drewguy

I have a trip to Shenzhen coming up. Assuming flight costs and schedules are similar, is it easier to fly to PEK and then on to SZN, or easier to fly into HKG and then enter China/Shenzhen through a land crossing? So, really my question is how much of a hassle it is to go from HKG to Shenzhen.

(edited title since original question—US to Shenzhen via HKG or PEK—was answered but the thread lives on)

rkkwan

Easy through HKG if you transfer directly to ferry to either Shekou or Fuyong:

http://www.hongkongairport.com:80/en...prd-ports.html

No need to go through HK immigration and easy entry ports in China.

But if you can't do that, you have to go through HK immigration. Lots of "direct" buses to various points in Shenzhen from HKG, but requires crossing by land at either Shenzhen Bay or Huanggang crossing. Shenzhen Bay is a bit better, but can still be busy at times. Huanggang is pretty bad, as you need to get of bus twice, and the set up pretty messy.

Taiwaned

If you are looking to get some extra mileage than go the Beijing route
The land crossing is super simple. Lots of buses and trains to go through.

Pretty sure though through HK you can avoid HK immigration with a ferry.

rkkwan

Hardly any. LAX-PEK-SZX is only about 200 miles more than LAX-HKG; while JFK-PEK-SZX is only about 20 miles longer than JFK-HKG, as PEK is right on the great-circle route between NYC and Hong Kong/Shenzhen.

drewguy

Yeah I'm flying from IAD, and it looks like it works out about the same for miles. I'm changing planes somewhere-ORD, SFO, or PEK.

PEK probably offers better upgrade opportunities on UAL, but what I'm really trying to figure out is how to minimize hassles.

anacapamalibu

Shortest hassle free itinerary.
Not factoring in upgrade potential, price, or availability.

UA 8:19 AM IAD - 11:15 AM SFO
UA 12:40 PM SFO - 6:05 PM HKG
Sky Pier Ferry HKG - Shekou Port #3A110 18:30 35 minutes

drewguy

Looks interesting. How does the bag check work? How do you get your bags marked for transit to the ferry when you check in in the US? Or is bag pickup before immigration/customs?

anacapamalibu

Go to the ferry desk, give them your baggage claim ticket.
They go and fetch your bags for you and put them on the ferry.
You do not clear immigration or customs in HK...you do that at
Shenzhen port.

Its simple and hassle free:

Ferry check-in procedure

Proceed to "Ferries to Mainland/Macau ticketing counter" at transfer area E2 (before Immigration).

http://www.hongkongairport.com/pr_im...ansferArea.jpg

Purchase the ferry ticket showing your passport and your checked baggage tag.

* Customers with checked baggage are required to arrive at the Ferry Transfer Desk 60 minutes before ferry departure for document check/ purchase of tickets. Customers with hand baggage only are required to arrive at the Ferry Transfer Desk 30 minutes before ferry departure for document check/ purchase of tickets.
.

Board Shuttle train (APM) for SkyPier
Board shuttle train(APM) from the entrance located next to "Ferries to Mainland/Macau ticketing counter"

http://www.hongkongairport.com/pr_img/SkyPier_APM.jpg

Exiting Shekou Ferry Terminal

When exiting the ferry terminal bypass the taxi touts. They can be very aggressive and I have
actually witnessed them getting violent. So go straight outside to the taxi queue.

http://www.szcchina.com/blog/wp-cont...ekou-ferry.jpg

drewguy

Great info, folks. Looks like if I have a flight arriving at 6p, and a checked bag, I'm looking at the 7:30 ferry.

mnredfox

PEK = hassle free
HKG = requires land transfer

anacapamalibu

Correct, to get to the mainland from HKG (Hong Kong International Airport),
on Lantau Island, you either
have to make the transfer to land by ferry or take the Tsing Ma bridge.

jiejie

I don't find the HK-SZ routing that much of a hassle. Sometimes it's more predictable, even with queues at border immigration, compared to ATC delays at PEK. Or worse, flight cancellations.

There are many routes from HKG to Shenzhen. Choice of whether to take ferry direct (only 2 choices of destination) vs go through HK immigration then bus over (more choices and routes) might depend on exactly where you want to end up, once in Shenzhen.

moondog

IAD-ICN-SZX is the best option, even if the layover is on the long side. The other two alternatives are unpleasant.

travelinmanS

I've never done the ICN routing for Southern China but for cities in Northern China it is indeed the best choice of transfer point.

For the OP's question I would say that PEK is the worst choice by far. I'd do HKG even if it involved crossing the border into HK and taking a bus then crossing the border into China. That is still preferable to going thru customs in PEK then waiting in PEK for a flight likely to be 2-3 hours delayed in CA's dumpy domestic lounge then arriving at the Shenzhen airport at midnight and having to catch a cab into town which just about as far away from Shenzhen downtown as HKG Airport. This is definitely the least appetizing of the options!

If you can get a good connection time thru ICN and fly UA on the SFO-ICN portion, it's usually a fairly easy upgrade when compared with the UA - China flights.

If you really don't care about UA miles or flight comfort but simply want the absolute easiest/least time consuming connection you can fly IAD-LAX-CAN with LAX-CAN on CZ but their economy class is the pits (although they do have reasonable economy deluxe prices sometimes). Busses from CAN to Shenzhen run all the time and are easy to do.

Basically anything would be better than connecting in PEK.

moondog

I recommended ICN because KE flies IAD-ICN and ICN-SZX. Since getting to ICN on a different carrier requires a double connection and presumably costs more money, I didn't consider this option.

Given the choice of doing the "Shenzhen Shuffle" or connecting in Beijing, I would lean towards the latter because the former is considerably annoying (i.e. worse than hanging around PEK). In fact, I would stop over here because Beijing is an interesting city.

Bottom line: the only 1-stop options between IAD and SZX are via ICN or PEK.