Where you sleep in Shanghai usually comes down to three parts of the city: the centre around People's Square, the airport belt out at Pudong, and the Disney resort on the eastern edge. Which one fits follows from the trip you have booked.

Shanghai hotels by area: the short answer

For a first visit, stay at People's Square. Nanjing Road starts at the square, the metro lines cross underneath it, and the two four-star hotels in this guide both start at A$34 a night. A layover points the other way: the airport belt has rooms from A$11 and a bed for the hours between flights. Families going to the theme park should look at the Disney Resort, where a five-star starts at A$47 and the themed hotel at A$312.

The centre is not the dear one in this comparison. Its cheapest rooms are four-star at A$34, roughly a third of the A$106 asked at the airport hotel with the biggest review base. Disney Resort is the only of the three where a five-star, the Novotel at A$47, undercuts both four-stars beside it.

People's Square sits in the centre of the city, and the three hotels listed there are on Zhejiang Middle Road, Hankou Road and Fuzhou Road, within a few blocks of one another. The other two areas are both in Pudong, the district east of the river that holds the airport and the resort. Staying in one of them means spending a night outside the centre, which makes sense when the flight or the park is the reason for the stop and little sense otherwise.

Rates for these Shanghai hotels are the lowest nightly prices for the coming week, per room, and they move with dates and room types.

People's Square hotels: the base for a first trip

Two of the three hotels in People's Square are four-star and both start at A$34, while the three-star on Fuzhou Road asks A$98, so the star rating does not order this group by price.

• **Yitel Premium (Shanghai people's Square Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street)** occupies the fourth floor of No. 379 Zhejiang Middle Road, which means no street-level lobby and a short walk to Nanjing Road. Four stars, 9.4 from 12,000+ reviews, from A$34.
• On Hankou Road, **Hotel Chalet Shanghai** posts the same score, 9.4, from a bigger base of 15,000+ reviews, and asks the same A$34. Breakfast and the front desk are what guests tag most, and that is the tie-breaker between the pair.
• The three-star of the group is the expensive one. **Rezen Meta Tree Hotel (City Center & The Bund, Shanghai)** at No. 555 Fuzhou Road carries 9.4 from 11,000+ reviews, from A$98. The extra A$64 buys a street a few blocks closer to the river.

Pudong Airport hotels: rooms for a flight gap

The three hotels around Pudong International Airport split into two on Yingbin Avenue and one on Chenyang West Road, with rates from A$11 to A$134. Score and price do not line up in this group either: two of them carry the same 8.4 and sit A$95 apart.

• **Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Airport by IHG** is the four-star, scored 9.6 from 8,000+ reviews, and the dearest of the three at A$134, on Yingbin Avenue at No. 6009. Guests tag it for the airport and for getting around, which is what a long connection needs.
• **Da Zhong Airport Hotel** at No. 6001 Yingbin Avenue has the largest review base of the nine hotels in this guide, 21,000+, and the lowest score of the three, 8.4, from A$106.
• **Dihang Boutique Hotel (Shanghai Pudong Airport)** on Chenyang West Road is the odd one: 8.4 from 10,000+ reviews, from A$11, with guests tagging pick-up and drop-off and the airport. At that rate a cancelled flight costs you very little.

Shanghai Disney Resort hotels: themed rooms or a shuttle ride

Rates in the resort run from A$47 to A$312, and what the top of that range buys is theme, not service.

• **Toy Story Hotel** at No. 360 Shendi West Road is the themed option: four stars, 9.2 from 13,000+ reviews, from A$312. That is A$210 a night more than the Courtyard and A$265 more than the Novotel, both of which guests also tag for children and for pick-up and drop-off.
• Five stars for A$47 is the surprise of this area. **Novotel Shanghai Clover**, Building 1, Lane 3188 on Xiupu Road, is the only five-star among the nine hotels in this guide, rated 9.4 from 10,000+ reviews.
• **Courtyard by Marriott (Shanghai International Resort)** in Lane 3999 on Xiupu Road sits between the two at A$102, four stars and 9.4 from 5,000+ reviews. Its review base is the thinnest of the group, so the score has less behind it than the other two.

Shanghai hotels by room type: city room, airport room or resort room

Room type and address pull the rate in different directions in this city, and the four formats below are not interchangeable.

The bottom of that table is thinner than it looks. A$11 and A$34 are the cheapest nights in a seven-day window, and the same rooms price higher on other dates. The A$98 three-star in the centre shows what a normal room costs once the cheap inventory is gone.

For a family of four the clearest trade in this guide sits inside Disney Resort. The themed hotel at A$312 against the Novotel at A$47 is A$265 a night, or A$1,060 across four nights, and that sum is what the theme and the resort address cost. The Novotel leaves the difference for tickets and meals.

※ Room rates and booking conditions change with dates and room types. Confirm with the hotel before booking.