Jinshanzui is known as the city's earliest and sole remaining fishing village.

With the start of the Chinese solar term of xiaoshu this past Sunday, city dwellers might as well prepare to endure the dog days of summer. However, amid the oppressive heat a number of annual festivals are arriving right in time to give Shanghai foodies a chance to escape the city and feast on local delicacies.

The last fishing village

Located on Shanghai's southern coastline on Hangzhou Bay, Jinshanzui is known as the city's earliest and sole remaining fishing village. And from now until October, the village is welcoming visitors for its third annual seafood festival.

The village's eight signature dishes are undoubtedly the not-to-be-missed highlight of the seafood festival: boiled anchovies, stir-fried small clams with scallions, soy-braised yellow croaker, stir-fried chives with clam meat, steamed salted mackerel, boiled shrimps, fried white bait with beaten egg, and seaweed soup with small shrimps.

Besides the delicious dishes, visitors can also enjoy the village's unique sights. At the viewing platform visitors can see the tools, rafts and boats that the local fishermen have used in the past decades, and gaze over the sea at the three islands of Jinshan.

Villagers have restored the former residence of a local officer during the Republic of China (1912-1949), in which visitors can glimpse some of the village's history. A 1,000-year-old street has also been renovated in Ming- (1368-1644) and Qing-style (1644-1911) architecture.

Tel: 3721-1869

How to get there: Take the Shimei Line bus at the Southwest Bus Station near Jinjiang Park Station on metro Line 1, and get off at Shihua Bus Station, then take Shanyang No.2 bus or the Xiwei Line or Fengwei Line to the village

Mutton festival in Zhuanghang

Mutton festival

Enjoying mutton and alcohol in summer has been a time-honored custom for people in Zhuanghang town in Fengxian district, as they believe it will strengthen their body and protect them from illness for the whole year. In 2009, the custom was recognized as an "intangible cultural heritage" of the city.

This year's mutton festival kicked off this past Friday and will continue until the end of August.

Visitors to Zhuanghang can have a feast of mutton at both the Village Food Plaza (Nanzhuang Road, by Zhuangliang Road) and other restaurants in local farmers' houses. There are a range of home-cooked dishes on offer, including a selection of dishes that feature pear, another local product of the town. Dishes include stir-fried mutton and pear with cumin, pear soup with glutinous rice balls and medicinal jelly made of turtle shell, roots and pear.

Each Saturday night during the mutton festival, open air film screenings are held at the food plaza. Every weekend, visitors can also get creative making DIY fabric collages using locally produced coarse cloth at designated places around town.

During the festival, visitors are encouraged to interact with the town's official Sina Weibo microblog, such as by posting photos of themselves eating mutton. Lucky participants will be rewarded with souvenirs.

Tel: 3365-0479, 3365-0549

How to get there: Take the Lianzhuang Line bus at Lianhua Road Station at metro Line 1 and get off at Zhuanghang

Visitors pick grapes themselves

Grape theme park

When the grape theme park in Malu town of Jiading district was set up in 2005, it was the first one of its kind in the country, but the town's annual summer grape festival has been running for 13 years. This year's event will end on October 7.

It was back in 1981 that the town decided to promote grapes as one of its featured products and Malu now boasts some 300 hectares of grape plantations and over 70 different kinds of grapes.

The grape theme park will open to the public during the festival, in which tourists can explore 10 different sections of the park. In one section, visitors can pick the fruit themselves, which are then sold by weight. Meanwhile, the grape corridor section and the potted grapes section also offer beautiful scenery featuring grape vines twisted in different shapes. The park charges an admission fee of 30 yuan ($4.89).

Tel: 5951-1816

How to get there: Take metro Line 11 and get off at Malu Station, then take Malu No.1 bus to the last stop, Dayu Village