Dalian is a neat and beautiful city to spend the summer in because it is large enough to always have something to do and see but not too large such that the amount of activities becomes overwhelming.  Also, Dalian has great weather throughout the summer and multiple summer activities, which allows one to enjoy the weather.  The best idea is to list the things that you might be interested in seeing in Dalian and work through the list throughout the summer.  Keep the graduate students and Professor Yue informed about the intended activities since they sometimes will assist in planning them.  Also, the Wikitravel page (the link is below) is a great resource for Dalian on top of the Clarkson REU page.  Finally, Google maps was a great resource to use throughout the summer.  It surprisingly has a lot of Dalian mapped out—especially with respect to the public transportation.   

http://wikitravel.org/en/Dalian

Dalian has many types of public transportation.  The first and most used was the bus system; a map of the bus routes can be found at the Wikitravel page.  Make sure to know your directions with respect to campus.  Bus 23 can be found on the east side of campus and is the most convenient bus route since it begins on campus, thus ensuring seating for any long trips taken.  Bus 901 can be found on the north side of campus and bus 406 can be found on the west side of campus.  Most places to travel to in Dalian can be reached via the bus system.  It is 1 RMB to use each time (really cheap!).

Because the Japanese once controlled Dalian, two trolley lines are still in operation and are remnants of the Japanese past.  While they aren’t the most convenient public transportation with respect to the DUT campus, they are fun to ride just to check them out and together they span Dalian west-to-east.  

Taxis are cheap and very convenient.  Unless you find yourself in a semi-remote part of the city, they are easy to find.  If it is difficult to find a bus route to a certain part of the city or outside of downtown, a taxi would be a great option.  Don’t expect them to know English.  From downtown, the cost of a taxi is about 40 RMB.  They are about 2 RMB more expensive at night. 

There are commuter trains to the northern part of the city (to the development zone) and to Jin Shi Tan.  The commuter train station is just northwest of the regular train station.  If traveling outside of Dalian, the longer train might be an option; however, because Dalian is on a peninsula, it is a much longer option than flying.

Another cool thing Dalian has are tourist bus routes that cost about 5 RMB-20 RMB, have comfortable seating, and go around to all of the different places to see in the city.  Look at the bus route maps to see where these bus stops are.

One of us (Sara) had a couple of visitors this summer.  One was a friend that was working in Qingdao and the other was her mother.  The apartments were large enough for visitors to stay on a couch and there was plenty to do in Dalian to keep them busy.  There is also a cheap hotel on campus that would be an option for anyone interested in having visitors.  There were not any hostels in Dalian for foreigners.