Train tickets for China

Z

zag

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Has anyone had experience of buying train tickets for China ? I have looked at the wonderfully usefull www.seat61.com website and got a few pointers. By all accounts you can only book 10 days in advance and only from the station where the train originates or where you join it and this is a bit of a concern for me as I like to have things sorted in advance. I know the Chinese aren't going to change their reservations system just to keep me happy.

I know I can reserve through some of the agencies but they are still subject to the 10 day issue anyway. What I am wondering is if anyone has any recommendations for agencies that they have used there and which did what they said they would do got the tickets organised on schedule. Or alternatively any agencies which totally messed up (so I can avoid them).

Any recommendations ?

z
 
was in china in 2000 and travelled around the country by train. Got all my train tickets through an agency and they booked them a few weeks in advance. Never heard of that 10 day rule.
But that was 7 years ago
 
zag said:
I know the Chinese aren't going to change their reservations system just to keep me happy. z
Click to expand...

Of that you can be sure. Yes as I know there is the 10 day rule and booking a ticket seems a lot more complicated than it should, even for Chinese people. I don't know about the agencies, but if you touch down in any of the bigger hotels before you set off by train, they can book it for you. I'm sure you will avoid the big holidays like Chinese New year and National week in October?
 
I did the same in 2000 and with a lonely planet in one hand booked train tickets myself. You can even ask someone in your hotel/hostel to help, no big deal
 
I used an agency (through someone's workplace) to book the tickets when I was there apart from the KCR train from Guanghzhou were you can just buy a ticket at the station on the day of departure but it's a bit of a special case.

Most Chinese stations seemed to me to beb better organised looking for ticket booking (though I didnt try) than many Eastern European stations (or some Western ones for that matter!). Some of the stations (Shanghai South in particular are incredibly modern and look more like futuristic airport terminals than train stations)

As advised above as long as you're avoiding Chinese National Holidays and some notoriously heavily booked routes (see the guide books) it shouldn't be a problem.
 
zag said:
Has anyone had experience of buying train tickets for China ? I have looked at the wonderfully usefull www.seat61.com website and got a few pointers. By all accounts you can only book 10 days in advance and only from the station where the train originates or where you join it and this is a bit of a concern for me as I like to have things sorted in advance. I know the Chinese aren't going to change their reservations system just to keep me happy.

I know I can reserve through some of the agencies but they are still subject to the 10 day issue anyway. What I am wondering is if anyone has any recommendations for agencies that they have used there and which did what they said they would do got the tickets organised on schedule. Or alternatively any agencies which totally messed up (so I can avoid them).

Any recommendations ?

z
Click to expand...
Was in China a few months ago and took a few trains. There are lots of ticket booths in the main cities and if you're on a main route you'll have a good selection to pick from. I found it to be a very efficient service.
 
Re: Vaccinations for Shanghai

Can those of you who have been in Shanghai please let me know whether you got vaccinations before travelling.

I don't plan to go outside the city while there and am not sure whether vaccinations are recommended as a result.

Sim
 
Re: Vaccinations for Shanghai

Sim Two said:
Can those of you who have been in Shanghai please let me know whether you got vaccinations before travelling.

I don't plan to go outside the city while there and am not sure whether vaccinations are recommended as a result.

Sim
Click to expand...

No shots needed.
 
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