How to Take the Train in China
1: Don’t Try And Buy Tickets On The Day
For anything but commuter routes, buy train tickets a couple of days ahead of when you need to travel — you’re unlikely to find any tickets at all on the day. If you’re headed to Lhasa or using the Trans-Mongolian or Trans-Manchurian, tickets can get booked up weeks in advance.
Also be aware of China’s major holidays: tickets are almost impossible to get hold of around Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and National Day (the first week in October).
2: Don’t Expect Ticket Officers To Speak English
You can buy train tickets at the station, from dedicated sales outlets in city centres for a small fee or from most guesthouses and hotels for a larger fee. If you’re buying tickets for yourself, get someone to write down your destination, dates etc. in Chinese script. Some station staff at major train stations do speak English, but it’s pretty much a hit and miss affair. You will need to provide your passport.
In most big cities, the city centre sales outlets are a better bet than the station — you’ll pay a few kuai extra. It’s good to know the specific number of the train you require, and vital if you’re trying to book tickets for connecting trains (search here to find connections).
3: Know What Berth You Want For A Sleeper
Sleeper trains are a great way to get around China. First class cabins have four beds only and a door, the beds are marginally softer than second class and there is independent lighting. Second class cabins have six berths to a compartment and no door — lights go off at a fixed time for everyone.
Bottom berths are more comfortable and priced slightly higher than upper berths, but tend to function as seats for everyone in the compartment until bedtime. Top berths in second class do not have enough head room to sit up. Seating on sleeper trains is brightly lit all night and not particularly comfortable.
4: Allow Plenty of Time To Make Your Train
Chinese railway stations feel overwhelming and huge but are actually very orderly. Allow at least half an hour before your train departs. You’ll need to get through an airline style security X-ray plus patdown, ticket checks and passport checks, then find the appropriate waiting room for your train number. Gates to the platforms open on a train-by-train basis and close five minutes before the train leaves.
5: Bring Your Own Tea And Coffee
The ultra-modern, 300kph or faster bullet trains that run routes like Beijing-Shanghai have Western-style dining cars complete with fresh-brewed coffee. Other trains have trolleys selling snacks, a basic, Chinese-style dining car and hot water in every compartment. Do like the Chinese do and bring your own tea (or coffee) to make hot drinks.
6: Keep An Eye On Your Stuff
Passport thieves have been known to target foreigners on trains in China. As a general rule, keep your valuables close (under your pillow if necessary).
If you’re planning China travel, you might also want to read about how to ride a bus in China, or explore hotels in China.
I think the biggest issue I’ve had to get used to with the trains in China is that I shouldn’t wait until the day of to buy the ticket. In Japan, I was used to just rocking up to the ticket counter an hour or two before my train and not having any problem. But here I’ve learned to book in advance even for short trips.
One thing I might add is that there is (sometimes?) a restriction on how far in advance you can buy a ticket. I don’t know if this applies to all trains, but I’ve been refused ticket purchases before because I wanted to buy them over a week in advance. You’ll notice that about 7 days before a big holiday there will be huge queues of people waiting for the moment they can finally buy their ticket.
Oh, and be prepared to wait a LONG time if you’re buying for busy travel times. I’ve had students tell me that they’ve had to wait in line for 2 days (usually taking turns with a friend) just to get tickets for summer or spring breaks. Crazy.
I think it varies wildly. Some trains you can only buy 3 days in advance. Some up to a week in advance… I’m actually going to edit the post now because I forgot to mention you can only buy in cash. But your point about national holidays is a good one. (AKA, don’t go ANYWHERE during the National Week Holiday if you can help it.)
I haven’t travelled overseas much, so I don’t have many tales of travel chaos to bore people with, but the doozy that I do have involves two separate train stations in Guanzhou, comical levels of miscommunication, a mute taxi driver, a police station full of scary unhelpful police officers, a Hard Rock Cafe that would trade English language help for purchases (I still have the towel) and a smugglers’ bus full of stripy plastic bags full of contraband and a preference for loud Chinese porn on the video player.
The lesson: When catching a train in China, always have the address of the CORRECT train station written down in Chinese script, somewhere, to show people when you get lost.
You know, I can picture that sequence beautifully… Particularly the banana bags full of dubious quality goods. Although I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Chinese porn. In fact, I haven’t. Am I missing anything?
This is the first post about china that hasn’t made it seem scary and overwhelming! Thanks for that!
You know, China is really great, and really worth visiting, but the scary overwhelming part is a big part of China. I should write more, in fact, about how nice and helpful the vast majority of people are, and the great stuff we’ve done there, and I will.
On top bunks – I always found them to be pretty hot but the upside is that they certainly are more secure than any other. I also never had a problem with bright lights – they always turned them off around 10/11PM.
My usual experience was that I’d have to turf a stranger out of the bunk when I got on, if they pretended not to understand me the guard would send them scuttling away to their proper place (usually a hard seat for an overnight journey).
This post brings back great memories…