The Shanghai maglev is the fastest thing out of Pudong airport: about 30 km in roughly eight minutes, for ¥50. It is not the fastest way to your hotel, because it stops at Longyang Road in outer Pudong and you finish on the metro. Counting that change, it beats Metro Line 2 to People’s Square by about half an hour on paper. A taxi costs around ¥180 and takes about 50 minutes, and from Hongqiao, the closer airport, the metro gets you downtown in roughly 30 minutes for about ¥5.
Pudong (PVG) handles most international flights and sits about 30 km from downtown. Hongqiao (SHA) is about 13 km out and shares a building with Hongqiao railway station.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Distances and Line 2 time from the Shanghai government transport page (updated 4 Jun 2026); maglev time from the Shanghai government (14 Jun 2025); combined maglev + metro time from wanderinchina.com (Jul 2026).
Pudong airport to the city center, compared
| Option | To People’s Square | Cost | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maglev + Metro Line 2 | About 28 min riding, plus waits | ¥50 (¥40 with a same-day air ticket) + metro fare | Maglev 07:02–21:40 from the airport |
| Metro Line 2 direct | About 1 h (one guide says 70–90 min) | About ¥7 | About 06:00–22:30 |
| Taxi | About 50 min | About ¥180 by day, about ¥230 at night | 24 hours |
| Night airport bus | 60–90 min | ¥15–34 | About 23:00–05:30 |
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Shanghai government transport page (updated 4 Jun 2026); wanderinchina.com maglev page (Feb and Jul 2026); chinafortravelers.com PVG guide (15 Aug 2026); Wego (16 Jul 2026) for the night taxi figure.
The Shanghai maglev: speed, fares and hours
The line runs about 30 km from Pudong airport to Longyang Road. The city government describes the trip as “just eight minutes”. Most 2026 guides give the top speed as 300 km/h, the cap since May 2021. A few pages still say it reaches 431 km/h at certain hours of the day. We could not confirm that with the operator, whose site did not load, and an eight-minute run fits 300 km/h, not 431.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Single ticket | ¥50 |
| Single with a same-day air ticket | ¥40 |
| Return (valid 7 days) | ¥80 |
| VIP single | ¥100 |
| From the airport | 07:02 to 21:40 (one guide says 21:42) |
| From Longyang Road | 06:45 to 21:40 |
| Frequency | Every 15–20 min |
Payment is easy now. Since 14 June 2025 the maglev takes contactless Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards at the gate. The government notice says small-amount password-free payment has to be switched on for the card, and a dual-badge card is charged through UnionPay first. Cash, Alipay and WeChat Pay work too. Older timetables list two extra late departures from the airport, at 22:15 and 22:40; we found no current source for them, so treat 21:40 as the last train.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Speed and fares from wanderinchina.com (5 Feb 2026) and chinafortravelers.com (5 Jul 2026); 431 km/h claims from China Highlights and citiesinsider.com (undated); payment from the Shanghai government (14 Jun 2025); timetable from wanderinchina.com, last-train disagreement from China Highlights.
Is the maglev worth it?
For most people heading to the Bund or People’s Square, the maglev saves about half an hour over Line 2 and costs roughly ¥45 more. That is a fair trade on a short trip. Two things eat into it. Trains leave every 15 to 20 minutes, so a near miss costs you a good part of the gain. And at Longyang Road you walk three to four minutes to Line 2 and change, which is no fun with two big suitcases.
Our view: take it if you are staying in Pudong near Lines 2, 7, 16 or 18, which all stop at Longyang Road, or if you want the ride for its own sake. With heavy bags and a hotel in Puxi, a metered taxi at about ¥180 is simpler. After 21:40 the question answers itself.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Interchange lines from Wikipedia’s Longyang Road station article; walking time from chinafortravelers.com (Jul 2026); journey times as in the table above.
Metro Line 2 from Pudong
The airport metro station was renamed Pudong International Airport Terminal 1&2 on 21 September 2024. From there Line 2 runs straight through Lujiazui and under the river to People’s Square. The city puts it at about an hour for about ¥7; one 2026 guide says 70 to 90 minutes. Trains run from about 06:00 to about 22:30. You can tap a foreign contactless card at the gates across the whole network since 28 June 2025.
A fare change is pending. Shanghai held a public hearing on 7 September 2026 on two plans, both of which would add about ¥1 to an average trip. No decision had been announced when we checked.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Station rename and fare reform from the Shanghai government (Dec 2023, 20 Aug 2026) and The Paper (Sep 2026); times from the Shanghai government and chinafortravelers.com (15 Aug 2026); contactless gates from China Daily (28 Jun 2025).
Taxis and night buses
The city’s own estimate for a taxi from Pudong to People’s Square is about ¥180 and 50 minutes. Guides quote anything from ¥140 to ¥260, depending on traffic and where you are going. The meter starts at ¥14 for the first 3 km (¥16 in an electric taxi), then ¥2.7 a kilometer, with a 30% surcharge at night. Use the official rank and insist on the meter: in March 2026 a Pudong driver who demanded a flat ¥150 without the meter for a 24 km ride was fined ¥2,000.
After the metro closes, airport buses run through the night, roughly 23:00 to 05:30, for ¥15 to ¥34. We could not confirm the current route numbers, so check the signs in the arrivals hall.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Taxi estimate from the Shanghai government (updated 4 Jun 2026); tariff from the Shanghai government (19 Sep 2025); range and buses from chinafortravelers.com (15 Aug 2026); fine from Yangzi Evening News (24 Mar 2026).
Hongqiao airport to the city
Hongqiao is the easy one. Terminal 2 is on Lines 2 and 10, Terminal 1 on Line 10, and the ride downtown takes about 30 minutes for about ¥5. From the railway station next door, Line 2 reaches People’s Square in about 32 minutes. Taxi estimates disagree: the city says ¥100 to ¥150, WanderInChina says ¥50 to ¥80 for the same trip. The gap is too wide for us to pick one.
Because Terminal 2 adjoins Hongqiao railway station, you can walk from a domestic flight to a train for Suzhou, Hangzhou or Beijing without going into town at all.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Lines and taxi range from the Shanghai government (updated 4 Jun 2026); time and fare from Wego (16 Jul 2026); Line 2 time from chinafortravelers.com (13 Aug 2026); lower taxi range from wanderinchina.com (25 May 2026).
Between the two airports: the Airport Link Line
The Airport Link Line opened on 27 December 2024 and runs from Hongqiao Terminal 2 to Pudong Terminals 1 and 2 in about 40 minutes, with seven stations. The full fare is ¥26 and trains come every 15 minutes. Before it opened, the same trip by metro took about 1 hour 40. Since 1 April 2026 the first train leaves Hongqiao T2 at 05:45 and the last from Pudong to Hongqiao at 22:15. It does not serve the city center; the useful interchange is Line 9 at Zhongchun Road.
Pudong is also building a third terminal. Work began on 20 November 2024 and completion is planned for 2028, so it will not affect a trip this year.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 Shanghai government (30 Dec 2024); Pudong government (2 Jan 2025); China Daily Hongqiao edition (31 Mar 2026) for the April 2026 timetable; Shanghai government (21 Nov 2024, 3 May 2026) for Terminal 3.
Shanghai maglev: quick answers
How fast is the Shanghai maglev?
300 km/h in service since May 2021, according to most 2026 guides, and about eight minutes from end to end. Claims of 431 km/h at set hours were not confirmed.
How much is the maglev?
¥50 one way, ¥40 if you show a same-day air ticket, ¥80 return within seven days.
Does the maglev go to the Bund?
No. It ends at Longyang Road. Line 2 from there reaches People’s Square in about 20 minutes, and the Bund is a short walk or one more stop away.
What if I land after 21:40?
Take Metro Line 2 if it is before about 22:30, otherwise a metered taxi or a night bus.
Once you are in, our Shanghai travel guide covers the city, where to stay in Shanghai helps you pick the end of town that suits your arrival airport, and the 3-day Shanghai itinerary starts on the Bund.
Built from government notices, operator figures quoted by travel guides and dated news reports, not from a visit. We have not travelled this route ourselves — see how we check.