China Travel Forum

[Walter]

I have a layoever in Shanhai on a flight from Seoul to Bangkok. I will
be there for about 5 hours and 15 minutes and was thinking of going
into the city for an hour or so if possible. Is this a good idea? I am
flying on Chinese Eastern Airline. Would I need a visa to leave the
airport?

[Robert Xiu]

US passport? You need a visa. It takes a few days to get and costs about $50
so it's probably not worth it for an hour in town. On the other hand, if you
can arrange a slightly longer stopover on the way back, go for it.
you need a visa to enter China anywhere, then I'm pretty sure you would need one for Shanghai.
Anyway, unless the metro to the airport is finished, it takes and hour and a
half each way to get into the city on the bus so, allowing for some time needed to reboard, you'd not have much chance to see anything at all.