| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | |
A Xi'an Train Transportation Question + Any Other Advice You Would Like To OfferCountry forums / North-East Asia / China | ||
Hello Everyone, First: I'd like to say that I do not have very much experience with forums so I hope I'm doing everything right. Second: We will be taking the bullet train from Beijing West Station to Xi'an North Station. We plan to stay at Hun Tang Hostel. I read on the hostel website that they have free train/airport pickups, excluding the North Station because it is very far ( Google Maps says 45 minutes by car). I tried to find a train from Beijing headed to Xi'an West station, I was able to find some trains going to West station from Beijing but none of them were the high speed trains. Does anyone know how we could get from the Xi'an North Station to the Xi'an South Station? I have been unable to find any trains directly connecting the two stations. Does anyone happen to know how much to expect to pay for a taxi in Xi'an? And how easy it will be to find a reputable taxi outside Xi'an North Station? Lastly I though I would include a copy of our itinerary in hopes that maybe someone would like to offer any suggestions for us that will aide in our travels. My Father and I will be adventuring through China on our way to Tibet. We will be arriving in Beijing on September 2, 2017. We arrive at 4:05 am and will be getting a hotel near PEK airport. I've already booked the hotel for the night of September 2 but am now wondering if I actually need to book the hotel for the night of September 1 since we will be getting there in the middle of the night. I just thought of this, so I will trying to send the hotel an email to inquire about check in times. We plan to rest awhile in the hotel before joining a Great Wall Tour (Mutianyu). After the tour we will return to Li Hoa hotel for the night. The morning of September 3 we plan to take a taxi to located in Beijing. Does anyone know how much a taxi is from airport to Beijing? I have read a lot of things, anywhere from $30 - $50 total for the trip or $10 - $20 per person for the trip. After arriving at the hostel we hope to join a group Beijing City Day Tour. This is where the Beijing to Xi'an train situation begins. We would like to take the high speed train from Beijing to Xi'an, and it looks like that train only leaves Beijing West and goes to Xi'an North. We are hoping it will be logistically reasonable for us to find transportation to either our hostel or somewhere our hostel will pick us up at. If it is not, then I need to consider either choosing a different hostel or taking the much slower train to the station closer to our hostel. We will be arriving in Xi'an at 2:18 pm. We hope that is early enough for us to still be able to visit the Terracotta Warrior Museum that same day as that will be our only day in Xi'an. Do we absolutly need a guide to go to the Museum? I realize there will not be much for English captions and what not but perhaps there is something online like an English audio walking tour for us to listen to while we are there? Or should we just try to find a half day group or private tour? The morning of September 5 we will be flying to Xining where we have booked Lite Youth Hostel. I have information on how to take the bus to the hostel from the airport but am wondering if anyone know how much taxis are in Xining? We are staying in Xining for 2 nights to help us acclimate to higher elevations as we prepare to take the sky train to Tibet. We would like to see the "Rainbow Mountains" Zhangye Danxia Geological Park Tour I read there is a $6 entry fee + $3 shuttle ticket. I also read there is no other ways to get to the park other than taking a taxi from Xining and having it wait for you in order to take you back. I read to expect to pay about $30 for the roundtrip. Does anyone know how accurate that is? I know that the park is a good drive from Xining. We we will be taking the sky train to Tibet the evening of September 7. I have yet to book any trains for this trip because it seems they will not be on sale until a month before. We plan to try to get a soft sleeper but will be more than satisfied with a hard sleeper. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for us about this trip? We have read that the late train provides best light for the most scenic spots after Golmud. Once we arrive in Lhasa we will be taking the 7 day Everest Base Camp Tour offered by Tibet Vista. I really appreciate any insights you may have for me. Sincerely, | ||
Why do you want to go to Xi'an south station? Wouldnt you want to go to your hostel in Xi'an, or perhaps to Xi'an Main Train Station? Take Xi'an's subway. It's not the fastest, but it's among the cheapest and difficult to get lost. Otherwise take a taxi.
Probably ~12RMB plus 2RMB per km plus time sitting in traffic. Shouldnt be more than 60-80rmb but I could be wrong. Most Chinese taxi drivers are pretty honest although they may be clueless. Telling them 'Hun Tang Hostel' will probably get a bit of a shrug.
If you arrive at 4:05 am, you will not clear immigration and get into town until 6am pretty much guarenteed. Just tell them you are arriving early and would like your room made up when you arrive. They should be able to find someone who is checking out early and wash the sheets.
Probably better to do some general touristing in Beijing when you arrive, tired and jet lagged. Rather than heading straight to the great wall. Great wall tours usually start EARLY in the morning, like 6am when you would just be arriving. They tend to be exhausting and the food is scarce and questionable.(sometimes you do find a pretty good local place, but often it's just meh)
Why not just use the subway? Much easier to navigate. Flagging down a taxi these days is difficult. Explaining to them where you want to go more difficult(unless you speak mandarin). Getting them to agree to take you there more difficult. Tours wont save you too much time, but will probably inconvenience you at the sights.
A taxi from PEK airport to central Beijing should be 90-120RMB. There is a 10RMB surcharge to use the airport and things cost 10-15% more at night.
Again you can take the subway to Beijing West Train Station, or you can take a taxi with your bags. Beijing West Train Station is the busiest, most annoying station in Beijing, but hey they are all pretty big, busy, and annoying.
If you arrive in Xi'an North Station at 2:18pm you wont get checked into your hostel before 3pm and then out to the Terracotta warriors before 4pm. I would do things in Xi'an the day you arrive(probably tired)
Certainly dont need a guide. 99% of tourists go without a guide
Zhangye is a completely different city 350km away from Xining. It's a 5+ hour drive. Round trip would be 11-12 hours plus any time waiting. No you will not find a taxi to do that for $30. You can take the fast train from Xining to Zhangye, but I thought you were trying to acclimate to the high altitude.
Soft sleeper doesnt offer any more comfort than Hard sleeper for my money. Slightly less crowded but kind of awkward being in a closed cabin with strangers. | 1 | |
Your itinerary is ** FAR FAR too rushed** for my liking. Arriving from the US tired and jetlagged I would want to rest. I would then want to actually explore Beijing. The summer palace, the forbidden city, the great wall, temple of heaven, the traditional hutongs and a few temples: that's 3 days. 4 with the jetlag. Looks like you have 1.5 days in Beijing. Sounds exhausting. I wouldnt have attempted it when I was 22. Xi'an is a great city. So much to do and see. The Terracota Warriors are the most famous, but are outside the top 5 reasons to go to Xi'an in my opinion. You have less than 1 day in Xi'an, taking the day train to and flying out. You might not see much of anything other than the train stations. You then have 2 days in Xining, probably to sleep off your previous 4 day hellish guantlet. But Xining isn't really high enough to help you acclimate. Golmud would be better.
Skip Xi'an include it when you have time to make the trip worth it. | 2 | |
If you insist on rushing through, | 3 | |
Hi rpbourne, Thank you so much for your fast replies. Originally my Dad just wanted to go to China for a week to see Beijing and the Great Wall. As we began to look into everything that China has to offer the trip became longer, and then we added Tibet and Everest Base Camp! We knew that we were trying to shove a lot into a little. I am grateful that your perspective conveys just how rushed we will be, and how much more research I need to do.
The Hostel offers free pick up service from Main Station or Airport. I was tying to determine if it was cheaper to get a taxi to one of the places they provide free pick up service to or if it would be cheaper to take a taxi directly to the Hostel. Before you replied I emailed hostel the same question. They informed me that taxi from North Station to Hostel is 150RMB. My plan for using taxi's in China without speaking Mandarin is to have addresses written down on a card to hand to drivers.
I have emailed the hotel to see what their policies are. I know in some hotels I have stayed in if you check in after midnight but before a set time in the morning you have to pay for the previous night too. If when I get back with them they are unable to do as you pointed out then we will plan on just waiting around the airport until whatever time we are allowed to check in without getting an extra night.
We were hoping that we would get enough sleep on the plane to be able to rest awhile in the hotel and then start the wall tour. We have not booked any tours yet because we were waiting for the hotel to get back with us about their tour recommendations. Thank you for pointing out that group tours will start early. I wonder if a private tour would be able to accommodate us to leave a bit later in the day? Either way I think we do really need to consider slowing things down a lot there. Perhaps we will eliminate the Beijing City Tour so that we have a day to rest before visiting the Great Wall.
Tours wont save you too much time, but will probably inconvenience you at the sights. My Dad thinks that the subway will be harder to navigate than having a taxi take a from point a to point be, so I haven't actually considered using the subway. Based on your suggestion I will be looking into that option a lot more. Then maybe we will still have time and energy to explore some of Beijing sights without a tour.
I'm sorry, I am a little confused, do you think there is time for Terracotta Warriors the day we arrive? Thank you for reassuring me that with a little forethought and preparation we can experience and enjoy the museum without a tour.
We will be cutting this out of our trip entirely. Thank you.
Looks like you have 1.5 days in Beijing. Sounds exhausting. I wouldnt have attempted it when I was 22. Xi'an is a great city. So much to do and see. The Terracota Warriors are the most famous, but are outside the top 5 reasons to go to Xi'an in my opinion. You have less than 1 day in Xi'an, taking the day train to and flying out. You might not see much of anything other than the train stations. You then have 2 days in Xining, probably to sleep off your previous 4 day hellish guantlet. But Xining isn't really high enough to help you acclimate. Golmud would be better I have read that many people stop over in Xining to rest and adjust. I will look into Golmud as a better option. Thank you.
I really appreciate the time and thought you put into your responses. I'm grateful for reading though my plans and providing me with feedback. I now have a lot more research to do. | 4 | |
We want to pack in as much as we absolutely (yet realistically) can. I'm going to look into going directly form airport to Beijing hostel instead of airport hotel. Then we will be able to spend 3 days in Beijing. I suggested a night train to my Dad before from Beijing to Xi'an but he thinks it will be better to go during the day so that daylights allows us to see what we are passing by. At this point though everything is up for change. Thank you. | 5 | |
I agree that getting the night train to Xian would allow you to have a whole day in Xian. You can get a bus out to the warriors (about an hour) but it will be too late by the time you get to your hostel. The north train station has a metro stop so you will be able to get into town by metro. Just ask the hostel what is the nearest metro stop. Again you can get an overnight train from Xi'an to Xining or a fast D train, 4 to 5 hours. I'm pretty sure there's a bus from Xining station to your hostel (check with them). My experience was that a taxi had a lot of trouble finding the hostel, which is actually a couple of floors on ththe top of a residential block, but pretty good I thought with a very helpful staff. You can get to Zhangye, from where you can get a bus to the Danxia landforms (about an hour) in a couple of hours. Zhangye is a very pleasant little city. While you are in Xining you might want to go out to the very good Tibetan museum. There is a public bus that goes there but it takes a long time so a taxi would be best. Your trip does seem very rushed to me. | 6 | |
??? Xining at 2300 is near ideal altitude for a first acclimatization stop - thats why the railway construction company invested literally millions in making a first stop for their workers there. When I have lots of time on my hands this is also roughly the altitude I go for , for best comfort. Opinions aside there are numbers on how this plays out in large groups : nonstop train works out better than flying in , and adding extra nights in Xining gives an extra egde on top of that . Xining + Golmud would be the ideal thing , and probably not much better than Xining + Diamox . https://vistet.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/to-lhasa-by-train-or-plane/ Since there is big genetic factor in AMS you probably will hear from a few that from personal experience can disprove practically any itinerary or method . Its a numbers game. | 7 | |
OP, this is a mess, it's just too much in too little time and you need to make a hard choice then cancel out some of what you've already done. You are so worried about little details that you're missing the big picture of whether your itinerary even makes sense in the limited time frame you have. Let's start backwards: Yes, this requires cancelling out your current hotel bookings and redoing them, and if you have already made the XIY-XNN flight, cancelling that as well in favor of a new booking. Beijing is mostly easy to tour on your own by subway and taxi without a guide. I would do the Great Wall on the 4th. The GW Day, prearrange a car/driver and have him go to Mutianyu, wait for you, then take you to the Summer Palace so you can maximize private transport on the two most distance-from-central-city sights. The 2nd and 3rd sightseeing plans we can help you with if you commit to the Beijing-only strategy. | 8 | |
You got this part right , its nights/sleeping elevation that really matters. And two nights is a lot better than just one.
Oh. Missed that part. Check just how far away their plan is removed from the safety guidelines from Himalayan Rescue Association , International Society for Mountain Medicine , CDC etc in my earlier link. They have posted a lot of crazy itineraries over the years . Dont take any of the elevations they mention for granted. Shigatse for example is less than two hundred meters higher than Lhasa , and no amount of time spent at that altitude makes it safe going directly to EBC and staying there overnight. Dont believe any of the altitude health advice given on their site ( including "Doctor Wu" ) without corroborating from legit medical sources. These are the guys who still, after more than a decade of operation , believe that the train is pressurised.... | 9 | |
Do not bother with an airport hotel. PEK airport is relatively close to central Beijing, connected by express railway/subway. It's also a much more pleasant place to spend time.
The train ride from Beijing to Xi'an is not terribly interesting. Very polluted flat plains. There are some hills but nothing to really keep you interested. You wont get really interesting train journeys until you get out to Xining. | 10 | |
this is a fallacy. You do not pack in more by visiting more, further flung places. You miss out on all the other things to do as you rush from one 'highlight' to the next. You wind up spending more time in taxis, subways, airports, and train stations. All of which can be enormously beautiful experiences I'm sure, but not the reason to go in the first place. | 11 | |
And if your choice is to spend the bulk of that pre-Xining time in Xi'an, then you don't need a hotel in Beijing at all. You would prearrange a car/driver to pick you up at Beijing Airport, go to Mutianyu Great Wall, then bring you back to airport, and take a mid-afternoon flight to Xi'an. | 12 | |
We will be arriving in Xi'an at 2:18 pm. We hope that is early enough for us to still be able to visit the Terracotta Warrior Museum that same day as that will be our only day in Xi'an' If you arrive at Xi'an North, there are free shuttle bus to visit the Terracotta Warrior Museum every hour. There are ticket booths for 4 major sites in Lintong districts at Xi'an north station. If you have an arrival high speed train ticket on the same day and you have bought the ticket for the Terracotta museum, you can exchange the train ticket for a free shuttle bus pass. After arrival, store your luggage first at the train station, then go get the tickets for the Terracotta Warrior Museum, exchange your high-speed train ticket for a free shuttle bus pass, it works for 3 days. Last departure of the shuttle bus at train station is at 4pm, the last departure at the Terracotta Warrior Museum is at 7:30 pm. You can save a lot of time this way, if you go check in at hotel first, then you most likely won't have time for the Terracotta museum. | 13 | |
Zhangye is too far for a taxi ride. Take the train, it's about 2 hours. Then get taxi driver at the train station to the Danxia Park, negotiate with the driver so he can wait for you and take you back to the train station after you are done, the whole trip should be around 120 rmb, then take the train back to Xining. Or take a bus into the city, then take the tour bus there, usually at bus stations. | 14 | |
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