Guide to Buy Train Tickets When Traveling to China from A - Z
A convenient way to travel in China when traveling to different provinces that you should choose to use trains. So how to buy train tickets in China? Please see how to buy train tickets when traveling to China with AMC Travel!
First note that there are 2 types of train tickets in China: red and green tickets. For the red tickets, you must go through the manual ticket gate and the green ticket is used through the automatic ticket control gate.
There are 4 ways to buy a train ticket, you can choose to buy at the train station, ticket agent, buy online at the official website of Chinese trains and buy tickets via phone, feel free to take a look on the way to buy tickets as follows:
1. Buy Train Tickets in China at the Train Station
Buying train tickets at Chinese train stations, you will have a bit of difficulty because train ticket sellers there almost do not speak English. And you often need to stand in a queue. In case you buy tickets in the big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Chengdu, you have to line up so long. When queuing, you will see the remaining ticket number, train schedule on the board but all in Chinese.
A few notes when buying train tickets at China’s train station:
- Bring your passport;
- On the Chinese holidays, the number of people buying train tickets is very large, so you will have to queue in a very long queue for buying tickets;
- On the occasion of spring festivals, holidays, mid-autumn festival, dragon boat racing festival … the train tickets are almost sold out, then you should prepare another moving way if you cannot buy tickets;
- Since the ticket sellers cannot speak English, it is best to look for the train information you want to go, and write the train code, train time … in Chinese in order for the ticket seller to understand. You can ask the hotel staff or anyone who can translate from English to Chinese;
- Payment of train tickets in yuan;
- Do not go into the door with an automatic ticket machine because it only sells tickets to people with Chinese ID numbers.
2. Buy Train Tickets in China at Ticket Agents
This way has some notes as above, but you won’t need to wait the long queues to get a ticket because in many provinces/cities in China there are lots of ticket agents in the central area.
Working time at train ticket agents in China is from 9 am to 6 pm, you also need to bring your passport, train information, departure date, and class written in Chinese for ticket sellers at the agent.
3. Buy Train Tickets Online When Traveling to China
This is a very convenient and fast way to buy train tickets in China but only for those who know Chinese and have a Chinese bank card. To buy tickets, please visit www.12306.cn and follow the instructions on the website.
4. Buy Train Tickets in China via Phone Number
This is the way to book a train ticket that you will talk directly to the train ticket operator by phone, but you can only buy it if you can speak Chinese. In each province/city, there are different train ticket number to call such as Beijing №010–95105105, Shanghai №021–95105105, Guangzhou №020–95105105 …
You can book a train ticket by phone in China at least 4 days before the departure date and 30 days early before the departure date. Within 24 hours after the time you successfully booked via the phone, you must go to the train station to pay, otherwise, the ticket will be canceled.
With the magnificent nature, a long-standing culture, modern spaces interspersed between castles and ancient citadels, China is an enchanted land for any tourist. Visitors can refer the above ways to buy train tickets any time when you plan to travel there.
Kindly find out more information about travel with AMC Travel at http://bit.ly/amcworld_ (www.amcworld.io)
