The stunningtourist town of Yangshuo, China. If you can imagine Halong Bay but with a river instead of the ocean, then you can visualise what this naturally beautiful place looks like. What can be harder to visualise (and find information on) is how to get to Yangshuo from the Yangshuo high speed railway station with is actually 28km away.
Well I just did this trip today, and before I set off, it worried me. The advice I found online was unclear, and made it seem like this was going to be a marathon of a trip and would require me knowing how to read Chinese. Thankfully the opposite is true. The journey actually very easy, and certainly nothing to be worried about. While this isn’t something I’d normally right about, The fact that I found no credible information on how to do this online means I want to outline to help future english speaking travellers to the region in the future.
TL;DR. 1. Catch the train to Yangshuo Railway Station. 2. Buy a ticket and get on the bus to Yangshuo. It will be there waiting for you with signs in English.
Step 1. Catch a train to Yangshuo Railway Station
Ok this is the easy part. But if you’re still figuring out how to book Chinese trains, I totally recommend trip.com which is the international brand of Chinese online travel giant CTrip. Because of their strong connections to the Chinese Railways they make booking online a breeze. Then download the app and there are instructions on how to pick up your tickets at the station, including a special screen that loads to show the station ticket attendant. Simple!
Yangshuo High Speed Railway Station is on the Guilin – Guangzhou High Speed Railway, it’s about 2h15min trip from Guangzhou South Railway Station and approx. half an hour from Guilin
While not exactly well signed (like all Chinese stations) it’s pretty obvious when you get there thanks to the huge Karst peaks already being visible. The left side of the station is highly elevated of the ground, and likely much of the train will be getting off.
Step 2. Catch the bus to Yangshuo Town
This is the part that I found difficult to find online. But it’s actually very easy. Firstly exit your station on your left (as if facing the front of the train). There will be a bunch of busses lined up and waiting for the train. There’s a ticket office immediately on your left side. Purchase your ticket for¥20 jump on the bus and relax. The bus has a luggage compartment, so you don’t have to worry about taking it in the main cabin with you.
45 min later you’ll arrive at the Tourist Information / Bus Drop Off area of Yangshuo. From there it’s 1.5km to the Famous West Street. Grab a taxi / didi or enjoy the walk.
There you have it, my no nonsense guide to getting to Yangshuo from Yangshuo Railway Station. This information is correct as of 17 October 2018. Has anything changed? Leave a note in the comments below and we’ll update it.
Cover Image Credit: / Wikipedia. Used under Creative Commons. No changes were made to the image.