Beijing to Xian - is Train best transport?

Hi, i will be visiting Beijing in April and would like to visit Xian, is train the best transport and how do i book the train tickets; in advance? and roughtly how long would it take,..

thanks in advance

Beijing to Xian - is Train best transport?

Best is subjective. Some people don%26#39;t like trains; for them it won%26#39;t be best.

Buy tickets at the station, or through your hotel travel desk. Yes, buy in advance.

It%26#39;s an overnight train journey - 10 hours? See www.seat61.com for some pictures.

Beijing to Xian - is Train best transport?

';Best'; is subjective. For me, yes overnight train is best. It takes around 11 hours on the fastest Z19 train, the next fastest that you should be able to get tickets for would be T43/T46 (only 5 mins slower).

Don%26#39;t use the online agencies as they charge an arm and a leg. I do have contacts who could help you get tickets in advance, but I don%26#39;t want to ';advertise'; here so PM/email me if you need.

What is best? Cheapest? Fastest? Most comfortable? Best scenery? There is no single answer to this. To me it is the plane, for Ellyse it is the train. Both answers are good.

Generally agree with all the above posts. If you are on a budget and have plenty of time, then take the train. The overnight train will save you a night of hotel. Being born in Beijing and lived there in my first 25 years and lived in the US for the last 15 years, I would take the airplane to go to Xian from Beijing (very frequent service and takes 1.5 hours) and you can get a cheaper air ticket almost as much as you will pay for the first-class train ticket.

April is slack season for tourism, air tickets can be got at the low discounts, 60-70% off.

Are the good trains air-conditionned? We%26#39;ll be there in the mid-summer and might like going to Xi%26#39;an, or from Changsha to Guilin... by train, but would want to be confortable. Thanks. Tom

Tom11, I guess by good you mean the new Z trains between Beijing %26amp; Xian. They are very modern %26amp; have air con

The trains between Changsha %26amp; Guilin are the older style T %26amp; K trains. They are a bit older %26amp; yes they have air conditioned.

look at the seat 61 site as it describes %26amp; pictures the different trains.

I traveled from Xi%26#39;an to Beijing by sleeper train on soft sleeper (Z train).

I considered it quite good and quite cheap.

Each compartment has 4 beds (2 bunks on each side).

There is heating (I suppose air conditioned but I traveled in December) and I found it to be very effective because this way I didn%26#39;t waste any time (plus saved one night at the hotel).

I bought the tickets via www.chinatripadvisor.com and when there was a problem (they delivered tickets for the wrong date) I contacted them and in less than 12 hours they took responsibility for their mistake and fixed it.

Just be sure to confirm the tickets (date, origin and destination) when you get them.

Don%26#39;t risk buying tickets at the train station. You might not find any.

The only Changsha -- Guilin train that%26#39;s non-aircon is train 2513. All Beijing West -- Xi%26#39;an trains are aircon.

The online agencies charge so much for their services, of course they should fix whatever they got wrong!

cat