I would like to go to Chongming Island for the weekend but have absolutely no idea of how to get there where to stay, what to do etc...If anyone has been and can help me at all?

I went there month ago. there is tourist bus from Shanghai indoor stadium which will take you to the river port ad then you need to take ferry adn then taxi to forest park. You can take taxi directly to ferry, but i forgot the name of the place, shouldnt cost more then 100RMb from Puxi.
The park is nice, they have meadows, lakes, forests, flowers.. But the journey took too long, it took us some 4 hours to get there(tube to shanghai Indoor st, finding correct bus, waiting for ferry, ferry ride8soem 45 min), taxi to park. so at teh end we spend some 8 hours in various transport means and 1.5 hours in the park:)

Thanks! DO you know if it is easy to spend the night somewhere?

went there & hated it.. mind you, it was during a holiday (so very busy getting there) & also in spring so the forest was bare & the rest of the place was muddy & smelt like stinky tofu.

I'm gonna try and head there on friday. Bus 51 goes from Tongxin lu (right by my house) to the river port. I wanna hit the beach on the other end of the island though. anyone know how to get there? I'll let you all know how the adventure went. Hoping that cause it's a friday there'll be no one there.

Agree with Milhy, complete disappointment for the amount of effort it takes. Regimented trees and fibre-glass zebras in the 'animal park', grass skiing and go-karting. It's no idyll. Having said that, the better air and change of pace may be worth it if you stay there overnight.