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| China
Getting There - International Travel |
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Air
The national airline is Air
China (CA).
Airlines serving China include: British Airways, KLM, Finnair, Qantas,
Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, SWISS, as well as many others.
Note: Travellers should be sure to reconfirm
their return flight reservations, as overbooking by airlines has
resulted in people being stranded in China.
Approximate
flight times
From Beijing to:
 London:
approximately 10 hours
New York: 22 hours
Los Angeles: 12 hours
Sydney: 12 hours
International
airports
Beijing/Peking (BJS/PEK) airport (Capital International
Central) is located 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city (30-40
minutes by bus and taxi).
Guangzhou/Canton airport (Baiyun) is located 7
kilometres (4 miles) from the city (travel time – 20 minutes).
Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) airport is located 13 kilometres
(8.1 miles) southwest of the city (travel time – 25-40 minutes).
Shanghai Pudong (PVG) airport, in the new eastern
financial centre is situated 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city
centre (travel time – 50 minutes by bus or taxi) and has been
handling international flights since March 2000. Pudong
is due to become the city’s major
international airport with a magnetic levitation train
(opened in 2003) and an underground link (scheduled to open in 2005).
Facilities at the above airports
include taxis, public and shuttle buses, banks/bureaux de change,
duty-free shops, post offices, business facilities, restaurants
and bars. There are also airports at several other major cities.
Departure tax:RMBY90. Children younger than 12 and transit passengers
are exempt.
Sea
Main seaports are Hong Kong/Kowloon, Guangzhou
(Canton), Fuzhou (Foochow), Qingdgo
(Tsingtao) and Shanghai. Pearl Cruises
operates more than 20 cruises a year to China. Other cruise lines
include Holland America, Pricess, NCL Asia Cruisetours, Silversea and
Seabourn.
There are scheduled ferry services connecting most
Chinese ports with Kobe in Japan and the west coast of Korea (Dem
Rep). Ferries operate between Weihai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Shanghai
in China to Incheon in Korea (Dem Rep).
Rail
International services operate from Beijing to Moscow
(Russian Federation), on both the Trans-Mongolian Railway
(via Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia) and the Trans-Manchurian Railway
(via Zabaikalsk in northern China). There is also rail service from
Beijing to Pyongyang (Korea, Dem Rep). Due to demand,
it is sometimes necessary to book as long as 2 months in advance.
A scheduled train service operates from Hong Kong to Guangzhou
(Canton), and is of a better quality than internal trains in China.
Several trains operate daily. Services between Shanghai-Kowloon/Hong
Kong (travel time – 29 hours) and Beijing-Kowloon/Hong
Kong (travel time – 30 hours) both operate on alternate
days. There are two trains each week from Almaty
in Kazakhstan to Urumqi. There are three fares:
hard sleeper, soft sleeper and deluxe soft sleeper.
Note: Passengers on the Trans-Mongolian or Trans-Manchurian
Railways are strongly recommended to search their compartments and
lock the doors prior to departure, due to an increase in smuggling
along this route.
Road
The main roads into China follow the historical trade routes
through Myanmar, India, the former
Soviet republics and Mongolia.
One can travel from Pakistan to Xinjiang on the
Karakoran highway. |
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