China Travel Forum

[Dan]

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful. We are planning a two month trip to China so we have lots of questions. I thought you could only get a train reservation 4 days before. Did anyone get a train reservation a month before?Also, I went to get my plane ticket in an agency specialized in touring China and they told me it was crazy not to use a tour when going for the first time. Any comment?

[aynor]

You can make reservations up to 60 days in advance but you can only get the actual tickets upt o 4 days in advance.

Theoretically it should be possible to make reservations at any train station for any train and then collect the tickets from the departing station before you travel. You could also get the hotels to make reservations/collect tickets for a small fee.

My first trip to China I went on my own visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Yangshuo and Xi'An. I travelled between each city by train, with a bus from/to Guilin in the case of Yangshuo.

I booked the travel and hotels via www.indiarail.co.uk they were a bit expensive but it saved me a lot of time and effort in trying to organise everything seperately.