Xi'an to Zhangjiajie - information about the bus.

Hi there,

I am doing an overland trip, and therefore don't want to fly from Xi'an to Zhangjiajie. I know there is a train to Changsha, but all the affordable sleeper options are already sold out. A bullet train, just to Changsha will cost me close to 600 RMB alone.

LP states that there is a sleeper bus from ZJJ to Xi'an, which makes me think there should be one the other way too. I just cannot find any information online. What would it cost, and could I get tickets two or three days before at the station in Xi'an?

Or is Zhangjiajie so insanely crowded that it is not even worth visiting in early August?

Thanks!

The regular bus is 12.5 hours long and 300-350 RMB. If there was a sleeper bus, it would probably also be 12 hours long and maybe 4500-550 rmb I guess.

Have you looked at transiting in Luoyang? Note that trains to ZJJ from Luoyang stop at Guanlin Station.

Also, if sleepers are sold out, you can try your luck with a hard-seat ticket and try to upgrade on board: see the conductor ASAP in the middle car. This often works, but there's no guaranty!

The cheap way to go would be hard seat on the trains. Not fun overnight, but doing it in two day-trips might not be so bad. A few interesting options in Henan to break up the trip.

The most delayed train that I've ever been on in China was from Changsha to Xi'an. I don't know if that's usual for that route, if I was just unlucky...

Sleeper bus, ugh. Try this: Day train K626 in sleeper (soft is better, but hard is OK as long as it's not top bunk) dep Xi'an 08:33 arr Jingmen (in Hubei province) 19:48. Then K1609 in sleeper (soft or hard) dep Jingmen 22:44 arr Zhangjiajie 05:46. This combo appears to be available every day during the first week of August.

The K626 in soft/hard sleeper is approx RMB 320/220 and the K1809 in soft/hard is RMB 195/140. So that's pretty cost effective. Add to that a service fee for booking in advance through an agent, which I'd definitely do, and it's still reasonable. If you're not already in China, try www.travelchinaguide.com or you could use ctrip.com if you don't think you'll need any special handling nor make any changes.

This is a great option! I will most likely be doing this. Thanks!

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