Getting To Guangzhou

A guide to public transport services in Guangzhou along with how to get to and from the city, be it by train, bus or plane.

Flying to Guangzhou

If you are getting to Guangzhou by plain, you are basically in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

The new terminal T2 recently opened at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and is capable of handling 45 million passengers per year. Airlines using this terminal include China Southern Airlines, Xiamen Air, Sichuan Airlines, Chongqing Airlines, Hebei Airlines, Korean Air, China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Thai Airways, Aeroflot, Sichuan Airlines, Japan Airlines, Kenya Airways, Saudia, and Garuda Indonesia.

Other airlines will continue to use T1.

You can choose metro, bus, taxi to leave the airport and reach the urban area

Bus: If you want to take bus, there are totally 11 Airport Lines to reach every part of Guangzhou. The ticket price ranges from 14 to 29 yuan RMB according to the traveling distance and the destination station. More about buses here including routes.

Metro, you can take metro line 3 to get to Tianhe City. It will take you 12 yuan RMB and around 1 hour to get there. More about Guangzhou Metro.

Passengers heading to the airport, and to T1 get off at Airport South Station and passengers heading to T2 get off at Airport North Station of metro line 3.

Taxi: It will take you about 40 minutes and 140 RMB to get to Tianhe City from the airport. Click here to know more about taxi in Guangzhou.

Long-distance Bus: If you want to see some attractions around Guangzhou, you can choose long-distance bus station in the airport. Intercity Long Distance Buses from airport head to Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Shunde, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Qingyuan, Conghua, Zengcheng or Heyuan.

Train to Guangzhou

There are four passenger railway stations in Guangzhou city, naming Guangzhou Railway Station, Guangzhou East Railway Station, Guangzhou South Railway Station and Guangzhou North Railway Station respectively.

Click here to know more about railway stations in Guangzhou.

Ferry to Guangzhou

Another way to get to Guangzhou is by ferry from Hong Kong. You can take ferry at China Hong Kong City Terminal or Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal located at the Shun Tak Centre, Central, Hong Kong. The ferry terminates at Panyu Lianhuashan Port. Ferries travel between Guangzhou and Hong Kong several times daily. The journey takes just under 2hrs. You can also catch a ferry from here to SkyPier at Hong Kong Airport. There are normal customs and border checks at Lianhuashan Port.

You can view timetables and buy tickets online at http://www.cksp.com.hk/en/ or your hotel can also buy on your behalf.

Intercity and Long-Distance buses to Guangzhou

You can catch buses to and from Guangzhou between other provinces inc. Hong Kong and Macau, and all cities within Guangdong inc. Shenzhen. More about routes and stations here

Public Transport Around Guangzhou

The number one choice is metro, as it is convenient and cheap. Learn more about the Guangzhou Metro.

The city has a highly developed bus network, including hop on hop off and sightseeing bus lines for tourists, more about Guangzhou Buses.

Taxi’s and Uber – the city has a lot of taxi’s and they are not too expensive along with APP’s such as Didi Dache and Uber more about taxis and taxi apps

Another popular means of transport is the ferry, or Water Bus, which transverses the Perl River and its channels. More here