Getting Around Guangzhou

There are plenty of taxis outside the Arrival Hall of the Baiyun International Airport. The taxi bay is beside the Airport Express Bus Bay. Makes decision to either take Express Bus or taxi easier.

The metered fare should be around 95 RMB to 120 RMB pending which location you are heading to and to which the fares on the website are on the higher end of the estimates. I paid something like 110-120 RMB (including highway toll charges) to Tianhe Area. No extra charges for taxi services after midnight.

Some taxis have a bigger boot area and allows for more luggages. They are visibly distinct and could be spotted fairly easily.

Most drivers are familiar with hotels around Guangzhou and should not have a problem getting you there.

However, there are new drivers too. On my last leg to the Airport, the inexperienced driver wasn't sure how to get there and make an earlier exit on the Airport Expressway. That expressway leads right up to the Airport and terminates there.

I Googled and found no Hertz/Avis rent a car service. I then Googled the Chinese websites and found some websites regarding rent-a-car in Guangzhou but they ask for DEPOSIT RMB6000-15000 depending on the cost of the cars, which is not a good idea, so we gave up this rent-a-car plan. But anyway, if you still want to rent a car, go to the Chinese websites, you pay deposits and they charge RMB160-RMB500 per day.

Kowloon Canton Rail (KCR) train will go several times a day between Guangzhou East Railway station and Hung Hom station in Hong Kong. East railway station is easily reached by metro and the station is new, shiny and clean. You can buy the tickets from the ground floor (or from your hotel or any travel agency in the city) and you enter the waiting hall from the second floor. There are a lot of signs in English, so there's no chance of getting lost. The station really resembles more an airport than a traditional train station with passport control, customs and tax free shops.

Trains are not very cheap (one way about 180 RMB), but they're convenient and rather new. They will sell some food and beer in the train. There's not much difference between first and second class, no reason to put your money on the first class ticket. KTT trains are newer than the Chinese trains, but both are okay.

If you want to get to Hong Kong cheaper, you can take a local train to Shenzen, walk over the border and take a local train to Hung Hom.

Check the link for a timetable:

We were informed by a travelling companion that it is better to hire a red cab than other taxis as these are the local people and tend to be more reliable. We are not so sure. What we did find out was that the trips to and from the airport were the most hair raising especially on the expressways with one taxi driver doing 140kmh!! The other difficulty we had was once we got to the airport taxi drivers wanting to include the toll fare in the final price. (In Guangzhou two tolls to go through.)

1 more image

If you come from other two major city in Guangdong area, please simply take train. It is much faster to take trian than bus, even though the ticket is a bit more expensive than that. The CRH China Railway Highspeed offers a comfortable and fast trip. It takes less than one hour to arrive Guangzhou from Shenzhen, and about two hours from Hong Kong.

1 more image

I took the overnight train (No. T38) from Guangzhou's main train station to Guilin which took about 11 hours. I decided to take comfy soft class which cost RMB383 but it was well worth it. The train left on time at 19:50 and not soon after boarding I took myself off to get something to eat in the buffet car where I got talking to some western tourists. The train arrived in Guilin on time at about 06:45.

Hi,

I have spent much time in China and have an idea about the trains there.
Buying a ticket at a ticket office shouldn't be a problem as most of them speak english to a degree. They are located all around and the signs are also in english. I take it your flying into Beijing? There should be a ticket office at the airport. There are a few types of seats you can buy, hard, soft and sleeping depending on the length of the trip. DONT buy hard as it's very uncomfortable and crowded and the prices are very cheap. Ask your travel agent for help on prebooking a seat and timetabes. Also i would recomend a telephone card for your travels there as its a bit difficult to call around and expensive to call outside of China. Tried a few that weren't that great but found that at 2 steps connect.com has one of the best rates and connections. Well hope this helps and have a great trip, it's a fantastic place to visit.

The public transportation here is mostly metro and buses. However, seeing the long queue to buy metro ticket from the automat I think using the bus, even if there is traffic is not such a bad idea after all.