Arrival Information
Almost all of the following
information is from the www.yangers.com
website. This site is a great site to find out more about Yangshuo.
Go there!
Hong
Kong
There are regular flights to Guilin, but these flights can be very
expensive. Another option is to make your way to Shenzhen or Guangzhou
where flights are much cheaper or you can take a bus.
Hong Kong agents offer a combination ferry/flight ticket. Ferries
leave from Kowloon and take you to the port near Shenzhen airport.
Free shuttles take you to the airport. A good agent is Susan at
HK Direction Travel agency. Ph: 2367 1033 or email:hkdirect@hknet.com
The bus is a much cheaper option. Buses to Yangshuo depart from
the Yin Hu bus station in Shenzhen.
To get to Shenzhen from Hong Kong, go to Hung Hom railway station
and take the train to Lo Wu. This costs HK$33 and trains depart
every 4-5 minutes. Lo Wu is the border crossing between Hong Kong
and mainland China. Once you clear immigration, you will be in Shenzhen.
The area you are in is called Lo Hu and is next to the railway station
and a bus station. The area is a bit of a mess at the moment because
of construction work for the new Shenzhen Subway. There are two
bus stations here. The first one is undercover and is the long distance
bus station for Shenzhen. This is NOT your station.
Walk beyond this station
and you find all the local city buses. Find the stand for bus #7.
This bus costs 1.5 Yuan (exact money only). Take the bus to the
Yin Hu bus station (this is not the last stop). If you are not sure
just ask the local people on the bus. See Shenzhen for information
on bus times and costs.
The following is our
own extra information about finding the correct bus station:
" I had a very small problem finding where the correct bus
station was. The following will get you to the correct station,
and make you feel comfortable about it, but this is not the fastest
way. When I exited the customs, I was put in front of a board which
had been put up in front of some obvious construction. When I tried
to read the sign to know which way to go, a guard with a gun kept
pushing me on, so I was not sure. But now you can be. Go right.
You will see escalators on your left, go up these. At the top, take
an immediate right and walk past the shops selling shoes and other
things, then a left around the corner at the restaurant (you will
have nowhere else to go). After about 10 meters (or 30 feet ...
just a guess, I cannot remember exactly) there will be stairs going
back down again. But there is method to this madness. From the top
of the stairs you will see a big apparent parking garage. When I
got there, there were no busses going in or out, so I was a little
confused. But after a minute or two of waiting, you see the busses
going in and out, and you realize that this is the big bus station
mentioned above. And then it will be obvious that the buses past
this in another parking lot (blue busses if I remember correctly,
but do not hold me to this) are the busses you are looking for.
First, finding the 7
bus was a bit of a hassle, because people just do not speak any
English. For me, the 7 bus was all the way on the left. I learned
the chinese hand signal for "7" from the LP guide book,
and this came in very handy now.
Now for me, the price was exactly 1 Yuan. Maybe they just let me
get away with this because I was a foreigner, not sure. But the
bus driver will speak NO ENGLISH. So for those of you who read ahead
on this, make sure you get some small money converted in Hong Kong
(or just out of customs in Shenzhen), or you will have to pay with
the smallest bill you have. Which, if you are coming from an ATM,
could be a big one, and if you don't want to run back to somewhere
to try to get change ...
Knowing which one was the the Yin Hu station was pretty easy ...
a large sign made this very clear. But then ... ugh. So I tell you,
when you get off at the correct stop, DO NOT GO to the station that
says something like Yin Hu Minibus Station (as I did). Instead,
you want to be in the big building on the right of this. You are
lucky, because the stop is right in front of the correct building.
Now finding the ticket counter was not the easiest thing, but luckily
for me, when I found myself at the Minibus station, I found a girl
that very much wanted to practice what very little English she spoke,
and she took me from that wrong station to the ticket counter, helped
me buy the ticket and then even brought me to the correct bus departure
dock, which was 14 if my memory serves me correctly. But there is
a hotel between where you buy the tickets and the actual place where
you wait and board the busses (the ticket counter is to the left
of the hotel), so this information may help you, and maybe the people
at the hotel speak English.
Now I know all this seems
like a huge problem, but it was not. Really, it actually went quite
quick after I left Shenzhen customs, except for the number 7 bus
ride which took about 45 minutes, or maybe a little more. So give
your self a little time (especially since you do no want to have
all the busses full to Yangshuo ... I got the last seat in the last
bus), but this is not a whole day adventure."
Back to the www.yangers.com
information:
From Guangzhou (Canton)
you also have the option of taking a bus to Yangshuo or a train
to Guilin.
To get to Guangzhou, you can take the express train from Hung Hom.
Here is the latest timetable for these trains
On arrival in Guangzhou East, you will need to make your way to
Guangzhou main station for trains or buses to Yangshuo. The easiest
way is to take a taxi which should cost about 40 Yuan.
You can also take the
subway which costs 5 yuan. This is an exercise left up to the user.
-------------------------------------------------------
Shenzhen
This is the same information
as if you were coming from Hong Kong.
Express Sleeper Bus - This is the most comfortable way of getting
to Yangshuo from Shenzhen. The bus is very modern and the beds comfortable.
The bus departs every night at 20:00 arriving into Yangshuo around
6am. You can buy tickets at the counter inside the bus station for
250 Yuan. Express Seater Bus - As the name suggests, you would be
sitting down. However, the seats do recline and a good night's sleep
is possible. This bus departs each night at 21:20 and also takes
about 10 hours.
Regular sleeper buses - There are other regular sleeper buses that
do this journey from Yin Hu. They take 15 hours and are not so clean
or comfortable. They depart at 10:30am, 11:30am and 13:30 each day.
-------------------------------------------------------
Guangzhou
There are two ways to get to Yangshuo from Guangzhou. You have the
option of taking a train or a bus.
Train - There is one daily train. K36 departs at 18:31 from Guangzhou
main station. Purchasing tickets has become easier for overseas
travelers as there is now a foreigner window. There are still a
few local people in the queue but you will be served very quickly.
Hard sleepers are great. The price of the ticket varies depending
on which bunk you will sleep in. The top bunk is the cheapest whilst
the lower bunk is the dearest. Expect to pay between 175 Yuan and
200 Yuan. The train should arrive in Guilin station (Do Not get
off at Guilin Bei) at 8.20am the next morning. See Guilin for details
on how to get to Yangshuo from here.
Bus - The bus station is located across the road from the Guangzhou
main railway station. There is a very good Express Sleeper bus departing
at 11:00am and arriving into Yangshuo at about 19:00. Tickets cost
140Yuan for the trip. There are several other buses leaving from
this station during the day and evening heading to Yangshuo but
are not as quick.
-------------------------------------------------------
Kunming
Regular trains are best for this journey. There are direct trains
to Guilin. Train K182 departs Kunming at 14:39 and arrives in Guilin
Bei station at 20:16 the next day. From Guilin Bei. You will need
to get a taxi to the main station in Guilin to catch the bus to
Yangshuo. If the train is late, you may miss the last bus to Yangshuo.
Or perhaps you would prefer the faster option of taking a train
to Nanning. Train number 2006 departs Kunming at 16:17 and arrives
into Nanning at 06:37 the next morning. Then walk to the bus station
in Nanning and catch the express bus to Guilin. These buses leave
regularly and take 4-5 hours. On arrival in Guilin, you will need
to make the short walk to the railway station for buses to Yangshuo.
-------------------------------------------------------
Rest of China
There are many trains that make their way to Guilin from the other
parts of China. For those who do not have so much time or prefer
a more relaxed form of travel then we can suggest flying into Guilin.
Guilin has an international airport with connections all over China
as well as Hong Kong, Macao, Korea and Japan.
-------------------------------------------------------
From Guilin to Yangshuo
Yangshuo is located approximately 65Kms from Guilin. Local buses
leave regularly from Guilin railway station or from near the Hong
Kong hotel in Guilin. The journey takes approximately 90 minutes.
Guilin railway station
There are two railway stations, Guilin north and Guilin station.
Guilin station is the one at which you will need to arrive into
as Guilin North station is out of town and not convenient at all.
From Guilin station there are buses leaving frequently which go
directly to Yangshuo. They leave from the far right hand part of
the station forecourt as you exit the station.
Warning. Some bus drivers drop you off before reaching the Yangshuo
bus station in order to get a commission for dropping you off at
a hotel outside of the town center. Yangshuo bus station is the
last stop and everyone in the bus will get off here. From the bus
station, it is a very short walk to most hotels.
Guilin Airport
For travelers flying into Guilin airport there are two ways to make
your way to Yangshuo:-
1- Take the airport CAAC bus from the airport to the railway station
and then take the local bus. This is by far the cheapest way and
you really get to travel with the locals.
2 - Arrange a private vehicle to be waiting for you at the airport
which will then take you directly to your hotel in Yangshuo. We
have a range of vehicles including, taxis, mini vans and buses to
accommodate any number of travelers.
For up to date prices and timings please contact us.
