Nanning launches high-speed rail express travel mode – Experience slow vacation life at Tujia apartments

    Some say: Travel is going from a place you’re tired of to a place others are tired of. Friends from the south want to see the snowy landscapes of the north, while northerners, helpless against the bitter cold, all want to escape to the warm south for the winter. For travelers, spending most of their time on the road and arriving at the destination only to have no time to slow down and truly experience it before having to leave is a particularly frustrating thing. Distance turns travel aspirations into hard-to-fulfill plans.

    On December 28, the inaugural high-speed rail service from Guilin to Beijing officially opened, followed by the Guilin–Nanning high-speed rail line on December 30. This means the entire high-speed rail route between Nanning and Beijing is now connected. In the future, the travel time between Nanning and Beijing is expected to be shortened from the current 26 hours to around 10 hours, while the time distance between Guilin, Nanning, and Changsha will also be reduced to within 3 hours. After this, weekend trips to nearby destinations among Guilin, Nanning, and Changsha will become easily achievable.

    Nanning, described as “half city of green trees, half city of buildings,” is shaded by lush foliage and blooming flowers, making it a livable city. Its colorful ethnic culture and diverse folk activities also make Nanning a vibrant city. Guangxi is home to many ethnic groups who are good at singing and dancing. Visiting Nanning during the March 3rd Festival allows you to enjoy the purest form of original ecological music. Longhu Mountain is home to wild macaques, which are gentle, tame, and human-friendly, making it a great choice for parent-child trips like those on “Where Are We Going, Dad?” The Ling Water of Nanning is one of the three largest constant-temperature hot spring lakes in China, known for its constant volume, clarity, and temperature. Often referred to as the “Dragon Spring Spitting Azure,” the lake water remains around 23°C year-round, offering warmth in winter and coolness in summer, and is a famous domestic tourist destination. Yangmei Ancient Town, preserving the most intact cluster of ancient Qing Dynasty architecture in Guangxi, is a perfect spot for history enthusiasts to explore the past.

    The opening of the high-speed rail will reshape Nanning’s economic landscape and spatiotemporal framework, significantly accelerating the construction of Nanning as a “regional international transportation hub.” Urban development and economic growth will also enter the “high-speed rail era.” After the high-speed rail becomes operational, as the central city of the urban agglomeration, Nanning’s travel time to major regional cities will be shortened to just 1–2 hours, and the journey from Guilin to Beihai will take only two to three hours, giving everyone a sense of living in the same city. The transportation “bottleneck” that has hindered regional development is expected to be broken. In terms of real estate, the advantage of being in the same city becomes prominent, attracting residents from nearby areas such as Beihai, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang, and Laibin to invest and live in Nanning. For tourism, new opportunities will emerge, helping Nanning rapidly become a regional international tourism destination and an important hub between various tourism zones, as well as between domestic destinations and Southeast Asia.

    Liu Daiqing, deputy director of Nanning’s Municipal Bureau of Tourism, stated that to seize the opportunities brought by the high-speed rail era for Nanning’s tourism industry, the municipal Party committee and government have repositioned the tourism sector, proposing to develop Nanning into a travel-friendly city with four major features: “Zhuang folk song culture, China’s Green City, ASEAN charm, and wellness capital.”

    Previously, imperfect transportation infrastructure and the scattered distribution of Nanning’s attractions greatly diminished the city’s appeal. The state of “slow travel, fast touring” had long been a pain point for Nanning’s tourism. With the opening of the high-speed rail, travelers no longer need to spend their time on the road but can instead enjoy the landscapes. The new travel accommodation model offered by Tujia vacation apartments will also bring you a unique slow vacation lifestyle experience.

    Alongside the opening of the high-speed rail, Nanning’s tourism industry has also welcomed a new travel accommodation format – vacation apartments. Recently, Tujia.com, a leading domestic high-quality vacation apartment booking platform, officially launched its first Tujia apartment in Nanning – the Poly Tongxin Yuan Tujia Apartment – and began accepting bookings from tourists. It is understood that vacation apartments are increasingly favored by tourists due to their home-like experience with laundry and cooking facilities, more spacious accommodations compared to traditional hotels, and unparalleled cost-effectiveness.