1

Check with ctrip.com. They often do not show fares online for international flights but you can call them.

2

#1

Are you saying that Shanghai to Taipei is an international flight?

They have China Eastern flights next june for around 1200RMB +365RMB so $265 doesn't seem that far off the mark.

3

Shanghai is in China and Taipei is is Taiwan. Different countries despite the wishes of the Chinese.

4

CTrip and ELong...I prefer ELong. That is not a bad price...

5

I prefer www.travelzen.com. But I think it's way to early to book a June 2013 flight. I'd wait until late March or early April and start looking again.

Yes, Shanghai to Taipei is an international flight. Just like Shanghai to Hong Kong.

If you can arrange your travel on the mainland to end up in Xiamen (on the SE coast) instead of Shanghai, you can save yourself a bundle of money getting across the Straits. From Xiamen, the ferry to Kinmen Island (R.O.C.) is only an hour, RMB 160, taxis directly to Kinmen's airport then a cheap domestic flight Kinmen to Taipei's Songshan Airport TSA (less than an hour flight) which may be more convenient for you than TPE. Total cost from Xiamen to Taipei usually can be done for total USD 90-100 all-in. Lots of Taiwanese businesspeople in SE China use this back-door route to get from mainland to home quickly and cheaply. Flights can be booked online with the airlines directly, also at the exit of Kinmen's ferry terminal. Look up Mandarin Airlines and TransAsia Airlines. Foreigners may exit China and enter Taiwan by this route, very painless.

6

Jiejie:

Due to time constraints, this is not an option for me. My schedule is extremely rigid and specific. I have to travel from Shanghai to Taipei and it has to be on Wednesday, June 26th - not one day sooner or later. Hence, you can see how inflexible my schedule is. That having been said, I have a follow up question for you:

Is it possible to follow your suggestion (travel from Shanghai to Xiamen, take the ferry to Kinmen Island and then take a flight to TSA all on the same day (June 26th)?

If not, I will have to resort to a flight from PVG to TPE as per my original post.

7

Try looking into flying from SHA to TSA instead - saves you up to an hour's commute at either end and the ticket prices are nearly the same. PVG and TPE are both further away from downtown. The price you found is reasonable.

8

Gnaji:

Actually, one of the reasons I am keen on PVG is because I heard Shanghai has a unique airport transport system called the MEGLEV. Is the MEGLEV worth experiencing?

9

It is hard to tell you if the Maglev is worth experiencing for you. The problem with fast trains is that it is hard to even feel how fast they go other than for the digital screen at the front of the car telling you the speed. However, unlike the usual fast trains going through fields, this one is next to the road so you have a bit of a feel for a speed as you pass cars on the highway. Search it on Youtube, that will give you an idea.
Note that Hongqiao airport is closer than Pudong to the 'city center"

Edited by: JPDeM

10

#6 no sweat, but the specific rigidity of time and place wasn't made clear in your original post. But yes, it is possible to do your proposed all in one day. I can easily see a scenario where a flight departing Shanghai to Xiamen at 07:30, could see you in Taipei by 13:30. However, I'm not sure if it makes sense cost-wise when you add in the Shanghai-Xiamen flight cost. Even though I've often seen this route go for US 90-100, it increases the total outlay to closer to US 200, and increases risk in case of delay leaving Shanghai. So in your situation, I would just keep it simple and fly directly from Shanghai to Taipei. But I would wait until spring to look for better pricing for one-ways SHA/PVG-TPE/TSA.

It's too bad there are essentially no more overnight train options from Shanghai to the Fujian coast, where you could leave night of the 25th, get to Xiamen early on the 26th and then continue journey to Taipei with time to burn. And for cheap. Alas, high speed rail has taken over but the timings don't work for what you're trying to do. .

11

There are also flights from PVG to TSA. Book those if they're not much more than flying into TPE.

IMO, the Maglev doesn't feel faster than any other bullet train, especially since it only travels at 300 km/h instead of max speed for much of the day. But if you do take the Maglev, then commute time from central Shanghai to either PVG or SHA will be about the same, just more expensive.