samuell

We are planning a trip to Southern China Nov., visiting
HongKong, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Taipei for 15 nights.

We are thinking of flying from Lax into HK (stop in Tokyo, five nights) and out of Taipei (stop in Honolulu, seven nights).
Kayak shows flights from Xiamen to Taipei are expensive $300 with stops in other Chinese city, Dragon Air flies direct, or with stop in HK, $600

Is there any site you can recommand for cheaper flight which is direct, non-stop.

Thankyou very much.

PeterN_H

Unless things have changed very recently you'll find there are in fact no direct flights on this route, and 'other Chinese city' will always be Hong Kong (Dragonair) or Macau (Air Macau), effectively international destinations (as a side-effect of the 'one country, two systems' policy). These airlines are much more expensive than mainland ones.

Even where you can find direct sea and air links (from other mainland cities with mainland Chinese airlines or Taiwanese ones or charters, none of them visible on foreign search engines) be aware that as a foreign national you may not be allowed to board: check the current state of the regulations carefully to see if they've eased.

You will almost certainly find it cheaper to treat Xiamen-HK and HK-Taipei as two entirely separate trips; cheaper still to fly Xiamen to Shenzhen, and then travel directly to Hong Kong Airport from there.

You'll also find it cheaper not to book with the so-called discount sites you mention, but to obtain your tickets in Hong Kong or mainland China, as appropriate, when you're there. The difference in price can be considerable: sometimes the Expedia tickets (for instance) can be multiples of what you need to pay locally, and these sites simply do not know about the majority of domestic flights in China.

Unless you have particular reasons to go there, I'd certainly skip Guangzhou and consider a more interesting route, such as to Xiamen and perhaps up the coast from there. Or since you're willing to fly, any number of other cities can be reached.

Peter N-H

Cat12345

Forget airlines, they are too expensive.

Both Lo Wu Bus Station and Fu Tien Bus Station in Shenzhen have long distance buses to Xiamen.
They cost around 150 rmb and take 8 hours.

Lo Wu Station is next to New Territories, Hongkong.
Fu Tien Bus Station is right by Zhu Zi Lin subway station, Shenzen Metro.

You may pick one that departs at nite and save one nite stay in hotel.

rkkwan

There is ferry from Xiamen to Jinmen, an island off the Chinese coast that belongs to Taiwan. You can transfer to a flight to Taipei from there.

There is also a new direct ferry, Ocean Lala, that started its inaugural sailing on June 30th between Xiamen and Taichung in Taiwan.

samuell

May be we should just skip China all together on this trip if there is no direct flight, too much trouble it seems.

Our main reason for the area is to visit my brother who just moved to Taiwan, we can explore the island instead, thank you all for your help.

ChinaJim

If you want direct flights you can go to Xiamen first, lots of flights direct from Hong Kong and then to Guangzhou and then fly direct to Taipei. If you are coming to China you should see Yangshou, a short flight to Guilen from Guangzhou, and about an hour by bus or taxi. Breath takingly beautiful. Check out www.travelzen.com or www.ctrip.com as sources for figuring out different direct routes from cities in China to domestic and international destinations. Have a great trip, whatever you decide!

samuell

Thankyou, China Jim.