Three minutes before setting out: the five things that change
Fares, timetables, bookings, road closures and performances change at any hour. This site cannot give live figures and does not cache them. The page does one thing: it puts the five checks in order, saying what to check, where to check it, and what to change if the answer is bad.
This page carries no live status. It gives the order of checks, the official entry points, and what to do when something has moved. All five must be re-checked on the day itself; if the first or second has changed, the rest mostly fall away.
How to use it
Check once the night before and once before leaving. The five are ranked by how badly a change hurts: if the first moves, the rest mostly lapse; if the fifth moves, half a day is affected. If something is wrong, jump to the last section for fixes.
| Item | What to check | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Rail | Cancelled or retimed; boarding and arrival stations correct | 12306 website, app, hotline 12306 |
| 2 · Onto the island | Remaining Nan ao booking quota; whether any slots are left | the Nan ao Changxing WeChat mini-program |
| 3 · Weather and the bridge | Typhoon warnings, crosswind restrictions on the bridge, whether hill roads are open | the bridge account; local weather service |
| 4 · Sites | Opening hours that day, ticket sales cut-off, capacity limits and bookings | site notices; the bridgehead notice of the day |
| 5 · Intercity and buses | Last departures, temporary diversions, whether cross-city routes still run | the 12345 lines of the three cities |
1 · Rail
Three things on 12306: whether the train is cancelled or retimed, whether the boarding station is right, whether the arrival station is right. In Spring Festival and typhoon season 12306 knows before any guide does; do not take it second-hand.
One character in a station name can mean an hour in a connection. Chaoshan, Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang and Jieyang Airport are five stations: Chaoshan station is at Shaxi in Chao an district, shared by the three cities and not in Chaozhou city; Chaozhou station is not Chaoshan station; arriving at Jieyang Airport station is not arriving in Jieyang. On getting into town from each, see Getting there and where to stay.
12306 sells rail only, not the connection between stations. Do not look for an airport express in the app: there is none listed, which does not mean none runs.
2 · Booking for Nan ao
The likeliest of the five to go wrong, because it is not buying a ticket but claiming a time slot. Vehicles must book through the WeChat mini-program Nan ao Changxing and are admitted by slot at the checkpoint.
Two layers to keep apart. One is the rule itself: Nan ao county has required booking for vehicle entry since 1 May 2026, not only on public holidays. The county’s wording is: slots released seven days ahead, booked by time band, capped in number, checked at entry; relaxed off-peak, strict at peak; no booking, no entry. The other is slots and quotas, which change by notice, the 2 October notice being one adjustment among several. What to confirm before leaving is whether slots are open today and for which bands, not whether the rule still stands.
Bands: since 2 October 2026 the day runs 0—6, 6—10, 10—14, 14—18, 18—24; before that it was 06:00—23:00. That notice was issued for National Day night entry; whether the same split continues is settled by the mini-program on the day. Private cars may book seven days ahead including the day; hotels may book fourteen days ahead for guests. No booking is needed to leave the island.
Exemptions are few: vehicles holding a Nan ao Bridge package (lapsed or unpaid ones excluded), tour coaches, military, police, ambulance and rescue vehicles, freight, and buses; non-package cars of county residents, and local taxis and ride-hailing cars once registered, are exempt too.
Without a booking do not try the checkpoint: unbooked vehicles park at Laiwu Bay Happy World P1 (paid) and continue by shuttle, taxi or tour line. A grey lane at the checkpoint handles on-site booking or turning back.
Enquiries: 0754-86812345 and 0754-89806286 (daily 06:00—23:00); updates on the two official accounts. Basis for the rule: the county government office’s reply to proposal 20260342 (Nanfubanhan [2026] No. 154, 9 July 2026); bands: notice of the Shantou Nan ao Bridge Construction Management Centre, 2 October 2026.
3 · Weather and the bridge
July to September is typhoon season, but the month is a hint, not a test: what decides a change is the day’s weather warning, the bridge notice and traffic police notices. With a warning, move the whole island day; do not count on deciding after arrival. The worst slot for Nan ao is the day before you leave, because once the bridge closes you cannot even get off the island.
Crosswinds restrict or close the bridge by traffic notice; go by the bridge account and Shantou traffic police on the day. This site neither forecasts nor copies the thresholds, which differ every time.
Hill and city weather do not move together. For Huangmanzhai read Jiexi’s forecast, for Daoyun Lou read Raoping’s, and not Shantou’s: tens of kilometres apart, rain on one side and sun on the other is ordinary.
4 · Site hours that day
At Guangji Bridge ask three times, not one: when ticket sales stop, when boarding stops, when the pontoon boats come apart. They are separate; ask separately. The number in the public notice is 0768-2222683 (during opening hours); the Chaozhou A-level directory gives 0768-2222682. The two differ in their last digit; go by the notice at the bridgehead and by what you are told on site — this site does not pick one.
For the rest: holiday caps and bookings at protected sites follow each site’s notice; temples holding rites change routes and meals, with notices posted at the gate. Fares are the same: written into a guide they expire; read the notice of the day.
5 · Intercity and buses
Do not reverse the order: first the operator’s notice or live bus channel, then the local transport authority, and only then the hotline. The hotline is a fallback, not a first choice: it cannot tell you where the bus is now.
Hotlines: Shantou 12345, Chaozhou 0768-12345, Jieyang 0663-12345. Ask three things: the last departure, whether routes are diverted today, whether the cross-city line still runs.
The commonest cause of a diversion here is not roadworks but a folk event. God-parade processions in the first lunar month, opera in the second, Yulan in the seventh: a village road closes for half a day and the bus detours without notice. If your trip falls in those months, ask this before you ask fares.
For live arrivals use the operator’s own mini-program. This site does not copy timetables: a copy expires, and out of date is worse than absent.
When something is wrong: three ways to change
- Change the order: swap the affected day with the next one. First check whether the next day depends on the same condition; if both are coastal or both need the bridge, swapping does nothing.
- Change the transport: drive to the shuttle, intercity to high-speed rail, take the next morning’s train if you miss the last, and stay an extra night. An extra night usually costs less than changing a ticket.
- Changing the dates: for a typhoon, a closed bridge or a closed road there is only this one. With three or more things wrong at once, move the dates; forcing it means remembering no single sight afterwards.
Sources and when they were checked
Nan ao entry booking: notice of the Shantou Nan ao Bridge Construction Management Centre on adjusting booking bands, 2 October 2026; bands, exemptions, phone numbers and the Laiwu Bay P1 transfer all follow that notice and the National Day control plan of the same batch.
Guangji Bridge: 20 yuan, one way; sales stop, boarding stop and pontoons apart are three separate times, set by the bridgehead notice of the day; 0768-2222683 appears in the public notice, 0768-2222682 in the Chaozhou A-level directory; both are given here, neither suppressed.
Hotlines: Shantou 12345 (government service knowledge base, from the municipal transport bureau, updated 16 July 2026); Chaozhou 0768-12345; Jieyang 0663-12345.
Rail: 12306 website and hotline 12306; on station names and connections see Getting there and where to stay.
Continuity of the Nan ao rule: the county government office’s reply to proposal 20260342 (Nanfubanhan [2026] No. 154, 9 July 2026, on the county portal) records the full-load test at Spring Festival 2026 and the May Day holiday (1—5 May), together with the rule that no booking means no crossing. This page therefore treats booking as the standing rule rather than a holiday measure; the time bands still follow the 2 October notice and are marked as subject to change.
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Last revised: 19 October 2026