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For citizens of the following countries, a visa is not requested for short term stays: - 90 days: Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino - 60 days: Mauritius - 30 days: Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Ecuador, Fiji, Grenada, Qatar, Serbia, Seychelles, Tonga, United Arab Emirates. - 15 days: Brunei, Japan, Singapore. Holders of passports issued by the following 49 countries do not require a visa for a 144-hour stay if they are transiting through Shanghai Airport. However, passengers need to provide a ticket showing their first destination, which should be outside China, nor could it be in the same country as the inbound flight. - All European Union citizens, Albania, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Iceland, Japan, Macedonia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Qatar, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States. - Passengers who enter China via Shanghai Airport under transition condition cannot leave the area of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Due to the Internet policy of China, certain websites and applications are not accessible from the mainland, which includes those very commonly used in the west (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Skype and more). Some travellers have been able to gain access to those via a VPN service (installed prior to arrival in China). Make sure you comply with local laws and regulations when deciding on whether or not to employ a VPN, and which one to choose (if you do, only use those explicitly allowed by the Chinese government, and only use them for authorised purposes to avoid any trouble). There have been reports of foreigners in China getting their cell service cut off in response to unauthorised use of VPN being detected; restoring cell service required a trip to the local police station where contents of the device were investigated and certain apps removed. Giving that Google is banned in China, Google Maps might not be the most accurate and reliable source of information. Some local apps such as Baidu Maps and AutoNavi tend to work better than Google Maps.

Shanghai has two airports one of them is the international airport in Pudong, 35 km from the city centre. From the Pudong Airport, the most enthralling way to travel is on the Maglev (the high-speed magnetic-rail train) to Longyang Road in Pudong. Purchasing a round-trip comes with a discount. There are an underground station and a taxi rank at Longyang Road for onward travel. Metro Line 2 is available when departing or arriving at Pudong International Airport. Operating Time 6 am 10 pm and leaves every 8.5 minutes. Hotline: +86 21 6437 0000, www.service.shmetro.com/en A taxi from Pudong Airport to the city centre takes up to an hour. Make sure you have your destination written in Chinese. The airport has regular shuttle buses to many areas in the city and the major hotels have desks at the airport and will arrange the transfer.

Another airport called Hongqiao Airport, which handles domestic flights, lies 15 km from downtown. Both Metro and buses run from this airport. A taxi from Hongquiao Airport will take 30-45 minutes. Make sure you have your destination written in Chinese. Hongqiao Airport has regular shuttle buses to many areas in the city. The major hotels have desks at the airport and will arrange the transfer.

The main post office is at 276 Sichuan Bei Lu (between Tiantong Road and Beisuzhou Lu, but there are branches all over town. The Shanghai Centre branch (1376 Nanjing Xi Lu) and the branch at 212 Xinhua Lu have staff who speak some English. Post boxes are green.

Pharmacies are not hard to find in the city, just look for the green cross. The Shanghai United Family Hospital and Clinics Pharmacy work 24/7, year-round. It is located at 1139 Xianxia Rd, Changning Qu, Shanghai (+86 21 2216 3900). Parkway Community Pharmacy is an international standard professional pharmacy. Staff can speak English.

Country code: +86 Area code: (0)21

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