How do I get from the airport to Guangzhou?

Metro Line 3 is the right answer for most arrivals at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. The station sits beneath Terminal 2, which opened in 2018. If you land at the older Terminal 1, follow signs for the free inter-terminal shuttle or walk about 10 minutes through the connecting corridor, past the instant-noodle smell drifting from Family Mart. Trains to Tianhe, the commercial center where most first-time visitors end up, cost 7 CNY and take roughly 50 minutes to Guangzhou East Railway Station. September air in Guangzhou currently reads 25.7°C but feels closer to 30°C at 89% humidity, so the cool rush of platform air conditioning is noticeable after 5 minutes in the arrivals hall. Trains start at 6:10am with the last departure around 11:30pm. Token machines accept coins and Alipay but not international contactless cards. The Line 3 cars fill up between 6pm and 8pm on weekdays, so expect to stand wedged between commuters with your bags for the full ride if you land during rush hour.

Airport Express coaches cover the routes Metro Line 3 misses. Line 1 runs to Guangzhou East Railway Station for 22 CNY ($3.30). Line 2A heads to Guangzhou South Railway Station for 28 CNY ($4.20), useful if you need a bullet train to Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Buses depart from the ground floor outside the arrivals halls from about 7am until midnight. The ride takes 45-70 minutes depending on traffic along the Baiyun section of the Guangshen Expressway, which slows to a crawl between 5pm and 9pm. You'll hear the driver leaning on the horn more than once. Route maps at the bus shelters are in Chinese characters. Take a photo of your hotel's address in Mandarin before you leave the terminal's free Wi-Fi zone, because that screenshot will save you 10 minutes of confused gesturing if the driver speaks no English.

After the last metro train, Didi is the fallback. The app works like Uber but requires a Chinese phone number, so either register before your flight or pick up a SIM at the arrivals-level China Mobile counter for about 50 CNY ($7). A Didi from Baiyun to Tianhe costs 100-130 CNY ($15-19), roughly 35 minutes at 1am when the Guangshen Expressway is empty and the Canton Tower's LED panels glow against the Pearl River. Metered taxis queue outside both terminals at 120-150 CNY ($18-22) for the same ride, with night surcharge after 11pm. Mind you, few Guangzhou taxi drivers speak conversational English. Have your destination in Chinese characters on your phone before joining the queue. Skip the limousine service counters inside arrivals. They quote 300-400 CNY for a trip Didi covers at a fraction of the price.

Guangzhou runs on mobile payments. WeChat Pay and Alipay handle everything from 7-Eleven snacks to metro token machines, and many smaller vendors near Baiyun won't take foreign cards or even cash readily. The Bank of China ATM on the arrivals level dispenses renminbi, but the manned exchange counter beside it tends to close after 10pm. For mobile data, the China Mobile SIM comes with 3-5 GB for 7 days, but Google Maps, WhatsApp, and most Western translation apps are blocked behind the Great Firewall. Download Baidu Maps and the Pleco dictionary while you still have airport Wi-Fi. Those two apps will carry you from the terminal to your hotel without a word of spoken Mandarin.