Guangdong Province is the first stop for many foreigners who come to China to find good supplier and new business trends and opportunities.

You can find good suppliers for almost all commodity for all markets. Cities in Guangdong, like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Foshan, etc., are famous manufacturing centers for various goods. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the biggest and most bustling cities in Guangdong province. Here I would like to share some tips for transportation from Guangzhou to Shenzhen.

Guangzhou is the biggest and capital city of Guangdong Province, and Shenzhen is the 2nd biggest city in Guangdong.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen are quite near to each other, so no need to take plane when traveling between them, usually there are 3 ways of transportation for foreigners, i.e. by Train, by Coach Bus and by Taxi/Didi/Uber.

The 1st choice is by Train, trains are running per schedule and seldom need to worry about the traffic jam. China has the highest speed train system in the world.

There are 2 train stations in Guangzhou heading to Shenzhen, they are Guangzhou East Railway Station and Guangzhou South Railway Station. (There are other railway station called Guangzhou Railway Station, it is for non-high speed railways, we will omit it in this article.)

There are also 2 railway stations in Shenzhen for high speed trains. They are Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen North Railway Station.

The trains from Guangzhou East Railway Station only stop at Shenzhen Railway Station, and trains from Guangzhou South Railway Station stop at Shenzhen North Railway Station.

Guangzhou East Railway Station locates at Tianhe District of Guangzhou. From this station, passengers could take direct train to Kowloon, HongKong.

Shenzhen Railway Station is located at Luohu District, the flourishing business center of Shenzhen. Nearby the Railway Station, there are metro station and bus station. The famous Shangri- La hotel is next to it. It also near the border to HongKong.

There are 2 classes of seats for trains running between Guangzhou East Railway station and Shenzhen Railway Station, the fare are CNY79.5 and CNY99.5 for adult, the trains departure every 8 minutes, the journey takes about 76 minutes. The earliest train departures at 6:12am, the latest one departures at 10:47pm from Guangzhou East Railway Station.

Guangzhou South Railway Station is located in Panyu District of Guangzhou, it is the biggest and busiest high speed railway station in southern China.

Trains from Guangzhou South Railway Station to Shenzhen, are stopped at Shenzhen North Railway Station, which is located at Longhu New District of Shenzhen, the geographic center of Shenzhen. It is a big transportation terminal with Metro line No. 4 and No.5, and many buses connecting the railway station with other districts.

There are 3 classes of seats for high speed trains, the fares are CNY74.5, CNY99.5 and CNY119.5 for adult, The trains departure every 5 minutes from Guangzhou South Railway Station to Shenzhen North Railway Station. The earliest one departures at 7:00am, the latest one departures at 11:08pm. The high speed trains is very fast, the journey takes only 30 minutes between the 2 stations.

Shenzhen is not a big city, but with heavy traffic. After you arrived at either Shenzhen Railway Station or Shenzhen North Railway Station, if you need to go to other districts where are not near by,  it’s quite time consuming to take the bus or metro, sometimes it take 1 or even 2 hours to get to other places.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen is also connected with many express ways, and there are coach buses from Guangzhou to all district of Shenzhen directly. So travel by coach bus is another recommended way.

The coaches from Guangzhou to Shenzhen are managed by Guangdong Passenger Transportation Terminal and Guangzhou Bus Passenger Transportation Terminal. Guangdong? Guangzhou? You must be confused. They are referring to different administration level. Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong.

The 2 stations are very close to each other, located at the center of Guangzhou, and near by the non-high speed railway station, Guangzhou Railway Station. The below map tells how close they are.

The earliest bus from Guangzhou Terminal to Shenzhen is at 5:50am, fare starts from CNY55.

The earliest bus departures from Guangdong Terminal to Shenzhen is at 6:30am, ticket starts from CNY61.

The journey usually takes about 90 to 120 minutes to all districts of Shenzhen.

From my own experience, the transportation centers, like train station, bus station, metro station, are areas with complicated situation because of the hustle and bustle of large crowds, you need always take good care of your belongings, and buy ticket at the Ticket Center in the Terminal only. There will be English speaking staffs to help foreigner for ticketing or other inquires.

Besides to buy ticket from Ticket Center, you could also buy e-ticket from mobile app or computer on line. After you get the E-ticket  you will need to print your ticket at the self service ticketing kiosk in the stations.

Passengers are asked to show ID card or Passport when buy ticket onsite or on line, your name will be printed on the ticket. When entering the bus terminal or train station, everyone need to show ID card or passport and ticket and do security check . Security checking is strict at public stations, even some hotels. You need to make sure not to carry harmful materials or items.

You may check tickets and hotel from

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While trains and bus are departure from stations to stations according to scheduled location and time, they don’t stop everywhere and not work 24 hours a day, or when you unfortunately lost your passport. Traveling by taxi or Didi/Uber comes to my mind.

Taxis are almost the same as every country, but taxi driver may not speak English. A note with your destination in Chinese will be helpful.

Besides taxi, you could also use Didi or Uber, Uber has been acquired by Didi in China.  Before get on the car of Didi, don’t forget to check if the car plate number matches the number you ordered.

If you are in trouble, you could call below emergency numbers:

110 for police

120 for ambulance

119 for fire alarm

I will be glad to offer assistant.