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Coordinates: 42°21′35″N, 116°10′45″E

Xanadu, also Zanadu, Shangdu or Shang-tu (Chinese: 上都; Hanyu Pinyin: Shàngdū) was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Mongol Empire, which covered much of Asia and also encroached upon eastern Europe. The city was located in what is now called Inner Mongolia, 275 km north of Beijing, about 28 km northwest of the modern town of Duolun. The capital consisted of the square-shaped "Outer City" (2,200 metres square), "Inner City" (1,400 metres square), and the palace, where Kublai Khan stayed in summer. The palace was 550 metres square, 40% the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The most visible modern-day remnants are the earthen walls though there is also a (ground-level) circular brick platform in the centre of the inner enclosure. Xanadu was visited by Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275; it became fabled as a metaphor for opulence.

The Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty made very few changes to China, imbibing much of the Confucianist and Taoist philosophies, and remodelling their government on the native dynasties they had defeated. However, they opened up the empire to westerners, allowing travellers like Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275 to report the wonders of the Eastern capital to their fellow Europeans.

The reported splendour of Xanadu later inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge to write his great poem Kubla Khan and caused Xanadu to become a metaphor for opulence. Xanadu is remembered today largely thanks to this poem, which contains the following often quoted lines:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

Coleridge used artistic license with his poem, and few aspects of the description are in evidence at the actual site.

• Xanadu is home to the comic strip character Mandrake the Magician, created by Lee Falk, widely believed to have been the first bona fide superhero.
• Canadian rock band Rush has a song called "Xanadu" on the album A Farewell to Kings which incorporates lines of Coleridge's poem.
• Italian metal band Stormlord has a song called "Xanadu" on the album At the Gates of Utopia which quotes the first segment of the poem.
• Japanese visual kei band Moi dix Mois has a song called "Xanadu" on their fourth album, Dixanadu.
• The song "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is based on the Coleridge poem.
• The 1980 musical film Xanadu is considered a cult film. It featured music by Electric Light Orchestra and John Farrar who wrote most of Olivia Newton-John's hits from the film. The film's title track, "Xanadu", was a major hit for the Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, along with the songs "Suddenly" (John Farrar) and "Magic" (John Farrar). A Broadway musical based on the film opened on July 10, 2007 to mostly positive reviews.
• It is the name of Charles Foster Kane's Mansion in the Classic Movie Citizen Kane (1941).
• The British pop band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich had a massive hit record with "The Legend of Xanadu" in 1968; the track is of a Spanish style rather than a Mongolian.
• The American TV show Veronica Mars uses the phrase "Go, shoo, return to Xanadu!" in the episode "Return of the Kane."
• The NES game Faxanadu's title is a portmanteau of "Famicom" and "Xanadu."
• Episode 70 of the Pokemon anime series features a greenhouse called Xanadu Nursery.
• In Heroes of Might and Magic II, the Xanadu was a map location the player could visit with heroes that had passed a certain level to gain primary skills.
• The Xanadu Project is a planned shopping, sport, and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Begun in 2006, when completed, it will be the world's largest mall, consisting of over 4.8 million square feet of construction.
• Uncle Scrooge and his nephews visit Xanadu in a story written and drawn by Don Rosa.
• The game Ground Control features a mission in which you are to attack a base in an area known as the 'Xanadu sector'.
• In the original pilot concept for Code Lyoko; "Garage Kids", the virtual world was originally called Xanadu. But In the official series, it is now Lyoko while the antagonist is named XANA.
• The band Family Force 5 has a professional concert dancer whose stage name is Xanadu.
• Mr.Nat of Reverse Psychology referenced Xanadu.
• In the episode "Vacation Goo" from the show American Dad, the alien Roger is seen singing the song "Xanadu" by Olivia Newton-John while serving tables on a cruise ship.
• In the song Tyranny of the Hunt by Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, the song says "You may be drawn by sight, you may be drawn by smell. You may be led to Xanadu or sent off straight to hell."
• Xanadu is the name of a very reflective region on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
• In the episode "The Voice" on the sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry exclaims "Xanadu!" upon entering George Costanza's private bathroom at Play Now.
• In an episode during the first season of Reno 911!, Dangle, while trying to arrest Terry, a male prostitute, uses the phrase "Come on easy does it, Xanadu it right into the car," to which terry replies, "You Xana-Don't it!"
• Argentine band "Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas" has a song called "Xanadu" on the album Versus

• Now We Are In Xanadu! Newspaper travel report about Xanadu aka Yuanshangdu in Inner Mongolia, including updated travel tips on how to get there.