I want to go to Chengde and Xian... any tips re travel agents in BJ...

[Shadowdh]

Hi there all,

I am going to go to Chengde and Xian.. Chengde weekend of 29/30 July and Xian weekend 12/13 August... does anyone know of a good travel agent in the Haidian/Wudaokou are that I can go to... I just want to say trip to Chengde/Xian and then pick up the tickets and hotel pass and off I go... cheers for any help you can offer...

[Lu]

I know places for train tickets... Don't know about hotels though. but you can ask, maybe they arrange that as well.

There used to be a little travel agency deep inside BLCU itself, but I'm afraid I forgot where exactely.

If you go out the east gate (where you can go left towards the Old South Gate), go right (towards the Xijiao Binguan). There is a little travel agency on your left hand side, before the iron gate, and if you turn left just after the iron gate there is another one on your right hand side. Both places are reliable, in my experience. Hope you can find them with these directions, I have no idea what the name of either one is.

[roddy]

To be honest, neither of these are trips you need to hand over to an agent, and if you do you'll end up paying significantly more than you need to. Train tickets can be got from sales points all over the city for 5Y commission (assuming availabilty), air tickets likewise or via ctrip.com or elong.net, and long-distance bus tickets from wherever they depart. Hotels can be booked via either of the websites already mentioned, or sinohotel.com, but if you turn up you're likely to get a better deal and can check the room out in advance.

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the pointers...

Roddy... re the sales points for the train tickets... where are they and are you still up for a beer...??

[roddy]

Someone up in Wudaokou must know where you can get train tickets. I think there's a place in front of the cinema just east of the railway though.

[Shadowdh]

Cheers for the info... I know where that spot is... will sniff around...