If you land at Hongqiao at 23:00 and your next flight leaves Pudong at 06:00, two options are already gone: the Airport Link Line, whose last train leaves Hongqiao Terminal 2 at 22:00, and the Maglev, whose last train leaves Pudong at 21:42. What is left is a ¥36 night coach with five fixed departures, or a metered taxi that will come in near ¥300. The airports sit roughly 60 km apart by road, and between midnight and 05:00 that drive takes 60 to 75 minutes.
What Still Runs After 22:00
Shanghai does have a fast airport-to-airport rail link now. The Airport Link Line (市域机场线) is a suburban railway from Hongqiao Airport Terminal 2 to Pudong Airport Terminal 1&2, 68.6 km, about 40 minutes, trains every 15 minutes, fares from ¥4 to a maximum of ¥26. It cut what used to be a 90-minute ride on Metro Line 2. It is also useless to a 23:00 arrival, because it stops running first.
- Airport Link Line: last departure from Hongqiao T2 at 22:00, last departure from Pudong T1&2 at 22:15. Every 15 minutes. The airport's English page rounds both to 10 pm, so check the board on the day.
- Metro Line 2: the last through train from Hongqiao Railway Station that continues to Pudong Airport leaves at 22:03, and 22:05 from Hongqiao Airport T2. Friday and Saturday late services do not cover the eastern extension to the airport. End to end, Line 2 is around 90 minutes.
- Maglev: last train from Pudong at 21:42, from Longyang Road at 21:40. ¥50 one way, ¥80 return, 300 km/h, and it only reaches Longyang Road.
- Night coach, Hongqiao to Pudong: five fixed departures from Hongqiao East Transport Center at 22:30, 23:10, 23:40, 00:30 and 01:00, direct, ¥36.
- Late Night Bus, Pudong to Hongqiao: 23:00-05:30 from T1 and 23:03-05:33 from T2, ending at the East Transportation Center of Hongqiao Hub, ¥18 to ¥34, with no more than 30 minutes between buses.
- Taxi: 24 hours at both airports, metered, no booking needed.
That is the complete list. There is no 24-hour metro, no overnight Airport Link, and nothing on rails that connects the two airports after 22:15. If your plan depended on a train at midnight, it was never a plan. The transport guide covers the daylight case; this page covers the other one.
The ¥36 Night Coach: The Move for a 23:00 Landing
The service is the Hongqiao night-flight coach (虹桥守航夜宵定班线), and it is the only scheduled, fixed-price way to cross the city after 22:00. It leaves from the East Transport Center on the Terminal 2 side, not from the metro station, and it runs non-stop to Pudong Airport.
- Clear arrivals and walk past the drivers who approach you inside the hall. They are not the official rank and they are not cheaper.
- Follow the signs for 虹桥东交通中心 (Hongqiao East Transport Center). It is a signed walk from the T2 arrivals level: follow the 虹桥东交通中心 signs, not the metro ones.
- Go to coach waiting room 2 (2号候车室) and buy a ticket for the Pudong Airport service. Pay at the counter and keep small notes as a fallback.
- Aim for the 23:40 departure. A 23:00 landing, immigration and the walk will usually cost you the 23:10.
- Ride roughly 70 minutes, traffic permitting. You reach Pudong T1&T2 around 00:50, with nearly five hours before a 06:00 departure.
Two suitcases and a cabin bag are not a problem: the coach has a luggage hold. Keep your passport and boarding pass on you rather than in the hold, because you will need the passport again at the Pudong entrance.
The Meter at 23:00: What a Taxi Really Costs
Shanghai taxis are metered and the tariff is published. The flag fall is ¥16 in the Touran and Roewe Ei5 electric cars and ¥14 in ordinary cars, covering the first 3 km, then ¥2.70 per km. Past 15 km the per-km rate rises by 50%. Between 23:00 and 05:00 both the flag fall and the per-km rate rise by 30%. Long public holidays add a flat ¥5, or ¥10 during Spring Festival.
Run that over a 60 km airport-to-airport trip and the arithmetic is not close to the ¥150 that some forum posts still quote. You pay ¥16 for the first 3 km, ¥32.40 for the next 12 km to the 15 km mark, then ¥182.25 for the remaining 45 km at the long-distance rate. That is ¥230.65 before the night uplift, and about ¥300 with it. Budget ¥280 to ¥330, and expect the driver to take the elevated ring roads rather than the surface streets.
Two suitcases do not trigger an extra charge. There is no tipping convention and no luggage fee on the meter. Most drivers accept Alipay or WeChat Pay, but a ¥100 note is a sensible backup if your phone is still on airport wifi. Use the signed rank on the arrivals level, not a car that pulls up when someone says "taxi" at you, and check that the meter starts at the flag fall before you pull away.
Taxi beats the coach in three cases: you land after 01:00, you are three or more people with luggage, or your onward flight is before 08:00 and you would rather lose ¥300 than the connection.
The Four-Hour Rule
Here is the decision rule that matters more than any timetable. If the gap between landing and take-off is under four hours, do not leave the airport. At Pudong, check-in closes 60 minutes before an international departure (70 for Ethiopian Airlines) and 40 minutes before a domestic one. Hongqiao closes 40 to 45 minutes before an international departure and 15 to 35 minutes before a domestic one, depending on the airline and whether you check a bag. Add immigration, security and a walk to a distant gate, and a 06:00 international departure means being in the terminal by 03:30.
Work backwards from that. A 23:00 landing gives you four and a half hours before a 06:00 departure, and the 23:40 coach puts you at Pudong around 00:50, which leaves two and a half hours of slack. That is workable. A 23:00 landing with a 2 a.m. departure is not: check-in closes at 01:00, the coach arrives around 00:50, and one slow queue at immigration or one closed ramp turns that into a missed flight.
If You Miss the Connection
At midnight there is no airline desk to argue with. Airline city offices are not open at that hour, and the counters that are still staffed are selling today's departures, not rescuing yesterday's. Rebook in the airline's app or by phone, and do not buy a replacement ticket from anyone who approaches you in the terminal offering to "fix" it.
If the next flight is more than six hours away, stay at the airport rather than in the city. There is no transfer left to miss at 04:00, seating landside is free, and both terminals have food and drink open around the clock for the early bank of departures. A downtown hotel looks cheaper on paper until you add two 40-minute transfers and a 03:30 alarm. Check current terminal opening arrangements with the airport if you land on a public holiday.
Locking a Transfer Before You Land
A pre-booked car is worth it in exactly one situation: your connection is tight enough that a 25-minute wait at the coach bay would cost you the flight. If you book one, the confirmation should answer five things before you pay anything.
- The meeting point, by terminal and by door, not "the arrivals hall".
- The flight number the driver is tracking, so a delayed landing does not become a no-show.
- The waiting time included after landing, in minutes, and the price per extra hour.
- The plate number and the driver's phone number, sent before you board.
- The total in CNY, with tolls and night surcharge already inside it.
If you would rather have someone check the connection against your actual flight times, send the two flight numbers through Plan My Trip and we will come back with a written plan and a quoted pickup rather than a promise. If Shanghai is the start of a longer route, the routes page shows how the first night fits into a multi-city trip.
FAQ
Can I take the metro from Hongqiao to Pudong at 23:00?
No. The last through train to Pudong Airport leaves Hongqiao Railway Station at 22:03 and Hongqiao Airport T2 at 22:05. Later trains on Friday and Saturday stop short of the airport extension. After that, the night coach or a taxi are the only options.
Does the ¥36 coach run every night?
The published schedule is five departures between 22:30 and 01:00, every night. Holiday periods and disruption can change it, so confirm on the airport's own bus page or at the coach waiting room before you rely on the last departure.
How much is a taxi with two suitcases?
The same as without them. Luggage is not metered and there is no formal surcharge. At 23:00, Hongqiao to Pudong is about ¥280 to ¥330 on the meter, including the 30% night uplift and the 50% long-distance rate past 15 km.
References
- Shanghai Airport Group: ground transport and airport bus timetable, updated 2026-06-01
- Shanghai Airport Group: Airport Link Line operating hours, updated 2026-06-15
- Shanghai Airport Group: taxi ranks and Shanghai taxi tariff, updated 2025-11-13
- Shanghai Airport Group: check-in deadlines, retrieved 2026-10-23
- Shanghai Metro: first and last train timetable, retrieved 2026-10-23
- Shanghai Municipal Government: Airport Link Line to launch, 2024-12-26
- Wikivoyage: Shanghai, airport transfer section, retrieved 2026-10-23
