China has one of the biggest
and busiest rail networks in the world, and trains link
almost every town & city. Chinese trains are a safe,
comfortable & cheap way to travel around China, and a
Chinese train journey is an experience in itself, a total
contrast with environmentally-unfriendly internal flights. This page will help you
understand & plan train travel in China, & arrange your
tickets.
There is an
excellent free downloadable Quick Reference timetable in
English for train times between the biggest cities at
www.chinatt.org. This
is produced by
Chinese Railways expert Duncan Peattie.
Map of Beijing Metro:
Click for map. Shows Beijing Main (Zhan) and
Beijing West (Xi) mainline stations.
Thomas
Cook Overseas Timetable...
Train times & route maps for
almost
all mainline Chinese trains are shown in the famous Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable,
probably the most adventurous timetable ever published.
It's updated every two months, and has currency, visa and
other travel information as well as timetables for ferries,
buses & trains in China
and all other countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas &
Australasia. It
costs £13.99 from the bureau de change inside any UK branch
of Thomas Cook, or you can buy online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery.
Alternatively, you can
buy the twice-yearly Independent Traveller's edition
at Amazon.co.uk also with shipping worldwide.
Printed
train timetables for China...
As well as his
free summary timetable, Duncan Peattie
produces an
excellent English translation of the whole Chinese Railways
national timetable, available by email from
mail@chinatt.org.
This costs about £9 (US$18 or 15 Euro) in .pdf format, or
£15-18 (US$30-36 or 25-30 Euros) in printed format
(including postage). It covers all trains in the
national timetable between some 850 stations. For more
information, see
www.chinatt.org.
Chinese
trains link virtually all main cities and towns in China,
and are a safe, comfortable & civilised way to travel, even
for families or women travelling alone.
Classes of
seat & sleeper...
Chinese trains
generally have 4 classes:
Soft sleeper:
Most western travellers travel soft sleeper, a comfortable,
civilised & affordable way to travel. Soft sleepers
are spacious 4-berth compartments with two upper & two lower
berths by night, converting to two sofas for daytime use.
All necessary bedding is provided. There's a table
with tablecloth, and usually a vacuum flask of hot water for
making tea (or drinking chocolate or cuppas soups if you've
brought some). The compartment door locks securely,
and a smartly-dressed attendant looks after each car.
The best trains even feature individual TV screens and power
sockets for laptops & mobiles.
Hard sleeper:
If you're on a tight budget, there's no reason why you
shouldn't go hard sleeper, as many western backpackers do.
Hard sleeper consists of open-plan carriages with a broad
aisle on one side of the car, bays of 6 bunks (upper, middle
& lower) on the other side. In spite of the name, hard
sleeper bunks are reasonably well padded, and bedding is
supplied. Newer trains even have power sockets for
laptops & mobiles.
Soft & hard
seat: Equivalent to first & second class on a
European train. Short distance daytime trains often
only have hard class seats, though some inter-city trains
also have soft class seats.
Deluxe soft
sleeper: In addition to the four normal classes, a
handful of trains also have deluxe soft sleepers, include
Beijing-Hong Kong, Beijing-Shanghai & Beijing-Xian.
These are 2-berth compartments with private toilet.
There are only limited numbers of these 2-berth compartments
are available, often booked by government officials, so by
all means ask for one but don't bang your head against a
brick wall trying to get one, be prepared to travel in
normal 4-berth soft class if necessary. Sharing a
4-berth really isn't a problem, it's the norm in China, and
you might even meet some real Chinese people this way.
Not all trains
have all classes - for example, the best Beijing-Shanghai
trains are soft-sleeper-only.
Restaurant
cars, toilets, smoking...
Toilets: Chinese trains generally have both western & 'squat'
toilets, but it's always a good idea to take your own supply of toilet paper.
The toilets on the modern D & Z category trains are
immaculate, so no worries there!
Restaurant
cars: Most long-distance trains have a restaurant
car, with waiter service of drinks, snacks & meals.
The best trains on key routes such as Beijing-Shanghai have
menus in both Chinese and English.
Smoking:
Smoking is not permitted in the sleeping-car
compartments or corridors on Chinese trains, but is
allowed in the vestibules between carriages and in the
restaurant cars.
Categories of
train...
Chinese train
numbers usually start with a letter, which indicates the
category of train. The better the category of train,
the faster it is likely to be, and the more modern &
comfortable the carriages
are likely to be. Slightly higher fares are charged for
the better train categories.
C & D trains
(modern high-speed daytime & sleeper trains): These are top-quality high-speed
trains with ultra-modern air-conditioned coaches and
streamlined power-cars at each end. Some are
200-300km/h daytime electric trains, a few D-trains are top-quality
200km/h sleeper trains.
Photos
of D category sleeper train.
Z trains
(high-quality express sleeper trains):
The previous top-quality sleeper train, the 'Z' trains are
now the second best, but still with very modern
air-conditioned coaches.
Photos of Z category sleeper train
T trains
('extra fast'): Trains with a 'T' in the train
number are the next best category, see the photos below.
K trains
('fast'): Trains with a 'K' in the train number
are 'fast'. Slightly higher fares are charged for
better categories of train.
'T' &
'K' category trains may not be as glamorous as the front-rank
'D' or 'Z'
category trains, but even these T or K trains are
usually very comfortable, often modern &
air-conditioned.
A
typical 'T' or 'K' category long-distance express...
The restaurant car...
Soft
sleeper consists
of spacious carpeted & lockable 4-berth compartments,
with
toilets & washrooms at the end of the corridor.
Note the lacy decor & flower in a vase on the tablecloth!
Some trains even have personal TV screens for each
berth. Photos courtesy of Shuhei Terashima
Hard sleeper
consists of open bays of 6 bunks (upper, middle & lower) on
one side of an aisle. In spite of its name, berths are
padded, bedding is supplied, and many budget western
travellers prefer it. There are fold-out seats in the
aisle either side of small tables. Photos courtesy
of Gabriel Chew.
Finding &
boarding your train...
Always arrive
at the station in plenty of time before the departure of
your train. In major cities, especially Beijing, stations can be large and
busy, and it may take a while to find your train. At
major stations such as in Beijing or Shanghai there are security checks (including
airline-style X-ray luggage checks) to go through before boarding.
Departure indicators may be in Chinese, but you can easily
find your train if you know the train number and departure
time.
Boarding trains in Beijing...
Above: The lesser-known Beijing South
Station is now the place to catch the high-speed daytime
'C' & 'D' category trains from Beijing to Shanghai or
Tianjin... Photo courtesy of Gabriel Chew
There are two
major stations in Beijing, Beijing Main (metro Bejingzhan)
and Beijing West (also called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro
Junshibowuguan). Trans-Siberian trains to Moscow &
Ulan Bator use Beijing Main, as do most trains to Shanghai.
The direct train to Hong Kong and trains to Xian, Guangzhou
& Tibet all use Beijing's newer West station. The
daytime high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai now uses
the little-known Beijing South station.
Both Beijing
Main & West stations are large and busy, and some people find them
confusing. So arrive in plenty of time for your train!
When you reach
the station, you must first go through airport-style
security controls into the departure area.
For soft
sleeper travel, you must then find the appropriate waiting
lounge for your train. There are a number of different
waiting lounges, and the electronic message boards show
which is the right one for each specific train.
Tickets are checked on entering the lounge, so you can be
sure you are in the right place.
Inside the
lounge, the electronic message boards show the trains
departing from that lounge, for the next 24 hours.
Trains are usually allocated between lounges so there is ½
hour or more between each departure from that lounge.
Most trains are shown as
'on time', but the most immediate
departures are shown as 'waiting'. Once a train is ready for
boarding (normally about 30 minutes before departure) it is shown as
'check in', meaning you can proceed through ticket control
to the platform. About 5 minutes before departure the
barrier is closed and the train is shown as 'check out'.
It's easy to buy
tickets yourself at the station, but remember to take your
passport with you.
In
big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai you should look for the
special ticket window for foreigners.
Reservations for the best
D- or Z-category express trains open
10-20
days before departure, but reservations for other trains
only open
5-10 days before departure. You cannot buy tickets
before reservations open. If the train you
want starts its journey somewhere else and calls at your
boarding station already well into its journey, tickets may
only be available 2 days before departure. The exact rules vary
by city and by train.
Chinese
Railways don't have a central reservation system, only local
computer reservation systems based in each city that aren't
linked to each other. So a station can generally only
sell you a ticket for a journey starting at that station,
not for journeys starting elsewhere. For example, the
ticket office at Shanghai can sell
you a Shanghai-Beijing ticket but cannot sell you a Beijing-Xian ticket.
However, at major cities you can sometimes buy a return
ticket for key routes - for example, in Beijing you can buy
a ticket from Beijing to Shanghai and also from Shanghai
back to Beijing. But in most cases, you'll need to
book your return journey when you get to your destination.
Tickets are best
booked at least 2-3 days in advance, apart from peak periods (the
Spring Festival, May Day 1st May, National Day 1st October) when
they should be booked as soon as reservations open.
In Beijing, you
can buy tickets at Beijing Main station (metro Bejingzhan), or Beijing West
station (called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro
Junshibowuguan sometimes called 'Military Museum'). At
Beijing Main station, the ticketing office for foreigners is
on the north west corner of the 1st floor, accessed via the
soft seat waiting room. It is open 05:30-07:30,
08:00-18:30, 19:00-23:00. Only domestic Chinese
tickets are sold, not international tickets. At
Beijing West station, ticket window 1 in the main hall is
marked 'English speaking', open 24 hours. Service here
is reported as 'fluent & efficient'. Alternatively, you can buy train
tickets at BTG Travel & Tours, on Fwai Dajie between the New
Otani and Gloria Plaza Hotels, open 08:00-20:00. To
buy Trans-Siberian tickets from Beijing to Ulan Bator or
Moscow,
see the Trans-Siberian page. To buy tickets from
Beijing to Hanoi,
see
the Vietnam page.
In Shanghai,
the English speaking ticket window at the main station was
window 43 though this has now (2009) been reported as
changed to window 10 on the ground floor of the main ticket
office to the southeast of the main station.
How to buy tickets
from outside China...
There are several ways
to arrange Chinese train tickets from outside China. Just remember
that reservations for the best D- & Z-category express trains
open 20 days in advance, but for most other trains bookings
only open 5-10 days before departure. Even an agency
cannot positively confirm your booking before reservations
open and they buy your ticket!
1.
Ask your
hotel...
This may well be the cheapest & easiest option. Book a
hotel, and ask them to arrange train tickets for you.
Many hotels will do this for you for a small fee, perhaps
RMB 50.
If you want to book a
Chinese train in advance from outside China, you can do this with several
agencies, including
www.chinatripadvisor.com,
www.chinatraintickets.net or www.china-train-ticket.com.
Tickets cannot be posted abroad, but can be delivered to your hotel
in China to be picked up when you get there. This will
cost more than you'd pay at the ticket office, but if you
really need to be on a particular train on a particular date, it can
be worth booking ahead, especially at peak times, such as around the
time of the the Spring Festival, 1st May, or 1st October.
Fares are shown below. All these agencies are reputable, and chinatripadvisor has been recommended by at least one seat61
correspondent. If you have any feedback from using
either of these agencies, please
e-mail me.
Buying tickets for departures from Hong Kong...
You can book
departures from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai by email at the
official (cheap!) ticket office price through KCRC (Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation)
Customer Services. Visit their website at
www.mtr.com.hk (click
'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services' then 'more
information'. Note that the online booking system on their
intercity trains home page is only for the HK to Guangzhou
intercity trains, for the Beijing & Shanghai through trains you'll
need to email their customer services department. When
looking up times and fares on their website, remember that Hong
Kong is shown as 'Hung Hom').
You will be given a reference number and can then pick up and pay
for tickets at Hong Kong's 'Hung Hom' station in Kowloon. Note
that Hong Kong ticket office does not accept credit cards, only
cash. However, there is an ATM just round the corner from the
station.
The best way to
travel between Beijing & Shanghai is by train. Choose
between a high-speed daytime train or a time-effective
overnight sleeper. A sleeper train is far superior to
any flight and actually saves time (and a hotel bill)
compared to flying. It's also an experience in itself.
Beijing to Shanghai
is 1,463 km (914 miles). All trains shown here are daily.
* D31 & D32 arrive & depart Beijing South station, not main
station.
Which train should you take?
Trains D301-D322: These
are the top-quality sleeper trains. Immaculate brand-new 200km/h
sleeper trains introduced in December 2008, with 4-berth soft sleepers &
restaurant/bar car. Fully air-conditioned, each sleeper berth even has its
own TV screen & there are power sockets for laptops or mobiles. Expect these trains
to be very punctual.
See the D-category sleeper photos below. There are no 2-berth sleepers
on this train. There is also now a similar D314 & D313,
running to very similar timings though not shown here to save space.
Trains D31 & D32:
Recommended daytime train. Departs from/ arrives at Beijing South
station, not the main station,
see metro map. This is a new D-category 200-250 km/h express electric train, introduced in April
2007. It has 1st & 2nd class seats and bar-restaurant car. 1st class seats are 2-abreast
each side of the aisle, 2nd class seats are 3-abreast one side, 2 abreast the
other.
Photographs of this train, inside
& out.
There are also photo on the
Beijing-Shanghai train page of
www.chinatripadvisor.com.
Train T109 & T110 has deluxe
2-berth compartments with private toilet & washroom as well as normal soft & hard
sleepers. As there are now no
2-berth deluxe sleepers on any of the 'Z' category trains, so if you insist on a
2-berth you'll need to use this train. Train T103 & T104 has soft &
hard sleepers. If you are on a tight budget and want to save money, travel
hard sleeper on one of these slower 'T' category trains. Hard sleeper is
still a comfortable and safe way to travel.
See the T category train photos above.
Children
under 110cm tall travel free, 110-140cm tall travel for half
fare, over 140cm tall pay full fare.
How to buy tickets.
At Shanghai station there are reportedly now some
self-service ticket machines with an English language
facility, able to sell tickets for these trains.
Above:
Train D302 about to leave Shanghai for Beijing. Even if
you can't read Chinese, the departure indicator clearly
shows the train number & departure time. Photo courtesy of James
Fletcher
Above: 4-berth
soft sleeper on train D302. Each berth has an
individual TV screen and all bedding is supplied.
There are power sockets for laptop & mobiles.
Clean western-style toilets are at the end of the
corridor.
Photo courtesy of James Fletcher
Above:
Restaurant on train D302. Photo courtesy of James
Fletcher
Above:
Bar on train D302.
Photo courtesy of James Fletcher
The best way to
travel between Beijing & Xian is by train, using a
time-effective sleeper train.
Beijing
► Xian
Xian
► Beijing
Train number:
T41
T231
T43 **
Z19 *
Train number
T232
T42
Z20 *
T44 **
Beijing (West)
depart
16:43
16:55
20:36
21:18
day 1
Xian
depart
20:40
18:42
20:16
20:34
day 1
Xian
arrive
05:22
06:42
08:42
08:19
day 2
Beijing (West)
arrive
09:06
06:22
07:17
07:40
day 2
* recommended trains,
see the photos below. These
superb trains have top-quality air-conditioned
sleeping-cars, far superior to any flight and saves time
over flying, too. This train is soft class only (no
hard class) with 4-berth soft class sleepers, restaurant car
(with menu in Chinese and English, beer a reasonable RMB15,
the crispy fried prawns are recommended!) and bar. It
is reported that the on-board staff are helpful and speak
some English, and the berths are even fitted with small TV
screens. There are now no 2-berth sleepers on this
train, they run in train T44/T43.
** Trains T44 & T43
have 2-berth deluxe sleepers with private toilet, as well as
normal 4-berth soft sleepers, hard class sleepers & restaurant car.
Beijing to Xian
is 1,200 km (750 miles). All trains shown are daily.
Other trains are also available, only the best options are
shown here.
The Terracotta
warriors are 40-45 minutes
from Xian station by bus 306 or 307, fare about 7 RMB.
Minibuses & taxis are also available.
Traveller
Graham Dawes reports (April 2009): "I successfully
used "English Spoken" booking hall window (which appears to
change so look carefully over booking hall windows for the
sign) in Beijing Xizahn (West) to book return tickets to
Xian on the Z19/Z20 last week for travel this week.
Soft sleeper in a 4 berth cabin cost Y417 each way.
Only cash accepted at window, no credit cards. Lower berths
seem slightly longer (about 2 metres) if you are tall.
Pillow and duvet provided in each berth. Travelled
both ways (solo) and shared with Chinese ladies and men and
had entertaining conversations in adequate English. Train
crew attendants also spoke some English and recorded
announcements on board made in English as well as Chinese.
Slept reasonably well and train ran punctually to the minute
both ways. Excellent value, even the toilets were fine
at the end of the trips. No sign of individual berth
TV's in the coaches in which I travelled. In both
stations used the Soft Class Waiting Lounges where there are
excellent electronic display boards (in English & Chinese)
for departures. You leave this lounge to board the
train via a ticket inspection. Retain tickets for
inspection at arrival stations."
'Z' category trains are the fastest and most modern long
distance trains in China, running on routes such as
Beijing-Xian, though now superseded by D-category sleeper
trains on the Beijing-Shanghai route. They are composed
of the very latest air-conditioned sleepers, plus bar and
restaurant. Traveller Jim McCorry reports: "The train journey was
exceptionally good; the sleeping accommodation was first
class as was the service. We also had the opportunity to
meet and enjoy conversations, sometimes only in written form
I may say, with a number of Chinese people sharing our
compartment both going and returning. Booking in Beijing was
relatively painless as they have a special booking office
for foreigners."
Above:
Each coach proudly carries a destination plate, in
Chinese and English...
Photo courtesy of Bas de Graaff
Above:
Upper & lower berths in a soft class sleeper,
complete with
individual TV screens...
Photo courtesy of Bas de Graaff
Above:
2-berth deluxe soft sleepers have upper & lower berths
on one side of the compartment, a wardrobe and armchair
on the other side...
Both photos courtesy of Bas de Graaff
Above:
2-berth deluxe sleepers have a private toilet &
washroom.
There are more photos of the excellent 'Z' trains
here.
High-speed 350
km/h 'C' category trains (sometimes known as 'Hexie' trains) link Beijing
South Station & Tianjin every 10-20
minutes, taking just 30 minutes for the 120 km (75 miles)
journey. Simply use
www.chinatravelguide.com to find specific train times.
The fare is around RMB 58 (£6 or $9) in hard seat, RMB 69
(£7 or $10) in soft seat. It's easy enough to buy
tickets at the station on the day of travel.
Above: Soft seats on the Beijing-Tianjin 'Hexie'
train. Photo courtesy of Gabriel Chew
Above: The business end of a 350km/h
Beijing-Tianjin 'Hexie' train. Photo courtesy
of Gabriel Chew
* Train T97 runs Beijing-Hong Kong on even dates in Jan,
April, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2010 & odd dates in Feb, March, Jun, July, Sep, Oct
2010.
You can check days of running, times
& fares at www.mtr.com.hk (click
'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services' then 'more information' & remember that Hong
Kong is shown as either 'Kowloon' or 'Hung Hom').
Every 2 days *
Daily
Daily
Train number:
T97
T15
T201
Beijing (West)
depart
13:08
day 1
11:00
day 1
18:16 day 1
Guangzhou (main)
arrive
|
07 :35
day 2
15:01 day 2
Hong Kong (Hung
Hom)
arrive
12:56
day 2
-
-
On board accommodation:
T97 & T98 have 2-berth 'deluxe soft sleeper' with
private toilet,
normal 4-berth soft sleepers, hard sleepers & restaurant car. T15/16
& T201/202 have 2-berth deluxe soft sleepers, 4-berth
soft sleepers, hard class sleepers & restaurant car.
How to buy tickets: If your journey starts in Hong Kong, you can book tickets by
email at www.mtr.com.hk
(click 'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services')
and pick up tickets at the booking office, or just buy them
at the station reservations office. If your journey
starts in Beijing or Guangzhou,
advice on buying tickets.
Be warned, the Beijing-Hong Kong through train is very
popular, and gets booked up well in advance.
Traveller Roddy Flagg reports: (Feb 2009) "I bough a
Beijing-Hong Kong hard sleeper ticket at Beijing West at
around midday, for departure the next day - so in this case
at least there was no need to purchase too far in advance.
Purchase was very easy - into the ticket office, find window
16 with it's 'English spoken' sign, and there was only one
person ahead of me in the queue. Can't attest to the quality
of the English as I was speaking Chinese. Was in and
out in a couple of minutes, but Beijing West is, as you no
doubt know, a massive place, so it could well take longer if
you get lost. Buying at the more central Beijing main
station might be better."
Departure formalities:
Departing from Beijing, you should arrive at Beijing West
station 90 minutes before departure for passport control &
exit formalities. Departing from Hong Kong, you should
arrive at Kowloon's Hung Hom station 45 minutes before
departure for passport control & exit formalities.
The station in Hong Kong is in Kowloon and called 'Hung Hom'.
It can help to know that the Chinese refer to Hong
Kong/Kowloon as 'Jiulong'.
Hong Kong
& Guangzhou
► Beijing
** Train T98 runs Hong Kong to
Beijing on odd dates in Jan, April, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2010 & even dates in
Feb, March, Jun, July, Sep, Oct 2010.
You can check days of running, times &
fares at
www.mtr.com.hk (click
'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services' then 'more information' & remember that Hong
Kong is shown as either 'Kowloon' or 'Hung Hom').
Every 2 days **
Daily
Daily
Train number:
T98
T16
T202
Hong Kong (Hung
Hom)
depart
15:15
day1
-
-
Guangzhou
depart
|
16:48
day 1
09:48 day 1
Beijing (West)
arrive
14:51
day 2
13:18
day 2
06:34 day 2
There are also a
range of daily air-conditioned trains between Guangzhou
(Canton) & Hong Kong, see www.mtr.com.hk for times, fares and online booking.
* Train T100 Hong Kong to Shanghai runs on odd dates in Jan,
April, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2009 & even dates in
Feb, March, Jun, July, Sep, Oct 2009.
**
Train T99 Shanghai to Hong Kong runs on even dates in Jan,
April, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2009 & odd dates in
Feb, March, Jun, July, Sep, Oct 2009.
You can check times, fares
& days of running at
www.mtr.com.hk (click 'customer site' then 'intercity
passenger services' then 'more information' & remember that Hong
Kong is shown as 'Hung Hom' or 'Kowloon').
On board accommodation: T99 & T100 have 2-berth 'deluxe soft sleeper' with
private toilet,
normal 4-berth soft sleepers, hard sleepers & restaurant car. T29/30 & T15/16 have
soft & hard class sleepers & restaurant car.
How to buy tickets: If your journey starts in Hong Kong, you can book tickets by
email at www.mtr.com.hk
(click 'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services')
and pick up tickets at the booking office, or just buy them
at the station reservations office. If your journey
starts in Shanghai, buy at the ticket office (there's an
English-speaking window) or pre-book through an agency, see advice on
buying tickets.
Departure formalities:
Departing from Shanghai, you should arrive at Shanghai
station 90 minutes before departure for exit formalities.
Departing Hong Kong, you should arrive at Hung Hom station
45 minutes before departure. The station in Hong Kong
is in Kowloon and called 'Hung Hom'. It can help to
know that the Chinese refer to Hong Kong/Kowloon as 'Jiulong'.
The first regular passenger trains started
running over the new railway to Lhasa in Tibet on 1 July 2006.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the highest
in the world, climbing from 2,829m above sea level at Golmud (Geermu) to 3,641m
at Lhasa, much of it built on permafrost. Its highest point is in the
Tanggula Pass, at 16,640 feet (just over 5,000m) above sea level. Because of the lack of
oxygen at that altitude, all passenger coaches have extra oxygen pumped into
them, and oxygen is
available to passengers through tubes if they have problems. Before
the railway was built into Tibet, travellers had to take a train as far as Golmud
(which the railway reached in 1984) followed by a gruelling 48 hour bus journey to Lhasa.
Now there are direct air-conditioned trains from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou &
Xian to Lhasa.
Regular passenger trains to Lhasa from Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guangzhou...
There are several trains a day to Lhasa, including a
daily express from Beijing to Lhasa (a 2-night journey) running via Xian and other
trains running every second day from
Shanghai & Guangzhou (formerly called Canton, near Hong Kong) to Lhasa. These are modern air-conditioned Chinese Railways trains, with soft & hard class sleepers, soft & hard class seats &
a restaurant car.
Photos of the new Beijing-Lhasa train interior.
Train times & fares for these trains are
shown below.
How to buy tickets...
Bookings open
10 days in advance. In the first months of operation of the new line, tickets
were
reported as selling out almost as soon as bookings open, with no sign of demand
diminishing.
Hopefully it will soon become easier to get tickets, when you
may be
able to buy
tickets through
www.chinatraintickets.net
or ChinaHighlights.com.
Alternatively, you can try buying tickets yourself at the station, arranging a permit
separately - how to buy tickets.
Getting a permit for Tibet...
In
addition to a normal Chinese visa, foreigners require a special permit to enter Tibet,
although there is talk of discontinuing this requirement in the near future, so
please check. The only way to get a permit is through a Chinese travel agency,
for example
www.chinatraintickets.net
or ChinaHighlights.com who can arrange both trains and tailor-made tours.
The permit is valid to enter Tibet and reach Lhasa, though a further permit is
required to travel any further. There's a good article about Tibet permits at
http://kekexili.typepad.com/life_on_the_tibetan_plate/2007/02/travel_in_tibet.html.
Deluxe
tourist trains are due to start running from Beijing to Lhasa in spring 2009,
with luxurious sleeping-cars featuring double beds, private shower & toilet,
restaurant cars and lounge-observation cars. Exact dates, times and
fares will be announced later, but the Beijing-Lhasa train will run year-round,
with about 75 departures a year. The trains will be marketed as Tangula
Luxury Trains, see
www.tangulaluxurytrains.com
for more details. The trains are a joint
venture between Chinese Railways (Qinghai-Tibet Rail Corporation) and a Canadian company called RailPartners.
All trains are air-conditioned with extra
oxygen available, and have soft class & hard class sleepers & seats, and restaurant car.
The soft sleepers have 4-berth compartments, complete with personal LCD
televisions, occasionally showing English language movies.
Guangzhou = Canton, a few hours' train ride
from Hong Kong.
x = the train probably stops, but exact time
not known.
Note A = runs every 2nd day (runs on odd dates
in Jun, Jul, Sept, Oct 2008, even dates in Apr, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2008)
Note B = runs every 2nd day (runs on even dates
in Jun, Jul, Sept, Oct 2008, odd dates in Apr, May, Aug, Nov, Dec 2008)
Note C = runs every second day .
The only way you can double-check which days
the non-daily trains run is using the .pdf timetable at
www.chinatt.org/download.htm
Another train (not shown here) runs daily
between Xining & Lhasa, extended to Lanzhou on alternate days. Many other
trains link Beijing, Xian, Lanzhou and Xining. Beijing-Lhasa is 4,064 km,
of which 1,110 km are over the newly-built Qinghai-Tibet railway.
Traveller Frances Partridge reports (Nov 2008): "Just
completed the 48 hour Lhasa to Beijing train ride. Lhasa station is awesome;
very modern, very beautiful; maybe a bit of a showcase? No one seemed to mind my
photographing anywhere. We left dead on time. The attendant came to my
compartment and gave me the oxygen tube to attach to the outlet in case of need.
Having been in Tibet for a week already, I was fine, just coughing a lot like
most Tibetans were. There were about eight other Westerners on the train,
a handful of Tibetans and lots of Chinese people.
To be honest, not the most spectacular scenery, compared to crossing Tibet, but
what an engineering achievement! The highest railway in the world, much of it
constructed on permafrost. At night the inside of the carriage doors froze
hard but the carriages themselves were very warm and comfortable. Outside
we were above the tree line but under the yak line. Endless moss, frozen
rivulets of old ice, yak herds and what I thought were eagles but a Tibetan told
me were 'eagle's nephews'. I booked soft class (for a nice change) but the
hard sleeper was almost as good according to my companions down the train.
I had the cabin of four beds to myself all day until late in the evening when an
elegant Chinese lady appeared at my door. She looked appalled to be
sharing with a foreign backpacker, especially one who had spread out all over
the adjoining bunk, but soon settled in and was civil (in Chinese). The
car attendants were pleasant; the waitresses in the restaurant car were surly
with a habit of whipping away the ashtray after one cigarette. Trying to
make them smile was a good, if fruitless, way to spend time. One morning
we arrived for breakfast at 9.30 am to be told that for us, breakfast was over.
Annoying when the car is full of train personnel eating their heads off.
Travel, eh? The train stopped at stations twice a day so we could stretch
our legs and have an unhindered smoke and buy snacks. I was tempted to
jump off at Xian to go see the terracotta warriors but restrained myself, as
there's always next year. We stopped at one station late at night, where
it seemed that half the Chinese Army were saying goodbye to the other half.
From the hugging and sobs and photography I assumed they had finished their
posting in the Tibet Autonomous Region and were heading home to Beijing.
They were very young boys and girls. On the second day trees appeared outside
and farms and cows. Suddenly I stopped coughing and could breathe much
more easily. Then into the chaos and noise of Beijing. I am so very
glad I took this train - if you get the chance, go for it!"
Traveller Keith Crane reports: "We had great trouble finding
somebody who could book me a ticket independently (we were in Guangdong province
- and tried calling Beijing) as all the agents wanted to offer a fully inclusive
tour for between 5,000-7,000 Yuan. Finally we found an agent in Chengdu,
www.dreams-travel.com, who could book the ticket and our Tibet pass
very efficiently. They also run the very good Wen Jun Mansion Hotel, a
recommendable, cheap place to stay. Chengdu is also the home of China's
Panda research and breeding base so you can see the cuddly black and white
creatures close while you wait for your train! Chinatripadvisor was pretty
slow off the mark, not knowing much more than anyone else before bookings
opened. Anyway our combined ticket (soft sleeper and Tibet pass) came to
about 1,700 Yuan each in the end and off we went. Despite reading stories
of altitude sickness we suffered none - and if the train was pressurised, we
found the toilet windows open throughout the journey. The soft class
accommodation is comfortable - there are western-style toilets - but the
catering facilities are limited - a 44 seat dining car for a 15 carriage train!
And not enough refrigeration for cold beer.!"
Lhasa (Tibet)
► Kathmandu
(Nepal)
If you want to
travel from Lhasa through the Himalayas to Kathmandu in Nepal
(for bus & train on to Delhi or Varanasi), the only way this can
be done legally at present is with an organised tour. The
cheapest tours cost about $400 and take 8 days (7 nights) for
the 955 km journey. Try
www.heiantreks.com, who normally run Lhasa-Kathmandu
overland tours twice a week,
www.trekkingtibet.com (recommended by one seat61
correspondent),
www.visitnepal.com/getaway (weekly, $450) or
www.richatours.com or do a Google search for other
agencies. In 2005, there were reports of a new
twice-weekly bus service from Kathmandu to Lhasa but apparently
this service folded soon after it started. If you have any
feedback or recommendations,
please email me!
There's a comfortable twice-weekly soft sleeper
train with restaurant car from Beijing to Hanoi taking 2 nights and 1 day. For
train times & fares, see the 'International links' section
on the
Train travel in Vietnam page..
You can book the twice-weekly
Beijing-Hanoi sleeper train in Beijing at the reservations office, or in advance
from outside China with
www.chinatripadvisor.com.
You can travel overland by train & bus from
Hong Kong to Hanoi in Vietnam, quite cheaply and comfortably. You take an
intercity train from HK to Guangzhou, the overnight sleeper train from Guangzhou
to Nanning, a connecting train to Pinxiang then a bus to the border and on the
Hanoi. For details of how to do this, see the 'International links' section on the
Train travel in Vietnam page.
Two shipping companies sail weekly year-round
from Shanghai to either Kobe or Osaka in Japan, from where
there are 'bullet trains' to Tokyo. A third shipping line links Tianjin
(only an hour or so from Beijing by train) with Kobe.
Option 1: The
Shanghai Ferry Company...
Website www.shanghai-ferry.co.jp, look for the 'English' button. They sail weekly from Shanghai to Osaka, taking two
nights.
Shanghai ► Japan
Japan ► Shanghai
Shanghai Ferry Company:
Shanghai Ferry Company:
Shanghai depart:
Tuesdays
11:00
Osaka depart:
Fridays
12:00
Osaka arrive:
Thursdays
09:00
Shanghai arrive:
Sundays
12:00
So far, their ship has received
very good reports from one 'seat61' correspondent. You can
book a ticket on the Shanghai Ferry Company by e-mailing them at
pax@shanghai-ferry.co.jp
for a departures from Japan, or at
zhangyz@suzhaohao.com for departures from Shanghai.
You will be given a reference number and can pick up and pay for your ticket at
the port. Fares start at around 20,000 Japanese Yen (about £105) for
a one-way ticket in an open-plan economy room, 22,000 Yen in a standard cabin
(4-berth) or 40,000 Yen in a deluxe 2-berth cabin. Return
tickets are available costing 50% more than one-way fares. Check both
sailing dates and fares at
www.shanghai-ferry.co.jp.
Option 2: The
Japan-China International Ferry Company...
The other
shipping company is the Chin-Japan International Ferry Company,
www.chinajapanferry.com, which also
sails weekly from Shanghai to Japan, going alternately to Kobe or Osaka.
Fares start at 20,000 Japanese Yen or RMB 1,300 (£93 or
$165) one way for a berth in a shared Japanese-style room accommodating 8-15
passengers or 25,000 Yen / RMB 1,600 for a berth in a western-style 4-berth
cabin. There's a 10% discount for students, children 6-11 half fare. A range of cabins is available
on board, with restaurants, cafe, etc.
You can book via their online
application form less than 2 months but no less than 7 days before departure at
www.chinajapanferry.com.
Alternatively, for sailings from China, the
telephone number for the Shanghai branch is +86 2165 957 988. There
is someone who can speak English and the only information you need to give is
your name, date of birth, class of travel and passport number. They will
then make a reservation and you can buy the ticket at the port. The
telephone number for people travelling from Japan to China is +81 3 5489 4800.
This is their Tokyo branch, as unfortunately nobody can speak English at their
Osaka office.
If you are booking a Trans-Siberian train through an agency such as
The Russia
Experience, they can also book either of these ships. Prices start at around UK
£230 in a 2nd class cabin (8-berth), £250 in a 1st class 4-berth, or
£375 in a deluxe 2-berth.
Traveller's reports...
Traveller Mark Cundall used the
Japan-China International Ferry Company in 2006: "The ship was first
class, clean and absolutely no problem. If anyone wants to get from China
to Japan, I'd recommend this company. One key point is that when you get
dropped in Osaka you need a bus to get to the metro, costing 300 yen, although
there are no money exchange facilities at the port. Also, all vending
machines on the ship use Japanese yen, although Chinese RMB are accepted in the
gift shop, cafe and so on. So change some money into yen before you board
the ship!"
Option 3: China Express Line...
This ferry links Tianjin (near
Beijing) in China
with Kobe in Japan every week, taking 2 nights. See
www.celkobe.co.jp for
more information and to confirm sailing dates. Tianjin is only 30 minutes (120km) from Beijing
South Station by frequent 350km/h 'Hexie' train,
see above for Beijing-Tianjin train info.
Tianjin ► Japan
Japan ► Tianjin
China Express Line
China Express Line
Tianjin depart:
Monday
11:30
Kobe depart:
Friday
10:30
Kobe arrive:
Wednesday
14:00
Tianjin
arrive:
Sunday
14:00
Fares for the ferry start at 22,000
yen one-way or 33,000 yen return for a basic passage, and you can book by email
to pax@celkobe.co.jp. The Beijing-Tianjin
train fare is only about $5 in a soft seat.
Traveller's report:
Traveller Simon Patterson travelled from Japan to
China with China Express Line in November 2007:
"I sailed with China Express from Kobe to Tianjin. It took the best part of a day to cruise the Inland Sea,
which was spectacularly beautiful in the bright December sunshine; the
surrounding islands shone in the browns and greens of late autumn. This is the
most serene way possible to glide out of Japan, and the sea was flat as a
mirror the day we sailed. The ship itself was comfortable enough with the
crew friendly and helpful - there were only 40 passengers that day so perhaps
that contributed to the relaxed atmosphere. Food was Chinese and a bit basic
but OK. Bring Japanese Yen, although they will normally change Chinese
currency too. For booking, you can call China Express to check
availability, but the easiest way to book is through any JTB (Japanese Tourist
Board) office in Japan - they can issue tickets on the spot."
Train travel within Japan
For
information about train travel in Japan, see the Japan page.
To check Japanese train times online, see
www.hyperdia.com (English
button upper left).
Find
a
hotel
in Beijing, Shanghai & other Chinese cities...
A good guidebook like the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide will point you at some good hotels in each town
or city when you get there. Alternatively, you
can pre-book many hotels (budget, mid-range and upmarket) in
Beijing, Shanghai and most other Chinese cities through
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box
below. It's the best hotel search system I've seen.
It's not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (AsiaRooms,
Asiativ.com, Opodo, Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms and many others) to
find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set up in
2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place to
start for booking any hotel online worldwide. Once
you've booked a hotel in China, they may be able to book
trains for you departing from that city, for a modest fee.
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a
tiny fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip.
You will see so much more, and know so much more about what
you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook. For independent
travel I'd recommend either the Lonely Planet or the Rough
Guide, both provide an excellent
level of practical information and historical and political background.
You definitely won't regret buying one..! Seat61 gets a small commission if
you buy through these links.
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy after clicking these
links.
Get a pre-paid currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX currency card, available in euros, dollars or the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' card.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85%. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
Overland travel
around China by train is an essential part of the experience,
so once there, don't cheat and fly, stay on the ground!
But a long-haul flight might be unavoidable to reach China in
the first place. For flights to
Beijing, start with
Opodo.com. Opodo is a flight-booking site started by
a consortium of airlines and Amadeus, and it's normally
where I start looking for a flight myself. Seat61 gets a small commission through this link.
If you're a UK resident, try
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
