Getting around Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta: metro, DiDi, private car or train?
The honest comparison for Australian visitors: when the Shanghai metro beats a car, how DiDi works with an Australian card, what a private car and driver costs and when it pays for itself, train versus car to Suzhou, Hangzhou and the water towns, the Maglev, ferries, bikes, and what does not work (your licence, Uber, hailing a cab at 5 pm).
Shanghai has one of the best transport systems in the world and first-time visitors still spend hours stuck in it, because the right choice changes by hour, by distance and by who is travelling. This guide sets out each option honestly, with the cases where it wins, and then applies it to the day trips: Suzhou, Hangzhou and the water towns.
The metro
Twenty lines, English signage and announcements, trains every two to four minutes, air-conditioned, clean, and cheap enough that the fare is not worth thinking about. It is the fastest way across the city between 7.30 and 9.30 am and 4.30 and 7 pm, when the roads jam, and the obvious way between any two stations on the same line.
How it works: pay with Alipay or WeChat (the transport QR code inside the app, or the Shanghai Metro app linked to either), or buy a card or single tickets at the machines. Every entrance has an X-ray bag check; it takes seconds but it exists. Stations are large, with long walks between lines at the interchanges, and most have lifts at one exit, which matters for prams and wheelchairs (the baby guide and elderly parents guide cover that). Lines 1, 2 and 10 cover most of what visitors want; line 2 runs from Pudong airport through Lujiazui, People’s Square and Jing’an to Hongqiao.
Where it loses: late evening (most lines stop between 10.30 pm and midnight), with luggage, in a group of four or more with children, and anywhere more than ten minutes’ walk from a station, which is most of the French Concession’s quieter streets.
Taxis and DiDi
DiDi is China’s Uber and the default for visitors. The app has an English interface, accepts international Visa and Mastercard, shows the fare before you book and the route while you ride, and pays automatically. Cars arrive in two to five minutes almost anywhere in the city. Fares are a fraction of Melbourne’s: a cross-town ride that would cost A$40 at home is a few dollars here.
Street taxis are plentiful, metered, honest in the main, and hard to hail between 4.30 and 6 pm and in the rain, when they are all taken or off shift. Show the driver the address in Chinese characters; most speak no English. Avoid anyone soliciting at airports and stations, as the scams guide explains.
Where they lose: rush hour in the centre (the metro wins), child seats (there are none; the baby guide has the options), and a day of many stops, where the arithmetic favours a car.
A private car and driver
A car with a professional driver for the day, usually a seven-seat MPV, waiting wherever you are, with your luggage in it, child seats fitted if asked, and a driver who knows where the drop-off points at each sight are. It is what our day guide bookings include when you choose the guide-and-car option, and what the tours run on.
When it pays for itself: any day with three or more stops, any day outside the metro grid (the water towns, Disneyland, a supplier in Kunshan), any group of four or more, any family with children under eight or a parent over seventy, any day in summer heat or winter rain, and any day you would rather spend looking at Shanghai than at a phone. When it does not: a two-stop day on metro line 2, or an evening in the French Concession on foot.
Costs: as a rough guide, a full day with car and driver in Shanghai is in the same range as a decent dinner for four, and our pricing page lists the guide-and-car rates per group.
What does not work
- Driving yourself. Australian licences and international permits are not valid; car hire is not an option for visitors.
- Uber and Google Maps. Uber does not operate; Google Maps has old, offset data for China. Use DiDi, Apple Maps (which works well in China), or Baidu or Amap with a translation app.
- Scooter and bike hire for the roads. The shared bikes (Hello, Meituan) need a Chinese app and ID in practice; some visitors manage it, most do not need to.
- The ferry as transport. The cross-river ferries between the Bund and Pudong are a lovely two-minute ride and a tourist activity, not a network.
Special cases
- The Maglev from Pudong airport to Longyang Road: eight minutes at 300 km/h, then a metro or taxi onward. Fun once, and the airport guide compares it with the car for a family with bags.
- Hongqiao hub: the domestic airport, the high-speed station and metro lines 2, 10 and 17 in one complex, 30 to 45 minutes from the centre. The departure point for almost every train in this guide.
- Night: DiDi runs all night; the metro does not. Plan the late evening around a car.
Suzhou, Hangzhou and the water towns: train or car?
| Destination | Train | Car | Our usual choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suzhou | 25 to 40 min from Hongqiao or Shanghai Station, then taxi to the old city | 1.5 to 2 h door to door | Train for couples and walkers; car for families, and when adding Tongli |
| Hangzhou | 45 to 60 min to Hangzhou East, then 30 to 40 min to the lake | 2 to 2.5 h door to door | Train, with a car met at Hangzhou East; car if stopping at a tea village on the way back |
| Zhujiajiao | Metro line 17, about 1 h from the centre | 1 h | Car with children, metro otherwise |
| Tongli, Zhouzhuang, Xitang | No direct train; via Suzhou or Jiaxing plus a car | 1.5 to 2 h | Car |
| Wuzhen | Train to Tongxiang then 30 min car | 2 h | Car, and stay the night |
| Nanjing | 1 h to Nanjing South | 3.5 h | Train, always |
| Yiwu | 1.5 h | 3.5 h | Train, with a car for the days there |
| Disneyland | Metro line 11, 1 h | 45 min | Car with young children; metro with teenagers |
The train guide covers booking under your passport, the stations and the seat classes; the Suzhou, Hangzhou and water towns guides have the days themselves. The combination that works best for many families is train out, car back: the train for the fast morning leg, a car met at the far end for the day’s stops, and the same car home when everyone is tired, which avoids the evening station.
A day in numbers
A typical Shanghai city day on our itineraries uses the car for the morning sight and the lunch transfer, the metro or a walk for the afternoon in the Concession, and a DiDi home after dinner. A day trip uses the train or the car as the table above. A business day in three districts uses the car all day. The guide decides on the morning’s traffic and the group’s legs, which is a more reliable system than any app.
If you are planning it yourself, set up DiDi and Alipay before you fly, keep every address in Chinese, take the metro in rush hour and a car outside it, and book the trains the day the window opens. If you would rather not plan it at all, that is what the contact page is for.
