Taxi fees in China: From Yichang to Zhangjiajie

Hi there,
If those who know about this are so kind to dedicate me some of your time, I need to know an approximate price (minimun-maximun) for a taxi from Yichang (Hubei) to Zhangjiajie (Hunan), specifically to Wulingyuan in order to have an idea to negociate with a driver. It's about 350 kilometers/5 hours. We are 4 persons and we won't be able to catch the train or the bus the day we need to arrive, so maybe that could be an option.
Thanks a lot in advance!!

The price, if we are talking about a day ride would be around 775 CNY. Here you have to add motorway tolls for both ways that is 0.5 CNY per kilometer multiplied by at least 350 km each way and it means 700 km x 0.5 = 350 CNY for that purpose. The whole price would be, at least 1.125 CNY. Having in mind that you will be a group of 4 persons it is acceptable price, but you will definitely need a larger car and, please, keep in mind that even a larger car may not be able to take all your luggage in case that you have a lot of it. By the way, to come close to the mentioned price, you will have to employ all your hard bargaining skills because you will not find a taxi willing to drive such a long way using a taximeter.

Be sure to clarify that your price includes travel by expressways (and tolls are factored in as mentioned above), especially if you get what you think is a "low" quote. Otherwise, you may discover your driver taking slower alternate routes to save money by avoiding tolls--which is what he/she will probably do on the return trip.

Wow! Thanks a looooot for this information. It's great! So useful and detailed!

I thank you so much. For sure I'll do it.

Indeed, as @china1979 has pointed out, you have to insist during your negotiations that the driver uses motorways. Of course, you will have to pay also for the motorway tolls for his return back, but he indeed can and probably will use the roads that are not under tolls for his return trip. Well, it's up to him and this detail happens after you have reached your destination, so you don't have to bother with it.

If your chinese is good, you can negotiate a price for just the travel, with you paying the road tolls(which as mentioned are going to be about a third of the total cost)

Let's be clear about one thing--you won't be able to use a formal Taxi--as in, a commercial livery vehicle with a meter and licensed by the local authority. Yichang taxis will not be allowed to cross provincial boundaries and probably cannot venture beyond a certain distance from Yichang.

What you're talking about is a private car/van with driver, whether hired through an agency or contacted independently. The rate will be a negotiated rate, but I doubt that you will find anybody to do this trip for under RMB 1500 and probably closer to RMB 1800. You might get very lucky and find someone that is from Hunan and only needs to do the one-way vs having to return to Yichang...that would cut the price considerably.

What time are you getting into Yichang? Because it might be possible to at least take a bus to somewhere closer, like Changde, then get a private driver from there to Wulingyuan. Or a train Yichang-Shimenxian North then have a prearranged ZJJ/Wulingyuan driver pick you up from there.

If you were to find a driver willing to do a 10-hour inter-province round-trip for 775RMB all-in except tolls, you'll almost certainly be in for some kind of very unpleasant surprise mid-way through your journey. That's just not a realistic fare today.

I thank you all very much for this useful info!!! You were really kind. Now I'm ready to negociate the price in sign language and with some notes I have prepared with the numbers in Chinese, knowing in advance all the premises I must take into account.

No need for numbers to be "in Chinese"! The usual Arabic numerals will do. But beware of a quote you assume is in Chinese RMB and on arrival he claims it's in USD. Make sure you're talking RMB.

Thank you very much. That's much easier! :)

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