Shanghai is a modern city with an old heart. It's the part of China where old and new meet in harmony. Situated on the east coast of China, Shanghai is the country's busiest and biggest port and one of the most important Chinese industrial centers. On the one hand, Shanghai is the modern metropolis of China, on the other hand you will still find many historical traces and sights.
In the past Shanghai in China used to be called The Paris of the Orient, as the city was known as the entertainment place of Asia. Nowadays Shanghai, with it's 17 million inhabitants has become the main commercial city of China, boosting one of the most modern skylines in the world. Today Shanghai is mainly a commercial city but it attracts more and more tourists from all over the world every year. The tourists can find many hidden museums and ancient Chinese monuments while exploring the city on foot with many relaxing parks or public gardens all over the place.
Shanghai's tourist infrastructure is getting more and more upgraded every day, with nowadays more than 524 domestic travel services and 300 star-rated Shanghai hotels. Shanghai is an ideal shopping paradise for tourists with many modern shopping areas and commercial streets.
China is often a place of mystic for the westerner especially so as its culture is so different to that of the west. One of the problems encountered particularly everywhere outside the major metropolitan areas is that any language other than Chinese is difficult to find. But that can be part of the fun. The good thing is that Chinese people are friendly and travel is not difficult. Even getting to the most remote parts of China can be accomplished either by plane or by train.
The other problem for travelers appears to be finding Shanghai cheap flights. It isn't easy indeed. Probably one of the cheapest online flight reservation systems with last-minute discount Shanghai airfare is from Airline Consolidators and Airline Ticket Wholesalers. They offer online savings between 20% to 70% for flights to Shanghai in economy, business and first class.
Shanghai has two airports, Pudong Airport (Shanghai International Airport) about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the city center and Hongqiao Airport (mainly for domestic flights).
Major airlines making flights to Shanghai are: Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Northern Airlines, China Northwest Airlines, China Southern Airlines and China Southwest Airlines. Other major carriers include Air France, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, KLM, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Qantas, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Thai International, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
Approximate time for flights to Shanghai: from London is 11 hours; from New York is 22 hours; from Los Angeles is 16 hours; from Toronto is 16 hours and from Sydney is 10 hours.
Departure tax is RMB90 (for international flights to Shanghai) or RMB50 (for domestic Shanghai flights) 'construction fee' is payable in cash at both airports (only Chinese currency is accepted).