I had heard the Pearl Tower is not that exciting as far as an attraction goes, but we hadn’t been, it was hot out, we were down that way anyway after doing a trip to the aquarium, so we went for it. The lines were long, the floors crowded, and we spent more time riding crowded elevators than seeing the views or anything of interest in the actual tower.

I bought the all floor access level tickets. They have many pricing options, but the descriptions for what you get to see/do on each floor are not very detailed. We felt a little duped after we realized almost all the floors are just viewing stations at different heights in the Tower. The most exciting thing we saw on one floor was a very tame looking ride. However, even after my daughter passed the height check, she was denied access by the ride operator. I was annoyed but am well aware of the pointlessness of attempting fight certain battles.

That being said, the museum at the bottom of the Pearl Tower is awesome. My kids loved it, I loved it and I regretted not buying tickets to just the museum. I think it may be one of the best museums we’ve visited in Shanghai. Especially from a kid-friendly, capture a kid’s interest perspective. There are many exhibits about Shanghai history with a replica tea house, many replica stores and streets.

I suppose on a clear day, or if you or your companions are more interested than we were in staring out the windows at varying heights, it might be worth a trip to the top of the tower. However, if traveling with kids who bore easily, I would recommend doing no more than the top and bottom. If it’s cloudy or smoggy though, skip the expense and hassle and just buy tickets to visit the museum.