China Travel Forum

[Roy]

We need to know about trains from Beijing to Urumqi. We want to stop off at various places on the way and do small tours. How easy is it to get the train from each place to carry on the journey to Urumqi? Is not having mandarin going to be an obstacle? Can you organise the whole thing from Beijing, or do you just buy a ticket at each stop? How frequent are the trains. Our basic itinerary would be: Beijing - Lanzhou - Liuyuan - Turpan - Urumqi.

[Jasper Hu]

I want to know why not to book a travel service from the Chinese travel agency, and they would arrange a ideal itinerary for you including all the attractions you want.
if it is not the first time for you to visit China, and if you have known China a little better, I believe the self travel would be a great experience. And it would not be very difficult to buy the train ticket. But do remember if it is the peak season for the transportation, such as the busy period (every end of August and June, and the beginning of Sep and July which is the time for student to leave and back to university) and the golden week holiday (the 7-day holiday of the May Day and the National Day), the ticket is so hard to buy and book. So avoid the period.
I think to buy the ticket at each stop is a little bit difficult for a foreigner unless he is China travel lover, and have been to so many places himself. So book a itinerary or ask help from a travel agency would be much better. And they would buy or book the ticket for you.