Choosing a Shanghai long stopover when you book a flight is a great way to discover a new country. You may not get the whole spirit of this new place in a few hours but you still get to visit some famous or hidden spots and meet locals. Here’s an itinerary you can follow if you have a Shanghai layover 12 hours, or more.
You are on your way to your honeymoon in Bali, your gap year in Australia or the trip of your lifetime in Tokyo and you have a Shanghai airport long layover?
It’d be a shame to not take advantage of it ! Here is all the basic information you need on the Shanghai airport layover visa, how to leave the airport and change money and what the best Shanghai layover itinerary is.
Layover in Shanghai visa
A Shanghai layover visa means the freedom to visit a new unexpected country ! You’re allowed to have a 24 hours transit visa for free to get out of the airport during your layover in Shanghai.
You will just need to show them that you have another plane booked to get a visa for Shanghai layover, otherwise they won’t let you out. You also have to withdraw money because credit cards are not accepted in a lot of places.
Pudong Airport to city centre
At Shanghai Pudong airport, you must plan enough time to get out of the Shanghai airport, around an hour and a half. Once it’s done, you have a few options to get downtown.
You can either take a taxi, bus, metro or maglev. As you don’t have a lot of time during your layover, the best option would be the Shanghai maglev.
It’s the fastest commercial high-speed electric train in the world and it’ll get you to Longyang Station in 8 minutes. The round trip is 80Y.
Once there, you’ll have to take the line 2 of the metro for another 15 minutes to East Nanjing Road. You can also take the metro directly at the airport but it’ll take you around an hour and a half, or even more at peak hour.
Shanghai layover tours : how to navigate ?
Another useful tip to navigate in the city (or anywhere else is the world) as you won’t have data : download mapsme.
It’s an offline map in which you can check itineraries anytime and anywhere. You just need to download the map of the city before.
Layover in Shanghai what to do ?
East Nanjing Road
Now that you arrived at East Nanjing Road, the first stop is the road itself !
That’s the main shopping street of Shanghai and one of the world’s busiest streets so it’s always a quite impressive first impression of China for tourists.
It’s very close from the airport with the maglev so you can even visit it on a Shanghai 10 hour layover.
Shanghai Bund
From there, you can walk until the end of the street to the Bund. By far the most popular place in Shanghai, it’s a waterfront area that faces some of the most impressive modern skyscrapers in the world.
It includes the world’s second tallest tower ever : the Shanghai Tower. There’s a great walk alongside the river and you’ll be amazed by the number of wedding photoshoots there is.
It really is one of the greatest things to do in Shanghai layover.
Shanghai Pudong layover tour : Old City & Yuyuan Garden
From there, you can head to the Old City and Yuyuan Garden Area. Definitely the place to add to your Shanghai layover things to do list if you’re looking for something a bit more authentic.
There’s plenty of Temples, cute little shopping corner streets and of course the mind blowing Yuyuan Garden. I believe the entrance is 40Y and half price for students. Enjoy!
Shanghai overnight layover
If you have a Shanghai airport overnight layover or a Shanghai 24 hour layover, there are a lot of hotels nearby, with the comfortable bed you’re dreaming of after your 10 hours flight!
I would recommend the Pudong Airport Hotel for your Shanghai layover.
I hope this Shanghai Layover Guide helped you plan your one day in Shanghai getaway! I’d be very glad to hear about your Chinese excursion. If you like this concept of enjoying your long layover, I recommend you check out my Singapore layover travel guide for your next trip!
