Travel

Essential information on travel to and around Běijīng from A Better Guide to Běijīng

Before You Leave Home
Entry Formalities, Visa Types, Visa Requirements, Visa Applications in Hong Kong, Visa Extensions, Customs
Travel to Běijīng, By Air, By Rail, By Road, By Sea
Arrival and Travel into…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

200,000 vehicles enter Běijīng from surrounding areas every day to join over 5.5 million vehicles registered in the capital, or so local research says. In 2011, although it took China Daily…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

Letter prefixes on train numbers indicate the type of train. With the exception of the short maglev line in Shànghǎi, the fastest trains in China, running on dedicated high-speed lines at…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

火车票 huǒchē piào train ticket
时刻表 shíkèbiǎo timetable
来回票 láihuí piào return ticket
硬座 yìng zuò hard seat
软座 ruǎn zuò soft seat
硬卧 yìng wò hard sleeper
软卧…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

Make sure you have a pen with you and complete an exit card, obtainable at tables on the approach to passport inspection. This is usually a formality, as are customs.

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

You won’t be driving yourself around Běijīng. While there was briefly a possibility for those arriving at Capital Airport with a return ticket and an international license to pick up a rental car, the page on the…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

From the Airports

For full details of airport services including shopping, dining, train tickets, and wi-fi see Getting Away.

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

Carts drawn by mules generally reach Peking in two days, but it has been done even in 26 hours. Sitting, however, in a cart without springs, and considering the bad road, it requires, besides a…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

In Lanchow the authorities, when they gave us back our papers, had assured us that they were in order for Chinghai. But they were not; before sending us on to Sining, Lanchow should have provided us…

Part of the Travel section of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

Check your passport: To obtain a China visa you must have at least six month’s validity remaining on your passport and two blank pages.