Getting Around Yanji
Yanji is a small city by Chinese standards, but it is still large enough that you will not want to walk everywhere, especially in the extremes of mid-summer or mid-winter. As of 2025 there are no shared bike systems in the city, so visitors generally get around by taxi, ride-hailing, or bus. The city is compact and its core sits on a flat plain among foothills, which makes short trips manageable on foot, but for anything longer you will want wheels.
One thing that makes navigation easier here: Yanji is officially bilingual in Chinese and Korean. All official signs are in both scripts, and most people in the city — including many ethnic Han Chinese — are fluent in Korean, so written Korean addresses are widely understood.
Rail
Yanji has two railway stations serving different kinds of trips. Yanji Station is the older, central station, while Yanji West (Yanjixi) station handles high-speed rail. Which one you use depends on the service you book.
- High-speed rail connects Yanji West with major cities; slower conventional trains use Yanji Station.
- Beijing is reachable by high-speed rail in roughly ten hours to Yanji West, or by slow train in about twenty-five hours to Yanji Station.
- Changchun takes about three hours by high-speed rail, or around ten hours by slow train.
- Daily train service is available to most major urban centers of Jilin Province.
There is no metro or tram network in Yanji; rail here means intercity trains, not a local rapid transit system. For getting around within the city itself, you will rely on buses and taxis.
Buses
Buses are an efficient and very affordable way to cross the city, as they are almost everywhere in China — provided you can read the route information. In Yanji this is less of an obstacle than elsewhere, because all bus schedules and information are written in Korean as well as Chinese, and onboard announcements are made in both languages.
- Most lines charge a flat fare of ¥1, with some lines at ¥2 — for example, services heading to Mao'ershan (帽儿山).
- Depending on the line, service may stop as early as 18:00, so plan evening trips accordingly.
- You can get an electronic bus card for Yanji through Alipay: look under the Transport section for Yanbian, then Yanji. Scan the QR code when you board the bus, or when you enter a BRT mini station.
Long-distance buses also depart from the city for regional destinations. Dongbeiya Keyun Zhan, on Chang Bai Lu northeast of the train station, serves routes including Chang Bai Shan (roughly three to five hours). Buses to BeiHe (about four hours) leave from the Yanji Zhan parking lot.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Taxis are plentiful in Yanji and waiting times should never be long. Fares start at ¥5. It helps to have your destination written down in Chinese, and you can usually present it in written Korean as well, since most people in the city understand it.
Ride-hailing is also available through apps such as Didi, though pickup points vary by location:
- At the airport, Didi drivers pick up in the parking lot, across the road from where taxis wait — convenient, and not much further to walk than the taxi queue.
- At Yanji West railway station, Didi drivers appear to need to pick up passengers out on the main road, which makes taking a ride-hailing car from the station a little inconvenient as of 2025. Going to the station by ride-hailing remains very convenient.
Walking
Yanji's main metropolitan area sits in a small, very flat space, and the city abounds with modern architecture along broad, clean, well-maintained avenues. That makes walking pleasant in good weather and practical for short hops within the center. The catch is the climate: winters are long and very cold, and summers are short but warm and humid, so long walks are best avoided in the middle of either season. With no shared bikes to fall back on, plan to walk for short distances and switch to a bus or taxi for anything longer.
From the airport into the city
Yanji Chaoyangchuan International Airport (YNJ) lies west of the train station and serves the area with scheduled passenger flights both domestically and to Korea, including daily flights from major Chinese cities and from Seoul, South Korea.
Once you land, you have two straightforward options into town:
- Taxi — taxis wait on the road outside the terminal; fares start at ¥5, and drivers are used to destinations given in written Chinese or Korean.
- Didi or another ride-hailing app — drivers pick up in the parking lot across from the taxi waiting area, so you will not have to walk much further than you would for a taxi.
For longer-haul international connections, note that some international air service for the region is provided via Changchun Longjia Airport, and surface travel to Changchun has been made more accessible since the Changchun–Yanji Expressway opened. Yanji is also a busy hub of transport and trade between China and North Korea, so cross-border travel arrangements are a common part of the local transport picture.