When we spotted round-trip flights from Budapest to Australia for under $1,000 USD, we knew our moment had arrived: this distant continent had suddenly become accessible at prices significantly lower than we were accustomed to. These budget-friendly tickets were thanks to Chinese airlines making a notable entrance into this part of Europe. This also meant that our longest-ever flight journey would include a layover in China.
For our Australia trip (with Shanghai Airlines + China Eastern Airlines), the connection point was Shanghai in both directions. On our outbound journey, we had a substantial 15-hour layover. Rather than viewing this as an inconvenience, we welcomed it – arriving early morning and departing in the evening offered the perfect opportunity to explore China’s largest city.
(I should mention that these extended layover times from Chinese airlines seem suspiciously deliberate: travelers are likely to venture into the connecting city, and if they go out, they’ll inevitably spend some money. What the airlines lose on discounted tickets, they figuratively gain back through tourism.)
I had visited China once before, though it was long ago (back in 2001), and only spent a few weeks in Beijing and its surroundings while visiting a friend who lived there at the time. Andrea had never been to the country at all. So we excitedly (and quite exhaustedly) disembarked early in the morning, determined to pack as much as possible into the 10-12 hours we could realistically spend in the city.
Navigating the Shanghai Transit Visa and Airport Arrival
This duration easily fits within the (now) 240-hour transit visa available to travelers from 54 countries worldwide. No pre-departure online forms are required – just follow the clearly marked signs at passport control, complete an entry card, and submit it with your passport to border officials. We breezed through border control without a hitch.
While disembarking, we bumped into a Slovak girl, Veronika, who had set out from Budapest with similar plans (surprisingly many Slovaks had chosen this travel method to Australia). So the three of us plunged into exploring Shanghai together. Having prepared for this excursion, we had checked our backpacks on the flight, but Veronika hadn’t, so our first obstacle was finding a luggage storage point at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). Fortunately, after a bit of guidance, we quickly found one not far from our arrival gate. However, a second challenge loomed on the horizon: how to pay – not just here, but throughout the city.
Essential Guide to Payment Systems and Transportation in Shanghai
I need to briefly explain how payments work in China. While you can withdraw cash at the airport – at the usual steep rates – most businesses don’t particularly welcome it, and we didn’t have much success with Western bank cards when we tried. In China, two “super apps” dominate the payment market: AliPay and WeChat Pay. I downloaded AliPay (thanks to the eSIM I’d purchased before departure), while Veronika was directed to WeChat Pay by the luggage storage staff. The latter is much harder for foreigners to register, so I’d recommend AliPay (which also has several travel-specific functions, like the ability to purchase Maglev train tickets). I easily connected it to my Revolut travel card, and soon we were scanning and displaying QR codes for payments. In most cases, you pay by scanning a QR code. You quickly get the hang of it, and the process is completely seamless. As Westerners, it’s particularly interesting that China essentially skipped the “evolutionary phase” of bank cards due to the later spread of modern payment solutions.
Getting from Shanghai Pudong Airport to the City Center
We embarked toward the urban core via the metro system. The station enjoys excellent signage, and tickets are readily procurable from machines without complications (assuming you possess either cash or AliPay). Our original intention was to experience the Maglev, as the prospect of traversing the distance aboard a magnetically levitated train hurtling at 430 km/h (267 mph) promised to be an attraction in itself, but our early arrival preceded its operational hours (it runs from 7 am until 9:40 pm). Nevertheless, the metro offers a comfortable alternative, albeit requiring almost an hour to reach the commercial heart of the city. A single metro journey costs 6 RMB (~$0.8 USD), while the Maglev commands 50 RMB ($6.9 USD) for a one-way ticket, or 80 RMB (~$11 USD) for a round-trip fare.
A quick note here: if you’re planning your city tour from home, it might be a bit intimidating to discover that neither Google Maps nor Apple Maps can plan public transport routes in the city. But don’t worry (too much), as for one of them this limitation only applies when using the services abroad. Apple Maps works perfectly with local public transport once you’re there. Google Maps, unfortunately, isn’t available in the country. (If there’s no iPhone within reach, you might want to try Baidu Maps.)
But enough of this lengthy – though hopefully useful – technical introduction. Let’s see what we checked out in Shanghai during our layover!
Top Shanghai Attractions for a Layover: Our 15-Hour Itinerary
Experiencing Shanghai’s Iconic Skyline: The Lujiazui Tower District
We took Line 2 to Lujiazui Station (if you’re coming in on the Maglev, you’ll need to transfer at Longyang Road Station), which essentially marks the center of the business district. Here, practically side by side, stand the Oriental Pearl Tower (the one with the spheres), the Shanghai World Financial Center (the “bottle opener”), and the Shanghai Tower (China’s tallest building). We’d originally just planned to look around, but Veronika wanted to visit the observation deck of the 632-meter (2,073 ft) Shanghai Tower, so we waited for opening time at a Starbucks and joined her.
Shanghai Tower is currently the third tallest building in the world. Admission tickets range from a hefty 180 to 240 RMB (~$25-33 USD) depending on the type and time of day. The observation deck is located on the 118th floor, and reaching these dizzying heights involves riding the second-fastest elevator in the world, capable of speeds up to 74 km/h (46 mph)—only the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center in China boasts a faster lift. From up there, you can literally see almost the entire city (if it weren’t so vast that it extends endlessly in every direction), and you can admire the other nearby towers from an unusual perspective.
Crossing the Huangpu River: The Historic Bund Waterfront Experience
From the towers, we could already get a good view of the older Shanghai, represented by the waterfront area called the Bund, where the famous customs house is located. We’d originally planned to “cross” the Huangpu River by metro, but looking down from the tower, we noticed many ferries crossing the water. So we eventually went down to the shore and (near the Renmin Road Tunnel) boarded a ferry that, for 2 RMB (~$0.3 USD), takes you across to the other side with superb views – and quite a few other passengers.
We strolled along the historic waterfront for a while, naturally taking the obligatory photo of the modern Shanghai skyline, before continuing on foot to our next destination.
Exploring Traditional Chinese Culture at Yu Garden and the Old Town
This garden is located south of the Bund, with an entrance fee of 40 RMB (~$5.5 USD) that can be purchased at the entrance without any problems. I imagine it was conceived as a relatively peaceful place back in the day, but today it’s visited by countless tourists and locals, so you’ll need to navigate through relatively large crowds as you make your way through the small lakes, bridges, stones, and attractive pavilions.
We left the park heading north, walking along a charming historic-looking street where there might have been some kind of celebration in one of the squares, as there were large papier-mâché dragons in addition to the many people. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the exact street and square – I was met with another surprise after returning home. In China, the GPS signal is deliberately inaccurate (deviating randomly by about 200 meters), so despite my plan to precisely trace our route based on photos, this proved impossible. While wandering these smaller streets, we also stumbled upon a street food market where we took a short break (despite it still being early by Chinese time, we’d barely slept on the plane, and the time difference didn’t help), and tried a few dishes.
Walking Shanghai’s Famous Shopping Boulevard: Nanjing Road Experience
From the garden, we went all the way back to the Bund, with the goal of walking the length of Shanghai’s main pedestrian street, Nanjing Road, all the way to People’s Square. This is one of the world’s busiest shopping streets, though when we visited, the crowds weren’t particularly overwhelming.
Our promenade revealed no extraordinary discoveries – predictably, all prominent international luxury brands maintain a presence here, but we had not come in pursuit of retail therapy. Though I must confess, our principled stance against shopping momentarily crumbled when we stumbled upon an M&M’s store, where we surrendered a surprising amount of time to contemplating chocolate-covered candies in every conceivable color and size. Such are the universal weaknesses of even the most determined travelers. Culinary options present themselves sporadically at various street food establishments, and refreshments are readily available.
Discovering Shanghai’s Unique Cultural Phenomenon: The Marriage Market at People’s Square
Finally, we arrived at People’s Square, where I had expected megalomaniac socialist/communist buildings but got something entirely different. On weekends, the northern part of the square, in People’s Park, hosts Shanghai’s “marriage market,” which I admit I’d never heard of before, but perhaps that’s why it was so interesting.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the older generation (60-70 year-olds) gathers here with the aim of marrying off their children. It’s essentially a traditional version of Tinder, with the difference being that here you see the most important information about eligible singles on paper sheets (we could only make out the birth dates, but apparently height, salary, workplace, Chinese zodiac sign, and personality are usually included), and it’s actually the parents who browse through the options.
The area is divided into zones, for example by birth decade (’70s, ’80s, ’90s), place of origin, and there are even separate zones for divorcees and Muslims. You might think this is some ancient tradition, but reading up on it later, I discovered it only started about 20 years ago.
After touring the square and park, all three of us could have fallen asleep standing up (though it was barely after three in the afternoon), so we boarded Line 2 at People’s Square Station, took it to Longyang Road, and transferred to the Shanghai Maglev to return to the airport.
Final Thoughts: Shanghai Impressions and Practical Layover Tips
How Modern Shanghai Challenges Western Perceptions of China
As we zoomed past buildings at 430 km/h (267 mph) (though surprisingly, the Maglev does shake quite a bit), I contemplated how profoundly different this China was from the one I had encountered more than two decades prior. Of course, it’s not the same city, and while many things can be said about Shanghai, one thing’s for certain – it doesn’t showcase “average” China, though Beijing was never a provincial town either. But I think in Europe, we have a completely different image of the country: chaotic, dirty, noisy, rundown. It’s absolutely none of those things.
Incredible infrastructure developments are visible everywhere. The metro is modern, comfortable, efficient. The city is enormous, of course, and proper public transportation is essential for moving so many people, but compared to a city like New York, for instance, the difference is night and day. Another thing that struck me was how quiet the city was. We were there on a Saturday, so understandably the business district was almost completely empty (especially in the early morning hours). However, even after crossing the river, the other side wasn’t much louder, and then it dawned on me why: there are tons of electric vehicles. Electric cars, electric buses, electric scooters. Being Asia, there are plenty of scooter riders here (though certainly not at Vietnam levels), but without exception, every scooter we encountered was electric, which has a very positive effect on noise levels. And of course, not just on noise, but on air quality too, which China desperately needs.
We didn’t encounter unbearable crowds anywhere, and everything was very clean and well-maintained. I know that Shanghai hardly represents all of China (especially not the country’s interior and western regions), and I also know that in some ways, it’s “simpler” to maintain order and implement developments there. Nevertheless, what we saw during this brief time was very surprising.
The most important tips for first-time visitors
- Before your trip, download AliPay and connect it to your travel card. This will save you a lot of hassle, as many businesses in China don’t accept cash or Western credit cards readily.
- If you have a layover of 10+ hours in Shanghai, consider taking the Maglev train into the city. Not only is it faster than the metro, but the experience of traveling at speeds of up to 430 km/h (267 mph) is an attraction in itself.
- The Shanghai transit visa is now valid for 240 hours (10 days) for citizens of 54 countries. This makes extended layovers very convenient – no pre-registration is required, just follow the signs at the airport.
- When exploring Shanghai, keep in mind that GPS is deliberately inaccurate in China by about 200 meters (at least in the usual Western apps), so don’t rely solely on map applications for navigation. Take note of landmarks and use the well-marked public transit system.
