Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In low season, expect to pay US$850-1200 from the west coast (Los Angeles, San Fran-
cisco, Vancouver), or US$1100-1400 from the east coast (New York, Montreal, Toronto). To
get a good fare during high season it's important to buy your ticket as early as possible, in
which case you probably won't pay more than US$200 above low-season tariffs.
Flights from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
You can fly direct to Beijing from Melbourne and Sydney with, among others, Singapore
Airlines, JAL, Malaysia Airlines and China Eastern. Otherwise, you will need to stop over ,
probably in Hong Kong. Alternatively, once in Hong Kong you have the option of continu-
ing your journey by train; direct services run from Kowloon, and in 2015 a new high-speed
link should be completed. Alternatively, consider taking a short hop on the train to Guang-
zhou or Shenzhen, from which flights to other Chinese cities are cheaper than direct ones
from Hong Kong. Direct Air China flights to Beijing from Sydney (12hr) start at around
Aus$1200. Some of the cheapest transit fares are with Royal Brunei Airlines, though they
only serve BrisbaneandDarwin . Their return fares to Hong Kong, via a stopover in Brunei,
are around Aus$1100.
There are now no direct flights from New Zealand to Beijing, though Air New Zealand
fly from Auckland to Shanghai (11hr 30min) and Hong Kong (11hr), both costing around
NZ$2000 return. Malaysia Airlines and other carriers also fly via other Southeast Asian cities
to Hong Kong and Beijing.
From South Africa , South African Airways have direct flights to Beijing (14hr), costing
ZAR10,000-18,000.
Organized tours
Tour operators generally include Beijing as one of a number of destinations in a tour of
China. There are very cheap, off-season flight-and-hotel packages to Beijing, at prices that
sometimes go as low as £600/€700/US$1000. Since six or seven nights in a four-star hotel
are included, you're effectively getting accommodation for free, considering the cost of the
flight alone. Don't forget, though, that quoted prices in brochures usually refer to the low-
season minimum, based on two people sharing - the cost for a single traveller in high season
will always work out more expensive.
By train
The classic overland route to Beijing is through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express , a
very memorable way to begin or end your stay in China. There are two rail lines from Mo-
scow to Beijing: the first, the Trans-Manchurianline , runs almost as far as the Sea of Japan
before turning south through Dongbei to Beijing, and takes six days. The second Trans-Mon-
golian line is more popular with tourists as it rumbles past Lake Baikal in Siberia, the grass-
lands of Mongolia, and the desert of northwest China. It takes around five days.
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