Quick answer
- Pick Shanghai if it is your first time in China and you want an easy start, if anyone in the group uses a wheelchair or walks with difficulty, or if you want cheaper and more plentiful international flights.
- Pick Chongqing if you want a city that exists nowhere else in China, with buildings stacked on hills, two rivers lit up at night and hotpot, or if your budget is tighter.
- Do both if you have six days or more. The flight between them is about 2.5 hours.
Choose Chongqing if you
- Want the vertical city: the same building has several "ground floors", and the two-river night view. How to get around it is in How to get around Chongqing's 3D city.
- Are on a tighter budget: the average star-rated hotel room is a little over 40% of Shanghai's price, a taxi starts at 10 yuan and the metro at 2 yuan.
- Want a World Heritage site on the way: the Dazu Rock Carvings and Wulong Karst are both inside Chongqing municipality, each a day trip.
- Are travelling in winter: the January average is about 8°C, warmer than Shanghai, though with more overcast days.
Choose Shanghai if you
- Are visiting China for the first time and want to start with the easiest city.
- Are travelling with a wheelchair or with someone who finds walking hard: Shanghai is flat and far easier on foot.
- Need international flights: Shanghai has an order of magnitude more of them than Chongqing, with many more non-stop cities.
- Want the Bund, the 632 m Shanghai Tower and the 300 km/h maglev.
Side by side
| Item | Chongqing | Shanghai |
|---|---|---|
| Average room, all star-rated hotels (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Q3 2024) | 313 yuan a night | 721 yuan a night |
| Average room, four-star hotels (same source) | 283 yuan a night | 484 yuan a night |
| Taxi flag-fall, daytime | 10 yuan for the first 3 km | 14 yuan for the first 3 km (16 for some vehicle types) |
| Metro, cheapest single fare | 2 yuan | 3 yuan |
| International flights | Jiangbei airport: about 41 international and regional routes, 250+ flights a week | Pudong and Hongqiao: about 770 international, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan flights a day |
| Average July and August high | about 34°C | about 33°C |
| January average | about 8°C | about 5°C |
| Sunshine a year | about 1,000 hours | about 1,800 hours |
| Walking | Stacked levels and many stairs; plan routes downhill | Mostly flat |
| 240-hour visa-free transit ports | Jiangbei International Airport | Pudong Airport, Hongqiao Airport, Shanghai seaport (passenger terminal) |
Is the dearer flight worth it?
On the four-star averages above, a Chongqing night is about 200 yuan cheaper than a Shanghai night. Over five nights that is roughly 1,000 yuan, about 150 US dollars at 6.7 yuan to the dollar. Taxis and the metro are cheaper too. So if the flight into Chongqing costs about 150 dollars more, five nights get it back. For two or three nights it may not.
Doing both: how to line it up
- Fly. Chongqing to Shanghai is about 2.5 hours, Shanghai to Chongqing about 3, with plenty of non-stop flights.
- High-speed rail. The fastest train takes 8 hr 59 min and most take 10.5 to 14 hours; second class is about 590 to 1,190 yuan (checked September 2026). Much slower than flying, so only for people who want the scenery on the way.
- Visa. Chongqing and Shanghai are both among the 24 provinces covered by the 240-hour visa-free transit, so you can enter at Shanghai and leave from Chongqing, or the other way round. The clock starts at 00:00 the day after you land, and you need a confirmed onward ticket, with date and seat, to a third country or region. Passport holders from the UK, Canada and about 50 other countries can currently enter visa-free for 30 days instead (the policy runs to the end of 2026); US passports rely on the 240-hour transit.
- Days. Six is enough for three in each. How to spend three in Chongqing is in 3 days in Chongqing.
With older parents or a wheelchair
Shanghai is flat and easier. Chongqing still works if you use a car for every leg, choose only the sights with lifts and run the days downhill. We plan it that way; see Chongqing for seniors.
Where each figure comes from
| Detail | Source and date |
|---|---|
| 240-hour visa-free transit: 24 provinces, ports, how the clock runs, onward-ticket rule | National Immigration Administration notice, 17 December 2024 |
| 30-day visa-free entry for about 50 countries, to the end of 2026 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular notice, 15 February 2026 |
| Star-rated hotel average room prices | Ministry of Culture and Tourism, star-rated hotel statistics, Q3 2024 (published 26 December 2024; the latest edition with city figures as of September 2026) |
| Taxi flag-fall | Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, 26 November 2025; Chongqing Development and Reform Commission (central districts, in force since 2014) |
| Metro fares | Chongqing Development and Reform Commission, 25 July 2025 (new fares from 30 July 2025); Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, 29 July 2026 |
| International flights | China News Service, 24 September 2026 (Jiangbei); Shanghai Airport Authority, summer 2026 schedule |
| Flight and train times, train fares | Airline and railway booking systems, checked 26 September 2026 |
| Temperatures and sunshine | China Meteorological Administration 1991–2020 normals; Chongqing municipal government, December 2024 |
The Chongqing half is the part that needs local planning
Shanghai you can do on your own. Chongqing rewards a plan: which level to be dropped at, which evening the cableway is closed for maintenance, how to run a day downhill for older legs. Anjia is based in Chongqing, so these are checked on the ground rather than copied from an article. During the trip, the local ground team can respond 24 hours to urgent questions, weather changes, hotel issues and route adjustments.
Picked Chongqing, or doing both?
Send us your dates, group size and the cities you fly in and out of. We plan the Chongqing leg and can book the flight or train between the two cities as well.
FAQ
On the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Q3 2024 figures, the average star-rated hotel room was 313 yuan a night in Chongqing and 721 in Shanghai; four-star hotels 283 and 484. A taxi starts at 10 yuan in Chongqing and 14 in Shanghai.
For an easy start, Shanghai. For a city that exists nowhere else, Chongqing. With six days or more, do both.
Yes. Both cities are among the 24 provinces the policy covers. The clock starts at 00:00 the day after you land, and you need a confirmed onward ticket, with date and seat, to a third country or region.
Fly, about 2.5 to 3 hours. High-speed rail takes 8 hr 59 min at the fastest and 10.5 to 14 hours on most trains, second class about 590 to 1,190 yuan.
Chongqing averages about 8°C in January and Shanghai about 5°C, so Chongqing is milder, but it has more overcast days.