ZGGG/CAN - Guangzhou - Novotel - May 2026

You need to book an Executive Runway View Room, which guarantees a room on the 7th or 8th floor (which are the two highest). 

Some reports before have quoted ideal rooms as 8th floor room numbers 5813, 5815, 5817 & 5819 but we were informed that these were one king bed only and as we had Executive Twin rooms booked we needed to be one floor lower.  We were given room 5715 on this occasion, which had a great view.  Odd rooms numbered 5801 through 5821 (8th floor) and 5701 through 5721 (7th floor) will give you the view you need. 

CAN is an epic airport and since our last visit a new terminal (T3) had been opened along with a new Runway (03/21).  

Departures to the North - If departing to the North, then from these rooms you can see the departures heading North off runways 01L, 01R, 02L and 02R  You can also see departures off the new Runway 03, although you need to be on alert for these and if the cloud base is low they can disappear quickly.  No view of arrivals from the south from these rooms but if you go the end of the corridor (high room numbers are closer), you’ll see a nice window looking out towards the runways on the West side of the airport. Here you can catch them landing and rolling out.  So a mix of the room and corridor window allows good coverage in this configuration.  Even when dark, it was possible to see enough of the departures for them to be logged. 

Arrivals from the North - its basically a reverse of the above, great for arrivals but rubbish for departures.  While this was not the configuration on this visit a previous visit shows this configuration also works okay.  I don't know if the new runway (arriavls on 21) will be visible in this configuration however.

If clear (which it was not on this visit) you can also see the downwinds heading South and the over the tops going into Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Zhuhai.  

The 8th floor would be better for the corridor window but I don’t think the 6th floor or lower would be any good for that as the size of the airport infrastructure gets in the way.  On our May 2026 visit with is woprth noting that FR24 coverage was patchy, and they drop off or appear only at about 1000ft, so a system is required to ensure you are logging what you actually see and ensuring you see what you actually need.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ci1WUQ3QYEmh1mYL6

View from end of corridor window overlooking western runways.

View from 5803.

ZGGG/CAN - Guangzhou - Pullman - March 2025

To access the Pullman hotel it is necessary to cross in to the main terminal to check-in level and then the Pullman is out the front across the road.  Easy when you know how!  I had requested a room with a view when booking, and when repeating the request at check-in the staff member knew exactly what I wanted.  The views are from rooms in the West Wing, even numbers between 2706 and 2732 on the seventh floor.  There is no 2700/2/4.  The view looks out towards the new terminal 2, with parallel runways on the right and a single runway on the left.  It overlooks some remote parking for Terminal 1 but most of the parking is out of sight behind you.

March 2025 

We’d booked our usual high-floored Exec Room in the West Wing only to be told that we’d been upgraded to a Suite in the East Wing. As it was high-floor and north facing, we accepted the kind gesture. Having stayed in the East Wing, I feel being in the West is slightly better for spotting, but by no means essential. For the first few hours runway ops were northerly so all deps are easily seen.

Around 2100 ops were changed to southerly and have remained so ever since. Naturally, inbounds are way easier, but the 30 or so needs that were already in were hard work but not impossible. With planning, and allowing for the lag in FR24/ADSB/ANRB you can have success, it was a bit of a Benny Hill like scenario however, up and down the corridors to catch the deps. God knows what the camera security team were thinking!  

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZZQZWSneqKLa7XAL9

Credit Bulldog and Cat

ZGGG/CAN - Guangzhou - China Southern Pearl - May 2025

Our Hotel was the China Southern Pearl, on the Southern approach to this huge airport. My last visit here was in 2015 & the place has certainly grown.

Our room was 4011, the Pearl only has 6 floors, it gave a view towards the Terminal & depending on ops/weather landers or departing traffic could be seen, again the intermittent nature of FR24 in China meant this kept you on you toes.

In previous visits here the group had access to the rook, but the 6^th floor & roof were undergoing refurb, which was good & bad news. Bad news in that the roof on the hotel wasn’t useable, however they did allow access to the roof of another China Southern Building, weather permitting. If it rains there’s now cover but the view of the Southern half of the airport is hard to beat. That said you’re more to the left on this roof making reading landers on the right tricky & in bright sunshine reading the electronics is also tricky, but better than nothing.

The refurb of the 6^th floor had also created a meeting room with a view towards the airport. It was ideally sized for 18 I suspect, but our group of 25 or so just about fitted in. Again depending on which side of the room you are depends how much concentration & patience is need to see the movements, especially landers, stuff on the cross taxiways can be read, there’s the obligatory wifi & a loo down the corridor. We retreated in here as & when the weather or laziness dictated. A great asset. As I said during our visit they were still testing the 6 Floor with Fire Alarm test & such so when in action I suspect it’d have to be booked & a fee would probably apply. As for the roof access whether that would available to individuals I’m not sure, sometimes there is an advantage to numbers. The glass is sloping & photography will possible would mean block the views of others while you’re taking the photo, so it was a number crunching exercise

Foodwise the hotel has a canteen style Buffet, aimed at its core market, China Southern Aircrew, breakfast was so appealing I didn’t bother on our second morning. This canteen runs a buffet in the evening for about £10, however no alcohol & very Chinese. The alternative on site is the Chines Restaurant on the 3^rd floor, they do serve beer and the menu is in English, we ordered more food than would fit on the table & very nice it was and including a couple of large bottles of beer the price struggled to get to £20, I recommend the deep dried Prawns, so good we ordered a second helping!

Credit: Andy Vass