All - this thread was super helpful for our trip to Jiuzhaigou, and wanted to give some updates from our experience in August 2015.

Background: Four people, both Mandarin/Chinese speaking (3 Malaysian-CHinese and 1 American-CHinese)

We decided to go the independent route and find our our transport from JZH to Huanglong / Jiuzhaigou.

At the airport arrivals level, a tour company was offering RMB1400 package for us to drive to Huanglong, Jiuzhaihgou, and back.

There were taxi's outside, we were asking for a day-rate from airport, Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou, and got a quote of RMB600, they would not negotiate (or we weren't able to push the price) any further, despite a sign (in Chinese) that there were fixed rates to Jiuzhaigou for RMB180.

This rate is way too high - we later got a lower rate coming back from Jiuzhaigou for RMB400 There are a number of touts at the entrance/exit of Jiuzhaigou selling trips to go to 草园 （cao yuan - Tibetan style grasslands) for this price. The 草园 was a complete waste of time, I don't recommend it.

Both drivers wanted to bring us to go shopping for Traditional Chinese Medicine like the winter-worm/summer grass (冬虫夏草), which is crazy expensive per gram, they apparently got commissions for this. Since we didn't go shopping with the second driver, he became quite angry at us and threatened to leave us on the side of the road after we didn't buy anything. We had to convince him that we would refer long term customers, that there's still more time in the trip etc. That said, when we brought us to the 草园, there was clearly pressure on us to buy a ridiculously priced RMB4000 roast lamb, or very expensive hot pot, and even after that, pressure to go horse riding, etc.

On the way back to the airport, we stayed in ChuanZhuSi New Town (川主寺), which is the closest town to the airport (about 20-30 minutes away). It's a small mountain town, quite convenient to stay there. Our hotel was the ChuanZhu International Hotel 川主國際飯店, actually was quite good, RMB300 via CTrip. Fast in-room wifi, clean, modern toilets, newer rooms, hot water. Only downside was that you had to choose a non-smoking room in advance, and sometimes smoke from neighboring rooms would creep down the hallway. No details on this hotel online in ENglish, but I'd definitely return here for the convenient location. Lots of food options down the road, we tried out the Chinese Islamic restaurant (伊斯兰饭庄) down the road. Very tasty lamb dishes, quite reasonable prices, RMB20-50. per dish Huge interior space, they've previously hosted the PM of Malaysia (Mahathir) and Pakistan. Owner was quite friendly, and proud of her kids studying in the big cities.

Getting from ChuanZhuSi Town to the airport was simple, several taxis on the road offering prices between 50-70 RMB to the airport. FYI - if your flight leaves early in the morning, you should book a taxi ahead of time, as there were no taxis operating at 6am. We negotiated a price of RMB50, plus toll of about RMB7, and liked the guy so much that we gave a bit extra. I'll provide the phone number of this driver (we had so much hassle from the other two) if anybody is interested. He doesn't appear to do any of this commission/referral shopping business like the other drivers, and therefore earns less.

In summary:

• If you don't want hassle, you can book a private bus for RMB1400 per group to get from airport to Huanglong/JiuZhaiGou
• If using a taxi / driver to get from the airport to Jiuzhaigou, make sure it's clear you're not planning to shop for herbs, and try to get a price around RMB400 or less per day one-way, or RMB800 round trip.
• If you find that you like your driver, try to see if he'll do the round-trip, and get a discount since he/she won't need to work hard to find another client on your trip back
• In my opinion, 2 full days in Jiuzhaigou area is worth it. I'd spend the first day visiting Huanglong, relax and acclimate to the altitude, and then do a full day in Jiuzhaigou. Jiuzhaigou is clearly more amazing to see than Huanglong.
• Staying at ChuanZhu international hotel is quite convenient for getting to the airport, and very clean/modern location.