High-speed rail: the default#
China's high-speed network exceeds 48,000 km — more than the rest of the world combined — and it has quietly made domestic flying pointless for most journeys under about 1,200 km. Beijing to Shanghai is 4 hours 20 minutes at 350 km/h, city centre to city centre, with no check-in queue and no transfer to a distant airport.
Reading the train number#
The letter prefix tells you the type, and therefore the speed and comfort:
| Prefix | Type | Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| G | Gāotiě, high-speed | Up to 350 km/h | The fastest and most frequent; use these |
| D | Dòngchē, EMU | 200–250 km/h | Slightly slower, cheaper; some have sleepers |
| C | Chéngjì, intercity | 200–350 km/h | Short intercity hops, e.g. Beijing–Tianjin |
| Z | Zhídá, direct express | 160 km/h | Overnight sleepers, few stops |
| T | Tèkuài, express | 140 km/h | Older stock, more stops |
| K | Kuàisù, fast | 120 km/h | Slow, cheap, long-distance workhorse |
For a two-week trip you will use G trains almost exclusively, with perhaps one Z sleeper. The C prefix is the one worth knowing about beyond that: dedicated intercity lines have quietly made a lot of second cities into day trips, such as Kaifeng from Zhengzhou in twenty-five minutes. D and G services also carry an opt-in quiet coach, marked with a single character on the booking screen — what a silent carriage is and how to end up in one costs nothing extra and is easy to scroll past.
Classes#
- Second class (二等座) — 3+2 seating, reclining, power sockets, tray tables. Comfortable and what most Chinese travellers use. Take this.
- First class (一等座) — 2+2 seating, more legroom, about 60% more expensive. Nice, not necessary.
- Business class (商务座) — 2+1 lie-flat seats, meal included, roughly three times second class. A genuine luxury on a long run.
- Sleepers on Z/T/K trains: soft sleeper (4-berth compartment with a door), hard sleeper (6 berths, open), hard seat (avoid on long journeys). The class is only half the choice — upper, middle and lower berths are priced differently and you select one at booking, so which bunk you end up in is a decision rather than an allocation.
How to book#
Option 1 — 12306, the official app. The China Railway app now has a full English interface, accepts foreign passports as ID and takes international cards through Alipay. It is the cheapest route (face value, no mark-up) and gives you the full inventory. Register with your passport number exactly as printed; a mismatch will stop you at the gate. Register each child too — since 2023 a child's fare depends on their age rather than their height, and is bought against their own passport.
Option 2 — Trip.com or similar. A small service fee (¥15–30 per ticket) buys a friendlier interface, English customer support and easier refunds. Worth it if 12306's verification gives you trouble.
When tickets go on sale: the pre-sale window has changed several times in recent years — plan on tickets appearing roughly two weeks ahead, and check 12306 for the current rule. Popular routes around holidays sell out within minutes of release.
At the station#
Chinese railway stations are the size of airports and run on the same logic.
- Arrive 40 minutes early. Beijing South, Shanghai Hongqiao and Guangzhou South are enormous, and you will queue.
- Security screening at the entrance — bags through an X-ray, a body scan, and liquids inspected. Lighters and large power banks are confiscated.
- Find your waiting hall and gate on the departure board. Boards show train number, destination and gate (检票口).
- Gates open ~15 minutes before and close 3–5 minutes before departure. They close. The train leaves without you — though not with your money: a missed ticket can be switched to another train the same day, free, until midnight.
- Scan your passport at the gate, walk to the platform and find your carriage number, marked on the platform floor.
Chinese trains depart to the minute. So do the gates.
The lighter confiscated at security is a clue to the rule that follows: smoking anywhere on a high-speed train, e-cigarettes included, carries a fine and a 180-day ban on buying rail tickets — the harshest routine penalty a visitor can trigger on the network, and the one most likely to end a trip built around it.
Check which station your ticket names. Large cities routinely have several — Wuhan has three main ones — and booking apps sort by journey time, not by convenience. The worst version of this is a station that shares a city's name without being near it: the high-speed stop for Dunhuang is about 130 km from the town.
Domestic flights#
Still useful for distances the train cannot handle sensibly: Beijing to Kunming, anywhere to Urumqi, Chengdu to Lhasa, or the leg to Sanya.
- Book on Trip.com or directly with China Eastern, Air China or China Southern.
- Delays are common, especially in summer thunderstorm season and around Beijing and Shanghai. Build slack into connections — and note that a weather delay leaves you paying for your own hotel, while being diverted or stranded at a stopover puts the bill on the airline whatever the cause.
- Umetrip is the app locals use for real-time status; it is more accurate than the airline apps.
- Power bank rules: since 2025, power banks on Chinese domestic flights must show a valid CCC certification mark, and uncertified units are confiscated at security. What this means for a power bank bought abroad is worth reading before you fly domestically.
- ID at the airport is your passport, scanned at check-in and again at security.
- Fire sources are banned outright, in checked baggage as well as hand luggage — a lighter or a box of matches is an offence at a Chinese airport rather than something screening simply takes off you, which is what happens at a railway station.
- Liquids do not travel in the cabin on a domestic leg. China's domestic rule is stricter than its international one, allowing only a short toiletries list — why the familiar 100 ml bag does not cover your internal flights.
Rule of thumb: under 5 hours by train, take the train. Over 8 hours by train, fly. In between, compare total door-to-door time — the train usually still wins.
City transport#
Metro#
Every major Chinese city has one, most are less than 20 years old, and they are the best way to move around. Signage and announcements are bilingual in every city a visitor is likely to reach.
- Fares are distance-based, typically ¥3–10.
- Pay by opening the transport QR code inside Alipay (Transport → select city) and scanning at the gate on entry and exit. This works in almost every major city and needs no local card.
- Security screening on entry: bags go through a scanner. Allow an extra two minutes at rush hour. It applies to every metro system in the country, not just the capital.
- Rush hours (07:30–09:30, 17:30–19:30) in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are genuinely crowded.
- Inside the carriage there are national rules, reissued in April 2025: no eating, and no audio without headphones, with cities adding priority seating and luggage limits of their own.
- Step-free access varies by the age of the line. Beijing finished upgrading its whole network in 2022, but older stations use staff-operated lift platforms rather than passenger lifts — what that means in practice, and why the street outside is the harder part.
Taxis and DiDi#
DiDi is China's Uber — Uber itself does not operate in mainland China, just as Google Maps does not work usefully here — and it has an English interface and pays automatically through your linked Alipay or WeChat. It is the simplest option for a foreigner because you type the destination rather than pronouncing it. Drivers may call to confirm — if you cannot speak Chinese, use the in-app message templates. There is a second reason to book rather than flag one down: the app holds the driver and the trip, which is the only thing that makes a phone left on the back seat recoverable. Behind the app sits a licensing regime — the vehicle and the driver are separately certificated and the pair that arrive must match your screen.
Street taxis are cheap (flag-fall ¥10–14, then about ¥2.5/km) and metered. Drivers essentially never speak English. Show the destination in Chinese characters on your phone. Insist on the meter; refusing to use it is illegal and a red flag — the transport ministry's rules also bar haggling, detours and mid-trip drops, and require the driver to hand you a fare receipt unasked.
Driving yourself#
You almost certainly will not. Mainland China does not recognise the International Driving Permit, and your national licence is not valid here on its own — what you need instead is a temporary driving permit, applied for within two days of entry, with a medical certificate and a certified Chinese translation of your licence. That is why every hard-to-reach destination in this guide ends up recommending a car with a driver in it rather than a hire car.
Bikes and scooters#
Shared bikes (Meituan, HelloBike) are everywhere, cost ¥1.5–3 per 30 minutes, and unlock by scanning the QR with Alipay. In flat cities like Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu they are the fastest way to cover 2–4 km, and the protected bike lanes are excellent.
City buses#
Different from the coach below and governed by different rules. Since December 2024 urban public transport has had its own State Council regulation, under which the fare is set by government rather than by the operator — which is why a city bus anywhere in China costs a flat, trivial sum.
Long-distance buses#
Relevant where the rail network does not reach: parts of Yunnan and Guizhou, mountain areas, and the last leg to scenic parks. Modern sleeper coaches are reasonable; rural minibuses are not. Buy at the station counter with your passport, or through the local bus mini-program on Alipay. Journeys are slow and roads in the mountains are winding.
Coach travel has its own rulebook, closer to the railway's than to a European bus network's: tickets are real-name on any route crossing a province or a prefecture, a lost ticket must be reissued free, and an overnight coach is legally obliged to stop or change drivers between 02:00 and 05:00.
Boats and ferries#
- Yangtze cruises from Chongqing to Yichang through the Three Gorges, 3–4 days, a genuine highlight
- Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, half a day, the classic karst cruise
- Hong Kong–Macau ferries, plus the 55 km bridge with cross-border buses
- Hainan ferries from Guangdong
Suggested rail times between major cities#
| Route | Fastest G train |
|---|---|
| Beijing – Xi'an | 4 h 20 min |
| Beijing – Shanghai | 4 h 20 min |
| Beijing – Datong | 1 h 40 min |
| Xi'an – Chengdu | 3 h |
| Chengdu – Chongqing | 1 h 10 min |
| Shanghai – Hangzhou | 45 min |
| Shanghai – Suzhou | 25 min |
| Shanghai – Huangshan | 2 h 30 min |
| Guangzhou – Guilin | 2 h 20 min |
| Guangzhou – Hong Kong West Kowloon | 50 min |
| Kunming – Dali | 2 h |
| Chongqing – Zhangjiajie | 4 h 30 min |
Frequently asked questions#
How do I book train tickets in China as a foreigner?#
Use the official 12306 app, which has an English interface, accepts foreign passports as ID and takes international cards through Alipay. Alternatively use Trip.com for a small service fee and English support. Tickets are electronic — your passport is the ticket, scanned at the gate. For how far ahead the booking window opens and what to do when a train sells out, see can I book Chinese train tickets in advance? During chunyun, the forty-day travel surge around Chinese New Year, book on the day the window opens or not at all.
How much luggage can I take on a Chinese train?#
Twenty kilograms for an adult and ten for a child, with a single item limited to 130 cm for length plus width plus height on high-speed trains. There is no baggage hold and no check-in — every bag goes through the scanner with you and rides in the carriage, which is the constraint that decides what suitcase to bring.
Do I need to print my Chinese train ticket?#
No. Chinese rail is fully paperless. You scan your passport at the station gate and at the platform. Older guidance about collecting a paper ticket at a window is out of date for foreign passport holders on the main network — what the forty minutes at the station is actually for covers the gate, the carriage markers and what happens if you miss it.
How early should I arrive at a Chinese train station?#
Forty minutes. Stations are airport-sized, entry requires security screening, and boarding gates close three to five minutes before departure. Trains leave exactly on time and do not wait. The full timing breakdown covers rush hour, big-city termini and what happens if you miss the gate.
Is it better to fly or take the train in China?#
Take the train for journeys under about five hours of rail time — it is faster door to door, more reliable and cheaper. Fly for genuinely long distances such as Beijing to Kunming, anywhere to Urumqi, or the leg to Lhasa. Which legs fall on which side of the line, and what tips a marginal case.
How do I pay for the metro in China?#
Open the transport QR code inside Alipay, choose your city, and scan the code at the gate on the way in and again on the way out. It works in nearly every major Chinese city with no local transit card needed. Fares are ¥3–10 depending on distance. See how to pay for the metro in China for the setup steps and the cities where a local card is still easier.
Is DiDi available in English?#
Yes. DiDi has a full English interface, lets you enter destinations in English, and charges your linked Alipay or WeChat automatically. It is the easiest ride option for a visitor who does not speak Chinese — setting it up before you fly is the version of this worth doing at home.