Haiwan Forest Park is a great dog friendly day trip for the whole family from Shanghai
Due to restrictions, we have not been able to leave Shanghai and my dog is going stir crazy. He is used to travelling and going hiking every couple of weeks. We decided to take a day trip to Haiwan Forest Park. It is far enough out of the city that it doesn’t feel like Shanghai, but in actuality it is.
The park is huge! We were there for hours and only did one side of the park and didn’t even do all of that side. They have so many activities within the park. We tried a few of the options, like go-karting and we even got my dog, Hugo, in a canoe!
The park is so big we didn’t see many people while we were there. We had our dogs off-leash the majority of the time. We only put them on a leash in the mini amusement park because there were a lot of children on the rides and in the playground area.
The mini amusement park area was very interesting. There were a lot of rides and carnival games. When we went only certain rides were open. I am not sure if this is always the case, or because it is the off season.
That being said they have a fairly new looking play area that was relatively busy and pirates of the Caribbean ride that was operational the day we went.
When we were in this area, we put our dogs on a leash because of all the children. The dogs were allowed to walk around with us in the amusement park area but are not allowed in the kids play area.
Near the amusement park area, there was a dinosaur land. At one point it looked like there were extra ticket sales for this area, however, it looks like it’s been a long time since they actually charged extra. There are a fair amount of dinosaur sculptures and a museum. The dinosaur museum was closed when we went. In the middle of the dinosaur land, there is a pond with more dinosaur sculptures as well as many ducks. We saw a family feeding the ducks bread while we were there.
The park also has stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking and dog-friendly canoeing!
There is also a large field near the canoeing area that is perfect for a game of catch or frisbee.
Overall, I this was a great day trip from Shanghai, the parking was not expensive, 10 RMB per day for a car, and the park had so many activities.
Ticket fee: 80 RMB at the ticket booth, 70 RMB online. Sometimes you can find deals, if you’re lucky.
