Travel

Travel Note

Location

Our wedding will be in Congjiang County, Guizhou Province, China! Below is a general set of direction on how to get to our location!

Travel Note

Visa Requirements

Guests traveling to mainland China should check whether they need a visa based on their passport nationality. U.S. passport holders generally need to apply for a Chinese tourist visa, also called an L visa, before traveling. The application is completed through China’s official online visa application system (linked below), followed by passport submission after preliminary review. Please start early once your travel dates are set, since the system currently accepts applications only for entry dates within the next 90 days, and processing times can vary. Some non-U.S. guests may qualify for visa-free entry, so please check the latest rules for your passport country.

Travel Note

Guide for First Time China Travelers

For some guests, this may be your first time traveling abroad to China. There is quite a bit of preparation you should keep in mind prior to arriving, including but not limited to applying for a visa at the nearest Chinese embassy/consulate! A recent guide has been linked below. If you have any troubles or questions, please do not hesitate to contact Vincent or Alice. We will do our best to help you through the process.

Travel Note

International Traveler Cost-Saving Strategy

For those traveling abroad from places such as the United States, visa difficulties and plane ticket expenses (which can be $2000+ USD) can be particularly prohibitive. As a way of getting around these difficulties, consider the following strategy to keep plane tickets as low as possible and removing the need for a visa (pending citizenship from one of 55 eligible countries): Choose Hong Kong (HK) as your port of entry. Then choose Guangzhou (GZ) as your port of departure. These cities are virtually next to each other (~45 min train, research "Pearl River Delta" to get a sense of the area). Conversely, you can switch these around (HK departure, GZ arrival). Because HK and GZ are major international hubs with frequent inbound and outbound flights, you will find the cheapest plane tickets here. You can then cross the border via a high-speed rail connection between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Futian Station in Shenzhen. If you do this, you will be eligible for the 240-hour visa-free travel permit, also known as a transit without visa (TWOV) permit, which means you can travel freely for up to 10 days/240 hours across nearly all provincial-level regions of China including major metropolitan areas, except Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Jilin, and Inner Mongolia. This works because Hong Kong is classified as an independent region for immigration purposes, including the requirement for the TWOV permit to have two different entry/exit countries (https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c183412/content.html). You will have to show the customs officer printed international flight itineraries/cross-border train tickets and hotel bookings at the border crossing into China. There will also be a separate line at customs specifically designated for TWOV applications. Following this strategy, it is possible to keep the overall cost of plane tickets down (e.g. around $1250 USD to/from NYC) (please use Skyscanner or another flight aggregator).

Travel Note

International Flights: Additional Guidelines

For international travelers, please also be aware that if you are selecting cheaper international plane tickets, check layover times and ideally keep them at least 2-3 hours especially if going domestic > international, no less.

Travel Note

Booking Accommodations and Travel

If you are booking accommodations and travel domestically (flights, trains) on your own, we recommend using Trip.com. It has the best English-friendly UI out of the apps with native integration with local Chinese booking systems. Note that like flights, booking high-speed rail tickets and train stop gate check-in will require your passport. In terms of hotels, you can get particularly nice hotels for as low as $20/night USD in most places, including downtown areas of major cities. However, just be sure that the hotel you are booking can accept foreign passports, because most hotels are not equipped with that capability, especially in more rural parts of China.

Flight

International Airports

(SPECIAL NOTE: For guests flying in from long-distance locations such as the United States and want to come directly, we highly recommend flying into Guangzhou or Hong Kong and taking a 3-hour high speed train to Congjiang as a cost-saving measure instead of flying to Guilin or Guiyang. It is far, far cheaper. Please use services like Skyscanner to help find the best tickets.) For those flying direct to the wedding, either the airports of Guilin or Guiyang are the closest to Congjiang: Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport Guiyang is the provincial capital of Guizhou. If flying direct to the wedding, Longdongbao Airport is the closest airport to Congjiang. A direct to train to Congjiang Railway Station from here is approximately 1.5 hours. Guilin Liangjiang International Airport Guilin is a major city of the neighboring Guangxi province. It also serves as a popular tourist destination. Guilin is only a ~45 minute train ride to Congjiang Railway Station. If you are considering adding additional locations for a longer itinerary in South China, you may also consider flying in/out through Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, or Hong Kong.

Train

Congjiang Railway Station

We recommend considering this your main connecting point for getting into Congjiang County. From here, you'll have to take a ~45 minute bus to the Congjiang city center.

Travel Note

Mobile Maps and Navigation

For iOS users, Apple Maps should function in China. However, for Android users, if you are normally used to using Google Maps, it will be unresponsive and disorienting. Instead, the best alternative options are Amaps or Baidu Maps, but they are only in Chinese. NOTE: in all cases, if you are not using a Chinese map app/Apple maps for navigation/location, all map data will be offset by some non-uniform amount in random directions, by as much as nearly 1 km. This will appear as roads and locations appearing in mismatched or overlapping places compared with satellite imagery.

Travel Note

Climate/Weather

Southern coastal China in August experiences sweltering heat, high humidity, and frequent monsoon rains, with average daily temperatures ranging from 27°C to 35°C (80°F–95°F). It is also peak typhoon season, meaning coastal areas frequently endure sudden heavy storms and strong winds. However, in the western and more mountainous regions of Guizhou, where Congjiang is, the altitude is higher and you can expect the temperature to be more manageable. Even so, the climate is still very warm and humid: it will be wet season, with average daytime highs ranging from 32°C to 33°C (90°F to 91°F) and overnight lows cooling down to 22°C to 23°C (71°F to 73°F). Expect rainfall for about half the month. We recommend packing "light and waterproof": lightweight, loose-fitting, quick-drying clothing, short-sleeved shirts and shorts, a sturdy umbrella or two, a quality rain jacket, waterproof shoes and sandals, waterproofing bags for sensitive electronics, a water-resistant daypack, and sunscreen/insect repellent.