Changsha Transportation

Changsha Huanghua International Airport is located 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) away to the east of the city center. Currently, the airport has international links with adjacent South East Asian cities including Bangkok, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Nagoy and Fukuoka. Direct flights by CAAC connect the city with Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, and Chongqing and over 40 other major cities in China. There is no direct flight from Changsha to the Tibetan and Inner Mongolian areas at present.

Airport shuttle buses ply between the airport and the city center and a single trip takes about one hour. You can take the shuttles from the front of the Civil Aviation Hotel (Minhang Jiudian) at No. 75, Wuyi Dong Lu at 10 Yuan per person. The first bus leaves at 6:30 a.m. and the last one serves the final flight arrival each day. The fare is 10 - 15 Yuan. An alternative is to take Bus 114 from the railway station to the airport between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The single trip takes around one hour. A taxi ride from the airport to the city center takes 100-120 Yuan.

As an important hub of the national Jingguang Railway (Beijing-Guangzhou), Changsha benefits from rail connections to almost every major city in China. The railway station is located in the east end of the city at Chezhan Lu. Bus 108, 110, 113 from the city center will take you there. The trip from Changsha to Beijing, Shanghai, Guiyang and Kunming takes about 16 hours while journeys to Guangzhou and Shenzhen take about eight to ten hours. A trip to the scenic city of Zhangjiajie lasts about five hours. In the very west end of Hunan Province, is Feng Huang Cheng (Phoenix Town), which claims to be the most beautiful town in China. For backpackers who want to go there, take Bus 114 to the railway station and board a train to Jishou. The trip from the airport to the railway station takes about fifty minutes to one hour. 

You can only book your tickets up to five days in advance of your travel date. However, it should be appreciated that sometimes this ticket presell period may be adjusted when demand is heavy. The following table shows the locations of the various agencies so you can find the one nearest to where you intend to stay.

Tel: 0731-5825507 

Tel: 0731-2232215

Tel: 0731-8872486

Tel: 0731-2222278/222 

Tel: 0731-4403212 

Tel: 0731-4556641 

Tel: 0731-5155796 

Tel: 0731-5513747

Tel: 0731-8861120

Tel: 0731-4410936

Changsha is the hub of three inter-province freeways including Freeway 107 (Beijing–Shenzhen), Freeway 391 (Chengdu–Xiamen) and Freeway 106. A well developed highway network connects Changsha with many major Chinese cities and buses leaving from the three Long Distance Passenger Bus Stations in Changsha serve most of the eastern part of the country. Although it is impossible to list all the destinations that can be reached from the three passenger stations; we have listed a selection of the main and most popular ones for reference. 

In addition, south of Apollo Shopping Square, a busy shopping area in the northwestern corner of the railway station, there are regular buses that leave for Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, which are the cities where most travelers change trains from the north-south Jiangguang Railway to continue their journeys in either an easterly or westerly direction. Buses leave daily at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes; fares are 16.5 Yuan and 15.5 Yuan. 

Dongting Hu, China's second-largest freshwater lake is located in Hunan Province and the waterways connecting it to Changsha provide access to the great Yangtze. Ships leaving Changsha carry passengers to Chongqing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Nanjing, Lianyungang and other ports of call along the Yangtze. The inland water navigation is highly developed and Changsha Passenger Port has regular shipping to many cities in the northern part of the province around the Dongting Lake including Yueyang, Yiyang, Xiangtan and Changde.

There are several popular destinations in the neighborhood of Changsha, which can easily be reached by both bus and train. These include Zhangjiajie, (Zhangjiajie Scenic Spot), Hengyang (Mt. Heng), Yueyang (Yueyang Tower) and Jishou (Phoenix City). Buses leave daily for Shaoshan (Hometown of Chairman Mao), Mt. Hengshan and Zhangjiajie.

Public bus routes serve all parts of the city and its suburbs and there is a choice of ordinary buses or those with air conditioning. Fares are one and two yuan.

The Hong Kong based Lishan Bus line operates a service between the railway station in the east of the city and Central South University via the famous Mount Yuelu but we would recommend that your best choice is the air conditioned vehicles as they are far more comfortable in the hot weather.

Bus route No 202 also provides a regular service between the railway station and the western bank area in the city.

Two special tourist bus routes operate in the city and a ticket priced at three yuan can be used for two journeys. These routes are as follows:

Railway Station--->Martyr Park--->Hunan Provincial Museum--->Yuelu Park (Yuelu Academy)

Southern Suburb Park--->No. 1 Normal University--->Tianxin Pavilion---> Riverside Scenic Area --->Kaifu Temple

The basic taxi fare in Changsha is eight yuan plus 1.6 or 1.8 yuan for each kilometer traveled. For trips exceeding ten kilometers the rate per kilometer rises to 2.4 or 2.7 yuan. This extra charge is to cover the cost of the taxi's return to its starting point. Night time rates apply between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. next day and these are generally 20% higher than the basic fares. It is always best to ask for a quotation of the total cost prior to commencing the journey.