Domestic flights connect Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (深圳宝安国际机场), on the Chinese side of the Hong Kong - China border, with an array of destinations in mainland China. The difference in price between a flight ticket and a train ticket is not that significant, and if you book "smartly" you might even end up paying less for a flight... Obviously, some travelers (especially tourists) would prefer to use the train as it is "a part of the tour..."
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Flying from Shenzhen's airport to cities across China has two advantages: It is significantly cheaper than flying from Hong Kong, and you have more destinations to choose from.
Four major Chinese airlines are operating from Shenzhen: Shenzhen Airlines is a domestic budget airline based in Shenzhen International Airport. China Eastern Airlines, a Shanghai based company, flies to many cities and towns across the world's most populous country. Asia's largest airline, China Southern, also operates flights from Shenzhen and neighboring Guangzhou to an array of destinations across China and Asia. Hainan Airlines is another large airline which connects Shenzhen with a large number of destinations across China
elong.net is an online tickets agency that has a fairly good reputation. The fares they can offer for domestic flights within China are sometimes very good, for example:
A flight ticket from Shenzhen to Shanghai that was booked two weeks in advance (at the end of March 2007), was sold at a discount of 70% !!! The discounted price was RMB 530 (equivalent to US$ 69 at the time) while the ticket's official price was RMB 1,750 (equivalent to US$ 226 at the time).
Two other online tickets agencies that you might want to check are http://www.ctrip.com and http://www.yoee.com
Please note: More frequently than not, you will not find tickets at such a good price. Moreover, some of those online agencies publish very good rates at their website but pretend to have run out of them, once you try to book...
An amount of RMB 130 has to be added to the ticket price (airport taxes, etc...)
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Getting from Hong Kong to Shenzhen Airport is quite easy:
Shun Tak - China Travel Ship Management operates the Turbo Jet - quick ferry service to provide a direct quick-ferry-link between Hong Kong International Airport and Shenzhen Airport (for transit passengers)
Right now, the ferry from HKIA (Sky Pier) to Shenzhen Airport departs once a day at 19:10.
The ferry from Shenzhen Airport to HKIA leaves from Fuyong ferry terminal (a few kilometres from Shenzhen Airport) at 18:00
Ticket cost is HK$ 200 one way (at the time of writing), inclusive of taxes
The Ferries from Macau to Shenzhen Airport leave at 11:30, 12:45, 15:30, 16:15 and 19:30, and the journey takes about 1 hour
For more information, see Turbo jet website.
Buses seem to be an even better option nowadays:
Chinalink Bus Company provides the fastest road link from Hong Kong to Shenzhen Airport. Their buses travel via the newly opened Hong Kong - Shenzhen Western Corridor (This is the first border-crossing point with immigration facilities of both Hong Kong and Mainland China co-located at the same building, which means that border-crossing procedures are much faster) and the whole journey takes something like 1 hour and 15 minutes. Moreover, there is a Shenzhen-airport check-in facility right at the bus terminus, which means you can be done with your check-in before leaving...
Chinalink's buses depart daily from the Elements Shopping Mall (just above MTR-Kowloon Station and the Kowloon Airport Express station), from 7:15 am to 7:15 pm (once every thirty minutes) and a one way ticket costs around HK$ 100
Their ticketing office is on the mall's 1st floor
Getting to Elements Mall is simple: There is a free shuttle from Peking Road (next to the Duty Free) in Tsim sha Tsui (departing every 20 minutes, from 12:30 to 9:30 pm) or you can take the MTR (Kowloon Station, on the Orange marked Tung Chung Line) or the Airport Express (from Central), or bus No. 8 from Tsim sha Tsui's Star Ferry pier.
Buses depart from Shenzhen Airport every 30 minutes, from 9:30 am - 9 pm (tickets can be purchased at the airport's arrivals hall - watch out for salespeople who tout other "direct buses" as those are normally traveling via Huanggang and the journey takes much longer...)
For more information, you can call Chinalink Bus Company on (852) 2230 3030
Another bus company which operates bus-lines from Hong Kong to Shenzhen Airport is Trans Island Chinalink. Their buses leave from Kowloon Tong and Prince Edward (in Kowloon), as well as from Wanchai (on Hong Kong Island) and travel through either the Hong Kong - Shenzhen Western Corridor (faster option) or the Huanggang border-cross (much slower).
Generally speaking, they are much slower than Chinalink and the only reason you might want to consider traveling with them is because they depart from locations which may be more convenient for you... Their prices are similar to those of Chinalink.
For more information, you can call them on (852) 3193 9333 / 2262-3232 or visit the relevant page at their website
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