mdmom

What is the best way to get from Guilin/ Yangshuo to Hong Kong? Direct flights are too expensive. Will be arriving in Guilin from Xi'an (by plane). Planning to do 3 nights in the area (Guilin/ Yangshuo) before moving on to Hong Kong. Want to do Li River cruise, and would also like to do side trip to the Longji rice terraces if we can fit it in, but would like to stay in Yangshuo for at least 2 of those 3 nights. Should we do the Li River cruise to Yangshuo when we arrive, stay there for 2 nights, then bus back to Guilin for a night, day trip to rice terraces and then train to Shenzhen? Is it easy to get from the station in Shenzhen to Hong Kong? (we only speak English). We are comfortable making our own travel arrangements and planning our own itinerary, but just wondering the best way to handle this part of our trip (total trip is 14 days Beijing - Xi'an - Guilin area - Hong Kong) in early May. Thanks!

CanadaChinaTraveller

Right, the train costs a fraction of the flight. It is fairly easy to get from the Shenzhen north train station to HK. Your options are to the a bus in the next building (bus station) or you can the the subway to the border (Futian checkpoint) and get on the HK subway after passing the border procedures. In both cases, assume 2 hours or less to get to the center of HK. I find that the subway is a often faster as subways are running continuously while bus departures are more sporadic.
I believe that the trains to Shenzhen only depart from Guilin. If you depart from Yangshuo you go to Guangzhou and then transfer to another train to Shenzhen. Understand that these tickets sell pretty well and buying ahead of time is the best strategy.
If you take the train from Guilin then it probably makes sense to do the rice terrace last. To get to Yangshuo from the airport, there are buses but they stop running rather early so it depends on your flight. In this case you won't do the 'cruise' but you are not missing much. Instead, do the bamboo rafts on the Yulong river.

mdmom

Thanks very much, Canada China Traveller! So if I understand correctly, there's a train station in Yangshuo, and train from there goes to Guangzhou for transfer to Shenzhen, but train from Guilin goes directly to Shenzhen... sounds like the latter will be less cumbersome. We prefer train travel in general over bus, and we are usually comfortable using subways when we travel. We are planning to be in the area mid-May; do you suggest we book train tickets soon? Is there a site you can recommend that is fairly simple to navigate that we can use to book the tickets? Your advice is much appreciated!

CanadaChinaTraveller

I would certainly not take the bus when the train only takes 3 hours or less.
Your understanding is correct. You can check the exact timetables and eventually book here: www.china-diy-travel.com Too early to book for May as tickets are only released 30 days ahead. But you can place your order whenever you want and they buy once tickets are released. You don't pay until they have the tickets in any case.
The transfer of trains in Guangzhou is pretty easy in any case. Note that the Yangshuo train station is not in the center of town as you take a 45-minute bus from the center of town to the train station.

temppeternh

The so-called Yangshuo Station is actually outside Xingping, about 25km from Yangshuo.

The trains to Guangzhou North (way to the north) and Shenzhen North with three-hour travelling times go not from Guilin which is where the buses from Yangshuo go, but from Guilin North, about half an hour away. Make sure when arranging transport from Yangshuo that you are going to the right station, or allow time for the transfer when you reach Guilin.

Note that there are about two dozen trains a day from Guilin *North* to Guangzhou *South*. You might consider transferring from there to Guangzhou East (metro, or taxi) and taking a rapid direct train from Guangzhou East to Hung Hom, right at the south end of Kowloon and on the Hong Kong MTR system.

Here's the list of trains from Guilin North to Guangzhou South:

http://huoche.8684.cn/p_桂林_广州?date=20170315

Here's the schedule of trains from Guangzhou South directly to Hung Hom:

http://www.it3.mtr.com.hk/B2C/frmSch...sp?strLang=Eng

('Guangzhoudong' is Guangzhou East.)

The border crossing within Guangzhou East station is (in my previous experience) quick and easy, and Hong Kong formalities are done on the train itself.

You might want to consider buying the Guangzhou East to Hong Kong ticket on-line directly from the railway's own site using Visa, but it's not really necessary. All other trains you can certainly buy tickets for once in China for zero or tiny commission. If you're passing through Guilin on the way to Yangshuo simply purchase your onward tickets at any railway station. There's absolutely no need to use a rapacious agent with an English-language on-line interface, so don't be tempted (and especially not one that conceals its charges until you've entered a lot of information including contact details). You'll pay a great deal more than you need to.

CanadaChinaTraveller

Yes, I did say that the Yangshuo station is not in Yangshuo, but it is the closest station to Yangshuo with easy buses. It is also a shorter train ride with as little as 2h13 to Guangzhou.

There is no such thing as a Guangzhou north station.

There are no trains from Guangzhou south to Hung Hom.

One cannot buy tickets from Guangzhou east to Hung Hom online and pick them up in Guangzhou.

temppeternh

mdmom :

I see the link provided for the Guilin North to Guangzhou South services doesn't work when pasted here, I'm sorry, although the one for the run from Guangzhou East to Hung Hom does. The information from the timetable doesn't paste very well, either, but here it is, in the following order:

Train number (e.g. D2831)
Guilin North
Guangzhou South
Departure time
Arrival time
Journey time in the form X hours XX minutes
Second class ticket price in ¥


D2831
桂林北
广州南
08:00
10:44
2小时44分
二等座￥137.5

D2833
桂林北
广州南
08:30
11:14
2小时44分
二等座￥137.5

D2801
桂林北
广州南
10:12
12:52
2小时57分
二等座￥137.5

G2901
桂林北
广州南
11:16
13:55
2小时39分
二等座￥137.5

D2369
桂林北
广州南
11:45
14:29
2小时44分
二等座￥137.5

D2805
桂林北
广州南
11:59
14:49
3小时07分
二等座￥137.5

D2835
桂林北
广州南
12:30
15:20
2小时50分
二等座￥137.5

D2827
桂林北
广州南
12:54
15:47
3小时08分
二等座￥137.5

D3675
桂林北
广州南
13:17
16:01
2小时48分
二等座￥137.5

D2837
桂林北
广州南
13:25
16:14
2小时49分
二等座￥137.5

D2807
桂林北
广州南
13:40
16:26
3小时01分
二等座￥137.5

D2367
桂林北
广州南
13:47
16:32
2小时45分
二等座￥137.5

D2839
桂林北
广州南
14:09
16:47
2小时38分
二等座￥137.5

D2809
桂林北
广州南
14:32
17:05
2小时50分
二等座￥137.5

D2811
桂林北
广州南
14:49
17:54
3小时21分
二等座￥137.5

D2813
桂林北
广州南
16:09
19:04
3小时11分
二等座￥137.5

G2903
桂林北
广州南
17:15
20:26
3小时11分
二等座￥137.5

D2821
桂林北
广州南
17:36
20:43
3小时24分
二等座￥137.5

D2815
桂林北
广州南
18:25
21:03
2小时54分
二等座￥137.5

G2905
桂林北
广州南
18:50
21:28
2小时38分
二等座￥137.5

D2841
桂林北
广州南
19:17
21:58
2小时41分
二等座￥137.5

D2843
桂林北
广州南
19:55
22:39
2小时44分
二等座￥137.5

D3671
桂林北
广州南
20:01
22:53
2小时57分
二等座￥137.5

D2819
桂林北
广州南
20:33
23:13
2小时56分
二等座￥137.5

D2823
桂林北
广州南
20:56
23:35
2小时54分
二等座￥137.5

K950
桂林北
广州
21:33
08:06次日
10小时43分
硬座￥112

mdmom

Thanks so much - this info is so detailed and helpful! Much appreciated

rkkwan

Irrelevant to the OP's question, but there is definitely a "Guangzhou North" station.

CanadaChinaTraveller

And which train numbers go from Guilin go to Guangzhou north?

temppeternh

Backtracking a little:

>Should we do the Li River cruise to Yangshuo when we arrive

No. It's way too late for that. Water levels mean that the cruises rarely start from Guilin itself any more, and the cruises have specially marked-up prices for foreigners. There's endless cheating.

>, stay there for 2 nights,

No. Yangshuo was great in the 80s when it was a backwater waterside village discovered by a few, but now it's a largely rebuilt from scratch and newly built pretending to be old tower of tawdry souvenir shops and overpriced cafés, filled with pestering guides; a tourism bedlam, with KFC, McDonald's, and every ill you can think off. The bamboo rafts you might once board to be punted off so see cormorant fishing are now plastic tubes lashed together with plastic garden chairs lashed to them and outboard motors.

It's far too late.

> then bus back to Guilin for a night,

No. Due to the immense volume of tourism which barely dropped off even during the Cultural Revolution, Guilin has possibly the highest concentration of tourist rip-offs of any corner of China--and that really is a remarkable claim to fame.

If you're looking to experience rural China almost anywhere else is better, even on a hasty itinerary where convenience is important.