I'll put in a recommendation for URBN Hotel. Great little boutique hotel on a quiet street in Jing'an.

I am no Shanghai expert, but I would say that my two favourite things to visit, not including museums are the French Concession and the Bund.

Every tourist manual recommends Nanjing road, which is extremely underwhelming.

I agree that YuYuan is a complete tourist trap: however, I really enjoyed having tea at the teahouse on the lake: the prices are high, but not that much higher than tea-houses in general, and the quality of the tea was pretty decent.

I've not been to the aquarium, but my wife/ daughter have: I can't say they thought it was better than Boston aquarium, but they enjoyed their visit...

tb

I can support the URBN, not because I love it, but because Yanping Road is really nice these days.

well, I had to miss my trip to Shangahi due to a family emergency. I left a day early and had to cancel my stay at the WA on the Bund.
Hopefully next year I can return and bring the wife along.

Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to this thread.
Have my first transfer at Shanghai next April. Unusually for me, it won’t just be me and LapChild. MrLapLap will be travelling also.
We’ll arrive at PVG at 7:30am and leave for NRT 9 hours later.
Am assuming we just need to collect luggage, check it back in and will have about 5 hours to roam around. That’s the norm for PVG, isn’t it? Or is China Eastern Airlines now an exception?

On the way back we will arrive at Hongqiao Airport 17:10 and then transfer to Pudong Airport for departure flight at 1:45am. As we’ll have luggage with us, am expecting to just get the airport to airport bus transfer service. Looking at a map, the Metro line 2 seems logical, but I am getting the feeling that it wouldn’t be.
All of us are violently taxi averse (even my kid hates travelling in cars, preferring buses and trains)

Yes Airport Bus Line 1 would be the easiest option. Considering your arrival time, there may be a bit of traffic on the way but it shouldn't be too bad. It's the morning rush hour that's usually the worst.

However, the bus leaves from Hongqiao T2, which is quite far away from Hongqiao T1. I presume since you are doing an international transfer that you're flying into T1? If you are going into T1, then a taxi would really be the easiest option as otherwise you'll have to move yourself over to T2 first which isn't really easy with luggage.

Taking the Line 10 subway from T1 is an option but you'll need to transfer twice. First you'll have to get off at East Nanjing Rd Station to get onto Line 2, and then off again at Guanglan Rd Station as normal Line 2 trains terminate here and get onto a Pudong Airport train. The subway may be very crowded depending on when you exit Hongqiao T1.

If you really want to you can take the Line 10 subway for one stop and get off at Hongqiao T2 and then move onto the Airport Bus.

That’s a great rundown on our transfer options, tauphi. Absolutely corrrect, we are arriving Terminal 1. Thanks for letting us know about the airport bus not servicing that Terminal.
If our initial flight is delayed this sort of information will really help us secure assistance in Japan (where I expect it may be easier to get the airline’s co-operation)

Taxi is definitely last resort for us. It doesn’t matter how hard I try I can’t ever seem to stress enough how much we hate and will avoid using them.

With that 7 hour layover, I suggest that you at least have dinner in Shanghai. Take line 2 to JA, find a good place to eat, and then take a bus to PVG.

That’s what I was wondering about. Wasn’t sure which was the best nexus point between the airports.
So you are recommending Jing’an Temple on metro line 2 and then the bus to Pudong Airport from City Terminal Building.
Gotcha.

If anyone has any restaurant recommendations in that specific area - not too expensive, and with at least a couple of non spicy options for the kid, I’d be glad to have them. MrLapLap is a BIG eater and he’s going to be ravenous.

Am seriously considering afternoon tea at Flair on the initial route transfer (PVG-PVG) especially if they can give the child a discount. MrLapLap can continue to fill up the hole that Flair won’t fill elsewhere.

This may have been mentioned earlier, but I highly recommend the walking tours organized by Historic Shanghai. They offer an amazing insight into old Shanghai, focused on architectural style of different areas of the city.

New poo has come to light.

Turns out we will be transferring from SHA to PVG with a load of tools, including a few Japanese saws.

We had a marvellous time in Shanghai on our outward leg, which was made longer by a schedule change.
However, another schedule change has shortened this return bound stopover by an hour.

The X-rays at the Metro stations must rule out a SHA terminal change by line 2.
I’m guessing that using the courtesy bus between the terminals is still viable, it just takes a little more time and patience.
From SHA Terminal 2, with the blades on us, and with less available hours to draw from, we’ll just get the direct bus to PVG. Is there any reason to suspect that this will be a problem with the saws?

Still not interested in taking a taxi unless it’s a genuine emergency.

I have no idea about SH, but in BJ, anything that can be construed as a weapon is forbidden on the subway. This includes "fake" weapons that a friend of mine uses in martial arts demonstrations. I have no idea what the view on the saws will be. However, buses (to my knowledge) have no such security checks, so you should be OK...

tb

Just a data point:
China aviation regulations forbid any TOOL in your carry-on or on the person.

The bus between PVG and SHA is not courtesy bus, but it also requires a lot less time and patience than Line 2. I just took one of the buses this evening, and can confirm that there is no sort of security check performed.

I'm assuming they will be in checked luggage for the flight, but due to requirement to change airport, and aversion to taxi transport, looking at feasibility of public transport options.

tb