Getting Around Fuzhou

Getting Around Fuzhou

Fuzhou is a large, spread-out city, and visitors will find a mix of metro, buses, taxis, and ride-hailing to choose from. The metro is the newest and often the easiest option for crossing town, while buses fill in the gaps and taxis remain cheap enough for short hops. Note that construction of new metro lines has been a fixture of the city in recent years, blocking lanes on main roads and causing serious traffic jams, so allow extra time if you need to be somewhere on schedule.

Metro and Trams

Fuzhou's metro network has grown into several lines, with more under construction and others planned. The lines are operated by different companies, which affects how you manage tickets and cards. The Binhai Express Line is the metro link that connects the airport with the city center.

• Single tickets: Buy a single-journey ticket from the ticket vending machines at stations. The machines accept ¥1 coins and ¥5, ¥10, and ¥20 banknotes. If you don't have change, you can exchange it at the Customer Service Center.
• Reloadable cards: Available from customer service desks at each station. Because each line is run by a different company, a card can only be reloaded on the line where you bought it.
• Security: Handbags and luggage must pass through X-ray checks. Take out any liquids and hand them to the security officer, who will ask you to take a sip or have the liquid weighed — you can ask for either option even if it isn't offered. Cans and un-resealable beverage containers are best left behind.
• Announcements: All metro announcements are trilingual in Mandarin, Fuzhou Hua, and English.

Buses

Buses run frequently and cover most of the city for a flat ¥1 fare, and most are air conditioned. They can get very crowded, though. If the bus you want is packed, it's usually worth waiting for the next one or the one after — service is frequent enough that another should come along in a few minutes. Being stuck on an overloaded bus is an experience best avoided, especially in summer. Keep in mind that bus service stops at 22:00, and the last buses are often the most crowded, so you may not be able to board. At crowded stops, taxis and enterprising drivers sometimes offer group rides to other parts of town for around ¥15.

Taxis and Ride-Hailing

Taxis are cheap: short trips start at ¥10, and almost any trip within town comes in under ¥30. The meter starts at ¥10 for the first 3 km, then ¥1.4 per km, with a surcharge after 23:00. Taxis are easiest to find downtown and are always available at train stations and the airport.

• Taxi stands: These exist across the city. Many drivers will refuse to stop if there are traffic cameras nearby, especially at parks with entrances along busy roads, so it's better to find a stand and wait there.
• Leaving the city proper: If you're heading to a more rural district, drivers often round the fare up to a multiple of ¥10 to compensate for the lack of a return fare. If you're struggling to find a driver willing to go, head to a train station — taxis line up there for hours and drivers are eager for fares.
• Ride-hailing: Didi Dache operates in Fuzhou. Foreigners can sign up with a Chinese phone number and use a foreign credit card (Visa, Mastercard, or Amex), but your bank must support a second-factor fraud check such as SecureCode or SecureKey. Some Didi drivers also wait at train stations, shopping malls, and outside higher-end restaurants and haggle prices directly — these trips are completed outside the app, so they carry no rideshare insurance or protections. It's inadvisable to take an unlicensed driver unless you're fluent in Mandarin or genuinely stuck; they can be aggressive and may follow you, so a repeated "Bu Yao, Xie Xie" (no need, thank you) is the way to disengage.

Walking

Walking works well for short trips within a neighborhood, but Fuzhou is a large, spread-out city, and the ongoing metro construction blocking lanes on main roads makes some stretches less pleasant on foot. For anything beyond a short stroll, plan on using the metro, a bus, or a taxi.

Getting from the Airport into the City

Fuzhou Changle International Airport sits in Changle District, and the trip into town is substantial — roughly an hour by road. Several options connect the airport with the city:

• Metro: The Binhai Express Line of the Fuzhou Metro connects the airport to the city center, running to its terminus at Fuzhou Railway Station.
• Airport express bus: There is an official airport express (航空快线), misspelled "ARPORT EXPRESS" in English. Shuttles run regularly between the airport and town in both directions between 05:30 and 21:30, though departure times vary by destination. They leave from different stations in town, and the ¥50 ticket can be bought online or via WeChat (Chinese language only; the official account is 元翔空港快线). A Chinese name and ID card number are required when booking, but these details are not checked. Travel time is about an hour.
• City bus: A cheaper bus option runs for about ¥20, with departures from the Apollo Hotel.
• Shared taxi: Shared taxis also leave from the Apollo Hotel, at around ¥25 per person. Some hotels, such as the Min Jiang, run complimentary shuttles to the Apollo.
• Private taxi: Expect at least ¥120, and likely more unless you haggle very well.
• Ride-hailing: With the Didi Dache or Shenzou Hired Car app, rates can run up to ¥250. Note that Didi Express does not include highway tolls, so consider splurging on Didi Luxe.

Connecting by Rail

Fuzhou has two main railway stations, and knowing which one you need matters. The old Fuzhou Railway Station sits in the northeast of the city, on the northern edge of the center, and handles a great deal of conventional overnight trains plus a few high-speed services, such as the direct Xiamen–Fuzhou link. Fuzhou South Railway Station is exclusively a high-speed station, serving the main coastal high-speed line and the high-speed lines from China's interior.

• Between the stations: Both are served by metro Line 1; the ride between them takes just over 40 minutes.
• To Fuzhou Railway Station: Reachable via city buses #5 or #22, or cheaply and quickly by taxi from anywhere in central Fuzhou.
• To Fuzhou South: A taxi from downtown costs around ¥50 and takes about half an hour — roughly half the time the subway takes.

Long-distance buses are another option for arriving in or leaving Fuzhou, with direct overnight services to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, as well as buses from Xiamen.