Nanjing Transportation

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There's a lovely scenic chairlift that runs up the side of the Purple Mountain. It starts at the western entrance of the park near the city wall and goes up to the Monk Peak Scenic Area via the Purple Mountain Astronomical Observatory. I took it all the way to the top but didn't hang around as there's not a lot to see or do up there except to admire the views which are a bit hazy. I then took the chairlift back down and got off at the observatory station and then walked down the hill from there.

Admission: Y35 one-way or Y60 return.

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Much to my surprise when visiting Nanjing, I discovered that it had a marvelous new metro/subway system. Why it was surprise is for the fact that it was not even mentioned in my travel guide. I guess it has just opened very recently. So far there is only one line in the city and it stretches north and south from the city centre. The trains are very modern and resemble those of Shanghai. You can actually walk the entire length of the train as all the cars are interconnected. This is new to me so I was thrilled. Each station is announced both in Mandarin and English as you approach them. While waiting at the station you can see on a monitor how long it will be before the next train arrives. Your fare depends on how many stations you will be passing through. I think that the minimum fare was Y3 for about four stations.

Taxis were very reasonable in Nanjing. All of them used a meter and we never felt that we were overcharged.

The meter started on 8 Yuan and after some time clocked more. Some examples: 24 Yuan from hotel to Sun Yat Sen’s Memorial, Wende Bridge to hotel 10 Yuan.

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We caught the train Train T705 leaving at 13:20 from Nanjing to Shanghai. The trip cost 79 Yuan and took 3 hours.

This time we were in a train which consisted of seats in rows of two which could be turned around if passengers so wished. Each passenger had a tray they could put down. Train staff would walk up and down selling various items to eat and hot coffee or tea.

Will write more later

Don't forget Nanjing has a subway! The subway system in Nanjing really is superb, the system is clean, efficient, fast and cheap. 2RMB to any station on the line. The trains are frequent, and the ample capacity of the lengthy carriages means that they are rarely uncomfortably overcrowded.

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My husband and I had dreamed of sailing on the Yangtze in our respective schools as children. There we were on the waterfront, a little south of the big bridge, on a beautiful January day and no way to get out on the river. I even offered to buy 10 tickets at the Yacht Club as a birthday gift for my husband. No go. Then a nice woman who spoke a little English told us there was a bus with many people. I tried in vain to explain that I didn't want a bus but a BOAT. No luck. Except that, after following her directions, we found ... A FERRY! It's not described in any books I've seen, but it's cheap and picturesque. This allowed us to visit the northwest bank of Nanjing, which is very different from the part tourists see. And there's a lovely park over there, too!

The companies hire cars Reserve IN Web
Alamo www.alamo.com
Autoeurope www.autoeurope.com
Avis www.avis.com
Budget www.budget.com
Dollar www.bollar.com
Hertz www.hertz.com
National www.nationalcar.com
Payless www.paylesscarrental.com
Thrifty www.thrifty.com

To Nanjing: We went to Nanjing from Hangzhou by long-distant bus. They have pretty comfortable bus ride from Hangzhou to Nanjing. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to Nanjing. It will stop at Nanjing Long-Distant Bus Main Station, near Zhongyangman, west of the train station.