Nanning Transportation

This is the train station in Nanning. I got here from Guilin on a double decker train (No. N701) that was absolutely packed with people. The train left on time at 08:22 and arrived at 13:00. The seats were small with very upright backs that were a bit comfortable for the 4.5+ hour long journey but it was helped along by me speaking to a young student guy who spoke some English. I was a great source of fun with my fellow passengers as I was showing them my British passport and money which they had never seen before! The train only cost RMB65.

I then took an overnight train (No. K231) from Nanning to Kunming which, again, left on time at 19:46 and arrived at 08:06. Had another soft sleeper which cost RMB299.

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To get to Renmin Gongyuan or the People's Park (formerly known as Bailong Gongyuan), we board the intercity bus No. 80 along the An Ci Dadoa (this road is opposite the An Ci bus station). It is a 25minutes ride and the fare is 1.20yuan one way. Bus will stop right at the entrance of the Park

**There are lots of intercity buses along the main roads especially along the roads near to the Main Railway station. Check out the route(s) with the ticket officer or the hotel to know where to wait for the buses. The intercity buses of Nanning are clean and most are AC. Look at another pic attached.

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We took the train for Liuzhou at the Main Train Station. As usual, train station is packed with lots of locals with huge baggages. Everyone seems to be going somewhere even on a weekday. The train departed at 11.16am and we reached Liuzhou at 2.15pm which is about a 3hours ride. The fare was 41yuan. We arrived at Liuzhou's South Railway Station (the Main Station).

Train to Liuzhou is frequent. Get your tickets early ie upon your arrival at Nanning.
**Note : there are also many buses plying Nanning - Liuzhou. You can opt for this if you don't like train rides.

More pics attached.

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To get to Yi Ling Yan (Yi Ling Cave) by bus, you need to go to An-ci bus station to catch the bus going in the direction of Wu-Ming. To get to An-ci bus station, see my General Tip on "An-ci Bus Station".

Once you are in An-ci bus station, buy the ticket for Wu-Ming route as Yi Ling Yan is on the way to Wu-Ming. The bus is a comfortable one with AC. Journey to Yi Ling Yan is about half an hour and the fare is 6.50yuan one way. The bus stops right in front of Yi Ling Yan. You might want the bus driver or conductor to inform you when the bus arrives at Yi Ling Yan.

To get back to An-ci station once you are done with Yi Ling Yan, you need to cross over the main road (opposite the Yi Ling Yan) to catch a bus to An-ci Station. (Fare is 6yuan one way).

See pics attached on "inside of bus" and where the bus stops you when you arrived at Yi Ling Yan.

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We travelled to Nanning by an overnight sleeper bus from Zhuhai. There are 2 trips running from Zhuhai to Nanning - one at 6pm and another at 6.30pm. The fare is 180yuan per pax one way. We took the 6pm. The bus will make a couple of stops for washrooms and also a longer stop for food which was at a small town called YanPing. Next morning, at 5.40am, we arrived at Nanning's Jiangnan Bus Station (at southern part)- it was raining that morning. We waited for the rain to subside and tried to get the earliest intercity bus to town. We boarded the 41 bus route which took about 25mins (fare 2yuan) to arrive at one of the bus stops near to the Main Railway station in Zhonghua Road.

Sleeper buses are clean. Blankets are provided for the cold night. Video movies (Chinese) are being played until 11pm and lights will be switched off. There is one driver and one attendant in each bus - they will take turns to drive the bus. I feel rather comfortable in the narrow and short "bed" - ahem, isn't it an advantage to be short ?? Ha..ha..ha..
Bring in your MP3 to lullaby you to sleep and remember not to drink too much liquid before the journey.

Since the time of year in Nanning it is very hot and humid I preferred traveling mostly by air conditioned taxis. The taxis are fairly cheap and very easy to hail one since the only other place that has so many is Cancun Mexico...lolol.

In the evening with the sun down or on cloudy days the bus system works very well and are maintained and comfortible.

For sheer fun, you have to try the independant motor carts. I had the same woman driver each time and she got a kick out of speeding through and around people and cars to get to our destination.

White Bus in Nanning.
Very clean and cheap
1 yuan none air con
2 yuan air con
the fare is for any one trip, form start of service to end or one stop to the next
Taxis
start fare 7 yuan (50p) most I ever paid was 29 yuan, one side of Naning to the other again very cheap.
If you want very long trip negotiate,
I found all day taxi 150-200 yuan (£10-15)

I think travel in China by train is always quick ,easy and safe.
Nanning is in Guangxi province,which is near Guangdong province. So I guess you use the Hongkong airport ?
Thousands of people arrive Shenzhen from Hongkong, you can easily find info for this. and after arrive Shenzhen, take train or coach to Guangzhou, which is Guangdong provincial capital and then take train from Guangzhou to anywhere in China easily
I checked the web in Chinese and found info as :
Nanning to Guangzhou
train No. 1166/1163, start at Kunming at 14:16, arrive at 6:08 hard seat for 98yuan
soft seat for 154, hard bed for 173,soft bed for 274
train No 2572/2573, strat at Nanning at 17:20 arrive at 8:29 same price.

I recommend the hard bed. U can go straight to the Nanning Trian station to buy ticket. Normally , there is a special window for foreigner, you can enjoy a shorter line of people :)