Leaving Guangzhou by bus is the cheapest of all exit options, and more comfortable than the average hard-seat experience if you have any distance to travel. The long-distance bus station on Huanshi Xi Lu is always full of people, but tickets are relatively easy to get and there are at least daily departures to everywhere in Guangdong, and as far afield as Guilin (Guangxi), Hankou/Wuhan (Hubei) and Fuzhou (Fujian). Nearby, private luxury buses leave daily from in front of the CITS/CAAC offices on the far side of the train station for various destinations, notably Shenzhen, Shantou, Chaozhou, Fuzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Beihai and Nanning. Though up to fifty percent more costly than a normal bus, they have air-conditioning and better seats with considerably more legroom. For ordinary transport to Fujian, Anhui or Jiangxi, it's also worth trying the East bus station on Baiyun Lu, north of Dashatou Wharf. Most hotels should take bookings for the express bus service to Hong Kong via Shenzhen, with the pickup point and booking office outside the Guangzhou hotel on Yide Lu.

 

Opposite the long-distance bus station, Liuhua station concentrates just on Guangdong destinations, with plenty of traffic leaving for the Pearl River Delta and towards Shantou and Shaoguan, though there are also regular departures to Haikou (Hainan) via Zhanjiang. For Foshan, minibuses leave hourly from the Foshan depot at the western end of Zhongshan Lu - trolleybus #104 from Renmin Lu terminates nearby, or catch the metro to the Chen Jia stop and walk the last 250m. For western Guangdong destinations, such as Zhaoqing, you can also use the West bus station , just south of Zhongshan Lu on Huangsha Lu - reached by bus #71 from Guangzhou train station, or taxi.