Tickets
Reserve tickets early during the Spring Festival and other holidays. Purchase tickets at train station ticket windows or order tickets from a local hotel for a small fee.
Train Types
Save on fares with a K or T category train compared with the modern, high-speed D and Z class Chinese trains. K and T trains often have air conditioning and restaurant cars.
Sleeper Types
Rest during a long journey in a six-bunk hard sleeper carriage, which is ideal for backpackers. New and refurbished trains have power sockets inside sleeper compartments.
National Routes
Overnight D, T and Z category sleeper trains are available for the 900-mile trips between Beijing and Shanghai.
International Routes
Two sleeper trains depart weekly from Beijing to Hanoi and Saigon, Vietnam. Organized tours run from Lhasa, Tibet, into Nepal as of October 2009.
Article Written By Matt Becht
Matt Becht is a freelance filmmaker from Cleveland, Ohio. Becht’s college curriculum included courses in English composition, creative writing, and scriptwriting. He began writing professionally in 2009, and has been published in eHow, Trails.com, Travels.com and Golflink.com. Becht holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
