Route brief · MAD → SHA
Madrid → Shanghai
$592
−11% vs typical
seasonal median $665 · difference $73
Nov 16 – Nov 22 · 6 nights
Sichuan Airlines1 stop
- Usual monthly lows
- $641–$817
- Board rank
- Stronger than 24%
- Route sample
- 7 observed months
Cached fare — the booking search re-prices live before you pay.
Destination briefSHAShanghaiThe Bund on one bank, a science-fiction skyline on the other — and a visa-free transit window worth checking.Best windowMar–May · Sep–NovAirportsPudong (PVG) · Hongqiao (SHA)All routes into ShanghaiWhen this route gets cheap.
Cached-fare history: across 7 months, Nov is the cheapest for MAD → SHA. Best time to be there: Mar–May · Sep–Nov.
Fares bottom out in November around $592 and peak in December near $957 — a $365 spread across the 7 months we track. The cheapest itinerary we are tracking makes one stop and takes about 14.5 hours outbound, on a 6-night trip — ticketed under Sichuan Airlines, which on a connecting fare need not operate every leg. At $592 for 10,255 km each way, that works out to about $29 per 1,000 km flown. That is well under the $44 that long-haul fares on this board typically run. Across the 29 departure cities we track at a similar distance from Shanghai, this fare ranks 12th — 23% above the $482 from Istanbul. That puts it in the cheaper half of the 35 routes of similar length we watch out of Madrid, where the middle fare is $729.
The 8 days we hold a cached fare for
Tap a date → live search
The median cached fare across this calendar is 4% higher than when tracking began on Aug 8 — $681 then versus $707 now, across 5 recorded snapshots. This is a calendar-level trend, so an individual deal above can be lower. The lowest single day we have seen here is $523, on Nov 18.
- Wed, Sep 9$781
- Mon, Sep 21$669
- Fri, Oct 9$969
- Wed, Oct 14$704
- Fri, Oct 23$647
- Sat, Oct 24$792
- Sat, Nov 14$651
- Mon, Nov 16$710
These are the only days we have a cached price for on this route so far — not the only days it flies. The search above covers any date.
Cheapest in Nov · around $592
11% below the $665 typical fare
Cheapest round-trip fare found per month · Madrid → Shanghai · cached-price history
Route facts
- Airports
- Barajas (MAD) ↔ Pudong (PVG) · Hongqiao (SHA)
- Flight time
- ~14.5 hours outbound
- Distance
- ~10,255 km each way
- Typical price
- $665 round-trip (seasonal median)
- Airlines on the board
- Sichuan Airlines
- Itineraries
- Connections on current fares
- Best months to visit
- Mar–May · Sep–Nov
MAD → SHA, answered.
Is $592 a good price for Madrid to Shanghai?
Only slightly. The seasonal median is around $665 round-trip and this fare is 11% under it, about $73. We do not call a drop notable until 20%, so this is an ordinary price for the route rather than a reason to hurry.
What is the cheapest month to fly from Madrid to Shanghai?
Across 7 months of cached-fare history, Nov comes out cheapest on this route. The best months to actually be in Shanghai are Mar–May · Sep–Nov — when those overlap, that's your window.
How far in advance should I book MAD → Shanghai?
We do not publish a number for this, because we cannot measure it yet. Answering it honestly means watching the same departure date on this route over many weeks as it approaches, and that archive is still filling up — so any "book N days ahead" figure here would be borrowed from somewhere else rather than measured. What we can measure is which month is cheap: across 7 months of cached fares, Nov comes out lowest on this route. See /guides/what-moves-a-flight-price/ for what does move a fare.
Are there nonstop flights from Madrid to Shanghai?
The current cheapest fares involve a connection, ticketed under Sichuan Airlines. Nonstop options exist on many dates at higher prices — check the live search for your exact dates.
Are these prices guaranteed?
No — these are cached fares found on real searches (this one on September 1). Airlines reprice constantly, so the booking search re-checks the live price before you pay. Fresher finds are far more likely to still be available.
Next step
Sleeping in Shanghai?
Lock the flight first — then compare stays for Nov 16 – Nov 22 · 6 nights.
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Missed it?
Cached fares expire. This route has a feed of its own — follow it and the next MAD → SHA drop reaches you as soon as we find it.
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