Arrivals
A Shanghai layover is worth leaving the airport for if you have about 7 hours and a passport China lets in without a visa.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) is about 30 km from the city centre. Metro Line 2 starts at the station between Terminals 1 and 2 and runs to East Nanjing Road, a short walk from the Bund, in about an hour. With 90 minutes to get through China’s border, the train both ways and 90 minutes back at the airport before your flight, about 5.5 hours of any trip go on getting there and back, which is why a Shanghai layover needs at least 7.
- Bags. On one ticket, your checked bags usually go straight through to your next flight, so you leave with only your hand luggage. On separate tickets you collect them and pass the border whatever you’d planned. Aerotel, the hotel on levels 6 and 7 of Terminal 2, stores bags for people who aren’t staying; ask there for the price.
- Paying. Most of China pays by phone. Before you fly, install Alipay or WeChat Pay and link your own bank card: it works without a Chinese bank account, and payments of 200 yuan or less usually carry no fee (3% above that). For the metro you can simply tap a contactless Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB or UnionPay card at the gates. Carry a little cash too: ATMs take foreign cards, usually up to 3,000 yuan a withdrawal, and the airport has them.
- Phone. The airport’s Wi-Fi is free: log in with a photo of your passport. Many foreign apps, Google’s and WhatsApp among them, don’t work on China’s networks, so download an offline map before you fly and ask your mobile provider or eSIM seller what will work in China.
Paying for the metro, and what to do with bags: getting into the city.
eSIM
Data before you land
A China eSIM set up before you fly gives you data from the moment you land: for maps, for Alipay or WeChat Pay, and for checking the metro. The airport's Wi-Fi is free, but it stops at the terminal door.
Get an eSIM from Airalo (opens in a new tab)Get a Saily eSIM (opens in a new tab)
Border
Most passports from Europe, North America and Australia can leave Pudong without a visa, as long as your next flight goes on to a third country.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia. China’s 240-hour visa-free transit lets you in for up to 10 days if you hold a ticket, with a confirmed seat and date, on to a third country or region: anywhere but the country you flew in from. Hong Kong counts. Your passport needs at least 3 months left. It’s free, and there’s nothing to apply for.
- The 30-day list. UK, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and many EU passports can also enter for up to 30 days, whatever their next flight, until 31 December 2026. The US isn’t on that list. On a layover you’re covered by the 240-hour rule either way, and it has no end date.
- India and other passports. India isn’t on either list, so leaving the airport needs a Chinese visa, applied for before you travel.
- Staying airside. On a through ticket to another country, leaving within 24 hours, you change planes past security with no border check, and need nothing whatever your passport.
- Time. Allow 90 minutes from landing to the train. At the border you fill in China’s arrival card (online before you land saves time), have your fingerprints taken and show your onward booking. If the queue is slow, you lose time in Shanghai, not your flight: when to head back is set by your departure time.
Who needs which document, and what happens after 2026: visa and transit rules.
Into Shanghai
Take Metro Line 2 from the airport: about an hour to East Nanjing Road, by the Bund, for about 7 yuan.
Not needed when you stay airside.
| Ride | Into town | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Metro Line 2 to East Nanjing Road | About an hour | About 7 yuan |
| Maglev to Longyang Road, then Line 2 | About 8 minutes on the maglev, then the metro | 50 yuan, plus the metro |
| Taxi to People’s Square | About 50 minutes | About 180 yuan |
The maglev is quicker, but it only goes as far as Longyang Road, where you change to Line 2 for the centre, and its last train back leaves at 9:40pm. Every plan in this guide uses Line 2 both ways.
Trains leave the airport from early morning; this guide plans on the first at 6:30am. The last train back to the airport leaves East Nanjing Road at 10:35pm and People’s Square at 10:33pm, every day. You need it only for a flight after about 1:25am; with an earlier flight, your leave-by time comes before it. The airport is the end of the line, so you’ll usually get a seat on the way in.
Every way in, paying and taxis: getting into the city.
What to do
The Bund, Shanghai’s riverfront, is a 15-minute walk from East Nanjing Road station, and the Yu Garden is 25 minutes further on foot.
Not needed when you stay airside.
The fastest plan for a short layover
- Clear the border and follow the signs for Metro Line 2 to the station between Terminals 1 and 2.
- Ride to East Nanjing Road: about an hour.
- Walk about 15 minutes along Nanjing Road to the Bund, the riverside promenade that faces Pudong’s skyline across the Huangpu River. It’s free and open all day.
- Leave East Nanjing Road station 2 hours 50 minutes before your flight. That covers the wait for a train, the ride, the walk to check-in and 90 minutes at the airport.
It needs about 7 hours, which gives you about 1.5 hours in town.
Prefer a guide? Trip.com runs free half-day tours from Pudong for international transit passengers, with transport, a guide and tickets included: the Yu Garden and the Bund from 9am to 2pm, or a Huangpu River cruise from 6pm to 11pm. There’s no booking: sign up in person at the tourist information counter in Terminal 1’s arrivals hall, between Gates 6 and 7, at least 30 minutes before the start. With the border and the 90 minutes back at the airport, plan on 9 hours: land by about 6:45am for the morning tour or 3:45pm for the evening one. For a landing at another time, a private layover tour from the airport is the alternative.
Watch the calendar
- Mondays. The Yu Garden is closed, except on public holidays. The Bund and Nanjing Road plan works every day. The free tours’ terms don’t say what replaces the garden on a Monday, so ask at the counter.
- Public holidays. China’s 2027 holidays are New Year (1 to 3 January), Spring Festival (5 to 13 February), Qingming (3 to 5 April), Labour Day (1 to 5 May), Dragon Boat (9 June), Mid-Autumn (15 September) and National Day (1 to 7 October). The Yu Garden opens on a holiday Monday and sets its own Spring Festival hours, and taxis add 10 yuan to the fare at Spring Festival and 5 yuan over Labour Day and National Day. Check Line 2’s last train on the day.
- After 31 December 2026. The 30-day visa-free entry ends unless China extends it. The 240-hour transit carries on, so a layover is still covered if your next flight goes on to a third country.
Our itineraries give timed plans from 7 hours, the free tours with how to join them, an overnight plan and places to rest at the airport.
Transit tour
Private layover tours from Pudong
For a landing that misses the free tours' 9am and 6pm starts: a guide meets you at the airport and brings you back. Check how long it lasts, and that your passport lets you enter China.
See tours on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)See tours on Viator (opens in a new tab)
Head back
Be back at Pudong airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass.
Not needed when you stay airside.
- Time. With 90 minutes to get out, the metro both ways and 90 minutes at the end, a 7-hour layover leaves about 1.5 hours in town, 8.5 hours about 3, 10 hours about 4.5 and 12 hours about 6.5. Leave East Nanjing Road 2 hours 50 minutes before your flight.
- Why 90 minutes. If you’re already checked in, you pass China’s exit border check and security, then walk to your gate. If you still need to check in or drop a bag, check your airline’s deadline: most close check-in 60 minutes before an international departure, but Ethiopian Airlines closes at 90, so come back earlier for it.
- Tours. Trip.com’s tours end back at the airport: at 2pm for the morning tour, so your flight should leave at 3:30pm or later, and at 11pm for the evening tour, so 12:30am or later.
- Late at night. The last Line 2 train leaves East Nanjing Road at 10:35pm. If you miss it, only a taxi will get you back: about 180 yuan and about 50 minutes from People’s Square, with 30% more from 11pm to 5am. DiDi, China’s ride-hailing app, works in English and takes Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Time in town at each layover length: how much time you’ll have.
Departures
Best for your layoverOn a through ticket you can rest past security with no border check, though there’s no hotel on that side.
- Sleep pods. 30 cabins in the international departure areas, 15 in Terminal 1 near Gates 25 and 26 and 15 in Terminal 2 near Gate 64, open 24 hours: 35 yuan for 30 minutes, 65 yuan for an hour and 299 yuan for 8 hours (seen November 2026). There’s no booking, so it’s first come, first served. Pay at the door with Alipay or WeChat Pay, or with a foreign card at the counter nearby.
- Free rest areas and showers. The airport has sofa seating, rest cabins and free 24-hour showers for passengers changing planes; ask at a transfer or information desk for the nearest.
- Aerotel. Hourly rooms on levels 6 and 7 of Terminal 2, before passport control. You need to be able to enter China to use it, so it suits a night landing before a morning in town, or separate tickets. The Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Airport, a covered walk from Terminals 1 and 2, is the other hotel you can reach on foot, also before passport control.
Rooms, showers, Wi-Fi and left luggage: at the airport.