Traveling to Nanning by air, bus, train or bicycle

Traveling to Nanning is quite easy with multiple options for all budget travelers. Nanning in south China is the capital of Guangxi autonomous region and a major transport hub in south China. Transport to Nanning is therefore easy. The Nanning Wuxu International Airport is well connected to 26 major destinations in China and has international flights to Hanoi and other destinations. This page sums up the options you have as a traveler on your way in and out of Nanning.

By flight

Nanning Wuxu International Airport (NNG) is located in Wuxu Town, about 31 kilometers southwest from the city center. Nanning is very well connected to all the major cities in China and to some international destinations. There are shuttle buses from the airport to the city center.

By Bus

Nanning is also very well connected with several major cities in China. Liuzhou and Guilin to the north have several busses a day. Buses to Liuzhou leave every 30 minutes, while buses to Guilin go every 15 minutes. Other easy to reach destinations, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Beihai and even far away destinations as Chongqing and Chengdu have daily services.

For the sorter distances you may consider train or bus, especially Guilin is faster to reach by bus then by train. For the longer journeys trains and, of course, flights are more comfortable.

There are direct sleeper buses from Nanning to Yangshuo but they take much longer (and less comfortable) then a train or bus to Guilin and then a bus to Yangshuo.

By Train

Many travelers visit Nanning when they travel by train from Kunming to Guilin. For most travelers it's just another station (in the middle of the night) though most travelers don't realize it.

Nanning is easy accessible by train from many major destinations in China such as Kunming, Guilin, Beihai, Guangzhou, Vietnamese border and even Xian, Shanghai and Beijing. For some destinations you may have to change trains but the railway system in China is very well organized and although the travel time may be long and a flight can be considered, trains in China are a very comfortable way of traveling.

If you decide to travel by train, make sure you book your ticket a few days in advance, some lines are always sold out (Guilin - Kunming for example)

If you travel from Nanning to Guilin, you may consider the bus as these are faster.

By bicycle

Traveling to Nanning from Yangshuo by bicycle is a nice though not very spectacular thing to do. There are basically two ways. If you decide to cycle from Yangshuo, there's no need to visit Guilin first.

It's in fact quite simple, you cycle out of Yangshuo in the direction of Lipu, 40 km south of Yangshuo. Here you make a choice. Either you take the road to Liuzhou, which leads west, or you cycle south in the direction of Wuzhou

Via Liuzhou.

From Lipu it's 160km to Liuzhou on a very pleasant road with little traffic. After Liuzhou, follow the old road to Hechi and stop in the dirt town Datang. From here it's a two days journey to Nanning with a stop in either Xinbin or Binyang.

Via Taiping

This is probably an even nicer route to cycle. You can cycle out of Yangshuo, skip Lipu and stay a night in Mengshan. Taiping is the crossroads for going south east to Wuzhou. Follow the directions to Guiping and Guigang from here before arriving in Litang and Xinbin and Binyang. None of the towns and cities are spectacular but they are nice convenient overnight stops. The journey from Yangshuo to Nanning will take you at least 6 to 7 days. I would recommend to do the journey in summer. I did it once in winter and it was rather cold.

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