How to buy tickets at the station

How to buy tickets at the station

• It's easy to buy tickets yourself at the station, but remember to take your passport with you.

• In big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai you should look for the special ticket window for foreigners.

• Reservations for the best Z-category express trains open 10-20 days before departure, but reservations for other trains only open 5-10 days before departure. You cannot buy tickets before reservations open. If the train you want starts its journey somewhere else and calls at your boarding station already well into its journey, tickets may only be available 2 days before departure. The exact rules vary by city and by train.

• Chinese Railways don't have a central reservation system, only local computer reservation systems based in each city that aren't linked to each other. So a station can generally only sell you a ticket for a journey starting at that station, not for journeys starting elsewhere. For example, the ticket office at Shanghai can sell you a Shanghai-Beijing ticket but cannot sell you a Beijing-Xian ticket. However, at major cities you can sometimes buy a return ticket for key routes - for example, in Beijing you can buy a ticket from Beijing to Shanghai and also from Shanghai back to Beijing. But in most cases, you'll need to book your return journey when you get to your destination.

• Tickets are best booked at least 2-3 days in advance, apart from peak periods (the Spring Festival, May Day 1st May, National Day 1st October) when they should be booked as soon as reservations open.

• In Beijing, you can buy tickets at Beijing Main station (metro Bejingzhan), or Beijing West station (called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro Junshibowuguan sometimes called 'Military Museum'). At Beijing Main station, the ticketing office for foreigners is on the north west corner of the 1st floor, accessed via the soft seat waiting room. It is open 05:30-07:30, 08:00-18:30, 19:00-23:00. Only domestic Chinese tickets are sold, not international tickets. At Beijing West station, ticket window 1 in the main hall is marked 'English speaking', open 24 hours. Service here is reported as 'fluent & efficient'. Alternatively, you can buy train tickets at BTG Travel & Tours, on Fwai Dajie between the New Otani and Gloria Plaza Hotels, open 08:00-20:00. To buy Trans-Siberian tickets from Beijing to Ulan Bator or Moscow, see the Trans-Siberian page. To buy tickets from Beijing to Hanoi, see the Vietnam page.

• In Shanghai, the English speaking ticket window at the main station is window 43.

How to buy tickets from outside China

If you want to book a Chinese train in advance from outside China, you can do this with several agencies, including www.chinatripadvisor.com, www.chinatrainticket.net or www.china-train-ticket.com.

2. Ask your hotel...

Alternatively, your hotel may be able to arrange tickets if you book accommodation with them, and this may be the cheapest way to arrange tickets in advance. Remember that reservations for the best Z-category express trains open 20 days in advance, but for most other trains bookings only open 5-10 days before departure. Even an agency cannot positively confirm your booking before reservations open and they buy your ticket!