Your first day in Shanghai

Before you land

Check your ticket: PVG is Pudong; SHA is Hongqiao. Save your hotel name and address in Chinese, its phone number and your booking. Compare the full trip to the hotel, including transfers and the final walk.

Current fares, operating hours and platform instructions should be checked with the operator when travelling. This guide describes the main options without promising that a particular service will be running when your flight arrives.

Your first steps

Follow the airport’s immigration, baggage and customs instructions. Before leaving the terminal, confirm that your phone data works or that you can open your saved hotel details.

Shanghai’s official visitor service centres are listed in Pudong’s T1 and T2 international arrival halls and Hongqiao’s T1. Ask about communications, payment and onward transport if you need help finding your feet.

Pudong (PVG)

Metro Line 2 is one option for reaching the city. The Maglev connects the airport with Longyang Road, where you may need another connection. The Airport Link Line links the airport with the Hongqiao area; it is not the same service as a city-centre metro journey.

Choose the option that fits your hotel’s location and luggage. At the terminal, follow signs to the service you intend to use, then check the destination and operating information before buying a ticket.

For a direct journey, use the official taxi rank or your confirmed transfer’s pickup instructions. Show the driver’s destination in Chinese before setting off.

Hongqiao (SHA)

Check your terminal. Terminal 1 has Metro Line 10; Terminal 2 has Lines 2 and 10. The Airport Link Line serves the Terminal 2 area. Follow the airport’s transfer signs if you need to change terminals or continue to the railway station.

Do not confuse Hongqiao Airport with Hongqiao Railway Station when entering a pickup or destination. Save the specific terminal with your travel notes.

If it is late or plans change

Check remaining rail services before committing to a route. Ask the official transport desk about current options. If you take a taxi, follow the marked queue; if your hotel arranged pickup, confirm the meeting point with the hotel itself.

Let your hotel know if you will arrive later than expected. Keep a backup payment method and enough phone battery for the final part of the journey.

At your hotel

Show your passport and reservation, confirm check-in and registration arrangements, and save the hotel’s address for tomorrow. You have done the complicated part of the first day.