Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hydrofoil
Yangzi River hydrofoils
(kuai ting)
are a dying breed. There are now just three
per day and they only run between Fengjie and Yichang. Regular buses,
though, connect Fengjie with Chongqing (¥165, five hours, 7am to 6.30pm) so
this is still a quick and reasonably convenient way of seeing the Three Gorges.
Hydrofoils are passenger vessels and are not geared towards tourists, so
there's no outside seating. Visibility is OK (albeit through Perspex windows),
but if you stand by the door you can get a good view. Hydrofoils make regular
but very brief stops at towns along the river for embarkation and disembarka-
tion.
At the time of research, times of departure and prices for tickets bought at
the relevant port's official ticket office were as follows (note, the Yichang times
of departure are for the free shuttle buses which leave from Yichang's old port
before connecting with the hydrofoils, which leave from a newer port 45km up-
stream):
Yichang to Fengjie
¥240, four to five hours (7.20am, 9.50am and 1.20pm)
Fengjie to Yichang
¥230, four to five hours (8.30am, 11am and 2pm)
If you get stuck for the night in Fengjie,
Fenggang Binguan
( 023-5683
4333; r from ¥80)
, attached to the ferry port, has large clean rooms, some
with river views.
TICKETS
In Chongqing or Yichang, most hotels, hostels and travel agents can sell you a
trip on either the luxury cruise ships or the ordinary tourist boats. In either city,
passenger ferry tickets have to be bought at the ferry port ticket halls, which
also sell ordinary tourist boat tickets. For the hydrofoil, you can buy westbound
tickets in Yichang from the Three Gorges Tourist Centre, at the old ferry port.
Eastbound tickets must be bought at the ticket hall in Fengjie, where the hy-
drofoil starts its journey. You can no longer buy hydrofoil tickets in Chongqing.
