Getting Around

Guilin is a large enough city that it has great public transportation, but it's also small enough that you can rely on your feet a lot of the time to get you places. Check out our growing section of opinions and remarks regarding transportation in Guilin.

Bus

Buses in Guilin are, for the most part, clean and safe and cheap, cheap, cheap! Buses stopping at local tourist attractions usually start with a 5 and all of these buses are free. Any other bus ride should not cost more than 5 RMB.

Taxi

Taxis run 24 hours a day and are cheaper in Guilin than most other Chinese cities. The flat rate is 7 RMB.

Bike

Bikes are a popular method of transportation in Guilin and if you're comfortable with them, it's a great way to get around. Many hotels and shops in town will rent tourists bikes with a 200 RMB deposit and a photocopy of your passport. Bikes usually cost between 10-20 RMB to rent each day.

Boat

A trip to Guilin would not be complete without a boat ride on the Li River. Boats leave from the Golden Elephant hotel and cost nearly 500 RMB per person for an English tour but just 180 RMB for the same day trip in Chinese.

To and from Guilin

Air

Guilin's Liangjian International Airport has dozens of daily flights both international and domestic. Flights to and from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau and Thailand arrive in and depart from Guilin on a weekly basis and usually cost around 3,000 RMB for a one way ticket. There are several flights to and from Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Shanghai, Xi'an and many other Chinese cities daily ranging in price from 500 RMB to 1,600 RMB. The airport is about 30 km (18 miles) from Guilin's city center which takes about 40 minutes by taxi. There is also an airport shuttle available which takes about one hour and costs 20 RMB.

Train

Travel by railway to and from Guilin can be a little tricky but is far less expensive than traveling by plane. There is an international train from Beijing to Hanoi that passes through Guilin's Xianggui Railway station twice weekly. There are several direct trains from Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming each week which all take around 25 hours and cost between 250 - 450 RMB.