China Travel Forum

[noolia]

Is it difficult to buy train tickets in China?
I heard some that it was bought in advance ,could that be so serious?

[aynor]

Except from the peak season in the Chinese New Year or some special festival(from late Jan. to mid-Feb.), the short distance train tickets are easy to buy. You can buy "No Seat" tickets if you are very urgent. However, the long distance train tickets (both hard or soft sleepers) are difficult to buy, expecially during the date of departure. It would be easier if you buy the tickets 3 days or more in advance. If, unluckily, you cannot buy such tickets, you can buy hard seat tickets first. Then you can try to contact the Train Officer on board (usually he/she is in the 5th coach). After around 1 hour, the Officer will know whether there are vacant sleeper tickets and will sell to passengers. If you are still unlucky, you can pay around RMB 30 to sit in the dinning coach overnight. The environment there should be much better than that in the hard seat coach!