Quick Shanghai Travel Advice Needed Please

[Horse]

I'm arriving in Shanghai by train from Qingdao tomorrow night. i forgot to get them to confirm which station at the time of buying my ticket, I'm imagining it will be 上海站. I then need to get over to Pudong Airport area to find a reasonably cheap place for the night before my flight tomorrow.

Can anyone tell me how far from the train station to Pudong (and how much in it should cost in a cab) and if they know of any reasonably cheap digs near the airport?

Cheers

[roddy]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but if it's any use there's an airport bus from the railway station - see line 5 here.

[anonymoose]

If you can find the bus that Roddy mentioned, that's probably your cheapest option, but Shanghai Railway Station is quite large and busy, so if you have lots of luggage to carry around, it may not be very convenient.

Pudong Airport is quite far from the railway station. In fact, Pudong Airport is quite far from everywhere in downtown Shanghai. At an estimate, I'd guess it would cost about 100 yuan to get a cab from the railway station to the airport.

As for hotels, I'm sure there must be some near the airport, but the airport is in a rather remote location, so I doubt the choice is very large, and there won't be much else around there.

[HedgePig]

The distance from city centre to Pudong international is around 40km and a taxi would cost you more like 150 -170 RMB - and the rates goes up by 30% (I think) after 11pm.

There are a few hotels around the airport, including a Jin Jiang Inn. (http://www.jinjianginns.com/Hotel/Reservation1.aspx) but I don't think there's a lot of choice. There may be one place at the airport itself but generally they are not in walking distance.

Regards

HedgePig

[adrianlondon]

Bring an umbrella! Weather is awful. You can buy one from a vendor for around 20kuai but considering the amount of destrobed umbrellas I saw lying on the roads and pavements today (and it wasn't especially windy) you might need to buy a few to make your trip ;)

If you didn't want to get a cab, then buy a metro card (one of the proximity things) and charge it with 50kuai. You'll use a few (around 4) to get the metro to where the Maglev train is, and then 40kuai for that trip. It's 50kuai if you pay cash there. You return and refund your remaining money (plus deposit) at the end when you get to the airport. It'll take you around 40 minutes end to end. Not bad. Plus you get to travel al 430kmh (for a few seconds) on the Maglev.

Staying in a hotel by the airport must be boring as hell, but they are cheaper (because it's as boring as hell I guess!).

[Horse]

Cheers peeps, really appreciate the info. Good stuff

[skylee]

Not sure about hotels at Pudong Airport but you can take the metro from the railway station to Longyang Road Station and then switch to the Maglev highspeed train. It is easy. (But it will involve a change at the People's Square.)

I always take the Maglev train when in Shanghai.

[adrianlondon]

The longest part of your journey will be changing to line 2 at People's Square station. And the people in Shanghai have this habit of pretending to walk really fast and then suddenly stopping and spinning like a spinning top, while trying to send a text message.

It's like pinball.

[Meng Lelan]

Bumping this up, hoping to get a chance to ride a maglev this summer I hope? Is the maglev to and from the Pudong airport the only maglev line in China?

[anonymoose]

Yes, and it doesn't even go to a useful place in Shanghai. Once you get off the Maglev, you'll have to then switch to the metro or take a taxi. Depending on where you're going, it'll probably be quicker and less hassle just taking a bus from the airport.

[Meng Lelan]

I thought they were going to expand the Maglev route just for the Expo 2010?

[anonymoose]

You must be kidding. They were thinking about expanding it all the way to Hangzhou, but there was too much opposition from Shanghai residents not wanting it to pass close to their appartments (seeing how dangerous the magnetic field can be ).

[Meng Lelan]

I don't know, I've always wanted to ride a maglev. Maybe I'll take it to the airport someday just for the experience of riding a maglev.

[skylee]

Taking the Maglev is easy, and it is much more comfortable than taking the bus IMHO (I took the bus once and I did not get a seat and had to stand almost the whole way. So I switched back to Maglev).

The interior of the train is a bit disappointing (same applies to the new 和諧號 trains; not sure why they just don't look modern. The high-speed train in Taiwan looks much better).

[adrianlondon]

Take it. Don't be upset when it dumps you in the middle of nowhere but it's not expensive and, well, you can do what all the other tourists do and take a photo of the speed readout when it hits 431kmh.

However, at some times of the day it doesn't go full speed. Work out when that is and if that's the train you're going to take then don't bother. Other people who did travel at 431kmh, such as me, will point at you and laugh.

It's better than Beijing's airport train which goes close enough to the motorway where you can see the buses overtake you along the airport express road. And then you get dumped almost at a metro station but not quite.

Chinese public transport - beautifully designed but not very well interconnected. Same as Beijing airport. I guess that's what happens when you let an architect design everything and never get a transport planner in to check the finished plans.

[gato]

The interior of the train is a bit disappointing (same applies to the new 和諧號 trains; not sure why they just don't look modern.

The same reason why the old Pudong airport terminal (Terminal 1), which opened only in 2000, has such terrible interiors. For example, why are all the restrooms on a different level from the waiting area, requiring one to walk down the staircase to go to the restroom? Because the designers didn't know what they were doing.

[skylee]

why are all the restrooms on a different level from the waiting area, requiring one to walk down the staircase to go to the restroom?

Indeed.

[rezaf]

My home is in Zhangjiang which is close to the airport and it costs 100 kuai to get there from here by taxi so i guess you will have to pay more than 160 kuai.