train travel in china

[Pravit]

I've read that you cannot buy return tickets, or, for that matter, tickets for departures at other stations(for example you can't buy a Shanghai-Xi'an ticket in Beijing). If I were planning to make a rail journey from one part of the country to another, perhaps stopping for a day or two in cities along the way, could I count on tickets being available on the very day or the day before I need to leave for my next destination? Is there any way to (reliably) book tickets in advance? BTW, I'm planning on travelling in July/August, to my knowledge, there aren't any major holidays during this time, are there?

Thanks for your help.

[Craig]

Train travel can be a bit of a pain at times. If you are looking to buy a hard sleeper ticket you generally need to book at least 3 days in advance. Some Z trains you can buy round trip tickets and those can be purchased 15 days in advanced and are all Soft sleeper tickets. If you are taking a short train ride >4 hours and you just want to get there you might want to tough it out with a hard seat which are generally available the day of, but be aware you will be exposed to smoking and possibly other foul smells. Also for some destinations if you can't get train tickets buses are a good alternative and are generally easier to get spots on.

Looking for train times go to http://www.51piao.com/train/ keep in mind where the train originates if it originates in the town you are in you have a better chance of getting tickets. Also getting a ticket on a weekend is harder than a weekday. If you can't get a ticket at the window call CITS in the city they might be able to help but it will be more expensive. There are some English sites that will pre-buy tickets for you but they generally overcharge around 50% and i've not used them so can't say how they work. Summer is a big travel time for most of China from what i've heard and judging by hotel prices just allow a few extra days in your planning incase you are stuck somewhere for awhile and you will be okay.

[Pravit]

Thanks for the tips, Craig!

I don't think I would mind sitting hard seat for short stretches of time(although I've never been, so who knows), but I would definitely want to reserve better seating for the longer trips. Just to make sure, if I am in Beijing, there is no way to book, say, a Jinan-Hefei ticket, other than through a travel agency?

[yingguoguy]

Am I the only one who doesn't feel there's any difference between hard and soft seats? Most of the hard seat trains I've been on in China have been perfectly comfortable (unlike the ones in Thailand say, which were wooden benches) and I actually prefer the hard seats at night because they have higher backs which make it easier to sleep. Admittedly this is only on a two hour train journey, the discomfort probably kicks in after another hour or so.

It's definately a good idea to buy a return ticket/ticket to your next destination as soon as you arrive at the train station. When I've been travelling I've always done this and never had any problems being stranded somewhere, the worst thats happened is having to stand for a couple of hours in a very crowded train.

Edit: (Actually come to think of it, I've only travelled on hard seats / soft beds, so listen to Craig about hard beds).

I've also never understood the pricing on trains. From my town to beijing for example:

Soft Seat: 19 yuan

Hard Seat: 9 yuan

Standing Room only on a Soft Seat train: 19 yuan.

They tell you there's no seats left when you buy the ticket, so why charge full price?0

[Pravit]

Wow, thanks for the advice. By the way, I found this page if it is of use to anyone else planning a train journey: http://www.chinese-forums.com/bj/trains.html

Have you generally been able to find rooms at guesthouses in places you travel to?

[roddy]

The differences between soft and hard seat can vary depending on the train - hard seat on a modern tourist class train - say the ones running between Shanghai and Nanjing are fine - but on a slow train in the middle of nowhere it's a different story.

Hard seat is generally fine for short runs. The real problems come when it's a busy period and there are more people than seats - all those with standing only tickets are crammed into the hard seat carriages.

For longer trips a sleeper is the way to go if at all possible.

By the way, I found this page if it is of use to anyone else planning a train journey: http://www.chinese-forums.com/bj/trains.html

Forgotten about that - couple of years out of date now, but I'm not sure there's been much change.