How do I get from the airport into the city?
Short answer
Rail, in every case. Each major airport has a dedicated line, and the ordinary metro is always the cheap way in.
In Beijing
Two airports, two separate lines. Daxing has its own airport railway line and the ride takes 19 minutes; by expressway the same trip is around 30 minutes from the south 5th Ring Road. There is also an intercity railway reaching it from Beijing West Railway Station in about 20 minutes.
Capital Airport is served by the Airport Express, running Dongzhimen — Sanyuanqiao — Terminal 3 — Terminal 2. It is priced as a flat fare rather than by distance, which makes it the one line where the usual metro pricing does not apply.
In Shanghai
From Pudong, the maglev covers the 30km to Longyang Road in eight minutes, where you change to Metro Line 2. Riding Line 2 the whole way instead is the cheapest option and takes about an hour to People's Square. A taxi to the same place is roughly 50 minutes.
Hongqiao is easier: Metro Line 10 at Terminal 1, Lines 10 and 2 at Terminal 2. If you land at one airport and fly out of the other, the Airport Link Line now connects the two in 40 minutes.
How to choose
The pattern repeats across cities. A dedicated airport line is fast and priced as a flat fare; the ordinary metro is slower and much cheaper; a taxi is neither, and in traffic it is not even the fastest.
One thing to understand before you commit: the maglev is a shuttle to a metro interchange, not a ride into the centre. Eight minutes gets you most of the distance and none of the last mile.
Good to know
- Beijing's two airports are on different lines — check which one your ticket says
- The maglev ends at a metro interchange, not in the city centre
By train, nearly always. Which train depends on the airport and on which side of the city you are sleeping.
From Suvarnabhumi, the Airport Rail Link on floor B1 — or a metered taxi, which adds a THB 50 airport surcharge on top of the meter.
Metered taxi or a city bus, and the answer scales with the city: Hanoi's airport is far, Saigon's is close but slow, Danang's is practically downtown.
Train, bus or taxi. The airport railroad runs from both terminals into central Seoul and is the cheapest of the three.
The Airport MRT. One line, two kinds of train — take the Express, not the Commuter, and it runs straight to Taipei Main Station.