🏙️ Where to sleep in Shanghai

You are going to discover Shanghai and you want to know where to sleep in Shanghai, En What neighborhood to stay in Shanghai to be able to get around easily while in a nice neighborhood? In this article, I tell you where to look to be at the top in Shanghai and give you some directions frombudget hotel in Shanghai!

I created a very complete article to know how to discover this city. I highly recommend that you take 5 minutes to read it before visiting Shanghai (feel free to use the menu to the right of the article).

1) Where to sleep in Shanghai

For me, the district where you should stay is the Jing'an district (to expand this GoogleMap - Where to stay in Shanghai). It is located on Line 2 of the Metro that connects the city with the Pudong International Airport.

I put the areas in red for you (round area). It is best to stay in the jing'an district (the leftmost red zone), more precisely around the Jing'an temple station:

Please note that the top 4 areas in order of preference are:

1-Jing'an (amarillo)
2 Xuhui (vertical)
3-Luwan (azul)
4 Huangpu (brown)
It is still my order of personal preference, but the truth is that once you have passed through these 4 districts, you will have seen most of Shanghai. Therefore, the leftmost red round area is ideal (see map above).

The boundary in black represents the boundary between the old Shanghai (called "Puxi"), located west of the river (the Huangpu), and the new Shanghai (called "Pudong") located east of the river.

Line 2 (the one that passes through the red round areas) is the most central metro line and connects the western part of the city with the eastern part. Besides that, it leads directly to Pudong International Airport. So in order to act quickly and be at the center of the debate, this is where I advise you to stay.

If you are not in Jing'an, stay close to one of the stations on line 2. The city of Shanghai is made up of several small urban centers that are all located on this subway line. To move around, it is also the most comfortable and central.

You can also try to stay at the East Nanjing Road or People Square stops, both on Line 2.

Where to stay in the Jing'an district

The World Union Service Apartment - Cosmo is conveniently located, right next to the green line (Jing'an Temple Station). Good address.

Next to it you have the Ladoll service apartments, still well located.

Click here to enlarge the map of this hotel and see the availabilities.

A budget hotel in Shanghai

In the Jing'an district you have the Shanghai Le Tour Traveler's Rest Youth Hostel. This small, inexpensive Shanghai hotel is not only comfortable, but above all, it allows you to be in the center of all the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. Believe me, in Shanghai where you live is more important than the hotel itself, due to the long distances you have to travel. Here, therefore, it is perfectly located, just off the famous Wuding Road with its great bars and restaurants.

For those who have a much stronger financial situation, I recommend the URBN Shanghai hotel. This is clearly not cheap, but the location is perfect and the hotel really beautiful.

Less well located, but still close to the beautiful districts, has “The Rock and Wood International Youth Hostel”. Super cozy with a beautiful little terrace and a lounge where you can clearly spend the whole afternoon without pushing too hard. The price is the cheapest in Shanghai. You'll have to walk a bit to get to Shanghai's hot spots (you can also take a taxi).

Boutique hotel in Shanghai's French Quarter

For those with more means, I cannot recommend the Wutong Apartment Shenchengli.

I personally did not stay there, but I went back to have breakfast with friends. Superb room and especially in the middle of the "French concession" which is clearly the most beautiful district in Shanghai (but not necessarily the cheapest hehe). To recommend.

Where to sleep in Shanghai at the last minute

For the late arrivals (you guys could have booked at least 1 week before arriving, it's not serious that :) budget hotel in Shanghai, I still have my secret boot: the city's central international hostel

This is for adventurers looking for thrills. Cheap, good atmosphere and located north of the city.

You can also take a look at the apartments offered by individuals. I often use this type of site because it allows you to stay in a really small apartment, suddenly you have a kitchen, there is no time ... In short, I advise you to go see it! You have for example Only-Appartement which is not bad.

Otherwise, you also have Hotels.com or TripAdvisor. Take your time to compare.

One last thing: if you are a young expat and you are staying a few months, I have a friend who lives there who can help you find accommodation. I give you his wechat: antoine533333. It's a gift, friends!

2) Where to Stay in Shanghai - Useful Information

/! Important information to know. Remember that in China, Google (like Facebook) does not work because it is banned by the government.

Therefore, it is very difficult to do research on the spot and therefore I advise you to download a good VPN before you go (this little software that accesses foreign servers will allow you to access our friend GOOGLE while there, ugh! Saved …).

Keep in mind that Shanghai is a very safe city, so you can walk through any neighborhood.

The standard of living in Shanghai and the expected budget

If you want to have fun in Shanghai without splurging, you'll still have to plan for a small € 55 per day all-inclusive.

€ 1 = 7 renminbi (Chinese local currency). Please note that Shanghai is very expensive compared to other cities in China

For a pint of beer, count € 6 and a meal € 20 (in trendy restaurants).

You can also eat delicious spicy skewers or a good plate of fried noodles, sitting on a small red stool in the street with a Bintang (Chinese beer) in hand… Count 15 yuan or € 2.

Getting around Shanghai

If you want to travel to Shanghai and go to specific directions (for example, a friend's building located at 2088 wanhangdu road), it is strictly impossible to leave the flower with a gun, as you would see how we got there. go once I'm on the subway ...

You can do it like this, but bring your sleeping bag (just in case) because you will probably need it:

Chinese don't speak a word of English except in fancy places, so asking for directions isn't even in your dreams :)
Then it occurs to you to take the taxi, smart as you are, telling yourself that "he will surely know the address." How funny you are… The driver will never be able to read the address in pinyin (that is, the phonetic translation of Chinese characters), scrupulously written on a piece of paper before leaving. However, he will repeat the address 3 times in flawless English, and he will reply the same 3 times in flawless Chinese (你说什么东西？) "But what are you talking about my boy?"

Result: you get out of the taxi calmly, because you know how to control yourself, but in any case you will have been insulted two or three times without your knowledge, and the saddest thing about this story is that you will surely arrive at the address in question. … But 2 days later.

To avoid this type of inconvenience the trick is the following:

Before getting into any taxi or taking the subway, it is essential that you download the SmartShanghai application on your mobile, which lists all the addresses and maps of your favorite places written in Chinese characters (I have also summarized here all the applications to download before leaving)

And since I'm at it, if you just take the photo of the address written in Chinese characters, the taxi driver won't take off either. You need the precise address but above all the intersection streets where the taxi must leave it (everything is in the Smartshanghai app). Shanghai streets can be 10 km long and the taxi doesn't want to risk wasting an hour looking for the street number. Now you've been warned ...

Metro de Shanghai

If you want to enlarge the map of the Shanghai metro, it is here.

The most widespread, safe and economical means of transport is obviously the metro. The ticket costs 4 yuan or € 0,5.

Make sure to bring your combined trips with a taxi or a short 10 minute walk (you should know that the average time between 2 metro stations is approximately 3,5 minutes, against 1,5 in Paris). In some places in Shanghai, therefore, you will have to take a taxi in addition to the subway if you do not want to walk for 40 minutes.

Download the Explore Shanghai map on Iphone, which is very functional and can save you time

Taxi operation in Shanghai

The taxi fare is charged from 15 to 30 yuan (2 to 5 euros), depending on the distance to be covered.

Taxi is not necessarily the safest way to get around Shanghai, but it is still the most convenient and very economical. I assure you that for the equivalent of € 2 per journey you will stop taking the metro quite quickly.

Also, the traffic is quite fluid in Shanghai unlike in Paris. This is due to the fact that cars pay a high price for their license plates. Therefore, Shanghai residents cannot afford to own a vehicle. The government's goal is to limit the rate of pollution.

Always check that the counter is activated if not requested. So if you get into a taxi without a meter, leave because the trip will be very expensive.

3) Arrive at your hotel from Pudong airport

It has 2 airports in Shanghai: Pudong Airport is located on subway line 2 (Shanghai Pudong International Airport stop). And Hongqiao airport is located on subway line 10 at the Hongqiao airport stop (but it also has line 2, but it is not accessible through Terminal 1).

I advise you to take the metro to get to the city center from the airport, it is the easiest and cheapest way. Allow 1h30 by subway from Pudong Airport to reach the city center and about 30 minutes from Hongqiao Airport.

If it is really loaded, you can go for the taxi. You will spend around 200 yuan (€ 27) from the center to go to Pudong and 70 yuan to go to Hongqiao. Again, make sure the taxi has the odometer installed correctly so you don't get fooled. Normally there is no problem.

Well there you have it, I think you have all the keys in hand to know where to stay in Shanghai, in which neighborhood to sleep in Shanghai.

Do not hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of the page to give me your impressions, share a good address, a hotel, a bar ... Sharing is good;)