Xiukang Road, Kangqiao Town

康桥镇秀康路197号

• Tangfeng Park Greenbelt

The green forest path, stretching 1.1 kilo­meters, runs from Gaoke Road E. to Chuangxin Road W. It features a “colorful flower belt” forest path.

Address: 520 Chuangxin Road W., Tangzhen Town

唐镇创新西路520号

• Xiaoqin Park Greenbelt

The 1.6-kilometer-long path runs from Guangcan Road to Hangjin Road. Along the greenbelt, attractions like Gaodong House, Filial Piety Garden, Fragrant Garden and Mingcui Corridor form a leisurely ecological green corridor full of natural and wildness charm.

Address: 175 Gaodongxin Road, Gaodong Town

高东镇高东新路175号

• Gaodong Eco-Park Greenbelt

With a loop of about 1.8 kilometers, this greenbelt connects to the Gaodong section of the Outer Ring greenbelt.

From Zhouhai Road to Wuzhou Avenue, it’s about 4.6 kilometers in length, stringing the cherry blossom boulevard, flower beds, city study room, the Gaodong Gateball Center and scenic lakes.

Address: 998 Xinyuan Road, Gaodong Town

高东镇新园路998号

Changning section

The Changning Outer Ring greenbelt features dense woods, with many hidden, winding micro-wetlands in the forest, creating a nature-friendly spot within a half-hour reach from the high-density urban area.

Here, the ecological greenbelt and the slow traffic system are integrated, combining fitness trails and sports tracks for jogging and cycling.

The greenbelt is extremely popular with cycling enthusiasts for balancing cycling difficulty and fun, with enchanting views along the way and even sights of airplanes.

The early spring greenbelt is like a scroll that has just been unrolled. Sunlight falls on the tender green grass, as if covering the lawn with a golden gauze. Listen carefully, and you can hear the cheerful chirping of different birds, singing melodiously. If you are lucky enough, you will enjoy the delight of chasing after the lively squirrels that jump merrily among the trees.

With magnolias, peach blossoms and crabapple flowers in full bloom, the greenbelt dons a splendid and colorful attire, turning into a sea of flowers.

The cycling route is shaded by green trees and offers pleasant scenery. For the Guangshun Road N. and Beidi Road Overpass section, riding through the forest, you will pass by the Dream Green Corridor, the Rain Garden and the Aerial Green Corridor, and cross three slow-traffic bridges. The terrain is generally flat.

The route connects to the Suzhou Creek riverfront walkway.

In addition, the greenbelt now has four newly built rest stations and vending machines, providing places for rest and replenishment.

A warm reminder: It is better to enter from the Guangshun Road N. entrance, where you can rent a bicycle and ride the entire route without any obstacles. Bicycles can also be rented at the entrance on Xian­xia Road W., but there is no rental point at Konggang No. 8 Road.

Entrances of the greenbelt:

• Guangshun Road N. (opposite Linkong Music Park)

广顺北路入口（临空音乐公园对面）

• Quankou Road (west of 88 Guangshun Road Passageway)

泉口路出入口（沿广顺路88号通道西侧）

• Kele Road and Xianxia Road W.

可乐路仙霞西路入口

• Konggang No. 8 Road (near Jinbang Road and Fuquan Road Stop of Bus No. 88)

空港八路入口（近公交88路金浜路福泉路站）