Shanghai to Hefei. Options?
 

Shanghai to Hefei

What is the best way from Shanghai downtown to Hefei?
And from Hefei to PVG airport?

It looks to me that there is only 2 flight option and time is not good.
So only high speend train? It looks that it will take about 3 hours city center to city center.

Any suggestion?

maybe high speend train is better

from Hefei to PVG airport: when you arrive in shanghai ,take railway line1 to people's squal station and change to line2 to PVG airport

Well, looks like the flight situation is limited--an 07:55 from SHA (Hongqiao) to HFE, and a 22:30 from PVG to HFE. Reverse HFE 08:10 to PVG and HFE 20:50 to SHA.

Might indeed be a job for the train, at least there are more options for timing and by the time you figure in the additional non-flight time (getting to/from airport plus waiting time for check-in, baggage, security at each end) the train journey is about as fast. The fastest available are the D trains leaving from Shanghai Hongqiao Station, can get you to Hefei in about 3+ to 4 hours depending on exact train. Same in reverse. Except that to get from rail station to PVG, you'll have to deal with subway, bus, or taxi. There are other recent threads on this forum dealing specifically with options, prices, time frames for getting to/from PVG-City so search for them. Then you'll be able to judge when you need to leave Hefei in order to make your PVG flight.

trains a good choice.....done it a few times....just dont get stuck in the middle of the row of 3 seats

On the way back, depending on your final destination, you might want to consider connecting in Beijing instead of Shanghai because there are lots of flights. This might be the first time I've ever advised someone to connect in Beijing, by the way; it all boils down to the fact that there simply aren't any convenient links between Shanghai Station and PVG. Not so sure about Hongqiao Station; there is a direct bus from SHA to PVG, but I don't know how far one needs to walk from the train station in order to catch that bus.

You also need to take into account that planes are far more offen delayed in China than the trains.

There is the subway....even if it will be the longest subway ride you'll ever take, it's easy and you'll definitely get a seat getting on at Hongqiao.

That being said - I don't think I'd do it unless I really had to.....

Thanks, all...

The 2 train of Shanghai's subway goes from PVG to SHA and Hongqiao Railway Station. Note that the 2 train runs in two sections, so you have to transfer at Guanglan Rd. sta to resume your trip.

Last week, i took the bullet train from Shanghai Hongqiao Train Station to visit a friend in University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei city. The whole journey took me just 4 hours (i took taxi from the place i lived to Hongqiao Train station and from Hefei Train Station to USTC). Travel between Shanghai and Hefei is turning very very easy with more bullet trains adding on this route. Just do a search through China Train Guide you will find all trains currently running from Shanghai to Hefei. Duration for bullet trains such as D352, D356 and ect is as short as 2 hours and a half. I trust you can find a bullet train that matches your schedule there.
There is no sleepers on the bullet train, best option is to purchase a first class ticket, it costs RMB 193 Yuan, much cheaper than the fligh fare @:-)

D352 and D356 are overnight long-haul trains to Chengdu and Chongqing in the southwest, with most cars equipped with sleepers, so they are not suitable for travelers between Shanghai and Hefei. Instead, you'd better choose trains like D5xxx or D30xx, which are all seats.

On tielu.org, sleeper prices aren't listed for 352 (which doesn't mean they don't exist). But, if they are offered, I would absolutely grab one for a 2.5 hour trip.

I think what he's saying is that on an overnight train like this, the number of non-sleeper carriages is limited so getting a seat on it is going to be harder than usual.

http://open.baidu.com/train/search.p...B1%BF%CC%B1%ED

According to Baidu, the sleeper will apparently set you back by ¥350.

I'd be totally okay paying 350, or even 550, for a sleeper. But, I understand the previous poster's point.