Pudong Airport to Shanghai
Shanghai has two airports, and your ticket probably lands at Pudong (PVG) — the international one, roughly 30 to 45 km east of central Shanghai depending on where you're going. (Hongqiao, the other one, sits in the city's western edge; if you arrive there, you've skipped most of this page.) Pudong to downtown is a well-solved problem with four answers, and the right one depends mostly on what time you land and how much stuff you have.
The four ways into town
| Way | Time to the centre | Rough cost | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maglev + Metro Line 2 | ~8 min to Longyang Road, then 20–30 min more on the metro | Maglev single around ¥50 (discounted with a same-day air ticket); metro a few yuan | You travel light, land within its operating hours, and want to say you went 300 km/h |
| Metro Line 2 direct | 60–75 min to People's Square | A few yuan | Same as above, minus the fun. Line 2 stops at Lujiazui, People's Square, Jing'an and runs out to Hongqiao Railway Station |
| Taxi (official rank) | 45–75 min, traffic-dependent | Metered; expect in the low hundreds of yuan to the centre | Heavy luggage, late arrival, or three people sharing — often cheaper per head than it looks |
| Ride-hailing (DiDi) | Same as taxi | Similar to taxi, shown in-app | You want the fare fixed in the app and an English interface. Pickup zones are signposted; follow the app |
A newer Airport Link Line rail service also connects Pudong and Hongqiao since late 2024 — useful if you're changing airports or heading to stations on its route. For a first visit, the options above cover almost every case.
The detail that actually decides: when you land
The Maglev and metro stop running late evening (check current last-train times on the official sites if you land after 20:30). Land at 23:00 and the choice is made for you: taxi or ride-hailing. Both run all night from official ranks and pickup zones. This is worth knowing before you land, because tired first-timers in the arrivals hall are exactly who the informal "taxi" touts outside are waiting for — use the official rank inside the building, or book in the app, and ignore anyone soliciting in the hall.
Your first two hours: a short checklist
These are the things that make the rest of the trip smooth, and most of them are much easier done before or during the flight than in the arrivals hall:
- Data working before you leave the airport. Travel eSIM installed at home, or a SIM from the carrier counters in the arrivals hall (passport required — the trade-offs are covered in staying online in China). Confirm a signal before you get in any car.
- Payment ready. Alipay or WeChat Pay bound to your card, verified — see paying in China. Taxis and metro accept cash and some accept cards, but the path of least friction is the QR in your app.
- Your hotel's name and address in Chinese, saved offline. Screenshot it. You will show this to a driver, and it ends the conversation before it becomes a problem.
- Passport in your pocket, not your checked bag. Hotels scan it at check-in — Chinese regulation ties every night's stay to a registered identity, and the hotel does the paperwork automatically. (Staying at a friend's home instead? They must register your stay with the local police within 24 hours — ask them; it's a normal procedure.)
- Nothing else is urgent. The train app can be set up tomorrow from a hotel Wi-Fi. Do not spend your arrival energy on anything beyond the four items above.
One shortcut worth knowing
If someone is meeting you at the gate — a supplier, a partner, or the service this site runs — then the list above becomes their checklist, not yours: SIM, transport, hotel check-in and the Chinese address problem all stop being your first-day project. That service is small, personally run from Shanghai, and described plainly — including what it doesn't yet cover — on the Business Trips & Factories page.