Atlas of China
Hangzhou to Nanjing 杭州 – 南京
Door to door, the high-speed train comes out ahead: about 1½ hours, counting about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time for a flight. A standard-class seat is ¥141. The stations are in or near the city centres, which is what tips it.
| Way | Time | Door to door | Fare | A day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed trainHangzhou East 杭州东 → Nanjing South 南京南 | 1 hG230, fastest | 1½ hours | ¥141standard class | 14206:06–22:25 |
| By road272 km | 3 h 40 min | 3½ hours |
By train
142 direct high-speed trains a day run from Hangzhou East to Nanjing South, between 06:06 and 22:25. The fastest, G230, takes 1 h, and a standard-class seat is ¥141. Coming back, 143 trains a day, the fastest 1 h 1 min (G41, 05:06 to 22:24).
By air
No nonstop flights.
By road
272 km by road, about 3 h 40 min of driving: routed on OpenStreetMap, with speeds calibrated on measured trips.
Stops on the way
Cities between the two with direct trains from Hangzhou and on to Nanjing, so the trip can be broken there.
- Huzhou 湖州 70 km from Hangzhou · 21 min there, 44 min on
At the other end
Featured places around Nanjing.
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Purple Mountain & Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum 南京钟山风景区
A forested mountain on Nanjing's edge, crowned by a blue-roofed hilltop tomb
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Fuzimiao and the Qinhuai River 夫子庙—秦淮风光带
Nanjing's lantern-lit Confucius Temple quarter, beside painted boats on the Qinhuai
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City Wall of Nanjing 南京城墙
The Ming capital's brick ramparts, anchored by the vast fortress of Zhonghua Gate
Around Hangzhou: West Lake, Lingyin Temple & Feilai Feng.
On the map
Open either city on the illustrated map, or put both in a trip and let the planner lay out the days and the legs between them, with the same tables these numbers come from.
Book
About Hangzhou · About Nanjing · Where Hangzhou reaches in a day · Where Nanjing reaches in a day · All routes
Trains are every direct train on 2026-10-28 or 2026-11-11 in the 12306 timetable, with standard-class fares; one weekday, so weekend and holiday services differ, and the fastest train may not run every day. Flights are the airlines' schedules for 2026-10-28, plus routes Wikipedia lists for small airports. Drives are routed on OpenStreetMap roads (extract of 2026-10-21) where the pair was routed, else estimated from the distance. Door-to-door times add about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time to a flight. How to book is in the guide to trains and 12306; the rail times are open data on the data page.