Transportation

Local Transport: Air, rail, roads and waterways connect Yunnan to the rest of China, nearby Greater Mekong Sub-region countries and regional destinations.

Yunnan is China’s only province with standard and metre gauge rail lines as well an inch railway on the 33-km Ojijie-Gejiu sub-line. The 100-year-old Kunming-Hekou line goes on to link the province with Hanoi, but several trains lines have been built since the 1960s. The main trunk lines connect Kunming with Guiyang, Chengdu, Nanning and Yuxi before continuing to other major Chinese cities. The nation’s first rail link to Tibet, set to test in 2006, uses Yunnan as a hub connecting to Beijing.

Kunming is a focal point for over 65,000 km of seven national and 61 provincial highways, with scenic spokes heading from Yunnan to Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Tibet, as well as Myanmar, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The modern Kunming – Songming, Chuxiong – Dali and Aiming – Xiaoshiba expressways provide fast, safe travel to other cities on China’s inter-province network.

Sleeper busses (wopuche) with blankets and pillows are the most comfortable for long-distance road trips. Night busses (yebanche) have cushioned seats and are slightly better than day busses (baibanche). Minibuses (zhongbache) are found everywhere.

Of Yunnan’s six main river systems, only two have been developed for navigation: the Jinsha River (upper Yangtze) and the Lancang/Mekong. The Shuifu Port on the Jinsha is the province’s busiest, with vessels able to reach Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai. The Lancang/Mekong is China’s only international river with Simao and Jinghong ports in Yunnan, and navigation facilities being developed downstream.

Good domestic airline services connect to provincial cities from Kunming.
Metered taxis are plentiful and come in standard and deluxe versions.

International Air Access: The province boasts 10 airports, with Kunming’s Wujiaba, one of the nation’s five largest, capable of handling 4.5 million passengers a year. Some 50 domestic routes link Yunnan’s airports to each other and the rest of China. Eight regular international air routes connect Kunming to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Vientiane and Yangon, while charters often arrive from other regional sources.