patriciatbrogan

Hello again,
Another query - on reading about this topic, and, as we did the last time we were in China many years ago, we will be travelling inter-city by train but it seems that often the trains are full and one can't take them! As we want to plan our holiday and book our hotels in advance, this is a huge hassle. In our 15 days in China, we probably want to visit 5 or 6 different towns/ cities there,
Any advice please

patriciatbrogan

What I mean is what if I can't travel by train to the next destination because there is no space on the train but I have already commited to my hotel booking there, that places me in a conundrum - any thoughts on how travellers cope with such a problem?

temppeternh

Options include:

Using on-line agencies. Not recommended because there can be issues involving sending scans of your passport, and with using foreign credit cards, but mostly because the mark-ups can be ludicrous. The Chinese rail system's own website is unfortunately only in Mandarin and requires a bank account in China.

Book most of your tickets on arrival, as these days you can book trains nationally from any station, up to 30 days in advance over the counter (up from 15, recently). The number of routes in very high demand is limited outside of national holidays, and November is not a high-travel season. You may be unlucky with routes like Beijing–Shanghai, but very few have that sort of demand. Note that in addition to the high-speed daytime trains between major cities there are still the slower overnight services, comfortable enough in soft sleeper. On most routes you'll have a choice of many departures, and the chances of being stranded are slight. You can also use air travel as a back-up

Be more flexible. Don't book your hotels in advance. Best is to just walk in. You'll get a better rate anyway, with just a little haggling. At the very least, get to your arrival city, head to a major railway station or a booking agency (which charge a very small commission, but thanks to the Web there are fewer of these than there used to be), book what you can, and then make your hotel bookings around what you've managed to buy. But I've only once in nearly 40 years booked a hotel in advance, and this year booked rail tickets only two or three days in advance and hotels not at all without once being turned away. The good news is that so much is done on-line these days that (at least at the stations in major cities I visited this year) queues are short or non-existent. Beijing's Capital Airport used to have a domestic railway ticket agency upstairs in the newest terminal, and probably still does, and the chances are that Beijing Daxing and Shanghai Pudong do, too. If you're arriving first in Hong Kong then you can buy mainland domestic tickets at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, so you could go straight there on landing, or first thing in the morning as there can be quite long line-ups. This is for high-speed trains only. Look elsewhere for slower services. Ticketing details and opening hours here:

https://www.highspeed.mtr.com.hk/en/...-channels.html

The site says there's a 6am start, but my memory says 7am or 8am, depending on the window. Note that without local ID you won't be able to use the ticketing machines. It's the counter opening hours you need, and here foreign credit cards are accepted (notifying your bank/card issuer where you're going still a good idea). There's also a link there to a list of other Hong Kong-based ticket agencies, presumably reliable as they are MTR-approved. But get ticket prices from the site and then see what the agency is asking if you plan to go that route. Line-ups at the station are well organised, and there are English-speaking organisers issuing queuing numbers and making sure you're in the right place. And there are plenty of places to buy coffee and snacks should you end up facing a significant wait. You'll need passports for everyone travelling.

Remember that in almost all cases on the Mainland railway station booking offices have separate entrances from the main entrance, you'll need cash to pay (unless you've successfully set up Alipay/WeChat Wallet, that sight of your passport may be required to enter even ticket offices, that sight of your passport is needed to book (but you should be carrying it all the time, anyway), and will be needed again to enter the station, to enter the platform, sometimes on the train, and to leave the station on arrival.

But don't be dismayed. You can do this. Myriad people without a word of any form of Chinese get themselves round the country every year. Be flexible, and try not to put yourself in the position of absolutely having to be on a particular service on a particular day. Rigid planning is the way to misfortune.

shelemm

Are you up on the current window for booking trains? There may be a different window for each kind of train ticket... Where are you planning to go? When are you planning to go? Where have you already been in China? Obviously it's been years since someone has shown much interest in China on Fodors... thus my prying.

Would you consider going on a private tour for some of the time you are there? That person/agency could then help you with the rest of your bookings....

CanadaChinaTraveller

temppeternh's information is grossly outdated. The official website (12306.cn) has been in English for some time and accepts international credit cards. The problem it that the website is somewhat "buggy" and my not work well depending on where you are. tickets can only be purchased 15 days in advance.
Your ability or certainty in getting tickets depends on many factors: when you travel and which routes. Some routes haver a ton of trains but the "best ones" (fastest trains or those at convenient times) can sell out more quickly. A second issue is, if you are not taking a train from the first station to the last one, the number of tickets initially allocated to intermediate stations is limited although more tickets can become available. One such problematic train is from Pingyao to either Beijing or Xi'An. There are very few tickets available while this is a popular destination, making it difficult to get out of Pingyao. When facing such a problem, one solution is to buy a ticket from a previous station while only getting on in Pingyao. It costs a little more but at least you can go on with your trip.
Ultimately, you may want to keep some flexibility and not book non-refundable hotels.