China Travel Forum

Hello,
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Me and my girlfriend are going to China for 2 weeks, arriving May 6 on Beijing and leaving 20 from Hong Kong

We are thinking about this route: Beijing-Xi'an-Guilin-Hong Kong (http://g.co/maps/vvnmc)

We are a bit concerned about train tickets and their steep price, would the above itinerary (3 train journeys) make sense for 2 weeks?

Thanks for your help!

We visited China May2011, Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin etc etc . We took domestic air flights. Some people take overnight train , but not for me. Check flight prices with China Southern, China Eastern etc etc.

Then I would really recommend you to go from Xian to Guilin via Chengdu - Kunming. Both the Chengdu - Kunming line and the Kunming - Guilin line is extremely spectacular, two of the most spectacular railway lines in the World (and I have travelled by rail in 77 countries), comparable to the Edmonton - Vancouver B.C., Seattle - Denver (on which no passenger trains any longer are running unfortunately) and Denver - San Francisco lines.

We did a Hong Kong - Guilin - Xi'an - Beijing - Macau/Hong Kong two-week trip and definitely found it worthwhile. We flew Hong-Kong - Guilin and Guilin-Xi'an and took the night train from Xi'an to Beijing, and flew back to Macau.

If I were to do it again, I would not take the train. The bits of scenery we saw before sund own and sun up were rather boring. I would fly that stretch too. China is a very large country and if you are there for two weeks, spending in in transit is a bit of a waste of time, unless the scenery is stunning.

Usually on VT I am advising people that they have too many stops and two many large cities, but in the case of your travel plan with such a long journey north to south perhaps you should consider one or two quick stops. Trains do not go in straight lines and sometimes in China planes can save you considerable time for little or no additional money. In China buses often are more convenient -- easier to get tickets, frequent departures, easier departure processes -- than either planes or trains. The drawbacks are 1)less English help available 2)you can not get up and walk around during the journey and get different views of the countryside, and 3) for long journeys buses cannot match the comforts of a train. (I tired one of those sleeper buses during my last visit to China. The sleeping spaces were made for midgets. I was disappointed.)
I suggest one of two routes from Xian: 1) West to Luoyang (and/or Kaifeng) with a departure south from Zhengzhou going through Wuhan (no stop overnight in Wuhan---too big a city with too little to see considering your time constraints) to Guilin; or 2) Xian to Chengdu and then on to Guilin. (Seriously consider a flight Chengdu-Guilin if they exist and the price is right. (Look for a discount flight when in Beijing.)
One of the problems with adding stops is that in China every city you recognize and most that you do not recognize are very large cities. For example, Xian has 4 million people. Unless you are going to just limit yourself to the terracotta warriors as many people do, I would think you would want 3-4 days as a minimum. A meg-city like Beijing could easily occupy most of your two weeks. For a first visit you might be satisfied with 4 days. Guilin, Yangshou and the Li River could easily use more than 4 days. And you will burn a couple days with train travel. You could go for 4 days, 2 days, 3 days + 2 days and some nights travel, and 1 or 2 extra stops. But I could easily see you ignoring my suggestion, not trying to add another stop, and just using all your time in travel and the three destinations you have targeted.
Good luck, bob
PS: Your do not have to travel soft sleeper on trains. Hard sleeper is much more economical and the beds are not hard. The compartments are more crowded.

No wonder, Manfred, as you were going on the Xian - Beijing line. That's boring! But the Baoji - Chengdu - Kunming - Guilin lines are really stunning!

Really, bob, why should one bother to visit Chengdu, one of the least attractive cities I have visited in China, if not for taking the train to Kunming? Both of you, who recommend flying instead of taking the train, have you actually travelled on the Chengdu - Kunming railway?

I would have thought Chengdu is a bit out of the way; but visiting the Giant Panada Breeding and Research Station and the nearby Leshan Giant Buddha and Emei Mountain were all worthwhile things to do from Chengdu.

On the other hand, we were in Chengdu to transfer to a flight to Lhasa, so the stop there worked out well for us (not as part of the Hong Kong-Guilin-Xi'an-Beijing trip).

We took a flight Beijing to Xi'an, it took 1.5 hours. The airports are modern and huge. The aircraft are nice and I would estimate only a few years old. We had 4 internal flights and they were all excellent.

IndianPacific;
I can agree that the city of Chengdu is not of much interest, so perhaps I should clarify that cities I named were because of nearby attractions and not necessarily because of the cities themselves.
I have traveled on the train between Guilin and Kunming, and have spent some time in Yunnan so I can appreciate, I think, the possible spectacular scenery you might see during day travel by train. The suggest of flying was made in consideration of the time involved. If one is going by train through Yunnan a visit to Dali or Lijang might be more attractive than a visit with the Pandas near Chengdu.
Obviously with only two weeks, the travelers will have to make some hard choices.

Dali and Lijiang are certainly worth a visit, but railwaywise they are "dead ends". Dali is even a "dead end" if going to Lijiang, and to and from Dali there are no more ruanwoches (four berth compartment sleeping cars). Xian - Baoji - Chengdu - Kunming - Guilin is a detour, but a continuing rail journey, possible to do by two changes only, in Chengdu and Kunming.

Thanks a lot for the recommendations, I updated our travel map based on your suggestions. The scenic view, via Gengdu and Kunmin sounds quite appealing. I am not dismissing plane as backup in case we decide to trim down on the transport time vs sight seeing time:

http://g.co/maps/xztde

What budget would you say from the top of your head we should consider with this itinerary (aiming at B&B and 3* hotels) ?

Also, how would you recommend to go from Guilin To Honk Kong?

Again by train via Guangzhou. One nights journey between Guilin and Guangzhou, a couple of hours from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, unless you want go by the night ferry, but as it is a night ferry, you'll see nothing and the onboard staff I found pretty arrogant.

Thanks for that! My girlfriend and I are a bit concerned by the train booking part between cities, is it possible to go for a tour which provides just the intercity arrangements and leaves the rest to us?

I was in China in May. I went to Guilin and really didn't like it. The scenery is amazing but even better if you can get to Yangshou which is about an hour drive south of Guilin. I absolutely loved it there. I recommend the Dragon River Retreat. It is a 5 minute drive outside of Yangshou and amazingly beautiful.

I found Guilin too commercial and had a tourist trap feel to it. You will find there are not a lot of people who speak english there and communication can be difficult but it is doable. You can take a taxi or a bus to Yangshou from Guilin. I would get out of Guilin as soon as possible and go straight to Yangshou.