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Advice re Pudong Airport to Suzhou

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  1. #1

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    Advice re Pudong Airport to Suzhou

    We are flying into Shanghai (Pudong airport) to watch the eclipse in July - have decided to stay in a hotel in Suzhou since it looks nice (its unfortunately a weekday so can only stay the one night).

    I know that you can get a train (maglev) then a metro then another train to Suzhou ... but is this the best way to get there at around 9pm at night or is there an easier way? Anybody done this and got any suggestions? I wondered if there was a direct bus from the airport, for example, which might be less hassle!


  2. #2

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    There are direct shuttle buses from Pudong to Suzhou, but not sure how late they go. It will take around 3 hours.

    If this is up to date the last bus is at 2000.

    Timetable

    Last edited by drumbrake; 01-03-2009 at 11:20 PM.

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by drumbrake:
    There are direct shuttle buses from Pudong to Suzhou, but not sure how late they go. It will take around 3 hours.

    If this is up to date the last bus is at 2000.

    Timetable
    Thanks - unfortunately I land at 2000 so I might be out of luck for that (unless we get in early ha ha). I guess we have to try the train-metro-train route after all.

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    if i was you, i might consider taking a taxi or get a car service all the way from pudong to suzhou. i would think it would cost rmb 300-500. i can ask a taxi driver if you like.

    can you fly from shenzhen to suzhou? does suzhou have airport?


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    Quote Originally Posted by thundacatchergo:
    if i was you, i might consider taking a taxi or get a car service all the way from pudong to suzhou. i would think it would cost rmb 300-500. i can ask a taxi driver if you like.

    can you fly from shenzhen to suzhou? does suzhou have airport?
    Thanks. A taxi was my alternative if I could not find anything better. I have already booked the flights now. If you could find out how much a taxi would be, that would be terrific! I would be happy to book a car service it if was not too expensive and easy for a non-chinese speaking person to book.... I could ask the hotel but they would send something about 3 x more expensive than necessary (I'm staying in the sheraton).

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    I'll let you know tonight. I'll give you my driver's number but he's in jail for gambling.


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    the cab driver said it would be about rmb500 on the meter and 2 hours drive.


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    Quote Originally Posted by thundacatchergo:
    the cab driver said it would be about rmb500 on the meter and 2 hours drive.
    Thanks!

    Is the meter the way to go, or is there flexibility to negotiate a price before I start ? (Using the 20 or so words in Mandarin I can remember at any one time, the numbers 1-10 being 10 of the 20....!)

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    Is an eclipse really so special as to be worth 4 hours in a Shanghai taxi?


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    It's the longest eclipse this century.

    BUT - I could have watched it in central Shanghai, so that was not really the driver! I was looking for a nice hotel and the one in Suzhou looked lovely (and being low rise had a nice garden to watch the sky from, which being in a city centre surrounded by high rises might have been problematic).

    Anyway, all the guide books say its "39 minutes from Shanghai by train" ... and I knew Shanghai's airport was connected by a Maglev to the city so it sounded easy ...booked the flight and hotel before looking any closer and now realise it might not be quite so easy!

    Why on earth did they build a world class Maglev train to the airport but not actually connect it anywhere useful? Bizarre!

    Anyway, we are going in a couple of weeks just to have a weekend there so I can suss it out more then ... this just helps me know what questions to ask etc etc.


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