China Travel Advice

Q: Which is the best and faster way to travel from Guangzou to Taizhou? Which are the best hotels in Taizhou?

There are two cities named Taizhou in China. One in Zhejiang Province, and the other in Jiangsu Province. In Chinese, the names of these two cities contain a different a character; once latinized, however, the names appear the same.

Below are the characters for Taizhou in Zhejiang Province:

And here are the characters for Taizhou in Jiangsu Province:

We assume you're asking about Taizhou in Zhejiang as this city is better known for product manufacturing intended for foreign trade.

The fastest way to travel from Guangzhou to Taizhou in Zhejiang is to fly. There are daily flights from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to Taizhou Huangyan Airport. Flights are operated by Shenzhen Airline and China Eastern Airline. Fare is approximately 700 Chinese dollars. Flight time is two hours.

You can also take a long distance bus to get from Guangzhou, but given the distance - 1,600 km or so, it is not a very comfortable or safe to travel such a long distance this way, so this is not recommended. If you choose to travel this way, you can get yourself a sleeping berth for the ride.

There are no direct train links between Guangzhou and Taizhou. You can travel by train from Guangzhou to Wenzhou. It is also a long trip - 22 hours - but it is more comfortable and safer to go by train than by bus. You of course should a sleeping berth for yourself. A soft-sleeper ticket costs about 500 yuan while a hard sleeper ticket costs about 300 yuan. One train departs from Guangzhou Railway Station and another leaves from Guangzhou North Railway Station, both around noon time.

From Wenzhou to Taizhou it is a bus ride of about 1.5 hours. It is said that train service between Wenzhou and Taizhou will be launched in October 2009; not too sure aobut this.

As for hotels, one option is Taizhou Garden Hotel. This hotel is located Jiaojiang District, Taizhou. Taizhou Garden Hotel is about 20 minutes from Huangyan Airport. Rates are $40-90. Taizhou is consisted of a few districts that are some distance from one another; Jiaojiang is a district with a high concentration of businesses.

Among other hotels: Extrafar Internation Club ($40-80), Yaoda International Hotel ($70), Ocean International Hotel ($40), New Century Hotel ($50), Romantic Hotel ($45-60), Huangyan International Hotel ($45-50), Time Business Hotel ($40).

If it is Taizhou in Jiangsu Province that you're asking about: there is one direct train that goes from Guangzhou to that destination. Travel time is about 26 hours. If you want to go by plane, you need to fly to Nanjing first and then make the connection to Taizhou. The distance between Nanjing and Taizhou is about 100 km.