Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
What differentiates the experience is the comfort of the seat or bed. The cheapest and
least comfortable option is the hard seat and then the soft seat. Next is the hard sleeper. The
beds aren't particularly hard, but they are very narrow, so if you have a wider frame then
you probably won't get a good night's sleep. In each compartment in this category, there are
six bunks, three a side. The headroom is particularly limited, especially for the top bunk,
and it's impossible to sit up straight. I've had both bad and good experiences in this cat-
egory. At times people have been relatively quiet and respectful of others sleeping, and on
other occasions I couldn't wait to get out and get away from my loud, smelly-footed co-
travelers who sporadically spat from their top bunks down onto the carpet below.
BEIJING'S HIGH-SPEED RAIL (HSR) LINES
Destination
Distance
HSR Time
Flight Time
Beijing-Tangshan
160 km (99 mi)
40 min (estimated)
N/A
Beijing-Tianjin
117 km (73 mi)
30 min
N/A
Beijing-Shenyang-Harbin*
1,700 km (1,056 mi)
2:30 hr, 5 hr
1:20 hr, 2 hr
Beijing-Guangzhou-Shenzhen
2,203 km (1,329 mi)
7:25 hr, 8 hr
3:15 hr, 3:10 hr
Beijing-Shanghai
1,318 km (819 mi)
4:50 hr
2 hr
*Due for completion by 2014.
The most comfortable option is the soft sleeper. The mattresses are slightly wider and
softer. There are only four bunks per compartment, two a side, and the headroom is much
loftier. The price is about two-thirds more than the hard sleeper.
When you select your ticket it's important to consider the position of the bunk. The high-
er the position the cheaper it is and the less comfortable it is because of space. The bottom
bunk for both hard and soft sleepers is the most comfortable but the most expensive. You
can sit with your feet on the floor when you're awake, and you have a small side table to
put your things on. If you're traveling with a friend or two, it's definitely the most social
way to travel, and if you're traveling anything more than 10 hours, you'll feel much less
restricted.
As an example, an overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an in Shaanxi province can cost
up to RMB159 for a seat; up to RMB274/283/293 for the top/middle/bottom beds in a hard
sleeper compartment; and up to RMB426/445 for the top/bottom beds respectively in a soft
sleeper compartment. A K train will take about 14 hours 52 minutes to get there, while a
