I swear this forum has denigrated into a cesspool of cynicism and misinformation by the few usual suspects.

The guy doesn't know anything about KM, he is only going off of what his parents said, can't we just take it at face value without making snide remarks? Stop being a troll and an ass.

As to transportation, it is not that big of a deal Cat, a hassle, but no big deal. Once you exit the airport there any many airport shuttle routes that goes into different parts of the city. The trick would be which bus you need to get on and what stop to get off, especially if you don't speak Chinese, the fare is ￥25, approx 4USD. Failing at that, there will be many people that will approach you as you exit the airport to ask you if you need a ride. Having never used their service, it is between ￥100-￥200 depending on where you are going and your negotiation skills. The last option would be to take the subway to the end of the line (don't worry, there is only one subway leaving the airport to the city and there is only one stop total, you can't get lost). The subway will leave you at the eastern edge of the city, from there you can either take a taxi or a bus if you are so inclined.

I would say if you really want to surprise your parents, transportation difficulties should not be a good reason to stop you. Unless maybe your parents have other *reasons* for dissuading you?

Hope this helps

Cheers~

Perhaps they have arranged a swingers party for CNY ;p

There is a taxi stand outside the exit. They put the meter on. Well, they did for me and took me to my hostel in Guandu district in the South of Kunming for 65RMB. This was in July last year. It can't of changed too much.

Taxi to Green Lake -Universities' area cost 80-100RMB. Taxi stop is right opposite of the exit, cars are turquoise color.

Bus to the center of city (Renmin lu) - 25RMB. But there are a few different shuttle buses.

I have caught a taxi from the airport even at midnight.
There are some new shuttle buses that cost 13RMB. They start earlier in the morning (6or7am) but finish a little early too (7pm or so i think).

If you are going to the airport, you may want to check if the bus you would normally take is still running. There is indeed a new service (slower as well as cheaper as it stops in more places), but the old one is also still running,however at least 1 stop doesn't exist anymore despite their advertising that still says it goes there (da shang hui). There may or may not be other changes to the regular brown busses. The new white with blue writing busses leave and arrive from the Northern end of the airport on the arrivals level. I smell a small route war going on between the two companies with the customer left to suffer the fallout!