Shanghai practical guide: transit, money, and getting online

Getting into the city from Pudong International Airport, the Maglev train is the fun option, an 8 minute run covering roughly 30 kilometers at up to 300 km per hour to Longyang Road station, for 50 yuan one way or 40 yuan if you show a same day airline ticket. From Longyang Road you'll transfer to the metro to actually reach downtown neighborhoods like the Bund or People's Square. If you'd rather skip the transfer, a taxi from Pudong runs roughly 200 to 500 yuan depending on traffic and destination. Hongqiao Airport sits much closer to the center and connects directly via metro lines 2 and 10, though taxi queues there can add another 30 minutes on top of a 20 minute ride on a good day.

Once you're in the city, the Shanghai Metro is the backbone of getting around, the largest metro network in the world by route length, first opened in 1993, with individual fares running 3 to 10 yuan depending on distance. If you're staying more than a couple of days, get a Shanghai Public Transportation Card, a 20 yuan refundable deposit gets you a rechargeable card valid on the metro, buses, and taxis. Last trains run around 22:30 on most lines, with some pushing later on Friday and Saturday nights.

Money is where Shanghai trips go sideways for unprepared travelers. Cash and foreign cards are accepted less at everyday vendors than mobile payments through WeChat Pay or Alipay, both of which need setup before or right when you arrive. WeChat Pay accepts linked Visa, Mastercard, and JCB cards, but foreign users must complete an extra identity verification with a photo ID and a selfie, and card linked payments only work for merchant transactions, not for topping up your in app balance. Alipay's Tourpass feature, launched in November 2019, is generally the simpler foreigner route, letting you preload the app with a yuan equivalent of your home currency without a Chinese bank account.

On connectivity, assume nothing works the way it does at home. Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, and all language versions of Wikipedia are blocked by China's Great Firewall, and that block extends to VPN provider sites and app stores, so any VPN you plan to use has to be installed and paid for before departure. For timing a visit, spring and autumn are generally the most pleasant seasons, since summer brings hot, humid weather with occasional typhoons and winter runs cold and damp. On the entry side, check your passport against the current visa free list well before booking, since China has been actively expanding it through 2025 with additions across South America, the Gulf, and elsewhere, alongside a separate temporary 30 day arrangement for most EU countries, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea that currently runs through the end of 2026. US citizens remain outside both of those and still need to apply for a visa in advance.