China Travel Tips

You can take public city buses and long-distance buses for in-city and short distances transportation, which are inexpensive and would be an ideal choice for you. Normally city public buses charge about CNY 1 for each person and can be very crowed during rush hours. Modern air-conditioned public buses charge CNY 2 for a ticket. Bus fares may increase to as much as CNY 5 for some longer distance trips. Usually there are no ticket conductors in most public buses and therefore you should have some small changes at hand for your convenience. Long-distance buses, or coaches, vary dramatically and it can be very comfortable or unpleasant. Normally buses originating from big cities are better and air-conditioned and those from countries are less comfortable. You can take coaches to travel to places of interest beyond the city.

Taking buses in China is generally comfortable but it depends. City public buses are usually packed and long-distance buses are relatively more comfortable than local public buses. Best advice for you is to avoid rush hours.

Currently you can find subways in some large cities of China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Taipei and Kaohsiung. Besides other cities including Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuxi, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Foshan and Kunming are having their subways under construction.

Since international driving licenses are not of valid in China, you can rent a car in car rental companies only if you have got your driving licenses in your home country and a Chinese driving licenses after filling in the Chinese Driving License Application Forms, passing the exam on traffic regulations and road test in China. Road test can be exempted if you have a 3 years' driving experience.