polarpacific

Hello

Currently in Zhanjiang and need to go to Hongkong next week for a few hours ... but due to flight schedules have to go via Shenzhen (arrive SZX morning and depart SZX late evening).

I haven't been to Shenzhen before and would just like to check if the following is an efficient path to get from SZX to HK Central. Timings from Google Maps.


Step 1. SZ Metro Line 11 (maroon) Airport to Futian station (24 min)
Step 2. Walk to Civic Centre station (1 min)
Step 3. SZ Metro Line 4 (red) Civic Centre to Futian Checkpoint station (4 min)
Step 4. Walk through China immigration and HongKong immigration
Step 5. HK East Rail Line (light blue) Lok Ma Chau station to Mongkok station (44 min)
[Google shows this as direct path, but not sure if have to transfer to Kwun Tong Line (green) at Kowloon Tong station]
Step 6. HK Tsuen Wan Line (red) Mongkok station to Central station (15 min)

Total travel time appears to be about 2 hours with 30 min in SZ and 60 min in HK plus 30 min for immigration ... So if flight arrives at 8:50 am should this path be good for a meeting at Exchange Square at 11:30 am ?

Reverse more flexible but would probably leave Central around 6-7 pm to catch flight departing SZX at 10:30 pm.

Thanks

889

You're underestimating by just including travel time, forgetting waiting time, buying ticket time, getting lost time, etc. I'd say 12:30 at Exchange Square would be safer.

There's also a bus from the airport. Whether it's quicker depends on how long you have to wait for the bus.

moondog

-avail of a bus (actually two buses) on the way down
-bus to futian plus train to szx on the way back

Your subway plan is definitely sub optimal.

tentseller

There are buses from SZX to various places in HK, you should look at using one of them.

All the rail border crossing are gear for auto gates. If you do not have access to them there are not many immigration desk open. Usually I only see one or two and a long line up.

Hong Kong MTR:
Lok Ma Chau to Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong to Mong Kok
Mong Kok to Central

Best IMHO is bus as close to Central as you can and taxi to Exchange Square.

Time, 12:30 is a safer meeting time.

889

Thus I suggest Luohu not Futian if the OP does this by train. A separate line for foreigners there on the Chinese side, and it's usually short.

cxfan1960

SZX is not that small. Last time it took me 20 minutes from leaving the plane to entering the car park (without checked luggage). So you may want to add some walk time inside the airport.

cxfan1960

East Rail has a Mong Kok East station. Tsuen Wan Line station is Mong Kok. The two stations are not connected at all. You need to transfer at Kowloon Tong to the Kwun Tong line before transferring to the Tsuen Wan Line at Mongkok.

JPDM

Late last year I was in Shenzhen for a few days and had to go to HK to meet friends... so I had to go back and forth a few times. But I had no luggage.
The subway makes sense if you are already in town somewhere but from the airport you are better off taking a bus to HK. You'll have luggage and won't like having to do all these transfers via the subway.
The only advantage of the subway is that it leaves continuously while you may have to wait a while for the next bus:
http://www.wikishenzhen.com/shenzhen...rom-hong-kong/

polarpacific

Thanks for all the great input !

I saw online (www.travelchinaguide.com) that there is a shuttle bus from SZX (desk A08/B04) to Kowloon station with scheduled duration of 75 min. The earliest departure is 09:30, so that should be enough time from flight landing at 08:50 ... and reaches Kowloon at 10:45.

The local MTR on Tung Chun line connects to to Hong Kong station in 5 min ... and is right next to Exhange Square, so should be feasible for 11:30 meeting.

Return side has latest bus departure at 19:15 from Kowloon, and arrives SZX at 20:30 ... so have lots of time before flight at 22:30.

No luggage (just laptop bag) as intraday only.

Question -- is the bus really direct in just 75 min? Obviously need to exit enroute for immigrations, but then same bus or transfer to a different bus after border each way?

If both immigrations take 15-30 min total, that means the bus travel time is only 45-60 min? (versus 90 min on trains)

I do generally prefer being on trains than buses, but I can see that the much shorter duration with fewer transfers does favour the bus in this case from SZX to HK central.

moondog

The bus that I know of from szx goes to Shenzhen Bay checkpoint. Then you do the immigration drill, and take another bus the rest of the way; I recommend the one that goes to the island (Central) in your case. 75 minutes is ambitious; plan on 2 hours.

889

The first time you do it, the bus arrangements at Shenzhen Bay can be a bit confusing, finding the right bus to your onward destination in particular. As well, if because of long immigration lines or such you miss the connecting bus, you'll have to wait for the next one.

To repeat, you should not be so optimistic about the timings.

Insiderdude

Agreed with many of the above posters on various points. Here's what I would do myself:

SZX arrival (remember it is a new airport now, much larger, more distance), take a taxi to the Futian/Lok Ma Chau checkpoint station (cabs are cheap and the time/sanity saved is definitely worth it). Not sure where Lo Wu came from, it's extra distance from SZX and an older checkpoint - Futian/Lok Ma Chau is easier, a newer facility, and generally more civilized. I've experienced them both (both as a foreigner and otherwise) and Futian/Lok Ma Chau is what I'd do from SZX.

Then on the Hong Kong subway system/MTR, do exactly as tentseller suggested: Lok Ma Chau to Kowloon Tong (a bit of a walk, all "trainside"), then to Mong Kok (or any of the before or after interchange stations), and then straight into Central.

With all of that, unless you know where to go and do this often (no lost factor), and don't have to buy tickets (ie hold an Octopus card ready to go), I wouldn't meet any time in Central before noon.

moondog

The reason the bus uses Sz Bay these days is because it is extremely fast/easy to get to from SZX. While I agree that it isn't the nicest checkpoint, late mornings are usually pretty quick (my average is 10 minutes from end to end). As 889 mentioned, finding the correct bus on the HK side can be a little daunting the first time, but this isn't rocket science either (e.g. simply show your ticket to any bus company employee, and they'll set you straight). If you miss your bus, you can simply take a different one (30 minutes interval to the island), or jump in a taxi.

Insiderdude

Agreed, if the time and scheduling works out, a bus thru SZ Bay is generally pretty efficient. When I mentioned an "older" checkpoint, I was comparing Futian/Lok Ma Chau vs. Lo Wu, with the former being closer to SZX and also nicer than Lo Wu.

tentseller

Mong Kok is mentioned as it is the transfer station design specifically for this transfer as you just go to the other side of the dual platform. The other two transferable points involves going up or down a level.