Illuminated skyscrapers of Guangzhou reflecting on the water under a night sky.

Shanghai to Guangzhou

Compare trains, coaches, flights and ferries from Shanghai to Guangzhou. From €102.80, fastest 5h 9m, with the total price and every fee shown up front.

Shanghai to Guangzhou runs about 88 times a day, with the first departure around 06:25 and the last around 20:52. One passenger pays between €102.80 and €121.09, every fee included, depending on the operator and the way you travel. The fastest door to door is 5h 9m over 1,249 km, on services run by 11 operators across 1 mode.

Checked 13 September 2026Priced for 29 September 2026One passenger, all fees included

What one seat costs

The spread between the cheapest and dearest typical fare on this corridor, across 11 operators and 1 way of making the journey. The operator sets the price on the day.

Typical fares

€102.80 to €121.09

  • 158%Moves across the booking window

When it runs, leaving Shanghai

No operator has filed a timetable for this direction yet, so the first and last departure below follow the pattern of the corridor. Read them as the shape of the service day rather than as times to turn up for.

  • 06:25First departure
  • 20:52Last departure
  • 88Services per day
  • 100%Run direct

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about €214.90Mon14
  2. about €183.04Tue15
  3. about €195.43Wed16
  4. about €198.97Thu17
  5. about €184.22Fri18
  6. about €190.12Sat19
  7. about €175.96Sun20
  8. about €123.45Mon21
  9. about €121.09Tue22
  10. about €129.35Wed23
  11. about €161.80Thu24
  12. about €149.41Fri25
  13. about €154.13Sat26
  14. about €142.92Sun27
  15. about €104.57Mon28
  16. about €102.80Tue29
  17. about €108.70Wed30
  18. about €125.81Thu1
  19. about €116.96Fri2
  20. about €119.91Sat3
  21. about €113.42Sun4

Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.

The flight gets you into Guangzhou. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

A room in Guangzhou for the night the flight gets in

Sort by distance from Guangzhou railway station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Shanghai to Guangzhou

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €124.0490 days
  2. €103.3960 days
  3. €88.6445 days
  4. €83.3330 days
  5. €113.4221 days
  6. €142.9214 days
  7. €175.967 days
  8. €195.433 days
  9. €214.901 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €83.33.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 158 percent. The dearest point is €214.90, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
€214.90€83.331371421304560

Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 30 days ahead. You are inside that window.

This corridor, specifically

Facts that apply to Shanghai to Guangzhou and to no other route on the site.

Clocks

Both ends keep the same time, so the arrival is the departure plus the journey.

The shape of it

1,249 km

1,212 km as the crow flies, 3% further by the route services actually take. The bearing runs south-west.

Who lives at each end

24,874,50018,676,605

Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.

How we know

Observed

Every operator on this corridor is named in a carrier record.

The route

ShanghaiShanghaiGuangzhouGuangzhou
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

How far it really runs
The route covers 1,249 km against 1,212 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.

Who runs this route

The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.

Left luggage lockers

Left luggage near Guangzhou railway station

Most of the points near Guangzhou railway station open before the first train and shut after the last one.

Partner links. We do not run these networks. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.

Questions about Shanghai to Guangzhou

The questions people actually ask about this journey, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does it take to get from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

The fastest journey from Shanghai to Guangzhou takes 5h 9m door to door, of which 1h 59m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 5h 17m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.

How much does it cost to travel from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

The cheapest fare from Shanghai to Guangzhou is €102.80, as of 13 September 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €173.01. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.

What is the cheapest way to get from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

The cheapest way from Shanghai to Guangzhou is by flight, at €121.09 for one passenger on 29 September 2026. That journey takes 5h 9m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.

When should I book Shanghai to Guangzhou?

Fares from Shanghai to Guangzhou bottom out around 30 days before departure, at €83.33. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the dearest lead time is 158 percent, measured on 13 September 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

Which day of the week is cheapest for Shanghai to Guangzhou?

Tuesday is the cheapest day to depart from Shanghai to Guangzhou, at €121.09. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of 13 September 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

Which month is cheapest for Shanghai to Guangzhou?

February is the cheapest of the next 6 months to travel from Shanghai to Guangzhou, at €82.15 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.

Who runs services from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

11 operators sell services from Shanghai to Guangzhou across 1 mode: 9 Air, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Postal Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines. Journey times, fares and fare conditions differ between them, and the operator table on this page compares all of them on speed, flexibility and what is provided on board.

Is there a direct service from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

Every service we sell from Shanghai to Guangzhou is direct, with around 88 departures a day and a fastest journey of 5h 9m door to door. No connection is needed, so there is no missed connection risk to plan around on this corridor.

Which station or terminal do services from Shanghai to Guangzhou use?

Services from Shanghai to Guangzhou by flight leave from Shanghai PVG and arrive at Guangzhou CAN. Allow about 3h 10m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.

Can I change or refund a ticket from Shanghai to Guangzhou?

0 of the 11 operators we sell from Shanghai to Guangzhou allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.

Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Shanghai to Guangzhou on 13 September 2026: 1249 km of route against 1212 km in a straight line, 88 services a day, 11 operators a cheapest fare of €102.80, and 5h 9m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Being on the water gives Guangzhou a set of days out that do not start at a station. We do not sell those either.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Guangzhou and across China

Day trips that leave Guangzhou in the morning and cover a good part of China by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

The two ends, compared

Shanghai reaches 232 places in 48 countries on services we hold, over distances from 40 to 11,859 km. Guangzhou reaches 206 places in 42 countries, from 44 to 12,878 km.

Other ways to make this journey

Leaving Shanghai

  • 232Places you can leave for
  • 48Countries
  • 88Operators

Arriving in Guangzhou

Leaving Guangzhou

  • 206Places you can leave for
  • 42Countries
  • 68Operators

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