Shanghai

By ship

There are ferry services from Kobe and Osaka Japan weekly and Hong Kong.

Shanghai Ferry Company

Once a week service from Shanghai to Osaka and vice versa. Takes two nights.

Shanghai is one of China's main travel hubs and getting in from pretty much anywhere is easy.

By train

Shanghai has a few major train stations including:

Shanghai Railway Station

上海站. Shanghai's largest and oldest, located in Zhabei district, on the intersection of Metro Lines 1, 3 and 4. Practically all trains used to terminate here, including trains to Hong Kong. However, southern services are being shifted out to the South Station and high-speed services to the new Hongqiao Station.

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station

上海虹桥站 Is massive in size and located in the same building complex with Hongqiao Airport. The connecting Metro stop shares the same name, Hongqiao Railway Station, and is one stop beyond the Hongqiao airport stop on Metro Lines 2 and 10. High-speed trains to Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Kunshan, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Hefei, Wuhan, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Hefei and other smaller stations use this station.

Shanghai South Railway Station

上海南站. Provides service towards the south except high-speed trains on the Shanghai–Hangzhou high-speed line and services to Hong Kong due to lack of immigration and customs facilities. On Metro lines 1 and 3.

Shanghai West Railway Station

上海西站 / Nanxiang North Railway Station 南翔北站 / Anting North Railway Station 安亭北站: Some high-speed train to Nanjing direction stop at these smaller stations. In addition, there are a few trains to and from Shanghai Station for connections to other trains.

Shanghai East Railway Station

In 2012, plans to build the station, which will be based in Pudong's Chuansha district, were announced.

Self-serve automated ticket booths are prevalent and would likely be the easiest mode of purchasing tickets and checking train schedules for those without an ability to utilize Chinese as the devices have an English mode. NOTE: Starting June 1, all tickets purchased MUST have a real name and ID number attached to them, and the automated machines do NOT read anything but Chinese ID, so this will no longer be an option. Tickets are also conveniently booked in advance at one of the many travel service agencies, and as a note, tickets originating from other stations within the city can be purchased from a given station except for Hong Kong tickets Shanghai West is an exception; the ticket office there can only process purchases for same-day departures from that station. There are queues with English speaking staff, although this is not likely outside of Shanghai so it's best to buy a return ticket at the same time not only because English won't be as easy to find outside of the city, but also seats may be sold out if attempting to purchase at a later date. It is advisable to prepare a paper with your destination displayed in Chinese characters if needed or should an itinerary need adjustment. The main ticket office now handles all ticket sales, including tickets to Hong Kong which can only be bought at the English-speaking counter or the dedicated counter at Shanghai and Shanghai South stations with no sales possible from the machines; in addition, unlike tickets to other parts of China, tickets to Hong Kong start selling 60 days in advance so book early; the Hong Kong-Shanghai segment sells out quickly.

Now tickets of all high-speed trains prefix "D" or "G"） and normal trains prefix "T" or "Z" can be bought online at (http://wwwdot12306dotcn. But a English support is still lacked. After purchasing tickets online, passengers who do not have a Chinese ID card still have to get the ticket at the ticket office before departure.

Beijing

北京- Beginning in June 2011, an all-new express line service to Beijing started, with the quickest travel time option ringing in at 4 hours and 48 minutes. Additionally, there are a number of night sleep bullet trains running daily. These trains have D-prefix codes, take just over 10 hours from Shanghai to Beijing. Fare is around ¥730 for a soft sleeper lower berth or ¥655 for upper berth, very clean and the four-person cabins are quite comfortable. Two-person rooms are also available on some of these trains, the price is about ¥1470 for a lower berth or ¥1300 for a upper. Two-person rooms on D trains do not have private baths. In the same new train, normal second-class seat are available for around ¥327. For a regular normal sleeper in a standard train, which takes 13 hours from Shanghai to Beijing, expect to pay ¥306 to ¥327 for a hard sleeper or around ¥478 to ¥499 for a soft one. Two-person sleeper is available on one of the T-series trains, with private bath and a sofa, price is ¥881 for upper berth or ¥921 for a lower. But tickets for these cheaper normal sleepers are usually very tight.

Hong Kong

香港- The T99/T100 train to and from Hong Kong runs every other day alternating between Shanghai->Hong Kong and Hong Kong->Shanghai from Shanghai Railway Station T99 leaves here at 6:20PM, T100 arrives here at 10AM, arriving at Hung Hom station in KowloonT99 arrives here around 1PM, T100 leaves here at 3:15PM. If traveling alone, expect to pay ¥800 each way for the soft sleeper, but discounts are given for group purchases ¥364 each way per person in a soft sleeper if purchased in a group of 4, for instance. Unless you are on a very tight budget, try to get the 'Deluxe Soft Sleeper' which has compartments of 2 beds and a private mainland-style mains socket but with the introduction of new train cars, the regular soft sleeper also has a private mains socket for each room as well as one in the corridor of each car. Spaces are limited, so book well in advance. Keep in mind that you will still have to go through Customs and thus need a new visa for reentry into mainland China unless you have a multiple-entry visa. However, going through Customs at the train station is much quicker than Customs at the airport. Ticket pricing depends on a number of factors, including number of people booking at once; two extremes are a hard sleeper for a single traveler costing ¥700+ each way and a soft sleeper being only ¥364 per person each way if buying four tickets filling one compartment at once.

Lhasa

拉萨 - Train to and from Lhasa, Tibet runs every day from Shanghai Railway Station. It takes just below 50 hours to arrive Lhasa. A hard seat costs ¥406 and a hard sleeper priced around ¥900, soft sleeper around ¥1300. Oxygen is available for each passenger in the Golmud–Lhasa section. A Tibet travel permit is required for non-Chinese citizens.

The new fast 200+ km/h CRH trains go south from Shanghai southwest to Nanchang, Changsha, or north to Beijing, Zhengzhou, Qingdao. These are very comfortable and convenient. Train route codes being with D in this instance. Higher speed trains 300+ km/h to Nanjing and Hangzhou has G prefix train code.

By car

In recent years many highways have been built, linking Shanghai to other cities in the region, including Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, etc. It only takes 50 minutes to reach Shanghai from Hangzhou, or 2.5 hours from Ningbo, via the 36-km long Hangzhou Bay Bridge, world's longest sea-crossing bridge.