MAGLEV question
 

Hi,

If you plug in "Maglev Longyang Road Station" on Google maps, it's about a 5 minute car ride from the Bund. Is that where the station is? I thought it was in Pudong?

If it helps, I'm arriving PVG on a Saturday afternoon and going to the Waldorf if anyone has suggestions. I just figured MAGLEV/taxi, and I have read the advice about staying in the taxi line and having the name of the hotel printed in Chinese.

Longyang is next to Zhangjiang in Pudong. It is going to be a much longer than 5 min car ride from the Bund even without traffic.

That's right. The Pudong station is at the airport. Getting to the Maglev Longyang station may be iconvenient (it's horrible from the French Concession area), but riding the Maglev is a cool experience, at least once.

So basically Google is mapping it wrong or I'm reading it wrong. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bf4bf592c5.jpg

It's extremely easy to get to the Maglev from the French Concession. You just hop on subway line 7 and ride it to Longyang Road. You'll be there in less than 35 mins.

I'm actually staying on the Bund. I don't know why the French Concesion was brought up.

Then it's even easier. Get on line 2 at Nanjing East Station and ride the subway 20 mins to Longyang road.

Thanks, but I'll have a monster bag with me and it's a good 15 minute walk from that station to my hotel, not to mention navigating the subway.

Should I just stick with MAGLEV/taxi, or do taxi the whole way?

Taxi the whole way would be my choice with a monster bag. Navigating the maglev with a monster bag is not a treat either.

I would, at all costs, avoid getting a taxi from Longyang Lu to the city. Unless the police have recently cleared this up, the taxi touts are aggressive and will demand a flat fee of 400RMB for the pleasure of taking you on what should be a 45-50RMB fare. You can avoid this by going out to the road and flagging down a taxi not associated with the gangs, but that means lugging your bag around.

If you are leaving from the Bund - no such issues. Taxi is just fine and will take you to the maglev station for the normal metered fare.

The only real hassle of catching the metro with a big bag is getting it through the turnstiles, but you can go to the booth where a member of staff will let you through the big gate. There may be some steps. I've done it a few times with bags, not great, but manageable. The maglev is absolutely fine with luggage of any size.

I'd probably get a taxi from the airport to the hotel. On the way back, taxi to Longyang Lu and maglev.

Map is totally wrong!

Look here: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/ima...subway-map.jpg

Line 2 / Line 16 intersection is where the Maglev to the PVG is. They have an escalator so for luggage that might help. The x-ray is larger at Magleve as well, but if you take subway and have anything much larger than a typical roller board it won't fit thru the Metro-subway x-ray, but the can be pretty lenient as well, YMMV.

As to taxi, if you get a taxi from hotel you usually shouldn't get cheated. If you ask Taxi to Magleve with a big bag the taxi driver will try to convince you to take him all the way to PVG as he makes more money, that has happened to me a few times, but after some insistence they relent, but if you don't speak chinese and aren't watching be careful.

Depending on where you are a ride to PVG runs say 180 RMB from the Bund area, while Taxi + Maglev is 60+60 or so.

Coming from PVG, the Taxi line can be long, 30' wait, YMMV. If you dont' speak Chinese MUST have address or hotel name ( 5 star ). I've met a few drivers who didn't know where some 4 star hotels are, so address also is critical.

Another option if money is more important than time would be the Eco bus. They have a information stand to the right and outside after you exit the luggage pickup. They run about every 20-30' thru early evening to most major hotels. They are cheap than taxi, and MagLe+Taxi, but not cheaper than taking line2 all the way in.

The Maglev is cool, but it is a novelty transportation system. It is a bit expensive, and it really doesn’t provide many advantages over just taking the 2 Line directly from the airport.

Great advice by all. Thank you!

I think I'll do:
PVG taxi --> Waldorf
Waldorf --> taxi to MAGLEV --> PVG

The only question I have is about time investment. Landing around noon on a Saturday.

Time in taxi from PVG --> Waldorf (assume no queue) vs total time PVG --> MAGLEV--> taxi to Waldorf?

Also looks like there are a ton of private transfer options on Viator for around 400 RMB, or what seems to be 2X a taxi.

I think taxi to Waldorf will be faster than via Maglev.

On your return, leave Waldorf early as hailing a taxi can be between 0 min to forever. I was leaving Radisson New World once there was no taxi available even with Didi and help from hotel. It took us more than 30 minutes to get a taxi.