Lijiang Travel Forum

1) How long does the Lijiang -- Panzhihua bus take, in particular the evening departure? What time would it arrive in Panzhihua... in the middle of the night, in the wee morning hours or at daybreak?

2) If anyone has gone by this route recently, what time is the latest departure from Lijiang?

3) Does anyone have any recommendations or experiences for Panzhihua accommodation? Looking for clean and safe triple room near train station, max budget 300 RMB, though not hoping to spend all of that!

Have done a complete search for "Panzhihua" on the forum, nothing that could answer those questions! :( Thanks in advance for any replies.

If you understand Chinese language, you should search helpful information by using Google and Baidu, of course, Chinese version.

Tried already but nothing conclusive! :(

Bus:
http://www.yunnan66.com/lvyougonglue/yunnanjiaotong/7103.html
Accomodation:
http://hotels.ctrip.com/Domestic/ShowHotelList.aspx?city=1097
http://www.hikeway.com/city/hotel/scenic_hotel_city.asp?noid=18
You can find answers

The bus URL gives no hint of how many hours the journey takes.
The hotels listed on Ctrip are all not located near the train station, and one of the 3 choices is out of our budget range.
Most of the hotels listed on the other site give no clue to location nor price, I couldn't find any that would be of real use to me.
Now do you understand why I said I've searched and found nothing conclusive?

It takes people 7 hours from Lijiang to Panzhihua by bus.
It's easy to know the price, location of hotels. Please dial 114 to ask their phone number, then contact the front desk.

I'm hoping that other travellers would have recommendations that are of more help than what you've suggested so far.
Yes of course it's possible to dial 114 and ask for hotel listings. However the hotels recommended might not be suitable, and besides, I've already spent a lot of money on long-distance phone calls for other aspects of this trip already!
It seems that I'm expected to answer other people's questions here but not receive any direct help for mine!

When I offer information to members, I don't expect thankful words. I just hope that my suggestion will help someone.
I'll try my best to make a perfect plan for my trip,and I'm grateful for any advice because I know some others concern about my question. It take their time to look for helpful information for me.
But your way is not polite. Sorry to say that.

Thank you for your time. But it's just that unfortunately we're just turning up the same stones over and over again which's no help to me.
And unfortunately for me it seems that I do a lot more answering on various China travel forums than I get answered. That's very frustrating!

It's about 8 hrs...to PanZhiHua...and why are you going to PanZhiHua?
Are you connecting a train to go to ChengDu ?
If so, just stay at a hotel near the train station. You should be able to find sth decent there for about 200 yuan/room/with shower.
There are a few hotels there...very convenient...right across the train station.

The last bus departs at 18:00 and usually it takes almost 7 hours.

Thanks neverstoptravel, that was exactly the answer that I was looking for -- my suspicion that we'll arrive at some ungodly hour of the night confirmed.

Meg, we're connecting to a train to Heijing (going south), not Chengdu. Any particular recommendations for accommodation at the Panzhihua train station, if you've been in a similar situation before?

Are the long-distance bus station and train station next to each other, or very far off? If they're far from each other, I hope we'll be able to get some kind of transport to the train station as soon as we arrive instead of having to wait till the next morning?

I wonder if it might be better to transit in Kunming instead of Panzhihua...?

You're welcome.

The train station is quite far away from the bus station(30KM+)and bus route 64# connects two stations.

Most reputed hotels are located in downtown Panzhihua city, between two stations. Although you may find one clean and safe hotel near train station, it's not recommended to take a taxi in midnight in such suburb area.

Are you going to Heijing of Chuxiong? If you do, you may try Lijiang-Dali by bus then Dali-Chuxiong by train or bus, then Chuxiong-Lufeng-Heijing by bus.
Or Lijiang-Kunming, then Kunming-Heijing by bus. Both ways are much safer and more comfortable.

Thanks for the bus information! I suspect that bus 64 will no longer be running by the time the Lijiang -- Panzhihua bus reaches Panzhihua though, am I right?
I've been told that the bus driver will allow passengers to sleep on the bus till daybreak so that we don't have to look for transport and accommodation in the middle of the night.
Trying not to hop from bus to bus so many times for one journey... We're presently considering whether we should go to Kunming or Panzhihua, and then catch a train to Heijing. Yes, that's the right Heijing. :) Thank you again!

No more bus service for 64# is provided after 20:00.

Since the bus for Kunming will also make several stops during the trip, one or two more transfer should be ok(transfer at the same bus station and take a break, that's the same as you take a bus for Kunming).

Don't think I understood the 2nd part of your last answer. :P
In any case, thanks everyone for all their input so far. After much discussion with my travel companions (or actually only one of them), we've decided to spend 100+ RMB more per person and go via Kunming. Better arrival time, better bus conditions (hopefully, since the bus going to Kunming would be a luxury bus) and we can leave 4 hours later from Lijiang which gives us a little more time to enjoy the place.