Accommodation in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou

[JohnK]

A friend and his foreman are going to China in May for a week on business and will be spending a few days in Shanghai, Hangzhou ang Guangzhou before flying back from Hong Kong. They have already organised a single entry visa for China and the airfares for SYD-PVG/HKG-SYD are also booked on QF.

Can anyone recommend a hotel in The Bund area in Shanghai at no more than A$100/night. I have looked at a few, Metropole Hotel, Magnificent Hotel etc, and they do not have good reviews on tripadvisor. The Holiday Inn Downtown looks OK at A$100/night but is a little further out from the Bund. They will be travelling daily to the Pudong New Area for a furniture convention.

Also can anyone recommend any nightlife, bars/discos, suited to singles rather than couples? They are not interested in and will not have time for tourist attractions.

I think the best way to get from Shanghai to Hangzhou would be by bus. It is only a 2 hour bus trip and not very expensive. I think the train may also be an option.

The difficult part would appear gettting from Hangzhou to Guangzhou. I have not done any detail research yet but at first glance the cheapest flights appear to be around A$350 one way. I would like to find cheaper flights if possible. Any suggestions?

Would I be right in assuming that the best and cheapest option to get from Guangzhou to Hong Kong would be the train. They have a late night departure HKG-SYD.

Again any recommended hotels in Hangzhou and Guangzhou for around A$100/night would be greatly appreciated. They will be staying in Shanghai for 3 days but may get more business leads while there so not sure how long they will stay in Hangzhou or Guangzhou. I am trying to convince him to book accommodation now and not leave it to the last minute but he is convinced that he will be able to go to the hotel reception in the Shanghai hotel and get them to book the other hotels for him. I wish I had his confidence....

 

[Evan]

Only downtown hotel i have used it "holiday-Inn downtown", its small but ok.
Generally i stay in Pudong, the IC there is very nice (but at a little more than AUD100)
I may be able to ask a few people i work with if you get stuck but generally i think they also stay Pudong side instead of downtown.

E

 

[JohnK]

Thanks Evan. I recommended that they stay in Pudong area and had the Gloria Plaza hotel earmarked but they decided that going out at night was more important so they want to stay downtown and travel back and forth from the convention during the day.

He is the owner of a small business and is travelling economy and wants to save as much money as possible on accommodation. A room is a room but needs to be comfortable and the hotel to have a decent reputation.

Anyway I think I will book the Holiday Inn Downtown for them and research some hotels in Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

 

[Evan]

At the downtown there is 2 wings, one is better than the other but looking through my bookings i could not tell what one i was in last, i think it was the great wall wing and not the plaza wing, it was a just renovated room, small but nice enough.

So if anybody has been there recently and knows both wings please speak up because they usually cost the same but one is better than other.

E

 

[Keith009]

SHA nightlife: Can't go wrong with the Bund area. I liked Glamour Bar and Bar Rouge.

Glamour Bar (6th floor, 5 on the Bund): Trendy, trendy, trendy!! They make great coughtails, and have a long champagne list. Beautiful crowd too. Also, check out the restaurant there, M on the Bund - Modern Med fusion.

Bar Rouge (7th floor, 18 on the Bund): They usually have a great DJ there on Saturday night, but that means you pay a bit more in cover charge. And you've to be careful of the overcharging (if it seems expensive you're probably overcharged - avoid use of credit cards). The Pourcel Brothers also have a restaurant in the same building - Sens Et Bund.

Gotta love the interior designs of the most of the buildings on the Bund. My favourite of all is 3 on the Bund - a must-visit just for the decor! Aussie chef David Laris has a restaurant in there which is meant to be good but I've yet to try it - will do so on my next visit.

All of these places also have nice views of the Bund.

People will suggest Xintiandi but I personally found it boring.

 

[JohnK]

I have managed to twist my friends arm and have booked 3 nights at the Central Hotel in the Bund area for ~A$180/night. Not cheap but it had very good reviews on TripAdvisor and is close to all the action. Not worth risking some of the cheaper Shanghai hotels based on the many negative reviews.

I have not been able to concinve him yet to book the rest of the weeks accommodation as opposed to leaving the bookings for the last minute and potentially paying rack rate.

Still looking for any advice on Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

 

[Shano]

Is you friend attending a trade fair in Guangzhou?

I attended an industry exhibition there last year, at the Guangzhou International Exhibition Centre.

I actually stayed in Foshan, rather than Guangzhou as I was also meeting a business contact that had an office in Foshan.

Foshan is really an outer suburb of Guangzhou now anyway, rather than a separate city. The Foshan Hotel where I was staying ran a complimentary bus service to the exhibition centre each day. It took about 45 minutes, depending on traffic. A taxi from hotel to exhibition centre was from memory about 150RMB, so no more than about A$25.

The Foshan hotel is a nice hotel, probably 4.5 star. I paid about A$140 per night.

Taxi from CAN airport to Foshan is also about 120 - 150 RMB.

 

[JohnK]

Is you friend attending a trade fair in Guangzhou?

He is attending a furniture exhibition in Shanghai. I think there are also furniture exhibitions in Hangzhou and Guangzhou the same week.

The trip to China will involve the furniture exhibition and visiting manufacturers factories in the various cities. He has never travelled to China before so this is a learning exercise and where possible he would prefer to stay closer to the centre of town and travel each day to the exhibition and factories.

 

[Shano]

He is attending a furniture exhibition in Shanghai. I think there are also furniture exhibitions in Hangzhou and Guangzhou the same week.

The trip to China will involve the furniture exhibition and visiting manufacturers factories in the various cities. He has never travelled to China before so this is a learning exercise and where possible he would prefer to stay closer to the centre of town and travel each day to the exhibition and factories.

Fair enough. I recall seeing something about a furniture exhibition as part of the Canton Fair season, so this is likely to be at the International Exhibition Centre. From memory this is in the Pazhou region of Guangzhou.

All hotels charge a premium during the Canton Fair.

This site might give a few options

Furniture is at the Pazhou complex from 25th - 30th.

 

[jasonja3]

China Hotels.netiscount China Hotels Online:China Travel Guide-China Hotel Reservation is a good site, and they have the added bonus of the hotel address in chinese so you can print it off.

Whilst in Guangzhou, if they are visiting the Pazhou complex, it is well serviced by the sub way, and most larger hotels run a shuttle service to the complex. Absolutley forget a taxi in the afternoon from the complex. The only hotel at the venue is the new Shangri La which is very nice, but expensive for China. Next closest is the Regal River, which looks nice, but is only average. If they are happy to get around Guangzhou during fair times. <$100 hotels are plentiful around the city.

The other complex in Liuhua is way across town (1hr from eachother)to the north of the city, so they need to check which complex, although as Shano suggested, will be Pazhou.

Train is by far the best to HKG if staying in the city, departs from Guangzhou East. Best to pre book at China Travel Service | Australia Sydney Melbourne Travel Hotels Tours Asia Hong Kong China Taiwan because quite often during far times the trains are full. The only problem is you pay twice as much pre-booking, but better than being stranded while waiting for a seat and missing your flight!!

Travel to the factories will probably be minimum two hours from Guangzhou, not much is close to the city. Foshan would be one of the larger centres for these factories.

 

[bobsi18]

Presume it's too late, but in case it's not...

For flights between Chinese cities, look at ctrip (http://english.ctrip.com/), elong (eLong - Travel China, Travel Smart - China, travel, discount airfare, flights, hotels, cars) and http://ticket.9588.com. I've booked through all services and had no trouble so far - 9588 seems to have better deals on average, and they usually offer an eticket - some of the flights with ctrip and elong require a paper ticket be supplied, which can make life difficult when you're booking from overseas.

Travel in China can be challenging, but as long as you persevere, you'll be fine (or rather, your friend will be )

Oh yeh, I've also booked a fair amount of accommodation through ctrip, with no problems.

 

[JohnK]

Thanks. The link for ctrip does not appear to work but eLong and 9588 look good for domestic flights.

I had a quick look at accommodation with eLong and it is OK. Will compare this to other sites for the best room rates.

Any ideas on which is the better airline? We have a choice of Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines, China Southern and China Eastern. I guess the trip is only 2 hours so the panic stops when they land in Guangzhou.

 

[Shano]

Any ideas on which is the better airline? We have a choice of Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines, China Southern and China Eastern. I guess the trip is only 2 hours so the panic stops when they land in Guangzhou.

I have flown China Eastern and China Southern recently in Y within China. Both airlines were quite acceptable. Both airlines will provide a snack during the flight.

Have not flown Shanghai Airlines or Air China.

Domestic flights leave from both SHA (Hongqiao) and PVG (Pudong), although the vast majority of domestic flights are out of SHA. Both are easily accessible from downtown Shanghai, although PVG will cost more in a taxi than SHA.

 

[JohnK]

Domestic flights leave from both SHA (Hongqiao) and PVG (Pudong), although the vast majority of domestic flights are out of SHA. Both are easily accessible from downtown Shanghai, although PVG will cost more in a taxi than SHA.

Thanks. They will be taking the bus/train down to Hangzhou as we have managed to setup appointments with 2 factories. Most likely an overnight in Hangzhou and then a flight next morning from HGH-CAN which is much cheaper than going from SHA/PVG.

We have also managed to setup appointments with 4 factories in Foshan. This will mean 2 nights there as there is really only time to visit 2 factories in a day. Given the travel times I think it will be best to stay in Foshan rather than Guangzhou so I will have a look at your hotel recommendation.

From Foshan they need to get Guangzhou East for the train to HKG. They have 9:15pm flight from HKG so I think the ~3:00pm train from Guangzhou East would get into Hung Hom at ~5:30pm which should leave plenty of time to get to the airport. How long would it take to get from a factory in Foshan to Guangzhou East train station? I think they should get a taxi at midday which gives them 3 hours to get to the train station.

While I was helping him out last week I got told to seriously get a life. He was shocked that I knew airport codes like PVG, HGH, CAN, HKG etc when I was searching for a domestic flight. He could not understand why I would even remember such insignificant codes.

 

[drcam]

May is a great time to be in Shanghai - it's like Auckland in summer - never unbearably hot, although a little humid, and the flowers in full bloom with hayfever to boot. Hangzhou's West Lake will be also near its best, although it's a bit too early for the lotuses.

Try the new Motel 168 chain - they are based in Shanghai. Despite the name, they are actually quite tasteful and come with a reasonable buffet breakfast for around 250 yuan ($40) a night, obviously you don't get great room service but it does the job nicely.

The best way to get to Hangzhou is on the new bullet train (designated D). About four or five trains a day leave from Shanghai South station (not the main station which now only has trains going northward via Jiangsu) where all trains for Zhejiang and the South now depart. The journey takes as little as 75 minutes and costs about $20 in first class. Ordinary express trains run frequently, taking two hours and are considerably cheaper. Unfortunately, all the good hotels in Hangzhou are expensive and budget options are distinctly thin, but then it is a good place for a splurge. Try Zhejiang Dim Sum (very different from HK dim sum) at the teahouse by the lake near Leifeng Pagoda (about Y100 per head). Don't even think about travelling by bus from Shanghai.

As for a flight from HGH to CAN - you need to book your flight within China; you will simply be ripped off megabucks if you try to book it overseas. Obviously the earlier the better, but you should be able to get a fare easily for less than 1000 yuan ($160). CITS should be able to do this.

 

[JohnK]

Excellent. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are starting to come together.

Unfortunately, all the good hotels in Hangzhou are expensive and budget options are distinctly thin, but then it is a good place for a splurge.

Looking at various reviews from websites like TripAdvisor we decided to spend a little more on accommodation. So the budget is now somewhere between $150 and $200.

We have booked the Central Hotel in the Shanghai Bund district for 3 nights so we still need 1 night accommodation in Hangzhou and 2 nights in Guangzhou/Foshan.

Don't even think about travelling by bus from Shanghai.

Any reasons why? The first bus should get into Hangzhou at around 8:00am.

The train sounds a better option but we need to look at the schedules as they are hoping to be in Hangzhou well before lunch to have time to visit one factory possibly 2.

As for a flight from HGH to CAN - you need to book your flight within China; you will simply be ripped off megabucks if you try to book it overseas. Obviously the earlier the better, but you should be able to get a fare easily for less than 1000 yuan ($160). CITS should be able to do this.

Interestingly enough the price on Expedia for a flight HGH-CAN was ~$150. So not really too bad. Searching eLong, the website posted earlier, a flight HGH-CAN one-way is 570 CNY, ~A$90. Even better.

 

[drcam]

All the long-distance bus terminals in Shanghai are way out of town, and Chinese buses generally are less safe than trains and, compared to first-class train compartments, have a higher proportion of bogans (sorry for the snobbery, but I had to say this).

Don't forget to use the first class (soft seat) lounge when travelling by train!

Also on domestic flights within China, Air China is good, they have marginally better service than the other ones, you might even get a snack on the trips and it gets you Star Alliance frequent flyer points (hopefully).

 

[JohnK]

I should have mentioned that the 2 people travelling are very infrequent travellers. If this trip succeeds there will be no need to return to China as they will be able to order directly from Australia. They are only a small business with a small budget that does not include unnecessary travel.

I am trying to justify the $82.50 joining fee for QFF program but they will earn ~9,451 QFF points. My friend who is also the owner of the company has an Amex business accelerator credit card so I should be able to get him a suitable award down the track.

 

[Shano]

From Foshan they need to get Guangzhou East for the train to HKG. They have 9:15pm flight from HKG so I think the ~3:00pm train from Guangzhou East would get into Hung Hom at ~5:30pm which should leave plenty of time to get to the airport. How long would it take to get from a factory in Foshan to Guangzhou East train station? I think they should get a taxi at midday which gives them 3 hours to get to the train station.

Foshan covers a large area so depending on exactly where the factory is will dictate how long it takes to get to Guangzhou East train station.

Downtown Foshan to Guangzhou East at that time of the day is unlikely to take more than an hour, however your friends could be an hour on the other side of Foshan if in a fairly industrial area.

Depending on what they wanted to spend, they could also fly from CAN to HKG, however many people do catch the train across to HKG.

The other option is a ferry from Foshan to HKG.

 

[JohnK]

Foshan covers a large area so depending on exactly where the factory is will dictate how long it takes to get to Guangzhou East train station.

Downtown Foshan to Guangzhou East at that time of the day is unlikely to take more than an hour, however your friends could be an hour on the other side of Foshan if in a fairly industrial area.

Perfect. It is all I need to know to help them plan the return to HKG.

If I allow 3 hours to get to Guangzhou East train station from Foshan they can revise this on the advice of a local factory manager that morning. As I mentioned there are 4 factories to visit in separate districts in Foshan industrial area but I do not know where one district is in relation to the others or which order the factories will be visited.