Car and driver hire in Hangzhou and region

July 18, 2011 6:37 AM

I'll be travelling to Hangzhou, China and the region around it in a few weeks. There are six of us, and we're thinking of hiring a car/minibus and driver to transport us for the longer journeys, for example from Hangzhou to some of the nearby mountains. Is it possible for us to make arrangements with some kind of transport company beforehand, or should we just do it when we get there?

The current journeys planned are as follows:

Hangzhou -> Tian Mu Mountain (天目山)
Tian Mu Shan -> Lin'an (临安）
Lin'an -> Da Ming Mountain (大明山) and back
Lin'an -> Tai Hu Yuan (太湖源)
Tai Hu Yuan -> West Zhejiang Grand Canyon (浙西大峡谷) and back
Tai Hu Yuan -> Shanghai

As you can see there are quite a few trips to be made, so it would be a lot more convenient to have a single car and driver ferry us around for the entire period. I've read that you can just hire a taxi for the day though, but it seems more risky than arranging something before arriving.

Language isn't an issue as all of us speak Mandarin.

posted by destrius to Travel & Transportation around Hangzhou, China (3 answers total)

Professional transport company? Wow, I don't know. You'll probably have more luck approaching "private entrepreneurs", who should be found hanging around train stations. They'll probably be willing to meet you every day for the right price (not paid in advance, of course!), considering the distances aren't very long. Interested in seeing if anyone has better information.
posted by Aiwen at 8:30 AM on July 18, 2011

Best answer: You should definitely just do it when you get there - I've never done it any other way in China. It should be easy to find people willing to take you each day, and more than likely they'll be the ones trying to get you to hire them for multi-day excursions.
posted by pravit at 11:00 AM on July 18, 2011

Response by poster: Ok, I will probably just ask around after getting there; I have two days in Hangzhou to do that anyway. Thanks!
posted by destrius at 11:04 PM on July 20, 2011