Getting from Yantai Penglai International Airport to the city

One counter, four directions

• Yantai's airport bus is sold at a counter, not a machine. It is in the T2 arrivals hall by door 6.
• Four regional lines run from there: the Huangbohai New Area, Muping district, Penglai and Longkou. Each has its own operator enquiry number, which tells you they are run as separate services rather than one network.
• Enquiry lines: Huangbohai New Area 0535 6937117, Muping 0535 4237788, Penglai 0535 5642018, Longkou 0535 8527431.

The timetable moves

• The airport says plainly that departure times and stops are updated in real time according to the flight schedule. There is no fixed timetable to memorise.
• Fares, departures and tickets are published on the operator's WeChat account. If you are travelling without a Chinese phone, ask at the counter rather than trying to work it out in advance.

Where you actually are

• The airport is at Penglai, on the north coast of the Shandong peninsula, a long way west of Yantai city itself. It opened in 2015 and replaced the old Laishan airport, which was much closer in.
• That distance is the reason the bus network fans out to four different districts instead of running a single shuttle downtown.
• Penglai is worth a stop in its own right. The Penglai Pavilion on the cliff above the sea is one of the four great towers of China, and the coast here is the source of the mirage stories that gave the place its name.