Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN) Airport Guide 2026 — Closed T1, New T3, Metro & China Visa-Free

Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN) — The Complete 2026 Airport Guide

Baiyun is China’s single busiest airport, and in 2026 it tore up its own map. A giant Terminal 3 opened in October 2025, Terminal 1 shut for renovation in May 2026, and the one rule every old guide gave you — “foreign airlines use T1” — is now wrong. The airport is easy once you know which of the two open terminals you land in and how to get out of it. The trap is that the newest terminal has no metro yet.

Last verified: July 2026. Fares, terminal assignments and China’s entry and transit rules change often — confirm the specifics on your ticket and at official signage before you travel.

Quick reference

The 2026 trap: Terminal 1 is closed and the terminal rule flipped

If you have flown through Baiyun before, throw out the old layout. For years the split was simple: Terminal 1 for most foreign and Star Alliance airlines, Terminal 2 for China Southern and its SkyTeam partners. That is over. Over the winter and spring of 2026 the airport carried out the biggest reshuffle in its history, and today only two terminals are operating.

Here is the new reality. Terminal 3 opened on 30 October 2025 — a huge 422,000-square-metre building that arrived alongside a fifth runway, making Baiyun the second airport in China with a five-runway system. International flights that used to leave from Terminal 1 began moving to T3 in late January 2026, and on 7 May 2026 Terminal 1 closed entirely for renovation, with its remaining flights sent to T2 and T3.

So the rule you actually need in 2026 is short:

• Terminal 2 — China Southern Airlines and other SkyTeam carriers, domestic and international.
• Terminal 3 — nearly everyone else, including the foreign and Star Alliance airlines that used to sit in T1, plus low-cost carriers such as Spring Airlines.

Two open terminals — and the Terminal 3 metro trap

The single most useful thing to know at Baiyun in 2026 is this: Terminal 3 does not have a working metro station. Guangzhou Metro Line 3 was built for the older terminals — Airport North (机场北) serves T2, and Airport South (机场南) served T1 but has been closed and bypassed since T1 shut on 7 May 2026. The metro extension that will eventually reach T3 (Line 22) is not open yet. If you land at T3 and walk down looking for the subway, you will not find one.

What T3 does have is an intercity railway station in its Transportation Center. That train is genuinely useful — it runs to Guangzhou South Railway Station (Panyu) in about 28 minutes, and it also hops to Airport North (T2) in roughly 5 minutes for about ¥5, where you can pick up Metro Line 3. There is also a free 24-hour shuttle bus linking the terminals, every 5–10 minutes at peak, about 25 minutes end to end. So a T3 arrival heading into the city has three sane moves: take the intercity train to T2 and switch to the metro, ride the intercity train straight to Guangzhou South, or take a coach or taxi directly.

Getting into Guangzhou

The airport is about 28 km north of the city, and the good news is that the public options are cheap and frequent. The catch is that your best option depends on which terminal you’re in. Here’s the honest comparison:

Metro Line 3 — the default from Terminal 2

From Airport North station beneath T2, Metro Line 3 runs south into the city for a distance-based ¥7–10. Reckon on about 45 minutes to Tiyu Xilu (体育西路) in the Tianhe business district; for the older centre around Beijing Road, change at Jiahewanggang (嘉禾望岗) onto Line 2. Trains run roughly 06:10–23:00. Coming from T3, add the short intercity-train or shuttle hop to T2 first.

Intercity train — the Terminal 3 lifeline

Because T3 has no metro, its intercity (城际) rail station is the smart exit. It links the airport to Guangzhou South, Foshan and Dongguan, reaches Guangzhou South Railway Station in about 28 minutes, and connects T3 to T2 (and its metro) in around five minutes for about ¥5. If you’re heading for the high-speed rail network anyway, this is often faster than doubling back through the city.

Coaches and taxis

Airport Express and non-stop coach lines fan out to downtown districts and nearby cities; fares are posted at the counter, usually somewhere in the ¥16–40 range depending on distance, and they’re worth it if a route drops near your hotel. A taxi to the centre runs roughly ¥120–180 on the meter (¥10 flag-fall for the first 2.5 km), about 40–60 minutes without traffic, with a late-night surcharge of around 30% between 23:00 and 05:00. Use the official taxi ranks (T3’s is by Gate 72) rather than anyone touting inside the hall.

Entry: 30-day visa-free, the 240-hour transit and the online arrival card

China has made itself dramatically easier to enter — but on a deadline, and the rule that applies to you depends on your passport. Get this straight before you book.

Most Europeans, Britons and Canadians: 30-day visa-free

China’s unilateral 30-day visa-free scheme covers ordinary-passport holders from all 27 EU states, the UK, Canada and around 50 economies in total (also including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia). The UK and Canada were added on 17 February 2026, and the whole scheme currently runs through 31 December 2026. If you hold one of those passports you can fly in for tourism, business or a family visit and stay up to 30 days with no visa and no application — just your passport. The stay can’t be extended or converted in-country, and it’s unilateral, so it grants Chinese nationals nothing in return.

US citizens (and other non-listed nationalities): the 240-hour transit

The United States is not on the 30-day list. Americans instead use China’s 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit, which replaced the older 72/144-hour schemes on 18 December 2024. Baiyun is one of three Guangdong airports authorised to issue it. To qualify you must be transiting to a third country — you need an onward flight, train or cruise ticket out of mainland China to a country other than where you came from, departing within 240 hours. You may then travel within Guangdong and 23 other provinces and regions for up to ten days; the clock starts at 00:00 the day after you enter. The old 144-hour Guangdong rule is superseded — don’t rely on guides that still quote it.

The arrival card is now online — file it before you fly

Since 20 November 2025 the paper arrival card is gone. China uses the online Digital Arrival Card (CDAC), which you complete within 72 hours before landing through the National Immigration Administration website, the NIA app, or the Alipay/WeChat mini-programs. You can still fill it in at a kiosk on arrival if you must, but doing it in advance is the smooth path. Note that on entry, foreign nationals aged 14 to 70 have ten fingerprints and a facial image taken at self-service kiosks before you reach the immigration officer — routine, but budget a few extra minutes for it.

Money: go cashless before you land

Guangzhou runs on QR-code payments, and as a visitor you should sort this out at home, not in the arrivals hall. Both Alipay and WeChat Pay now let foreign visitors link an overseas Visa, Mastercard or JCB card — no Chinese bank account needed. Download the app, verify your identity with your passport, add your card, and you can pay for the metro, taxis, food and shops by scanning a code like everyone else.

A couple of honest caveats. Purchases under about ¥200 are typically fee-free; above that a small percentage fee usually applies, so it’s cheap for daily spending but not the way to settle a big hotel bill. Cash still works and a small stash of yuan is worth carrying as backup, but many small vendors no longer keep change. Foreign cards are patchily accepted at physical terminals, which is exactly why the apps matter.

Lounges

China Southern runs its own VIP lounges in Terminal 2 for its premium cabins and SkyTeam Elite Plus flyers; those aren’t open to walk-ins or Priority Pass. For everyone else, the dependable pay-in and membership option is the Premium Lounge (Plaza Premium) in T2 — there are domestic and international-departures branches, the international one sits past security on the 3rd floor, and Priority Pass is accepted.

The 2026 sting is geographic: the best-reviewed lounges are in T2, while many foreign and Star Alliance travellers now depart from the newer T3, whose lounge line-up is still settling in after opening. If lounge access matters to you and you’re flying out of T3, confirm what’s actually available in your terminal at the information desk rather than trusting a saved listing from the old layout.

Connections, and the Greater Bay Area beyond

Baiyun is China Southern’s fortress hub, so a huge share of traffic here is connecting. Two things shape how much time you need. First, if you’re clearing immigration into China you’ll go through the fingerprint kiosks and border control, which takes longer than a simple airside transfer. Second, the terminal split matters: a connection that stays within T2, or within T3, is straightforward, but one that crosses between T2 and T3 — increasingly common now that China Southern and the foreign carriers are in different buildings — means a shuttle or intercity-train hop between them. Baiyun publishes minimum connecting times, but with the 2026 reshuffle still bedding in, the sane advice is to give yourself at least two hours for any international connection, and more if you’re self-connecting on separate tickets across terminals.

Baiyun is also the natural air gateway to the wider Pearl River Delta / Greater Bay Area. From the airport’s intercity rail and the nearby high-speed network you can reach Shenzhen, Dongguan and Foshan, and onward rail and coach links run toward Hong Kong and Macau — useful if Guangzhou is a stepping stone rather than your final stop. And if you’re travelling in spring or autumn, be ready for the Canton Fair (held at the Pazhou complex each April–May and October–November): flights and city hotels fill fast and prices jump, so book early.

Frequently asked questions

At a glance

Before you fly

• 📊 Check what a good fare to Guangzhou looks like — our price-check tool shows the typical deal range so you know a bargain when you see one.
• 🧳 Baggage checker — confirm your airline’s carry-on and checked allowance before you pack.
• 🌏 China travel guide — visa-free timing, payment apps, and where to go beyond Guangzhou.