A strategic geographic position has provided Tianjin City, one of the four municipalities in China, with an advanced and extensive transportation system, combining different traffic vehicles together into a complicated network.
Air
Tianjin Binhai International Airport, located in Zhanggui Village, Dongli District, is only 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) away from the downtown area of Tianjin. It is a key airport in North China region in terms of domestic and foreign flights, as well as one of China's large-scale modern international airports.
At present, the airport has 81 international and domestic airlines to all together 62 cities, like Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian, South Korea and other major cities at home and abroad.
How to Get to the Airport
Airport shuttle buses to Beijing Bawang Fen station depart every one hour from 9 o'clock in the morning to 19 o'clock in the afternoon. The high-speed shuttle buses only cost 35 yuan. Passengers can take on in front of Terminal 3 of Binhai International Airport.
The airport is about 19 kilometers from Tianjin Railway Station (Beijing - Tianjin high-speed rail terminal) to Binhai International Airport. Taking a taxi only costs 25 minutes or so without traffic jams.
Railway
Tianjin Railway Station serves as a key station on the Beijing - Harbin railway line and Beijing - Shanghai railway line, linking northeast China and south China. Besides, other railway lines such as Beijing - Shandong, Tianjin - Pudong, cross here as well. Being the starting station for most trains started from Tianjin (including trains departing to Beijing, Anyang, Ji'nan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou). If passengers arrive at Tianjin West Railway Station can take bus 24 to Tianjin Railway Station.
There have been four passenger train stations in Tianjin, namely Tianjin Train Station, Tianjin West Train Station, Tianjin North Train Station and Tianjin South Train Station. Tianjin Train Station, located in the east of Tianjin Jiefang Bridge, is currently under transformation and expansion. It is expected to be completed and put into use in July 2008; Tianjin West Station is located at the northern end of Tianjin-Pudong railway line; Tianjin North Railway Station is located in Hebei District; Tianjin South Station is located in Liuwei Road Hedong District. Among them, Tianjin Train Station and West Train Station are the main passenger terminals; Tianjin Train Station is the junction of Beijing-Shandong railway line, Tianjin-Pudong railway line and Tianjin-Jixian railway line, with trains accessible to cities like Beijing, Shanhaiguan, Jinan, Jixian, and Bazhou. Tianjin Train Station mainly offers Beijing-Shanghai railway line.
In a word, there are a great many trains departing from Tianjin to more than 40 cities at home, like Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Harbin, Manchuria, and so on. In addition, there are round-trip EMU Expresses from Beijing to Tianjin every day.
Beijing - Tianjin High-speed Railway
The Beijing-Tianjin railway line from Beijing South Railway Station to Tianjin Train Station covers a distance of all together about 118 kilometers, with a maximum design speed of 350 kilometers. It was put into use in June 2008.
There are five stations on the Beijing-Tianjin inter-city railway line, namely Beijing South Railway Station, Yizhuang Station, Yongle Station, Wuqing Station and Tianjin Train Station. Only 30 minutes is expected from the Tianjin Train Station to the Beijing South Railway Station.
Coach/Bus
Tianjin highway system mainly consists of national highway 102, 104, 105, 112, 205, 307, 341, and several expressways like Beijing - Shenyang, Tianjin - Tangshan and Beijing - Tianjin, etc. It takes about 1.5 hours or 4 hours respectively from Tianjin to Beijing or Shijiazhuang.
There are many a long-distance bus station in Tianjin, among which Tianhuan Long-Distance Bus Station located in Nankai District, mainly serves buses of the inter-provincial passenger transport, to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places, whereas other stations provide buses mostly to Tianjin suburban areas and neighboring provinces and regions.
From Tianjin to Beijing Capital International Airport
Passengers can take a coach direct from Tianjin Tianhuan Long-Distance Bus Station (天环客运站) to Beijing Capital International Airport. The trip takes about 2.5 hours. The departure interval is 1 hour from o4:00 to 06:00 and that for period from 06:00 to 18:00 is 30 munities. Tianhuan Bus Station is located in the crossing of Hongqi Road and Anshan West Road, Nankai District (南开区红旗路与鞍山西道交口处), and the telephone numbers are 022-6455 8718 and 022-8433 5878.
Note: Passenger taking a domestic flight is advised to take the coach 5 hours ahead of the flight departure, and passenger taking an international flight is advised to take to coach 6 hours ahead of the flight departure.
Waterway
Tianjin Port, as the largest man-made port in China, is located in the mouth of Meihe River, the West Bank of Bohai Bay. It is the gateway of Beijing and Tianjin to the sea. It consists of two parts, river ports and sea ports, and is divided into three port zones, Nanjiang zone, Beijiang zone and Haihe zone.
Tianjin Port serves both domestic and international passenger lines: Tianjin to Longkou, Tianjin to Yantai and Tianjin to Dalian; Tianjin to Kobe in Japan and Tianjin to Incheon in South Korea. Boats from Tianjin to Incheon, South Korea depart every Thursday and Saturday; boats to Japan depart every Monday.
Haihe River Tour Line
Haihe River, as the only river running through Tianjin urban area, has brought unique scenery for Tianjin tour.
Haihe Bund Park is located at the shore of Haihe River, a Haihe River Tour route.
- Haihe River sight-seeing boat: one day tour from Haihe River - Bohai Sea
- Time: 10:30 everyday from April to October.
- Night Tour: Lion Grove Bridge - Grand Light Bridge.
- Time: 19:30 everyday form May to August.
From Tianjin Cruise Port to Beijing
Tianjin International Cruise Home PortTianjin International Cruise Home Port is an international cruise pier, and one of the largest ports in China. Many well-known international cruises such as Caribbean and Costa Cruises dock at Xingang Port. Xingang Port is about 30 km from Tianjin Tanggu Railway Station, 70 km from Tianjin city center, 180 km (2 hours and 30 minutes drive) from Beijing center, or 200 km from Beijing Capital International Airport.
Passengers can first take a taxi or public bus (No.102, 6:00-21:00) to Tianjin Tanggu Railway Station, then take inter-city bullet train to Beijing South Railway Station. Taxis are available by the pier side, but not that usually the drivers don't speak English. It is better to have your destination written down in Chinese beforehand to show to the driver. Read more on Tianjin Cruise Port to Beijing Transportation Guide
The traffic between Beijing to Tianjin
Shuttle buses are available between Tianjin and Beijing Capital Airport with the fare of 70 yuan per person.
- Departure time from Tianjin: 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, then every 30 minutes, till 18:00;
- Departure site: the intersection of Nanjing Road and Shanxi Road.
The whole distance normally costs 2 hours and 15 minutes.
- Departure times from Beijing Capital Airport: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, then every 30 minutes, till 23:00;
- Departure site: opposite to Terminal 15 of the airport.
Jingjintang Expressway, as the first inter-provincial highway of China, connects Beijing and Tianjin with a length of 142.69 kilometers. It takes around 1.5 hours from Tianjin to Beijing.
Note: traffic jams often happen on the expressway, and in winter it will sometimes be closed out of bad weather.
The Beijing - Tianjin Expressway, starts from Chemical Bridge on the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing, and ends at Beitang Town, Tianjin, connecting Beijing - Shanghai expressway (Jingjintang Expressway) and Beijing - Tianjin road. It has a total length of about 135 km and is located at the north of Jingjintang Expressway. About 1 hour will be enough to reach the Tianjin area.
Besides, deluxe coaches are available from Beijing Zhaogongkou Long-distance Bus Station to Tanggu, a district of Tianjin. And travelers can take buses from Tianyu Bus Station, No.41 bus terminal stop and Tianjin East Bus Station and other long-distance bus stations to return to Beijing.