Getting Around Chinese Cities: Metro, Didi, Taxis and Airport Links (2026)

Chinese cities are enormous — Shanghai and Beijing each cover more area than London twice over — but they were rebuilt around the metro in the last twenty years, and that is genuinely good news for visitors. Urban rail is cheap, fast, punctual, air-conditioned, and signed in English end to end. The practical skills you need are few: getting a fare code into your phone, knowing when a taxi is worth it, and picking the right way in from the airport. Master those and the sheer size of these cities stops mattering. Prices and rules below are as of September 2026.

The Metro First: Cheap, Fast, Everywhere

Every major Chinese city has a modern metro network, and fares are distance-based and low. Shanghai starts at ¥3 for trips up to 6 km, adding ¥1 per 10 km after that — most cross-city rides land between ¥3 and ¥7. Beijing uses the same ¥3 entry point. Even your longest ride inside a city will rarely cross ¥10, which is why the metro should be your default answer, not your backup.

Buying tickets is easy even with zero Chinese. Every station has machines with an English language button that takes cash in small notes; alternatively, the staffed service window sells single-journey tickets — show your passport photo page or point at it, hold up fingers for the number of tickets, and check the route map for your fare. If a station staff member waves you toward the machines, that’s normal: single tickets don’t require ID.

The smoother move is to skip tickets entirely. Inside Alipay, find the Transit (乘车码) tile — or search “ride code” — pick your city once, and a QR code appears that you scan at the gates, in and out. It works the same way in WeChat Pay. This is how locals ride, it works with your foreign-linked card, and it removes the “do I have a ¥1 coin” problem entirely. Our payments guide covers linking your card; do that before you land.

Three operational notes. Security checks sit at every metro entrance: bags go through an X-ray, and you may be asked to take a sip of any water bottle you carry. It’s fast — usually under a minute even at peak. Trains run roughly 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., varying by line and city; if you’re out later, budget for a taxi. Rush hour is real: 8:00–9:30 a.m. and 6:00–7:30 p.m. in tier-1 cities can mean being packed shoulder to shoulder. It’s safe, but if you have luggage or a weak claustrophobia threshold, travel between waves.

Taxis and Didi: When the Metro Doesn’t Cut It

Street taxis remain everywhere and cheap. Beijing’s flag fall is around ¥13 for the first 3 km, Shanghai’s around ¥14, with a few yuan per kilometer after; a 20-minute ride typically costs ¥30–50. Licensed taxis are metered by law. The classic scam is the driver who says the meter is broken or quotes a flat “tourist price” — if the meter doesn’t go on as the wheels start turning, get out and take the next one; there is always a next one. Ask for a receipt (fapiao, 发票) — it prints the car number, which is what you’d need if you left something behind.

For most visitors, though, the answer is Didi, China’s Uber. Three things make it work for foreigners:

1. Registration with an international phone number — the app accepts foreign numbers for SMS verification, so you can set it up at home on Wi-Fi before departure.
2. International cards — Visa and Mastercard link directly to the app and are charged automatically at ride’s end; no cash passes hands.
3. An English interface — the app has full English mode with English-language support, and your destination is typed in text, not pronounced aloud. The driver never needs to speak with you; the app translates your pickup note.

Set your pickup point by pin rather than typing an address — hotel entrances, mall drop-off zones, and airport pickup levels are pinned precisely, which sidesteps the one-way-street confusion that costs drivers minutes. Expect the driver to call or message sometimes; forwarding them the app’s auto-translated message or just answering “wǒ zài zhèlǐ” (I’m here) at the pin usually resolves it.

If you skipped Didi, the Alipay and WeChat mini-programs for Didi do the same job inside those apps using your linked foreign card — a solid fallback. Our essential apps guide covers which to install before you fly.

Getting In From the Airport

Airport rail links are the exception to “just take a taxi” — they’re faster, cheaper, and immune to traffic. The two you’re most likely to meet:

Shanghai Pudong → maglev. The Shanghai maglev runs from the airport to Longyang Road, where the metro (Line 2, 7, 13, 16, 18) takes over, in about 8 minutes at a top speed around 300 km/h. A single economy ticket is ¥50 — ¥40 if you show a same-day flight ticket (or a Shanghai transit card) at the counter, and there are round-trip and combo fares if you’re returning to the airport within days. It’s the fastest scheduled train ride most visitors will ever take, and the far cheaper option than the 60–90 minute taxi crawl into the city center.

Beijing Daxing → airport express. The Daxing Airport Express runs from the giant starfish-shaped terminal to Caoqiao (¥35, connecting to metro Lines 10 and 19) and Daxing Xincheng (¥25), taking about 19 minutes with business-class cars available. From Beijing Capital (PEK), the Airport Express also runs a flat-fare service from Dongzhimen and Sanyuanqiao taking about 20 minutes — with our domestic flights guide explaining which airport your flight actually uses, because they are an hour apart by car and picking the wrong one is a classic first-timer mistake.

A taxi from either Shanghai airport or Beijing Capital into the city center typically runs ¥100–150 and can double in rush hour. The rail links cost a fraction of that and can’t be stuck in traffic. Take them.

Shared Bikes, Walking, and the Last 500 Meters

Dockless shared bikes (Meituan, Hello, Qingju) blanket every sidewalk in colors, and they solve the last-mile problem beautifully — but each company’s app generally wants a Chinese phone number for registration. The workaround: Alipay’s built-in bike mini-programs let you scan and unlock a bike through Alipay itself with your foreign-linked card, no separate registration. Rides cost ¥1.5–3 per half hour. Don’t ride on major arteries if you’re not confident in chaotic traffic; helmet discipline is, bluntly, not a local norm.

Walking is more pleasant than the traffic suggests — central districts have wide sidewalks, and crossing streets on foot is safer than it looks: at signalized intersections, turning traffic yields to pedestrians in the vast majority of cases. The genuine hazard is e-bikes and delivery scooters, which are silent, fast, and use sidewalks and the far edge of bike lanes freely. Look both ways on sidewalks before stepping out, especially while your eyes are on your phone.

Common Mistakes

• Defaulting to taxis out of habit. In tier-1 cities a taxi regularly loses to the metro at rush hour and always loses on price. Use taxis at night, with luggage, or when the metro doesn’t reach — not as a default.
• Fighting the Didi pickup point. If the driver waits across a divided road, don’t wave him over — walk to the pin or use the app’s “move pickup point” feature. Airport pickups are in designated levels; follow signs, not instinct.
• Paying the “negotiated” taxi fare. No meter negotiation is ever in your favor. Metered rides are the rule and cheap; a driver refusing the meter is telling you which taxi to avoid.
• Rushing the metro at rush hour with luggage. 8:30 a.m. on Line 1 or 2 in Beijing or Shanghai with a suitcase is a rite of passage worth skipping. Shift by an hour or take a Didi.
• Forgetting the X-ray sip rule. Carrying an open drink through metro security? You’ll be asked to take a sip. Finish or cap it before the queue.
• Booking the wrong Beijing airport. Daxing (PKX) and Capital (PEK) sit on opposite sides of the city. Check the code on your ticket before booking hotels or return trains — see our domestic flights guide.
• Assuming last trains run past midnight. Most metro networks stop between 22:30 and 23:30. Late dinners happen; plan the ride home with Didi before the last train, not after it’s gone.