Beijing Travel Forum

Hi Everyone-

We're brand new members here looking for some guidance. We'll be in Beijing beginning Sept 5 then travelling to HK Sept 11. We also want to visit Xian. The question is...should we do a day trip (fly into Xian one morning and back that evening), or perhaps fly to Xian Thursday evening, spend the night, see as much as we can (primarily TC Warriors), and fly straight to HK on Friday night?

Suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Definitely an overnight. Xi'an is an interesting city with more to see than just the Terra Cotta Warriors. Their history museum is the best in the country (although you have to get there early to beat the lines). They also have a pair of 1200-year old pagodas and intact city walls that surround the historic center section of the city. Give yourself 1.5 days to see it. We did 10 days in China last year, with 5 in Beijing, 2 in Xi'an and 3 in Shanghai. Feel free to visit our Beijing and Xi'an pages here on VirtualTourist for more info and photos.

Our itinerary was:

Day 1 - Beijing - Arrive midday. Walk through hutongs and Wangfujang market area.

Day 2 - Beijing - Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

Day 3 - Beijing - Ming Tombs and Great Wall

Day 4 - Beijing - Summer Palace

Day 5 - Beijing - Temple of Heaven and flight to Xi'an

Day 6 - Xi'an - Terracotta Warriors, Large Wild Goose Pagoda

Day 7 - Xi'an - Shaanxi History Museum, City Walls, walk around Xi'an

Days 8,9,10 - Shanghai

Take the overnight train for Beijing -- Xi'an instead, it'll save you travel time and money. Then fly for Xi'an -- Hong Kong (or Xi'an -- Shenzhen if you want to save some money).

Thank you very much for that great itinerary suggestion.

Thanks Ellyse. The train sounds like a great idea, and a way to see the countryside from a different perspective than 30,000 ft.

The flight from Beijing to Xi'an is short (2 hours) and easy. Both airports are about 1 hour from the centers of each city. Air China, the domestic airline, has new clean planes with good service.

2 hours, plus 1 hour on each end for transport, plus 2 hours before departure time for check-in and security at the airport... I'd not waste that 6 hours.

Thanks very much. I think for us the train is the way to go. Given all the other flights we're taking on this trip from the US, we like the idea of a different mode of transport.

Mark and Carolyn - my friend and I are doing the overnight train from Beijing to Xian in September, we just wanted to experience an overnight train, and it was the shortest leg of our journey. I believe the train is called the Z19, it leaves BJ about 8pm and arrives in Xian about 8am. Someone did give me info on a rough costing of it and it worked out to $84AUD. Im also pretty sure tickets can only be bought up to 5 days in advance. There is soft sleeper and hard sleeper. If you find my thread on this subject it has a lot of info on the differences between soft and hard sleeper. Soft sleeper (I believe) has 4 beds in a room, 2 x bunks, while hard sleeper has lots in a larger room with 3 x high bunks. I am assuming hard sleeper is cheaper.
Anyway, hope that helps you a bit. We will get our Hotel staff to buy the tickets when we get to BJ, as Im also told it can be quite confusing for foreigners to buy them at the train station if you dont speak or understand Chinese.

Have a look at my thread called "Proposed 3 weeks in China" on Page 5 as it has some info on the train from BJ to Xian which may be helpful to you.

Yes, def agree with all those above who have suggested the train from Beijing...although you wont be able to see any scenery as it will be night time, but just for the experience alone of taking the train in China, it's worth it!

Hard sleepers are 6 to a room, no door, chinese style toilets down the corridor. Soft sleepers are 4 to a room, a door that locks, extra service from the train attendants and a western style toilet (although on trains I prefer a chinese one!) and in general more peace and quiet!

Prices can differ quite considerably, but Im not sure for this route. Sometimes taking a soft sleeper cabin can be the same price as a flight...I always take hard sleeper...and get a great night's sleep!

Lindy -

Thanks a million for these suggestions, mate! Maybe we'll see you there!

Victoria -

Many thanks for your suggestion. One question, though, that I can't quite ascertain: we will probably do a soft sleeper. I know it sleeps 4 but we're only 2. Can we pay for 2 and be assured that it's only us there, or do we have to pay for 4 to be guaranteed privacy??

Thanks,
Mark

Victoria
Yes I do realise that the cost of soft-sleeper o/nite train may be only slightly less than that of a flight, but, as you said, we are doing it more for the experience of it, rather than to save money. Although, having said that, the price of our 2 internal flights was nowhere near "cheap". But, we did book them probably the most expensive way. ie. by pre-booking and paying for them through our local travel agent in Australia. Yes, I know they would have been much much cheaper had we booked them either on-line or once we had gotten to China, but we preferred the peace of mine of having them already organised, and therefore paid a premium price. The price of approx. $84AUD for the train trip is way way cheaper than the $500 approx we paid for 2 internal flights!!!

Mark and Carolyn - Im glad my info was helpful and I hope you enjoy your train trip and your adventure in China. I am certainly looking fwd to mine, have never been there before and already I know I wont want to go back home! Have you been to China before?

Oh, and by the way, I am pretty sure you will be sharing your room with 2 other people and that the only way you will be assured a private room for the 2 of you will be to pay for 4 people, and I dont even know if you would be allowed to do that. From my point of view, it will make the experience an even richer one - to either remember or FORGET!

Yikes! Sharing a private train car with 2 strangers...now that does sound adventurous. May have to defer to the boss (my wife) on that.

Ha Ha - she wears the pants?????
I may be wrong about all that, but I would say not. Hey its only 12 hours, however I am not exactly sure how "safe" it would be, ie. where do you put all your luggage??? Maybe one person will have to sleep with one eye open??? Or maybe you just dont get any sleep anyway??? Mmmm..... interesting thing to ponder. Does anyone know if there are places to securely store your luggage on the o-nite trains, or do you just have it with you???

We did the train trip Xian to Pingyao and then onto Beijing. We booked the soft sleeper and did share with two other people. My recommendation book one side. If you don't have a bottom bunk you may find like us that we spent a lot of time on the top bunk not seeing anything as the person who had the bottom made it very obvious that she did not want us there!! Also, the lighting is not good so make sure if you want to read you have a book light. Take something to drink and a snack- there was nothing available on the train we were on.As well, some hand wipes ..toilets not nice.

We found the 6 berth carriage too smoky for our liking!!

Alice -

Thanks for that good advice. We really appreciate it.

You'll have to buy up all 4 bunks in the soft sleeper if you don't want anyone else in there with you.
Look, most people on the train are travellers just like yourself. What makes you think that they would want your luggage? Would YOU steal someone else's luggage?

The soft sleeper cabin has an area at the top where you can put your luggage. This means that there is some peace of mind that its just the four people within the cabin who has access to it. The hard sleeper has racks outside in the corridor which means the whole train has access to your luggage! I always used to be so nervous sleeping and would wake up at the slightest noise thinking someone was taking my bag, but now I just sleep with my handbag, small backpack near my head or wrapped round my feet! But not so worried as I used to be about any big bags I may have on the luggage rack. You could always chain it to the rack with a bike lock. Within the soft sleeper cabin however it does feel very safe.

Ref the sleeping arrangements, if I'm travelling with a friend I'll get a top and a bottom for the reasons stated above, people like to sit on the bottom bunk during the trip and it may feel awkward sitting on someone else's bed if you don't have a bottom bunk. The corridor does have seats so you can always sit there as well.

I suppose you could buy all four beds for your cabin, but Im also pretty sure that once the train started and they realised that there were two empty beds, they might put people there who are willing to pay extra and be moved from hard seat to soft sleeper..and even if you showed your extra two tickets they might not appreciate it...I really don't know to be honest! But as someone also mentioned above, it is a fun experience to share a train ride with others even if you don't speak to one another all night!

Mark and Carolyn,

if you are interested in a highly recommended guide in xian, I have booked Mr. Liu who Vicky (sugarpuff) has recommended. His details are on her xian travel page. We will do the terracotta warriors with him plus a few other places. I am not sure if his price is cheap, but it is reasonable, and I am always happy and assured to book someone who has been highly recommended. If you want to ask me any more details on our itinery or pricing, maybe email me on vt.

Cheers!

WOW! Ive just re-read your initial post and we WILL be in Beijing at the same time! Amazing what a small world it is. We arrive on the morning of September 6th and we are staying at the New Century Grand Hotel for 6 nights then doing the overnite train to Xian. Maybe we could meet up some time?? I am hoping to meet up also with SandiM from the forum on the evening of the 7th for a dinner of Peking Duck - do you want to come along???

Let me tell you how amazing this small world of ours is!!! If you have read my post "simple chinese phrases" then all this is on there. Chinamonty is a forum regular always offering very helpful answers and information. I had always assumed he was a Chinese living in China, he had no info on his home page so I asked him. It appears he is an Australian living in Melbourne who spent a lot of time in China, which is why he is so knowledgable. Then ... our discussion continued and we worked out we actually went to the same High School together!!!!! In a very small country town about 3 hours from Melbourne called Horsham. I am still quite flabbergasted by all of this - I find it absolutely amazing. Anyway, sorry to bore you with that!!!

The Beijing -- Xi'an Z train are soft sleepers only, so I don't think there would be anyone trying to upgrade on the train.

Lindy-

We will have to meet up in Beijing! Don't know where we're staying yet. Let's stay in touch by email!

Where is your hotel?

Mark and Carolyn ...

Yes, it would be great to meet up, how amazing this little world of ours is that we can talk to people all over the world, and then plan to meet up with them in a land un-travelled!

We are staying at the New Century Grand Hotel which is at No. 6 Guanganmen Inner Avenue, Xuanwu District. I havent actually been able to properly locate it on a map yet! But I am told that is about 1km south of the Xuanwen subway station. When I have more details, like phone number etc. Ill let you know. We got a great deal on this place, so it is our one little 5 star luxury splurge. In a twin room we are paying only $71AUD per person per nite, and this place has a pool, apparently not many places, apart from 5 star Hotels, have pools. Im told the Chinese do not really like sunbaking or swimming!

Lindy

The subway station near New Century Grand Hotel is Xuanwumen station intead of Xuanwen

David

Thankyou David, I knew it was something like that, I was just lazy and couldnt be bothered finding the exact name! So ... can you tell me, am I correct in that it is about 1km south of that Station?

Thanx. Lindy

Apparently your hotel is only about a year old so amenities etc are all brand new. From comments I have read sometimes taxi drivers have trouble finding it, so make sure you always carry the name of it in Chinese. I know you will prob get more details from the hotel soon enough, but the Chinese name is:


北京开元名都大酒店 (Beijing Kaiyuan Mingdu Dajiudian)
北京宣武门广安门内大街6号 (Beijing, Xuanwumen District, No.6 Guang'anmen Nei Avenue)
Tel: 010-63563335

And ive scanned a copy of a map and where you are to your email address.

Vicky.

Oh...for some reason the chinese characters did not appear...ill email them to your email address along with the map!

Sorry!

Lindy,

You are rihgt.The hotel is not far from the subway.

David