Finding your way around Wuhan itself is fairly easy. The city has an excellent bus system and plenty of buses run between Hankou (汉口), Wuchang (武昌) and Hanyang (汉阳). However, like every big city in China, traffic can become quite slow and crowded during rush hours.  A trip costs 1.2 Yuan for non-air conditioned buses and 2 Yuan for air-conditioned buses. Street and stop names are always a headache for foreign travelers in China. One easy solution to this problem is to ask a university student or hotel concierge to write the Chinese characters of your destination on a piece of paper that you can take with you.

 

An easy way for backpackers to see the city is to take the special tourist buses with routes specifically designed to cover almost all of the key tourist spots. In each of Wuhan's three districts buses that begin with the number 4 are special tourist line buses. We recommend No. 401 and No. 402 buses, as they cover most of the famous attractions in Wuhan. No. 401 will take you to Yellow Crane Tower (Huang He Lou, 黄鹤楼), East Lake (Dong Hu, 东湖), Heptachord Terrace (Gu Jin Tai, 古琴台) and Guiyuan Buddhist Temple (Guiyuan Shi, 归元寺). If you are interested in the provincial museum, take No. 402. An all-day ticket costs 10 yuan and a one-trip ticket costs 2 Yuan.

 

 

Taxis in Wuhan are fairly cheap. A trip from Hankou to Wuchang will cost about 35 to 40 Yuan. The first 3 kilometers cost 3 Yuan and each additional km costs 1.4 Yuan. Most of the taxis drivers know the popular places and their names.  If you the names written down in Chinese characters it should be no problem. Bear in mind that they do not speak English.

 

 

On the 28th of September 2004, the much anticipated Metro line of Wuhan was put into operation. The first 10.2 km line (with 10 stations) runs from Huangpu Road (黄铺路) to Zhongguan Road (中关路) in the downtown area of Hankou district. The light metro in Wuhan operates from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. 

 

The ticket price is 1.5 Yuan if you travel a distance of six stops or less.  You will be charged 2 Yuan for trips longer than 6 stops. Trains arrive once every 3 minutes.

 

When this line is completed, it will have 16 stations with a total length of 30 km. It belongs to a network of 220 km (4 lines) to be built in the next decade. Most lines will be constructed underground unlike line one.  The second line is already under construction and it will link Hankou to Wuchang.

Bicycles are available for rent in some hotels. Visitors can navigate Wuhan safely with bicycles. The East Lake scenic spot is ideal for this kind of activity.