| train travel within China | |
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| Jun 15, 2006 20:11 |   |
 | We will be flying into Beijing from San Francisco and traveling on our own. We would like to take day trains to see more of the countryside. The major cities will be Beijing, Shanghai, Pingyao, Guangzhou and then Hong Kong where we will take a flt back to the US. Is the train system easy to use, fairly inexpensive and frequent enough to wait to book once we arrive in each city? Any thoughts on hostel safety and cleanliness? It's our first trip to China. Thanks! Gaia |
| Jun 15, 2006 20:36 | #1 |
| Hi, Welcome to China! If you want to travel by train, you can choose this itinerary: 1. Take a train at Beijing at arrive at Pingyao. 2. There's no direct train from Pingyao to Shanghai, you can transfer at Taiyuan, Huashan, Xian, etc.. 3. There are a lot of trains from Shanghai to Guangzhou but it may take you more than 24 hours. 4. Take train or bus to Hong Kong! |
| Jun 15, 2006 20:41 | #2 |
| There wasn't a way to book the train tickets online,so you should buy it when you arrive your destinations as soon as possible! Usually,after the University Exam,it is a hot season for travelling,so the ticket will be "nervers"!!! Good luck! |
| Jun 15, 2006 21:23 | #3 |
| Hi Gaia, California is totally right. If you come to China in middle July (when all the university students come back home for summer vacation) or late August (when all the university students go back to campus for a new semester), it will be extremely hard to you to buy train tickets. Therefore I do suggest you to avoid these two peak periods. |
| Jun 15, 2006 21:42 | #4 |
| Well, it might not be so cool to see the countryside by train, surely the train will pass some villages and small towns, but that will pass within a blink. And most of the thing you will see are mountains and massifs repeating themselves.... Maybe not so fun as you think, and taking day trains you will not have much time for your destinations that you really wanted to see, because when you arrive, it's time for bed:). Most railways designed and built here for transportation's sake, not much others taken into consideration. |
| Jun 18, 2006 16:33 | #5 |
| To May001, California, Pea28cock and Rita, Thanks so much for the advice on the trains. It was helpful. Gaia |
| Jun 19, 2006 11:02 | #6 |
| Good idea to take overnight trains and this will give you a good view of the countryside for a few hours before dark and in the early mornigns. If you take a longer trip of 20 hours you will see more in daylight of course but like the others have said the schedules are not always the best and taking buses to some places with give you the best look at country life especially if you can stop for a few days in a smaller city and make day trips outside. Guiyang, Kaili and Guilin is good places to do this. |
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