Moganshan is a mountain in Deqing County, in Huzhou prefecture, Zhejiang Province. It sits about 60 km north of Hangzhou and roughly 200 to 240 km from Shanghai. Before you go further, one warning about search results. Moganshan Road is the M50 art district in Putuo District, Shanghai. It is a street of galleries and it is not this place. The two are about 200 km apart and share nothing but a name.
So you are heading southwest out of the city, into the hills of northern Zhejiang.
There is no direct route. None. Every option ends with a road transfer of about half an hour, and that leg is the one most guides quietly skip. Plan for it and the day goes smoothly.
The short answer
Take a high-speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Deqing. Then take a taxi or the Y1 shuttle bus up the hill. The train takes 63 to 80 minutes. The road leg adds 30 to 40 minutes. From central Shanghai, budget 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes door to door.
If you are flying into Pudong, read the Pudong section below before you book a single thing.
How far is Moganshan from Shanghai?
About 200 to 240 km by road, depending on which route your driver takes. By rail the distance matters less than the timetable, because the fast trains cover it in a little over an hour.
The northern approach improved recently. The Shanghai to Suzhou to Huzhou high-speed line opened on 26 December 2024 and cut Hongqiao to Huzhou to 55 minutes at its fastest. Deqing station itself is older. It sits on the Nanjing to Hangzhou high-speed line, which has been running since 2013, so the Hangzhou side of the trip does not depend on the new line at all.
Compare the routes
| Route | Main leg | Last mile | Cost per person | Door to door (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed rail from Hongqiao | 63 to 80 min, 13 direct services a day | Y1 shuttle 30 to 40 min, or taxi about 30 min | RMB 61 to 110 rail, plus RMB 10 shuttle or about RMB 100 taxi | 2h45 to 3h30 |
| Private car, central Shanghai | 200 to 240 km, 2 to 3 hours driving | Included, but you stop at a transfer centre | Quoted by the operator, per car | 2h30 to 3h15 |
| Coach, Shanghai to Deqing | 2h40 to 4h | Same as rail, from Deqing | From about RMB 69 | 3h30 to 5h (our estimate) |
| Rail from Pudong | Transfer to Hongqiao first, then 63 to 80 min | Y1 shuttle or taxi | Rail fare plus the Pudong transfer | 4h00 to 4h45 |
Every door-to-door figure above is an estimate. Real trips vary with traffic, queue length at the taxi rank, and how long you spend finding the right exit at Deqing.
Timetables, fares and transfer times compiled from primary research, BeyondBorder Group Ltd, Hong Kong, 1 to 5 August 2026.
Route 1: high-speed rail from Hongqiao
This is the route we recommend for most people, and it is the one to default to if you are unsure.
Thirteen direct services run from Shanghai Hongqiao to Deqing each day. The journey takes 63 to 80 minutes. Second class fares run roughly RMB 61 to 110, so the exact train you pick changes the price more than you might expect.
Here are three real services to give you a feel for the spread:
| Train | Leaves Hongqiao | Arrives Deqing | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|
| D377 | 08:11 | 09:19 | 68 min |
| G687 | 12:12 | 13:21 | 69 min |
| G1419 | 17:39 | 18:42 | 63 min |
Those three are a sample of the spread, not a schedule. The live Hongqiao to Deqing timetable is what to book from, because train numbers and fares move with every timetable revision.
Step by step
- Book to Deqing (德清). Not to Moganshan. There is a station called Moganshan on the Shangqiu to Hefei to Hangzhou line. It does not serve the mountain. It serves Deqing and Wukang town instead. Booking it is the single most common mistake made on this trip.
- Get to Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station. Metro lines 2, 10 and 17 all serve it. Give yourself more time than feels necessary. The station is very large and security queues build up fast on Friday evenings.
- Ride to Deqing. Between one hour and one hour twenty. Sit on either side, the view is farmland for most of it.
- Leave the station and choose your last mile. A taxi or van to Moganshan town costs about RMB 100 and takes about 30 minutes. The Y1 tourist shuttle costs RMB 10 and takes 30 to 40 minutes.
- If you take the Y1, board at the Deqing Coach Centre, which is next to the station. It is styled as a Republican-era tram and runs to the Moganshan tourist distribution centre. Note carefully: it terminates in Moganshan town, not inside the scenic area.
- Get to your guesthouse. Many properties will collect you from the town or from the station if you tell them your train number in advance. Ask when you book.
Y1 shuttle departures
Only seven a day, so this timetable decides your morning.
| Direction | Departures |
|---|---|
| Deqing Coach Centre to Moganshan | 07:30, 08:40, 09:40, 10:40, 13:00, 15:00, 16:00 |
| Return runs | Between 08:40 and 17:00 |
Miss the 16:00 and you are taking a taxi. That is not a disaster, it just costs ten times as much.
For a fuller breakdown of ticket classes, booking apps and seat choice, see getting to Moganshan by train. For what the station itself is like, including the exits and the taxi rank, see Deqing station.
Route 2: private car
A car from central Shanghai covers 200 to 240 km in 2 to 3 hours. Door to door, expect 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 15 minutes.
It suits families, anyone with heavy luggage, and anyone arriving outside shuttle hours. It also removes the awkward handoff at Deqing, which is worth something after a long flight.
Charter rates swing widely by operator and season, so get the figure in writing before the car is booked, and book through your property rather than at the curb.
There is one rule that catches almost every first-time driver, and English-language sources rarely mention it:
Private vehicles cannot drive inside the scenic area. You transfer at one of three transfer centres, at Yucun, Fatou or Houwu. They operate from 08:00 to 18:00.
So a car does not actually take you to the door if your door is inside the scenic area. Arrive after 18:00 and the transfer is closed. Build that into your departure time, not into your hopes.
More on how movement works once you are up there: getting around Moganshan.
Route 3: coach
Direct coaches run from Shanghai to Deqing in about 2 hours 40 minutes to 4 hours, from around RMB 69.
That is the cheapest way to do it. It is also the least predictable, because the range is wide and traffic decides where you land in it. Once you reach Deqing you face the same last mile as everyone else. Our estimate for the full door-to-door trip is 3 hours 30 minutes to 5 hours.
Take the coach if the fare genuinely matters to you. Otherwise the train is better value for what it saves.
The Pudong problem
Here is the part nobody wants to say plainly. Shanghai Pudong International Airport is a bad starting point for Moganshan.
Pudong is on the far east side of Shanghai. Deqing is southwest of the city. To reach the mountain you first have to cross Shanghai to Hongqiao, either by maglev plus metro, or by car in 50 to 70 minutes. Only then does the 63 to 80 minute train even begin, and only then does the 30 to 40 minute road transfer begin after that.
Realistic door to door from Pudong is 4 hours to 4 hours 45 minutes. That is our estimate, and it assumes you are not waiting long for anything.
Now add international arrival. Immigration, baggage, customs. Then the same four hours. Then a transfer centre that shuts at 18:00 and a shuttle that stops running at 16:00.
Our honest advice: if you land at Pudong on a long-haul flight, do not go to Moganshan that day. Sleep in Shanghai, or near Hongqiao, and travel the next morning. You will arrive able to see the place instead of arriving able to sleep.
Hongqiao is a different story. If you fly into Hongqiao, you walk from the terminal to the high-speed rail concourse and you are on your way. That is one of the easier airport-to-mountain trips in eastern China.
When to leave Shanghai
Two clocks control your arrival, and neither is the train timetable.
The Y1 shuttle stops at 16:00. The scenic-area transfer centres close at 18:00. Work backwards from those. A morning departure from Hongqiao gives you the whole afternoon on the mountain. An evening departure gives you a taxi ride in the dark and a late check-in.
One more thing worth knowing before you plan an evening arrival. Local reporting notes that the villages have no real evening economy. There is no night market and very little late-night food. Arriving at nine at night means arriving to a closed village.
Planning the rest of the trip
Once the route is settled, the questions are where to sleep and how long to stay. Start with where to stay in Moganshan for the villages and the price bands. If you only have a Saturday and Sunday, the weekend from Shanghai itinerary is built around the train times on this page.
Thinking of going and returning in one day? Read Moganshan as a day trip first. The math is tighter than it looks.
Train times, shuttle departures, fares and transfer-centre hours last checked 5 August 2026. Timetables change seasonally, so confirm your service before you travel.
Last checked 9 August 2026 by Cyril Drouin. Prices, timetables and entry rules on this mountain move without notice, so confirm anything you are booking around.
Photographs on this site are representative illustrations, not documentary images of the specific building, property or service described.
