pogonation

I have never been to china before, but I will be stopping over this August for one night with my girlfriend. I arrive into PVG at 4:15pm and then departing the next day at 12:00. As someone who is visiting Shanghai for the first time, would you recommend seeing the city or visiting EXPO? ^

jiejie

City.

anacapamalibu

Your window is pretty much the night.

If your flight leaves at noon..better figure leaving the city about 8:30AM,
if you want to stay in the city.

I would get a room at one the two hotels at the airport. Drop any luggage,
take the Maglev, which ends close to the expo. Hit the expo, take a
taxi around to see what you are looking to see there. Go the bars/clubs till 3AM +
Take a taxi back to the airport..crash out till 10:30 AM. Then take a 10 minute
walk to checkin.

gattboy

I doubt you could get much done in that timeframe at expo. The night ticket hours start at five, and considering your flight arrival you wouldn't arrive on site for an hour or more most likely. And while you're welcome to walk around and look at the pavillions until midnight, they all close by 10:30 and usually stop entrances at 10. Some also close even earlier at 8:30. You would have to get pretty lucky with lines and where you went, to visit more that 4 or 5 pavillions in that timeframe unless you were running. There is a lot of empty space between buildings at expo.

I couldn't make a great recommendation on nitelife in shanghai but the Bund is pretty fun at night and full of chinese tourists taking pictures of the skyline and river. Its near Yu gardens and the God temple most of which closes at 5 but there is a big tourist trap around it that is full of fake goods sales and t-shirts etc, along with a couple nice architecture things. Its too bad, that many of the interesting things close at 5. Supposedly my tourist map shows a "bar area" in the SW part of the city, but I didn't go, and if its anything like Lam Kwai Fong in hong kong, its mostly expats and not really worth it.

I only went to people's square and gardens during the day but I thought it was beautiful and its definitely open past five. I'll bet its awesome for sunset too. Its the main station at the metro too so its easy to get to. Until 10:30 use the metro because its very fast and cheap, and all the machines have an english button. Just find a machine that is taking bills unless you have a bunch of coins. 5 yuan will get you almost anywhere in the city. I don't think the machines take anything bigger than 10 yuan. To save time with airport transport use the maglev, but its considered expensive at 50 yuan or maybe eight dollars, thats a about a dollar per minute.

Unless I was going to be out pretty late I would just stay wherever near a metro station because getting home at night is usually pretty easy from the main areas. You will pay more to stay near the bund or north pudong because they are popular areas, but with the way transport is, thats not neccessary to see those areas.

I guess I would try going to people's square area until its dark and then going to the bund, where at the south end you can book a night city-lights cruise on the river for an hour. In the morning I don't know, maybe see a temple. Jing An (buddhist) is nicer and less crowded than God Temple (taoist), but more expensive and in the business district as opposed to a tourist area. Those were the only 2 I went to, also I doubt they are open before 9.

There are reports I was reading here of scammers in people's square tricking people into buying expensive tea-ceremony packages off-site. While I didn't ever get scammed, I did have a couple of conversations with people involving tea festivals they were "going to" or whatnot, so I have a feeling the scam is still going. The square itself is very safe so just don't leave the area with anyone. People will want to be curious and some will talk to you, but practicing english is also what the scammers claim to be doing. I would say the majority of people who talk to you are being curious or helpful however. (except the goods hawkers lol)

The people's gardens are awesome and mostly full of familys picknicking and teens making out amongst the flowers and bushes, so its gives a good vision of shanghai seperate from all the impressive and impersonal tall buildings.

pogonation

Looks like city is the best option then. Good suggestions gattboy, I will probably head to the peoples square/gardens, watch the sunset then go for a night cruise. Then hit a nice restaurant and then maybe a few bars or see some cultural dances etc. before heading back to the hotel. If I have enough time in the morning I might look at the possibility of visiting a temple.

If EXPO closes that early, it doesn't really seem worthwhile visiting

Thanks for the info ^

MartinHKDC

I did the Maglev PVG to Peoples Square last Monday - RMB40 for the Maglev, downstairs to the metro and RMB 4 to Peoples Square....

moondog

That sort of makes sense on a theoretical level... but, getting a hotel in a decent location would be tops on my list (needn't be fancy).

mileagerunner

The OP should not be too ambitious with this trip.

Agree that a good hotel location is key if the OP wants to see the city. On the other hand, given the arrival time and the departure time, the OP has basically one night in Shanghai to walk along the Bund and grab dinner and drinks and one morning to watch the octogenarians practice tai qi. From Puxi, the OP must leave by 9:30am or so to catch the connecting flight.

A 4:15pm arrival time at Pudong probably means a 6:30pm check in time at the hotel for a first time visitor with checked bags.

moondog

I suppose much depends on the OP's age and interests, but if I were him, the Bund visit would consist of single drink.

10a should be fine (unless he volunteers to be our guinea pig on #2 to PVG).

anacapamalibu

Also depends on what day of the week as far as traffic. 10 AM seems
cutting it pretty close depending on where you might be staying in Puxi.

I like to get there early, if you have lounge access you can pound some
free drinks, hopefully with premium liquor, that would cost you >10USD a
drink in Shanghai.^

pogonation

Arriving in F and I don't have checked luggage. Will pay for the Maglev too if that gets me into town any faster?
I am departing in F the next day as well and don't care about the FM lounge. I assume I get priority check-in and fast-trak immigration etc. So I don't mind arriving at the airport around 45mins prior to departure. How long does it take to get from the Park Hyatt to town?

moondog

The Park Hyatt is a pretty poor hotel choice if you only have one night in SH because there aren't many shops, restaurants, bars in Lujiazui. It's a pretty sterile neighborhood. At night, you're looking at a 15-20 minute ride to more interesting areas. Good locations on the other side of the river are really no further from PVG when you take the highway network into account. 45 mins is illegal for many international flights, though iirc that is FM's limit. I'd shoot for 65 minutes in order to be safe.

anacapamalibu

Park Hyatt Car service S500 Mercedes - PVG to Hotel 45 minutes

Top Floor suite with great night time view of the Expo Site.

HuangPu cruise.

Dinner drinks on the Bund.

Sounds like a good time to me.^

gattboy

I'm actually going to second the idea of staying at pvg. Because of the arrival time, you can basically guarantee you will be out later than the metro or maglev is operating (from what I found they are only allowing entrance past 10:30 at near-expo stations). So you can guarantee yourself a taxi ride or two during your evening, fine they are a lot cheaper than the US. You might as well make it one big taxi trip at the end of the night, than a lot of little ones throughout the evening trying to get between hotels and metro stations and the maglev station etc, and then again in the moring too, getting back to the maglev.

Metro is very honestly faster for most trips I took, than a taxi, so using it not only saves money but time, if you understand how to use it efficiently. So I like the idea using public trans as much as possible until 10:30 and then that lessens your overall exposure to taxi trips. Which means you would either want to stay at the city end of the maglev line, or the airport, so as much as your onward travel that evening, is earlier and on the metro, and not spend on further travel to a hotel.

The are a couple of hotels around the maglev terminus but not many, but what there is, is a major metro tranfer station with a line into the downtown and a line towards the SW and expo. So I agree the best idea for time purposes would be to get everything checked in and changed before or after the maglev ride, and then you'de just be ready to go, and have 4-5 hours to ride the metro before you have to start taking cabs, and non-rush hours too. For example getting to peoples square from the maglev, will be much much faster in the metro than by taxi.

The only downside is you will not see anything in the morning if you stay at the airport. So maybe you should decide how late you would tend to stay out.

moondog

Since I've already made my thoughts on this matter known, I'll try to refrain from beating a dead horse, but I can't help but reiterate some of my key points:

-you need to get back to the airport no matter what
-spending an unbroken 10 hour stretch on the town strikes me as exhausting
-Summers in SH are oppressively hot and humid; any sightseeing at all will surely warrant a shower or even a swim (the Portman pool isn't bad, by the way)
-if you stay in a central location, you might not need to spend too much time in taxis
-the taxi rides themselves provide welcome breaks from the oppressive heat... learn the phrase, "da kongtiao ba!"