Table of Contents
By direct train or make a transfer
There are 3 daily high speed trains running between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Guilin West Railway Station (GuilinXi), taking around 4 hours. You can also consider making a transfer at Guangzhou South, which provides you with more train options, and allows you to arrvie at the centrally-located Guilin Railway Station or Guilin North Station.
- Route 1: Hong Kong West Kowloon – Guilin West, 2 train daily
- Route 2: Hong Kong West Kowloon – Guangzhou South – Guilin or Guilin North, recommended
How far is Hong Kong from Guilin: the distance is about 660 kilometers.
Map of Stations & High Speed Rail Route
Ask Jack
If you have any questions about your Hong Kong – Yangshuo – Guilin travel, you can turn to ask Jack. I’d love to offer help.
1. Hong Kong – Guilin West by direct train, 2 daily
The most effective way to travel between Hong Kong and Guilin is by direct train. As of July of 2023, there are 3 daily direct bullet trains running between Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Guilin West Railway Station (GuilinXi). But Guilin West is a bit far from central Guilin, and you’ll have to take a bus to get to Guilin West. For a better route, just see route 2 below.
G320 & G408, G2964 are running from Hong Kong West Kowloon (HKWestKowloon) at and arrive at Guilin West (GuilinXi), taking 4 hours.
Schedule, Ticket Price & Duration
Schedule last updated June 26, 2023
2 pairs daily train | ||||||
Trains | From – To | Dept – Arri | Duration | Ticket Fares (CNY/HK$) | ||
1st Cls | 2nd Cls | Biz Cls | ||||
G2964 | HK West Kowloon to Guilin West | 10:08- 14:16 | 4h08 | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
G320 | HK West Kowloon to Guilin West | 11:55- 15:54 | 3h59 | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
G408 | HK West Kowloon to Guilin West | 12:06- 16:05 | 3h59 | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
G319 | Guilin West to HK West Kowloon | 11:50- 15:58 | 4h08 | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
G407 | Guilin West to HK West Kowloon | 12:54- 16:54 | 4h | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
G2963 | Guilin West to HK West Kowloon | 14:22- 18:55 | 4h33 | ¥581 | ¥363 | ¥1089 |
For a live schedule & ticket availability & more trains, please refer to http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/
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How to Take a Train from HK West Kowloon
Photos courtesy of Keith Wong, a Singaporean working in HK & ChinaTrain12306 visitor.
2. Hong Kong – Guilin via Guangzhou, more trains
Currently, the best way to travel by train between Hong Kong & Guilin is to go via Guangzhou. That is the route: Hong Kong – Guangzhou South – Guilin North or Guilin Station. You’ll arrive at the centrally-located Guilin Railway Station or Guilin North (Guilinbei) from Guangzhou South. You need to allow 45 minutes at least for making transfer at Guangzhou South.
Photo guide on how to make transfer at Guangzhou South
HK – Guangzhou – Guilin | |||||||
Train Type | From – To | Frequency | Steps | Duration | Ticket Fares (CNY) | ||
1st Cls | 2nd Cls | Biz Cls | |||||
G trains | HK West Kowloon – Guangzhou South | 27 | step 1 | 50m-1h | 344 | 215 | 645 |
G D trains | Guangzhou South – Guilin North | 22 | step 2 | 3h28 | 238 | 149 | 446 |
G D trains | Guangzhou South – Guilin Station | 4 | step 2 | 3h40 | 248 | 155 | |
For a live schedule, ticket delivery, just refer to www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/
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As you can see above, 22 trains from Guangzhou South are arriving at Guilin North (Guilinbei), and only 4 are arriving at the Guilin Railway Station in city center. So, Guilin Railway Station is the best one for your arrival or departure station.
But if you are departing from or arriving at Guilin North, you can take bus 1, 100 to get to the central Guilin (Guilin Train Station).
How to Buy Tickets
Where to Buy Tickets
At station: You can buy tickets at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station or any train stations (Guilin Station, Guilin North or Guilin West) in Guilin.
At HK West Kowloon Station, there are 23 ticket windows and 39 self-service ticket machines for passengers buying tickets. If buying at tickets window, it accepts payments of Hong Kong dollars, China RMB, Octopus cards and credit cards. If buying at self-service machines (Not accept foreigner’s passport), it accepts WeChat Pay, Alipay, ApplePay, Samsung Pay, etc. Buy you can only buy no more than 10 tickets at the machines.
Book online: It is not possible to use China’s official rail booking site www.12306.cn as it is in Chinese and only accepts China banks card. Thus, you can turn to use a trusted online ticket agent China Highlights http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/, who has English version train schedule and will buy tickets for you once tickets are released online. The agent can help you select a window seat or aisle seat and even deliver tickets to your hotel. They will charge you service fee or delivery fee. You can place your order any time with them.
When to Book Tickets
Do I need to book tickets in advance?
Yes. As both Guilin and Hong Kong are popular tourism cities, train tickets on this route will be in great demand. It tends to sell out quickly (If tickets sell out, you can consider making at transfer at Guangzhou). So, it will be advised to use a ticket agent http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/, who will buy tickets for you once tickets are released.
Buy Online
If you are outside China, and want to buy tickets in advance online, you can turn to use an online ticke agent. Below are two trusted ticket agents who get positive reviews and recommended often on Trip Advisor:
- Buy at www.chinahiglights.com/china-trains/ (Sharon offers help)
- Buy at http://www.china-diy-travel.com/en/ (Promo code: ct123. Helen offers help)
- Service time: 24/7 hours Payments: Paypayl, Visa, MasterCard, Alipay, etc
Or you can also use Hong Kong MTR offical site to buy tickets:
- Buy ticket at Hong Kong MTR site (both in Chinese and English)
- Check train timetable
- Check train fare
Important notes: If you buy tikets on Hong Kong MTR official site, you are only be able to collect tickets in HK West Kowloon Station and it is imposible to pick up them in mainland China. So, if you start journey from West Kowloon Station to Guilin, and want to travel from Guilin back to HK, you should collect all tickets for both journeys in West Kowloon Station. But if you start your journey from Guilin West, don’t use HK MTR site to book tickets but use a mainland China’s site as you cannot pick up tickets booked at HK MTR site in Guilin.
How to take a train from Guangzhou South
How long in advance should I book the tickets?
Tickets go on sale online 30 days in advance, so you can buy tickets 30 days ahead of departure. But you can place order more than 30 days in advance if using a ticket agent.
Hong Kong – Yangshuo – Guangzhou Rail Route Planning
There is only 3 daily high speed trains linking Hong Kong with Guilin, but no direct trains linking Hong Kong and Yangshuo. So if you want to design your travel to cover Hong Kong, Guilin and Yangshuo, you will have to make a transfer at Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Here are the best rail route planning:
From Hong Kong to Yangshuo to Guilin: Take a high speed train from HK West Kowloon Station to Shenzhen North (HK – Shenzhen North – Yangshuo) or Guangzhou South (HK – Guangzhou South – Yangshuo) first, then connecte to a high speed train to Yangshuo Railway Station. From Yangshuo Train Station, you need to take a bus to Yangshuo Town.
- HK to Guangzhou by train & Guangzhou to Yangshuo by train (14 daily, 2h25) – recommended
- HK to Shenzhen by train & Shenzhen to Yangshuo by train (1 daily, 2h42)
After exploring Yangshuo, you can take a bus from Yangshuo to Guilin. When returning, you can take the high speed train from Guilin West Station to HK West Kowloon Station.