3 of the best water parks in and around Shanghai

Shanghai is seriously bringing the heat this week - so there's been no better time to drop eveything and cool off in one of the city's best blue-bottomed pools. In part 3 of our round-up, today we bring you some of the best water parks in and around Shanghai.

Dino Beach

ENTRY 260RMB for adults, 130RMB for kids Mon-Fri and 180RMB on weekends  

Shanghai’s oldest water park is starting to show a bit of wear and tear and they continue to charge high prices for generally terrible food and drink, but Dino Beach still proves a popular destination for a young, splash-happy crowd. The dinosaur-themed park features a host of slides, a fake beach, wave pool, water-top assault course and a dedicated range of attractions for younger children. There are annoying extra charges for renting lockers etcetera, but the Line 12 extension has made it more accessible than ever for a few hours of water-based entertainment. 

Dino Beach is at 78 Xinzhen Lu, near Gudai Lu, Minhang district.

Playa Maya

ENTRY 180RMB for adults, 120RMB for kids 

While Dino Beach is more established, Playa Maya is edging it out as the preferred water park destination, especially with this summer's addition of a 30,000sqm ‘Magic Watertown’. So along with the Playa Maya classics such as the eight-pronged Big Octopus slide and the Lazy River, there are now five new family play areas, an extra four slides that are 17 metres high and 100 metres long, and a ‘water battlefield’ area including 12 water slingshot launchers and ‘water balls’ for 48 people to play in at a time. Oh yes. 

Playa Maya is at 888 Linhu Lu, near Linyin Avenue, Songjiang district.

Paradise Park, Hangzhou

ENTRY 190RMB for adults, 120RMB for kids 

Only an hour from Shanghai, Hangzhou’s biggest theme park Paradise Park draws large crowds at weekends to its combination of standard loop-the-loop roller coasters, spinning tops and flying galleons, all based on Inca, pirate and Mad Hatter’s tea party themes. Far more exciting is the water park in the centre. It features ten slides, a 10,000sqm water area for kids, a 6,000sqm wave pool, a toadstool garden and a Sleeping Beauty castle, and while long queues in the summer are tedious (avoid weekends if possible), the park is certainly worth the journey.

Paradise Park is at 2555 Fengqing Avenue, Hangzhou.

Discover more great pools in Shanghai below or hit 'Read more' at the bottom of this message for lots more top water parks nearby.