ZSPD/PVG - Shanghai Pu Dong - Holiday Inn - May 2026

The hotel is a 10min walk from the airport and the train station to SHA.  There is a 7-11 enroute if you need to stock up with snacks.

If you arrive before check-in time then you can spot discreetly from outside the main entrance of the hotel using FR24 .  

An airport view room can be booked and is required, we were allocated 6067.  The hotel is new, so had all mod cons...  Electric curtains, USB and USC plug switches, and the usual high quality furnishings. This room had twin beds, and a sofa / table / chair adjacent to the window.  We moved the sofa to face outwards and give more comfort.

In May FR24 coverage was patchy with aircraft dropping off/appearing on at around 1500ft.  If you have an SBS/ADSB set-Up then it will help you a bit and there is a power plug just below the windows to help with power.  The windows also opens if you need to put an antenna outside.  Once closed up, the room is well insulated from airport noise.  

The Internet worked well in the hotel. Of course, being in China, WhatsApp and some other applications are restricted. I was able to communicate with home using teams, but the calling option is also prohibited. 

The fridge wasn't the best but by the evening the drinks were suitably chilled. There is a limited room service menu, which we did use, as there was so many needed frames coming in we weren't able to leave the room for any duration.

During the stay all arrivals we coming from the South towards us, so the approaches were easily seen.  All departures were also visible, either taxying out or on the departure roll.  There are big gaps between the terminal and satellite so it's fairly easy to see everything.

Floor 3 is reception/bar/restaurant which doubles as the breakfast buffet. This is served from 0600 to 1000. This was included in our room rate. rooms are on floors 5, 6 and 7.  Rooms ending in 001 to 073 odd numbers view towards the taxiway between the two terminals, the remote gates and with views of all runways.  I was on the fifth floor and the view was absolutely fine. Chinese superstition means there are are no rooms with the number 4 in them, nor a 4th floor. The hotel is huge and has well over a hundred rooms per floor so room numbers are 4 digits (e.g. 5001 onwards for the fifth floor).

The Crowne Plaza looks like it is the same building design but probably with fewer, larger rooms.

Note if using Didi (Chinese Uber) while it is okay to get dropped of directly at the hotel, you cannot be picked up here and have to walk into the terminal and the eHailing point.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/owphVisKs9DFaXnd6

ZSPD/PVG - Shanghai Pu Dong - Da Zhong Airport Hotel - November 2024

Once public side side with luggage, follow the signs for “Hotel” or “Metro” and you should end up in a long corridor called “Wuzhou Middle Path” which connects Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. Half way along this walkway, follow the Hotel sign which should lead to a lift, go up and you will arrive outside the Da Zhong Airport Hotel, which is slap, bang in between the two terminals. It is a very strange design and only the end points of the North or South wings will give views of all the runways.

As we arrived late, we had no choice of rooms but the staff did try to help. Four of the rooms (8743, 8745, 8758 & 8760) in the South wing, faced North towards the closed walkway that used to connect the North & South Wings. This gave views of departures to the North as they came off runways 34L/34R & 35L/35R, but you couldn’t see any arrivals. When we checked back in two days later, we were earlier and so was able to request rooms 8800, 8801, 8802 & 8806 which are in the South facing bit of the South wing. From those you can see all arrivals on runways 34L/34R & 35L/35R and some departures if they climbed quickly enough. If the wind direction changes, you’d see all departures instead. I booked “Superior standard room (south)” through trip.com. You need level 7 or 8 to be able to see over the terminal buildings…..

8th floor room numbers 8803, 8805, 8807, 8809, 8811, 8813, 8815, 8817, 8819, 8821, 8823, 8825, 8827, 8829, 8831, 8833, 8835, 8837, 8839 & 8841 would give views to the East of 16L/16R & 34L/34R, looking out over Terminal 2. 7th floor room numbers on this side are the same but 87** (odds)

8th floor room numbers 8808, 8810, 8812, 8816, 8818, 8820, 8822, 8826, 8828, 8830, 8832, 8836, 8838, 8840, 8842, 8846, 8848, 8850, 8852 & 8856 would give views to the West of 17L/17R & 35L/35R, looking out over Terminal 1. 7th floor room numbers on this side are the same but 87** (evens)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/4mnetRHuCXTuQM3f9

ZSPD/PVG - Shanghai Pudong - Ramada Pudong Airport - March 2024

After a lot of looking on line during the planning stage of the trip we decided not to book the regular Dazhong Airport hotel as google maps was showing that two new hotels have been built in front of it impacting the view and instead we booked the Ramada Pudong Airport. We arrived at the hotel at 11:30AM and were able to check without difficulty even though the check in time was 15:00, we were also able to negotiate a late checkout four hours after the normal check out time and we very much got the impression that the hotel was fairly empty.  We had booked an executive floor room and were given room 711 which has a double bed but they delivered a rollaway for a small fee,  

A few notes - the Executive lounge was closed for refurbishment although no refurbishment looked to be going on, The hotel has 9 floors with the executive floor being located on the 7^th Floor.  any room facing the airport between 706 and 717 would do, 711 being in the middle is the perfect option. If they are landing on the 34/35’s then aircraft can be seen on short finals flying towards you subject to visibility, if they are landing on the 16/17’s then inbounds can be seen on finals At night landers on the 34’s  will be bulbs however landers on the 35’s will rollout full length so will still be seen. The smog/fog will make or break your trip, we were relatively lucky that it cleared by 09:00 on both days we were there and did not reappear until the early hours of the following morning.

As a side note. The COMAC factory is located some distance from the airport and connected by a long taxiway and remote runway, don’t expect to see anything unless you are on the Right Hand side and landing on the 34’s even then only on finals. between 11:30 and 14:00 I made 104 new frames,  

One final note on Pudong, the airport is HUGE and busy with movements, I can’t see how you would be able to effectively spot there except from a hotel room with electronics. FR24 works in China but there is no ground coverage and aircraft drop off FR24 at about 1500FT and don’t appear until a couple of minutes after departure. We made it work by one of us managing the arrivals and other one departures and both of us ensuring we saw everything. As well as tactical use of FR24 and the SBS.  

https://maps.app.goo.gl/d7xvM8F97ymrM6iz5 Note: locations in China are frequently inaccurate.