Transportation in Guangzhou

Guangzhou boasts good domestic transportation links to most major Chinese cities and offers visitors a wide variety of choices for getting around.

By plane:
Guangzhou, now the largest civil aviation center in south China, was also the first city in China to open international airlines. The city's Baiyun airport,the third larhest airport in China, is situated 12km from the center of town. There is a regular airport bus between the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) office next to the train station and the sirport for RMB3.

Just outside the entrance to the airport is a taxi ramp. Taxis leaving from there are metered. Don't go with the taxi touts unless you want to be ripped off. A taxi from the airport to Guangzhou should cost between RMB30 and RMB40 depending on the size of the taxi and where you are headed in townbut.

There are regular domestic flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, and Hong Kong. China Eastern and Air China both operate out of the airport and tickets to most destinations in China and some international ones can be booked through Ctrip. International flights are less convenient and tend to be very expensive compared to flights from Hong Kong. There are weekly or bi- weekly flights to Singapore, Malaysia, Osaka and Sydney from Guangzhou. The International Tax for flights is RMB90 and for domestic flights it is RMB15.

By train:
Guangzhou railroad station is the largest and busy one in the southeast part of China.There are over 100 trains leaving from guangzhou everyday.Daily passenger volume could be well over one hundred thousand people. Guangzhou Railroad Station connects with all the big and middle sized city in China.

There are two train stations in Guangzhou; the old one in the center of town and a newer one to the east of the city. Make sure you check which station your train departs from. Trains leave from both stations for Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Kunming, Chengdu and Xian. Tickets can be bought from CITS near the station or inside the station itself- this however is not a good option as the station is usually very busy and it's not a nice place to hang about. The ticket office is open from 5.30 am to 10.30 pm. Your best bet is to get tickets through a hotel- you'll have to pay for this service but it is a worthwhile luxury.

The express railroad between Guangzhou and Hong Kong has brought the economic prosperity in these areas. Everyday there are 23 Ultra High Speed trains leaving Guangzhou for Shenzhen bordering Hong Kong ( 92 miles for 1 hour), and 8 Direct UHST arriving Guangzhou from Kowloon in Hong Kong (111 miles for 2 hours ).

By bus:
Buses in Guangzhou generally run from 6 am to 10 pm. There are two major bus stations in Guangzhou. The Provincial bus station which is next to the bus station serves Guilin, Macau and Hong Kong. There are also buses from the Garden Hotel, the White Swan Hotel and the LiuHua Hotel to Hong Kong. The Liuhua bus station, which is opposite the railway station serves most Guangdong destinations, Hainan, sleeper buses to Guilin and Shenzhen. Times and costs vary according to the type of transport used.

There are too many bus routes to list all here, but a few of the important routes are:
No 31
Runs along Gongye Dadao Bei, east of Zhoutouzui Wharf, crosses Renmin Bridge and goes straight up Renmin Lu to Guangzhou train station at the north of the city.
No 30
Runs from Guangzhou train station eastwards along Huanshi Lu before turning down Nonglin Xia Lu to terminate in the far east of the city. This is a convenient bus to take if you want to go from the train station to the Baiyim or Garden hotels.
No 5
Starting from Guangzhou train station, this bus takes a similar route to No 31. but instead of crossing Renmin Bridge it carries on along Liu'ersan Lu, which runs by the northern side of the canal separating the city from Shamian Islnd. Get off there walk across the small bridge to the island.

By boat:
There are regular ferry services to Hong Kong from Guangzhou. The port, Panyu is approximately a forty minute taxi drive from the center of town. Most boats to Hong Kong take approximately 2 hours and tickets can be bought at the pier. The trip costs HK$189 economy class and HK$284 first class. The boats leave at 9.30 am and 4.00 pm.

City transport:
There is a brand new efficient subway system here with convenient links to Shamian Island and the railway station. The names of the stations are in English so it is fairly easy to use. Tickets cost either RMB5 or RMB6. Taxis here are also numerous.

Taxi:
Public mass transportation may not take you to your exact destination so the best option would be to hire a taxi, although be warned that roads may be quite congested during rush hour.

Taxis are available from the main hotels 24 hours a day. You can also catch a taxi outside the train stations or hail one on the street. Demand for taxis is great, particular ly during the peak hours from 8 to 9 am and during lunch and dinner hours. Taxis are equipped with meters and drivers use them unless you've negotiated a set fee in advance. The cost depends on what type of vehicle it is. Flagfall for each type of taxi is the same (Y7) but the charge per l km after flagfall differs depending on the size of the taxi. The cost per kilometre (after flag-fall) is displayed on a little sticker on the right rear window.Taxis can be hired for a single trip or chartered on a hourly or daily basis.

Taxi drivers in Guangzhou are fairly honest; the problem for visitors is few of them speak English. To avoid difficulties, ask the hotel staff to write your destination in Chinese or take a map that you can use to pinpoint your destination. Don't forget to get the name of your hotel written in Chinese for the return trip.

Bike:
For those eager for some exercise, there's even rentable bikes.