Pudong Airport

Hi! I have a 12 hour over-night layover in the Pudong-Shanghai Airport, and I can't find any information about hotels/beds within the terminal (no Chinese visa, so I can't leave the airport). Has anyone traveled through here? Any advice? I'm nervous, but it's too expensive to change the flight.

i've never seen beds/hotels in a terminal, but maybe you'll get lucky.

there will probably be plenty of space for you to lay out something to sleep on, a sleeping pad or a sleeping bag.  i once had a really long layover at gatwick outside of london, i took two love seats and pushed them together and took a nap.

i had flight from busan to china to bangkok and my layover in china was something like 10 hours.  but my flight was delayed in busan for at least 5 hours so i ended up spending most of it at the busan airport. maybe something similiar will happen to you

Hi;

   I was just at the Pudong airport about a week ago.  The only sleeping area I saw was for airline employees and all they got where sleeping mats.  Sorry I can`t be of any help in that area. But they do have seats without arm rests, so I slept on that, really comfy.  The airport was also really cold just to warn you so bring warm clothes and a blanket with you!
   The transfer area of airport is relatively small and without good food selection just to warn you.  So you might want to bring some food to hold you over during your stay.

Hi I was just in Pudong for stopovers to/from Vietnam.

The experience was abysmal.  Very little English spoken, ineffective signage, unhelpful staff, and to echo another comment, I also didn't see any hotels in the area and food was not plentiful nor affordable nor appetizing (I ate at Burger King).

I'd advise leaving the airport for these reasons ...

always check sleeping in airports
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/asia/shanghai.htm

I don't think I'm allowed to leave the airport because I don't have a Chinese visa. Drkhv7 - have you heard differently?

It looks as though you may be able to get visa-free entry if you are not content with staying at the airport.

"Visas are not required of passport holders of the following countries, who transit through Pudong Airport or Hongqiao Airport of Shanghai, provided they hold valid passports, visas for the onward countries, final destination tickets and have booked seats, and stay in Shanghai for less than 48 hours : Republic of Korea, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland."
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/t84242.htm

*Be sure to bring hard copies of your tickets as my friends had trouble recently with e-tickets

Happy travels!

I had a 15 hour layover on the 5th of Feb and I was expecting to have to stay in the Airport. However, when you arrive in Shanghai the passport control will stamp your passport with a "day pass" visa. This permits you to stay in Shanghai for the time they write on your passport. Mine said 17 hours. This stamp takes up a whole page.
After collecting my bags I saw a kiosk for hotel rooms, I went and showed them my stamp and asked if it was ok to get a hotel room. they said no problem and showed me a few options. I picked the cheapest one and got on their free shuttle and went to the hotel. Checking in was very strange and scary as you have to register with the local police. I am not sure about this part, a Chinese man who was educated in the UK helped me with this part (he was also staying there). I hope this helps.

Yes, the airport kind of sucks. I was there last week. Kind of a bust, especially after you check in. Anyway, I also heard that you can get a day Visa if you're from the countries listed above, so maybe you can try that.

Are you there in the day time? You can take the subway to downtown (takes about an hour), or if you want to save 30 minutes, you can take the Maglev high speed train. There's a few cool things you can do in Shanghai in the day time; hang around on the Bund, check out the touristy area in Old town, or shop in the French concession areas. It's fun :) Go have some dumplings!