Complete Money-Saving Guide from Guangzhou to Fenghuang Town
Fenghuang is one of the top destinations for travelers from Guangdong, but many tourists, unfamiliar with local conditions, get badly overcharged and spend a lot of wasted money. So, using my own Fenghuang trip as an example, I'll introduce money-saving tips on "transport, lodging, and food" for traveling to Fenghuang. The following all start from Guangzhou Railway Station, with Jishou, Hunan as the destination.
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
Fenghuang is one of the most popular travel destinations for Cantonese people, but many tourists, unfamiliar with the local situation, get ripped off badly and spend a lot of wasted money. For this reason, taking my own Fenghuang trip as an opportunity, I'd like to introduce to everyone the money-saving ways of "transport, accommodation, and food" for traveling to Fenghuang. The following all takes Guangzhou Railway Station as the starting point and Jishou, Hunan as the destination.
Transport: Since Fenghuang town has no train station, you must take a train to another nearby place and then transfer to a bus into Fenghuang. Most people choose Jishou as the transfer point. There are two trains daily from Guangzhou to Jishou, one air-conditioned and the other non-air-conditioned.
Air-conditioned train L702 at 22:56 departs Guangzhou Railway Station for Jishou, Hunan; the price at the time was 131 yuan. Because I wanted convenience, I bought an air-conditioned soft-seat ticket at a train ticket agency for 136 yuan, of which the agency charged an extra 5 yuan service fee. If it's not peak travel season, I suggest buying tickets yourself at the train station. Non-air-conditioned train N702 at 14:29 departs Guangzhou Railway Station for Jishou, Hunan, priced at 119 yuan. Both trains take about seventeen hours, but both are often delayed.
After arriving in Jishou, there are two ways to get to Fenghuang town: one is by minibus, the other by taxi. Based on the prices at the time. The minibus is 12 yuan per person, and generally you can't bargain. For taxis, generally don't take one inside the train station square, and remember to pick the color of the taxi. Red and yellow are Jishou local taxis, so taking these colors to Fenghuang will be very expensive; at the time, after bargaining, a red taxi to Fenghuang still cost 90 yuan for five people. But I heard from another group of friends who went at the same time that they went outside the train station and flagged a green taxi, which cost only 70 yuan for four people, because green taxis are Fenghuang local taxis, and after coming to Jishou they are definitely bound to return, so having passengers is better than going back empty. So the price is relatively cheaper.
After arriving in Fenghuang, generally you don't need to take any transport within the town; walking while enjoying the town scenery is a very good choice. As for going to other places to play, if there are six or seven people, you can consider chartering a vehicle; a van is generally around 120 yuan, and a taxi is generally around 200 yuan. Actually, it's still not cost-effective, because taking a regular bus is only two or three yuan.
Accommodation: Lodging in Fenghuang is very cheap. As long as it's not peak tourist season, prices are generally around twenty or thirty yuan; the key is to bargain with the owner. Also, don't be tricked by those "touts." Those drivers generally collude with the "touts," and the "touts" collude with the inn owners. The "touts" are responsible for bringing people to the inn and then taking a kickback from it. The inn owner will then get the kickback back from you, so the accommodation price will be very high. So after going to Fenghuang, don't listen to those "touts"; find an inn yourself. The inn I stayed at was called "Jiangbei Inn." The environment was very good, and the owner was straightforward. Although it wasn't a stilted house, it was only 20 yuan per night, very cheap. If you ask the owner about travel questions, the owner will also responsibly tell you everything he knows. So that inn is still quite worth going to. I heard from other backpackers that riverside stilted houses are only 30 yuan per night; everyone can go experience what it's like to stay in a stilted house. Don't trust those famous inns; those inns charge seventy or eighty yuan for booking, and the environment is poor, not worth wasting money on. Generally, if you want air conditioning, you have to add ten yuan per night. Those inns are mostly in the form of a family living below and the inn above, generally run by locals. Backpackers can first look at the inn's environment and then decide whether to stay.
Food: Prices in Fenghuang are relatively low, so things are relatively cheap. At the time we often ate at a small shop downstairs from Jiangbei Inn; things there were all relatively cheap. Stir-fried greens were mostly five or six yuan, the locally famous blood cake duck was only twenty-five yuan for a large portion, and sour and spicy fish was also around twenty yuan. However, if you want to try something more authentic, you can go to Dashi Restaurant, but the food there is generally expensive, so I don't recommend it.
At night you can go to the barbecue shops by the Hong Bridge; greens are fifty cents per skewer, meat is one yuan per skewer, and a big handful is five yuan. But backpackers who can't eat spicy food should remember to tell them early not to add chili.
Fenghuang also has many snacks, including liangfen at one yuan per bowl, shefan at two yuan per box, plum blossom cake at two yuan for a large piece, pickled radish at one yuan for two pieces, stinky tofu at one yuan for two pieces, and tangyuan at two yuan per bowl. There is also glutinous rice wine, generally five yuan per jin, and better ones at ten yuan per jin; you can buy some to try. A series of fruit wines are mostly relatively cheap.