Guangzhou to Macau
 

Any ideas on the fastest way to get from Guangzhou to Macau ? Am told the ferry terminal in Nansha is a long trek from Guangzhou, hence not the best option

Nansha is at the Southern tip of Guangzhou. You are almost at Macau already.

Best is usually to head to Zhuhai then cross the border on foot. There are trains, but they leave from the inconvenient Guangzhou South station. I'd probably take a bus from a more central station to the Gongbei crossing.

Been reading that the crossing at Gongbei (on the chinese side), can take up to 2 hours ? Is that true ?
Would be staying only about 30 mins. away from the Guangzhou South Station.

The crossing is no fun, but I've never had it take anything like two hours. An hour would be a long time.

Possible with luggage as well ? (One fairly large sized check in bag & a one cabin bag)

If you can carry it you can take it. The crossing is compact and the distance isn't great: less than in an airport.

Taking a taxi when you exit, remember Macau has its own currency, though HKD accepted everywhere at par.

So, am looking at a flight from Macau at 13.15 hrs. Which means getting there by 11.15 or so.

Was thinking of catching the 08.15 departure. Train from Guangzhou South that gets into Zhuhai at 09.30. This gives me about 2 hours to clear customs at Gongbei, cross over and taxi it to Macau airport. Is this time enough or am i cutting it too fine ?

Considering this is your first time on this route, and it's a peak travel time, you should be at the airport by noon. But I will not guaranty it.

It's very easy to lose time in the vastness of Chinese train stations and the general confusion amidst all the crowds.

(I did not realise before that you'd be rushing to catch a plane.)

Sorry, should have mentioned earlier i was trying to piece this together based on a flight out of MFM
Have been thru China a couple of times in the past (but not this specific route though)
Did the Guangzhou East - Hung Hom run last time and was pretty straight forward. But yeah, still takes a bit to get your bearings in the stations there.

To play it safer still, could catch the 07.15 dep from Guangzhou that gets into Zhuhai at 08.15. This gives me 3 hours to cross over and make it to MFM airport by 11.30 for a 13.00 hrs departure. Any thoughts ?

It depends how risk adverse you are. The later train should work, but sometimes things happen.

In any event, get your train ticket the day before at a ticket outlet in Guangzhou. Lines can be unpredictably long at the station.