Garze Transportation

Ganzi Prefecture has a large area and traffic has been a major obstacle to the development of the region. Traffic inconvenience is the first impression of Ganzi transportation. Since 2012, the Prefecture committee and the government of Ganzi Prefecture have made transportation construction the top priority of development, and in recent years, the transportation of Ganzi has been greatly developed. Taking a plane or coach to Garze is the most common way. Here we provide you the detailed transport information about Garze and ways of getting in and around Garze prefecture.

How to Get to Garze

By Air

Garze has three airports: Kangding Airport, Daocheng Yading Airport and Garze Gesar Airport. All airports are located at high altitude, with Daocheng Yading Airport at 4411m being world's highest airport.

  • Kangding airport, 4238 meters above sea level(the third highest airport in the world), is located in Sidingcuo, Zheduo mountain, about 38 kilometers away from Kangding city. It is the first civil airport in Garze prefecture. The construction was officially started in September 2006, and officially opened to the public on April 26, 2009, which created the shortest construction time of the civil airport in China at that time. At present, Kangding airport has opened three air routes to Chengdu, Chongqing and Lhasa.
  • Daocheng Yading airport is located in Haizi mountain, Sangdui Township, the north of Daocheng County, with an altitude of 4411 meters, which is the highest civil airport in the world. Daocheng Yading airport is about 50km away from the county seat and was officially opened on September 16, 2013. It opens air routes to Chengdu, Chongqing, Lijiang, Guiyang, Kunming, Xian, Mianyang, etc.
  • With a distance of 52km from Garze County, Garze Gesar Airport is located at the junction of Laima Township and Cuo'a Township at the altitude of 4068m. Construction started in June 2017 and it was officially opened on September 16, 2019. At present, Chengdu-Garze route has been opened.

Garze Flights

See more about Garze Flights.

By Train

At present, there is no railway connecting Garze prefecture with outside world. While the Sichuan-Tibet Railway will make it come true in the near future.

Sichuan Tibet railway consists of three sections: Chengdu-Kangding Railway (including Chengdu-Ya'an railway and Yaan-Kangding railway), Kangding-Nyingchi Railway and Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway. The construction of Chengdu-Ya'an section was started at the end of 2014, and was officially put into operation on December 28, 2018. The feasibility study of Ya'an-Kangding (Xinduqiao) section is under way.

By Long-distance Bus

Before the completion of Kangding airport, tourists can only take buses into Garze Prefecture, which takes a long time to and from Garze. At Xinnanmen Passenger Station in Chengdu, there are long-distance bus to Kangding County, Garze County and Daocheng County. At Chadianzi Bus Station, there are buses to Danba County. Every morning, a bus from Chengdu to Daocheng departs at 10 o'clock, which takes about 24 hours, and one-way ticket costs 240 yuan. More buses runs between Chengdu and Kangding, which takes about 10 hours, approximately 350 kilometres.

Bus Stations in Garze

  • Kangding Bus Station(康定汽车站)
    Add: No. 108. Qingge Avenue, Kangding City(康定市情歌大道108号)
    Tel: 0836-2822211
  • Daocheng Bus Station(稻城客运站)
    Add: Echuhe Road, Daocheng County, Near Xibo Hotel(稻城县俄初河路喜波大酒店旁)
    Tel: 0836-5728762

See How to Get to Garze Prefecture from Chengdu.

Highways in Garze Prefecture

There is a relatively advanced road transportation network, based on several trunk roads such as National Highway 318 and 317 and five provincial highways. In recent years, a expressway has been built and one more is under planning.

  • G317(Chengdu-Naqu highway) is reconstructed to maintain vehicle traffic.
  • G318 (Shanghai-Nyalam highway), reconstruction section from East Orlo to Haizishan has been completed and the whole line can pass normally.
  • S211 line (Hongqiqiao-Shimian highway) is broken by water at Jiaju No.3 village (k135 000-k135 400) in Danba county. It is recommended that vehicles from Jinchuan to Danba bypass Xiaojin; the rest of the road sections are unobstructed.
  • S215 line (Qianning-Mianning highway), from Jiulong County seat to Mianning boundary will be reconstructed.
  • S216 line (Daocheng-Panzhihua highway) is reconstructed.
  • S217 line (Shiqu-Xiangcheng highway) is reconstructed in some sections, and the whole line passes normally.
  • S303 line (Yingxiu-Luhuo highway) is smooth.
  • The construction of Ya'an-Kangding Expressway has started in 2014 and is open to traffic on December 31, 2018.
  • Luding-Shimian Expressway is also under planning.

How to Get Around Garze

By Bus

Road is the most developed transportation in Garze. In recent years, Garze has begun to construct a tourism ring road, which in the future will link tourist spots inside the prefecture such as Kangding, Yading, Litang and Danba with spots outside such as Shangri-La in Diqing City, Lake Lugu in Lijiang and Siguniang Shan Mountain in Aba Prefecture. In the future, it will be very convenient for tourists to travel throughout southwest China.

In 2009, city buses started to serve the locals in Kangding, with two bus lines running from 7:00 to 19:00. Up to 2019, there are 46 city buses in Kangding, including 9 electric buses; there are 8 public transportation lines in urban, rural, suburban and scenic areas. The transportation between the counties of Garze mainly depends on suburban buses, and each county has a bus station. There are also public buses running between Daocheng County and Shangri-La Town, and then you can take the bus from Shangri-La Town to Yading Nature Reserve.

By Taxi

Garze has long been short of modern public transport. Before the opening of public transport lines in Kangding in 2009, Garze travel mainly depended on self-driving, walking and car rental. The taxis in Garze are not limited to the city's traffic scope, but can also run across districts and counties. Xiali is the main vehicle type. The taxi fare in Kangding starts at 3 yuan / km, and is priced at 2 yuan / km after 1 km. There are also taxis in Daocheng county.

By Tricycle

Tricycles are popular in Garze prefecture. It's very convenient for short-distance traveling.

Keep Reading