Originally Posted by
snic
Two questions for all you Shanghai experts:
1) I'm staying at a hotel near East Nanjing Road metro station. I have to catch a plane at 7:40 am on a Saturday from Hongqiao (SHA) terminal 2. According to exploreshanghai.com, the earliest metro line 2 departure is 5:35 am. Does the first train really leave reliably at this time? And how long can one expect it to take to get to SHA?
2) Returning to Shangai, I arrive at SHA terminal 1 (Spring Airlines). I've booked a night at the brand-new
Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Hotel, which as far as I can tell opened very recently (their website doesn't work for booking yet - I used CTrip). Anyway, this new hotel is right in Terminal 2. Normally it would be easy to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 using the free bus (or, presumably, Metro lines 2 or 10?), but both bus and and metro service stop at 11:00 pm, and my flight arrives at 10:00. Especially with checked bags, it's quite possible that I won't be ready to leave Terminal 1 until after 11:00. So what are the other options for getting over to Terminal 2? Taxi? How long should it take and how much should it cost?
Just in case anyone needs answers to these questions, here's my experience:
1. Shanghai metro was very much on time - the first train of the day arrived punctually and I got to Hongqiao airport in plenty of time. In general, the metro was a wonderful experience - fast, efficient and clean (although, like probably all big cities in China, crowded pretty much all the time).
2. Spring airlines sucks. They changed my flight so that it departed 2 hours later, without telling me. Then it was delayed 1.5 hours. Then it was murderously hot on the plane. And my seat wouln't recline (no, no exit row behind me - just broken). And they kept making these loooong announcements, I think trying to sell people crap like toy airplanes. At midnight, this is not want you want - you want to sleep. Blech. Never again.
On the other hand, the
Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Hotel was a delight. It's brand new and very nicely done - big room, large bathroom, comfortable bed, well appointed. Front desk staff spoke excellent English. Breakfast spread was pretty good - not the best I've had in China, but still very nice. In all, I thought it was good value for 750 yuan.
Getting there from terminal 1 at 2:00 am, however, was a challenge. The taxi driver had no idea where it was (and was pissed that I was only going to T2). In the end I called the hotel and gave the phone to him, and he finally figured it out. It ended up costing 65 yuan, but would have been cheaper with less driving around looking. Basically, to arrive by car, go to the Departures level and stop at the very beginning of the terminal - near gate 1 or 2. Then walk back even farther towards the beginning of the terminal - to "gate 0" if there were such a thing. It's not clearly marked from the outside, but you'll see an extra door with no gate number - that's the hotel.
Of course, if you're arriving by plane into terminal 2, just go up to the departures level and walk towards entrance gate 1, then keep going. Couldn't be easier.