Playa Maya is an excellent water park located in the southwestern suburb of Songjiang, right next to its sister venue, Happy Valley amusement park (they’re connected – you could hit both in a long day). The park features around a dozen full size slides, including body slides (including free-fall slides), tube slides, water coasters, funnel slides, multi-person slides, themed slides, and kids slides, plus a huge wave pool, a lazy river, kids areas with surreal cartoon characters, acres and acres of high-quality stone flooring, and more. Many of the rides were designed by the Canadian company, WhiteWater. There’s also a “scuba diving area” in what looks like a dirty fishtank with Mayan relics. The whole place has a Mayan theme, with caves, statues, and characters. The park feels very safe – the biggest hazard is probably the high number of people who smoke cigs here, but that’s also part of the charm. The food is not great, but better than it was ten years ago (now you can get Korean fried chicken and lu rou fan), and the gelato would be good even downtown. For tickets, you’re looking at around 220rmb for adults and a bit less for kids. A cab from downtown will take about an hour, or you can take Line 9 to Sheshan and hit a 10-minute cab. Recommended in the summer. Expect to spend around 3-5 hours to hit everything.