Qingdao Transportation

Qingdao is one of the major seaports in Northeastern China and also a thriving industrial center. This city is located on the southern coast of Shandong peninsula at the eastern entrance to Jiaozhou Bay off the Yellow Sea. It is easy to reach by plane, boat, train and bus. Please read below for more information about arrival into and departure from Qingdao, as well as different means of getting around the city.

Planes and Airport

The Qingdao airport is called Liuting International Airport. Qingdao currently offers 19 international & interregional passenger and freight air routes, with over 300 flights per week.

Qingdao's International airport offers direct flights to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Seoul, Busan, Taegu, Paris, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Macao with a new route to Frankfurt currently underway.

Qingdao's airport also provides over 800 domestic flights per week, directly linking Qingdao with 47 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou etc.

The Qingdao Liuting International Airport is located 32 kilometers from the city itself - about a half hour cab ride. There are also several flights each day to and from both Shanghai and Beijing.

Flight Times to Adjacent Cities

• Seoul: 1 hour
• Busan: 1 hour 30 min
• Fukuoka: 1 hour 30 min
• Tokyo: 2 hours 40 min
• Osaka: 2 hours
• Beijing: 1 hour
• Shanghai: 1 hour
• Guangzhou: 2 hours 30 min

Qingdao Liuting International Airport

Address: Chengyang District, Qingdao
Tel: (86532) 8471-5777

Boat

There are twice-weekly connections to Shimonoseki, Japan on Orient Ferries. The trip takes over 24 hours.

Train

There is a daily sleeper train to and from Beijing, as well as one to and from Shanghai. From Beijing it takes 12 hours, from Shanghai 18 hours to Qingdao. The Qingdao Railway Station is located in Shinan District, but it will be closed from November 20, 2006 until June, 2008 for the Olympic Games renovation. The temporary train station, Sifang Huoche Zhan, is located in Sifang district on Hai'an Lu near the Sifang long distance bus station.

Qingdao Railway Station

Address: No. 2 TaiAn Road, Shinan District, Qingdao
Tel: (86532) 8296-2777

City to City Bus

If you are traveling from within the Shandong province, going by bus is probably the easiest way. Nowadays, new and fast expressways linking Qingdao with other cities in the province provide speed and convenience along with fair bus prices. There are seven expressways linking Qingdao and many major cities. They are Jiqing, Jiaozhouwan, Xiliu, Shuangliu, Weilai, Xilai and
Qingyin.

There are several buses per day to Jinan, Taian, Qufu, as well as Yantai and Rizhao on the coast. They leave from and arrive to the bus station just outside the train station, but also from the new bus station north of town, which can be reached by local bus number 5 in 20 min.

Minibuses go to Weihai (4 hours), Yantai (3 hours), and Yiweike (4 hours) from the Qingdao railway station square. To Jinan, you can take a bus in the bus station of Qingdao (4.5 hours)

• Qingdao Bus Station
  Address: Wenzhou Road, Qingdao
• West Bus Station
  Address: Guantao Road, Qingdao
• East Bus Station
  Address: Ha'erbing Road, Qingdao

Ferry

Qingdao's Ferry provides transportation to locations such as Incheon, Korea and Shimonoseki, Japan. Orient Ferry Limited operates a regular service between Shimonoseki, on the western tip of the main island of Honshu, and the Chinese port city of Qingdao. The trip takes over 24 hours. Passengers departing from Shimonoseki are also required to pay a passenger facility service charge. Please contact Orient Ferry Limited for further information. The ferry to Incheon departs at 17:00 on Mondays and Thursdays, returning Wednesdays and Saturdays at 14:00.

Qingdao Ferry
Address: No. 21 SiChuan Road, Shinan District, Qingdao
Tel: (86532) 8261-9279

Public Buses

The bus network in Qingdao is quite well put together and useful once you figure out the routes. The No. 26, No. 201 and No. 202 bus start from the railway station going along the seashore passing Zhanqiao and Badaguan scenic spots. To Laoshan (Taiqing scenic area), you can first take the No. 304 bus to the railway station and then hop on a bus to Laoshan. If you want to travel Beijiushui and Yankou scenic area, you can take the travel buses at 7:00 am -10:00 am every morning at the Huaneng square. Bus No. 501 and No. 26 run from the railway station along the coast and all the beaches to the modern eastern part of town, where bars and cafes are located. Bus tickets generally cost RMB 1 - 2.

Taxi

Taxies in Qingdao start at RMB 7 for the first 4 kilometers and after RMB 1.2 for every kilometer over 4 kilometers, from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, costs RMB 1.5 per kilometer. You can get across town for less than RMB 30.

Bicycle

Bicycling is a great way to get around the city. The old part of town is hilly, so good health is required, but cycling along the flat coast is the best way to discover Qingdao's 15 kilometers of downtown beaches, bays, peninsulas and all the different parts of the city along it.

Ferry

There is a ferry boat line between Qingdao and Huangdao. The whole journey only takes 20 minutes to half an hour. There are no boat services on misty days.

Common boat: 6:30 am - 9:00 pm RMB 6, one boat for every half an hour.
High-speed boat: 7:00 am -6:00 pm RMB 8, one boat for every 20 minutes.

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