Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) to the city
The maglev costs CNY 50 and takes eight minutes to Longyang Road, which is not the centre; metro line 2 goes the whole way for a few yuan.
- The maglev does not reach the city centre. It runs to Longyang Road, a metro interchange in Pudong, in about eight minutes - then you change to the metro and carry on.
- A single is CNY 50, return CNY 80; the VIP compartment is CNY 100 single.
- Metro line 2 runs from the airport into the city directly for a few yuan, taking well over an hour but requiring no change for many destinations.
- The maglev is worth doing once as an experience - it touches 300 km/h and is genuinely remarkable - but as transport it is a partial journey at a premium price.
- Pudong is not Hongqiao. Shanghai's other airport is on the far west side with its own high-speed rail station; crossing between them takes well over an hour.
The maglev, honestly
The Shanghai maglev is the fastest commercial train service in the world and it is a genuine spectacle. It is also, as a way of getting into Shanghai, only half a journey.
- CNY 50 single, CNY 80 return. VIP compartment CNY 100 single, CNY 160 return.
- About eight minutes from the airport.
- It terminates at Longyang Road, a metro station in Pudong - not the Bund, not People's Square, not anywhere most visitors are staying.
- You then change to metro line 2 and continue for another twenty to forty minutes.
Take it because you want to have done it. It is worth the CNY 50 as an experience. Just do not take it expecting to arrive.
Metro line 2
- Runs from the airport into the city and across it, through People's Square and on to Hongqiao.
- A few yuan, by distance.
- Well over an hour end to end - it is a long line and the airport is far out.
- No change needed for a great many destinations, which with luggage often beats the maglev-plus-change.
Practicalities
- Get a transport card or use a mobile payment app. Shanghai runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay, and foreign cards are increasingly accepted within them - set this up before you fly, not at the station.
- Taxis are metered and reasonable, but the distance from Pudong makes the fare substantial and the journey long in traffic.
- Didi is the ride-hailing app, and it has an English interface.
Two Shanghai airports
- Pudong (PVG) - most international flights, far east of the city.
- Hongqiao (SHA) - domestic and some regional, west of the city, attached to a major high-speed rail station.
- They are on opposite sides of Shanghai. Metro line 2 connects them and takes well over an hour. Never book a tight connection between the two.
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