This guide is written by an editorial team based in Chongqing — the editor has lived in mainland China since 2018. It draws on first-hand Shanghai Metro use on 2023-2026 visits, the identical Alipay QR-payment mechanism verified first-hand on the Beijing metro (2025-2026), and aggregated 2024-2026 r/shanghai reports. First-hand for the riding experience, aggregated coverage for exact fares and last-train times — confirm those in the metro app. See the about page.
The Shanghai Metro in one minute
The Shanghai Metro is the largest urban rail network in the world — around 20 lines and roughly 831 km of track — and for a foreign visitor it is the single best way to move around the city. Traffic on the surface is heavy; the metro is fast, cheap, frequent (trains every 2-5 minutes on the core lines), and signed in English from end to end. If you set up one thing before you fly, make it Alipay — that is how you pay.
How to pay
There are three ways, and since mid-2025 the shortest one is the card already in your wallet. Pick by how long you are staying and whether you have set Alipay up yet.
1. Tap your own contactless card — no app at all
On 28 June 2025 Shanghai extended bank-card gate entry from a pilot to the entire network. Every station accepts contactless chip cards from UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB, plus phone wallets built on the same standard. You tap the reader going in and tap again going out; the distance fare is worked out on exit.
The one thing that decides whether it works for you: the card must have small-amount no-PIN, no-signature contactless enabled — the setting that lets a terminal take a small payment without asking you to authenticate. Most cards issued outside China have it on by default; some, especially cards with strict fraud settings, do not, and there is no way to turn it on at the gate. Check it with your issuer before you fly, because that is the conversation you cannot have from inside a metro station.
Entering places a pre-authorisation on the card rather than a charge, so the card also needs available balance or credit — a card sitting at its limit will let you in and then refuse to let you out.
2. Alipay or WeChat Pay ride-code — the QR route
Open the transit / Metro feature (乘车码), pick the Shanghai Metro code, scan going in and again going out. A foreign Visa or Mastercard linked to Alipay International funds it. This is the same QR mechanism used on the Beijing metro, which the editor verified first-hand with a foreign Visa via Alipay in 2025-2026.
It needs real-name verification and a linked card, both of which take time and neither of which you want to be doing at an airport — see our Alipay setup guide for foreigners. But it is worth having anyway: Alipay pays for far more than metro rides, and it is the official fallback the metro itself names when a bank card fails at the gate.
3. Shanghai Public Transport Card — the no-smartphone option
A physical stored-value card, bought and topped up with cash at station service counters. It costs a ¥20 refundable deposit plus whatever you load. Refunds are handled at the card company's own service points rather than at any station: the two staffed centres are at Lujiabang Road 1298 (陆家浜路1298号) and Jiujiang Road 609 (九江路609号). A balance under ¥10 comes back in full; ¥10 or more is refunded minus a 5% handling fee, so do not load more than you will spend.
So which one?
| If you are… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Here for a few days, card already contactless | Your own bank card | Nothing to install, nothing to verify, no deposit to reclaim |
| Here more than a few days, or travelling beyond the metro | Alipay ride-code | Same fare, and the account pays for taxis, food and tickets too |
| Without a working smartphone or a contactless card | Transport card | Cash in, cash out — the only route that needs neither |
The fare is identical whichever you pick, so this is a convenience decision rather than a cost one — with one exception worth knowing if you are here a while, in the fares section below.
When the gate won't open
Every payment method here works by pairing an entry with an exit, so the failures all show up at the same moment — you are inside, and the gate on the way out stays shut. None of them is a crisis, and all of them are solved at the same place.
- Your card was authorised on entry but can't pay on exit. Entering places a pre-authorisation; if the card has no room left when the fare is worked out, the exit gate refuses. Go to the Service Centre (客服中心) — every station has one, near the gates, signed in English — and settle it there with another card, cash, or a QR code.
- You rode past your stop. There is no penalty for this. The rule is simply that you pay the difference for the extra distance, which the Service Centre works out. Travelling with no valid ticket at all is the expensive case: the operator may charge the network's highest single fare and add up to five times that amount on top.
- You went through the gate and then changed your mind — wrong station, wrong side, or you spotted your mistake on the platform. Shanghai will cancel the entry so you are not charged the ¥3 starting fare, and the rule has an exact shape worth reading twice: you have 10 minutes, it has to be the same station you entered, and you must go to the Service Centre before you tap out. Tap out first and nobody can undo it — the record is closed and staff have told enquirers plainly that at that point it is too late.
- The reader just doesn't respond. Do not stand there re-tapping. The metro's own advice is to switch method — the Metro Metropolis app, a transport card, or an Alipay ride-code — and sort the card out later. This is the practical reason to have Alipay set up even if you plan to tap a bank card.
Children under 1.3 m travel free, and an adult may take them through on their own fare — the height line, not an age, is what the rule uses, and there is a marker at the gates to measure against.
Fares
Fares are distance-based and have not changed since 2005: ¥3 covers the first 6 km, ¥4 to 16 km, ¥5 to 26 km, then ¥1 more per additional 10 km. In practice most central tourist trips cost ¥3-5, and the PVG airport run on Line 2 is around ¥8. The Maglev is separate — its own service, its own ¥50 fare, not part of the metro.
The discount nobody mentions: once your metro spending passes ¥70 within one calendar month, everything after that is charged at 90%. It counts your total across payment methods rather than per app, and it resets on the first of the month — so it is worth knowing on a long stay or a repeat visit, and irrelevant on a weekend. There is no day-pass worth buying instead.
⚠️ This is the one number on this page with a known expiry date. Shanghai has scheduled a public hearing on restructuring metro fares for 7 September 2026 — the first review in 21 years. No proposal has been published and nothing has been decided, so the fares above are what you will pay today; if you are travelling in late 2026 or after, they are the thing to re-check, and we will update this page when the hearing reports.
The lines tourists actually use
Twenty lines sounds daunting; in practice a foreign visitor needs about six:
| Line | Role | Key stops for visitors |
|---|---|---|
| Line 2 | the east-west spine | PVG airport · Lujiazui · Nanjing East Rd (the Bund) · People’s Square · Jing’an · Hongqiao airport + station |
| Line 10 | the French Concession line | Former French Concession · Yu Garden · Nanjing East Rd · Hongqiao Railway Station |
| Line 1 | north-south | People’s Square · former French Concession · Xujiahui · Shanghai Railway Station |
| Line 7 | cross-city | Jing'an Temple · Changshu Road (French Concession edge) |
| Line 11 | the Disney line | Shanghai Disneyland (Disney Resort terminus) · Jiaotong University |
| Line 17 | the water-town line | Hongqiao Railway Station · west to Zhujiajiao canal town |
Line 2 is the one to know — it links PVG airport, Lujiazui, the Bund (Nanjing East Road), People's Square, Jing'an and the Hongqiao hub on a single line. People's Square is the central interchange of Lines 1, 2 and 8; Century Avenue (世纪大道) in Pudong connects Lines 2, 4, 6 and 9.
Using the metro as a foreigner
- English everywhere. Station names are shown in Chinese and pinyin, train announcements are bilingual, and exit signs and platform maps are bilingual. Ticket machines have an English mode. The Shanghai Metro is, alongside Beijing's, the most foreigner-legible system in mainland China.
- Security check on entry. Every station has an X-ray belt for bags — routine, a minute or two, suitcases allowed. Unlike high-speed rail, the metro is not real-name: the gates read your fare QR, not your passport.
- Operating hours run roughly 5:30am to 10:30-11pm, varying by line; last-train times are posted on platforms and in the metro apps. Plan around the last train after a late night out — DiDi or a taxi is the fallback.
- Rush hour (about 7:30-9:30am and 5:30-7pm) is genuinely crowded on the core lines. Let passengers off before boarding, and stand to the right on escalators.
- Plan transfers above ground. Mobile data can drop underground — check your route in a maps app before you descend, or carry an offline metro map.
The airport and Maglev lines
Three rail connections sit slightly apart from the everyday metro:
- Metro Line 2 to PVG — a direct, cheap (~¥8) but slow ride to Pudong Airport; see the Pudong Airport guide.
- The Maglev — 300 km/h between PVG and Longyang Road, ¥50, a separate service; see the Shanghai Maglev guide.
- 市域机场线 Airport Link Line — the 2024 fast link between the Hongqiao hub and PVG.
Frequently asked questions
How do foreigners pay for the Shanghai Metro?
How much does the Shanghai Metro cost?
Which Shanghai Metro lines do tourists actually use?
Is the Shanghai Metro easy to use if you do not read Chinese?
What are the Shanghai Metro operating hours?
Is there a security check to enter the Shanghai Metro?
How do I get to Shanghai Disneyland on the metro?
Related Shanghai guides
- Tapping a foreign card on China's metros — which cities take a contactless Visa or Mastercard at the gate.
- Shanghai city guide — things to do, getting in and out, getting around, where to stay, and practical essentials.
- Alipay setup for foreigners — set this up before you fly; it is how you pay for the metro, taxis and most of Shanghai.
- Pudong Airport (PVG) guide and Hongqiao Airport (SHA) guide — the metro connections from both airports.
- Where to stay in Shanghai — four areas compared, each with its metro lines.
- Staying connected in China — an eSIM and roaming so maps and Alipay work underground-adjacent.
Browse Shanghai hotels on Trip.com →
Sources
Verified first-hand by this editor: Shanghai Metro use on 2023-2026 visits (Lines 1, 2, 7, 10 on central trips); the Alipay foreign-Visa QR-payment mechanism verified first-hand on the Beijing metro 2025-2026 — Shanghai uses the identical Alipay flow.
Checked August 2026: the network-wide bank-card rollout and its no-PIN requirement against the Shanghai municipal announcement of 29 June 2025 and the operator's own guidance; the fare bands, the ¥70 monthly threshold and the 7 September 2026 hearing against the fare schedule in force since 2005; the overstay, cancel-within-10-minutes and 1.3 m child rules against the Shanghai rail transit passenger code (2025–2030 edition); transport-card deposit and refund terms against the card operator's published conditions.
The one thing this page cannot do for you: confirm that your own card has small-amount contactless enabled. Only your issuer knows, the gate cannot tell you, and it is the single difference between tapping through and queueing at a service counter — so settle it before you fly. Everything else here we re-check monthly, and the fare hearing is the item we are watching. Who writes this.