Inter City Transportation
1) Bus
Guangzhou has a very developed long distance road transportation system. From Guangzhou, you can take buses to many provinces in south China and to almost all significant destinations in Guangdong Province. There are 10 long distance bus stations in Guangzhou, the most 4 important ones are: Guangdong Provincial Long-distance Bus Station, Yuexiu South Bus Station ,
Haizhu Long-distance Bus Station, and Tianhe Bus Station.
2) Train
There are two railways in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Railway Station and the Guangzhou East Railway Station. The main railway transportation trunk in Guangzhou is the Jing-Guang (Beijing-Guangzhou) Railway Line, it links south and north China. Cities and provinces like Beijing, Shenyang, Chengde, Baotou, Shijiazhuang,Taiyuan, Dezhou, Lianyungang, Lanzhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Guilin are on this line. In addition, Guangzhou-Maoming and Guangzhou-Shantou railways connect Guangzhou to the east and west. There is also an express rail-line between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, 23 high-speed trains leave Guangzhou and another 8 direct-link high-speed trains arrive in Guangzhou from Kowloon every day.
The Yuehai Railway links Guangzhou with Haikou (the capital of the island province of Hainan) via a train ferry across the Qiongzhou Strait. The train departs at 22:26 every day from Guangzhou, arrive at Haikou after a 12 hour drive. The ticket price is RMB138 for a hard seat, and RMB 400 for a lower soft sleeper. There is also an express line connecting Guangzhou with Lhasa, Tibet. The journey take
s 58 hours. Fares begin at RMB 869. Travelers interested in going to Lhasa are required to have appropriate travel paperwork before purchasing a ticket, and must deal through an authorized travel agent.
3) Air
It is easy to get from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) to the city center, with a distance of about 28 kilometers. The airport operates flight lines to more than 70 domestic cities, including Beijing (3 hrs), Shanghai (2hrs), Wuhan (1.5hrs), Chengdu (2hrs), Chongqing (2hrs), Haikou (hr), Hong Kong (1hr) and other major cities in China and over 20 international cities. Travelers can now find direct international flights to Singapore (4hrs), Kuala Lumpur (4hrs), Sydney (6hrs), Melbourne (9hrs), Bangkok, Osaka, Yangon (Rangoon), Vietnam, Phuket and Angkor.
The airport is easily reached by taxi, bus and shuttle with the latter being the economic way to travel to and from the city. If you want to take a taxi to the downtown area, the minimum price is RMB 150. In 2010, travelers may take the No. 3 Metro Line, which is under construction now. In addition, there are direct buses heading to Zhuhai, Shenzhen Huanggang Port, and Hong Kong Keshidian Cross-border Bus Station from the airport. One-way tickets to these destinations are is RMB 80, RMB 80 and RMB 110 respectively. Buses traveling to Zhuhai run approximately every 2.5 hours with the last bus departing at 20:30. Buses traveling to Shenzhen Huanggang Port and Hong Kong Keshidian Cross-border Bus station leave every 20 minutes and run from 7:00 to 18:15
4) Boat
Travelers may take ferries from the different docks along the Pearl River, to transfer from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The most regular service leaves six times everyday from New Nansha Dock. Travelers can also take the ferry from Guangzhou to Haikou every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
New Nansha Dock (Nan Shaa Xin Ke Yun Gang)
The distances from New Nansha Port to Hong Kong and Macau are respectively 48 sea miles and 41 sea miles. There are 6 ferries (22 more during holidays) running between Guangzhou and Hong Kong every day, the journey takes 75 minutes.
Inner City Transportation
1) Pedicab
Pedicabs are easy to find with a low price, only RMB 4-5 for the first 2 kilometers. Visitors need to negotiate the price for a longer distance. It is a good method for sightseeing around the scenic spots and the shopping centers.
2) Taxi
The convenient way for people who are not familiar with the city. The flag-down rate is RMB 8 for the first 2-3 kilometers, which includes a RMB 1 fuel price surcharge, and RMB 2.6 per kilometer for the rest distance. Few taxi drivers speak English, you’d better have your destination written in Chinese characters if you are not familiar with the city.
3) Bus
It is cheap to take a bus, with RMB 1 for non-air-conditioned buses and RMB 2 for air-conditioned buses. The buses run from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. During the rush hours when the buses are crowded, passengers should be alert to pickpockets. There are about 570 bus routes in Guangzhou; among them 14 are trolley buses (bus number 101-114) and 18 mini-buses (prefixed 8). There are also 45 night buses that run till 1.30 am, with the price of RMB 1.5 for non-a/c bus and RMB 3 for a/c bus.
4) Subway
There are four operational metro lines in Guangzhou – lines 1, 2, 3,4 and 5. According to the city planning, Guangzhou's urban rail system will have a total of 9 lines, covering 255 km in total.
Subway Line 1 runs from Xilang in Fangcun District in southwest Guangzhou to the East Railway Station. The distance-based fare is RMB 2 to RMB 8. Line 2 runs from Jiangxia in Baiyun District to Pazhou in Haizhu District. The fare is RMB 2 to RMB 8. Both lines 1 and 2 are providing elevators that give access to platforms. Extensions to Metro Lines 3 and 4 are currently under construction. Travelers are advised to check which sections are open, as this can change from day to day. Visitors can take metros before 11:00 pm.
The ticket purchasing system is quite modern in Guangzhou. There are automatic ticket machines that accept coins and paper money. In addition, the metro system accepts a stored-value card known as Yangchengtong.