After you arrive at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, you can try the Maglev (Magnetic Levitation Train) here. This Maglev of Shanghai is built with the most advanced technology from Germany. It only takes you 7 minutes from the airport to the downtown of Shanghai (a subway station named Longyanglu). You can then take the subway from Longyanglu to other places of Shanghai. One good thing I found about this Maglev is that you can get a 20% off if you show them your airline tickets. In this case, this Maglev will only cost you 40 rmb to get to the Longyanglu subway station. (some tips: the last Magnetic train starts from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 5:00 PM. You can take the Line 2 airport bus if you missed this last Magnetic train. This airport bus will cost you only 19 rmb.)
The subway system of Shanghai is advanced and lots of people think it is more convenient than the taxi or bus. You can take the subway to almost all the notable places of Shanghai. Currently, there are 3 main subway lines in Shanghai: Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3 (Line Mingzhu). The Line 1 and Line 2 can reach most tourist destinations and big shopping malls of Shanghai. By taking the Shanghai subway, you don’t need a tour guide for your Shanghai travel anymore. Just a subway map of Shanghai will be enough for you. 🙂
The subway of Shanghai is fast and it only takes 2 minutes from one subway station to another. You don’t need to worry about the traffic jam if you choose the subway. The cost is low: the price starts from 3 rmb and only costs 6 rmb to take you from the downtown to the suburbs of Shanghai. The subway trains here are clean and comfortable. You can watch the TV shows if you get bored in the subway train.
Some tips for taking the subway in Shanghai:
1. Get in: There are several entrances for every subway station and you can find signs near every subway station, which tell you how to get to the subway entrance.
2. Buy ticket: Now all the subway stations of Shanghai are using the magnetic card tickets. You can buy your tickets at the ticket vending machines in the subway stations. The Shanghai Public Traffic Card(SPTC) is another good choice. This SPTC will cost you 100 rmb, including a deposit of 30 rmb. It is a rechargeable IC card and you can do the recharge at every subway station of Shanghai. This SPTC can be used in the bus, ferry, subway and taxi. It is very convenient. If you are a tourist here in Shanghai, you can choose the ticket vending machines. But for the people who need to stay in Shanghai for a while, the SPTC will be a better choice. You can save a lot of time waiting in the line to buy your tickets every time you take the subway.
3. Transfer: The Renmin Square(People Square) is the transfer station for Line 1, Line 2 and Line 8. The Gongshan Park station is the transfer station for Line 2, Line 3 and Line 4. You can see the subway map in the trains and this will show you where to get off or transfer to another subway line.