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Hello,
will You help me with my question about booking of railway tickets from Shanghai to Tongling, please? Can You advice me some internet address or hotel, I can book the tickets?
Thanks a lot for Your tips.
Vita

Depending on what time you will travel by train, the tickets can be either very hard to get (during holidays) or extremely easy to get. So when do you need the tickets?

Officially you can not book train tickets online. Check out Jay Fang's blog of How come major websites are not selling train tickets? for details.

Also if you want to buy the ticket at the ticket window at the train station, you can only purchase it about 3~7 days in advance, according to the government regulations. So there is really no need to book the train ticket before go to China. With that said, many hotels offer booking service. But that's different from booking online through web site. What they do is basically to send someone to the station, and buy the physical tickets for you.

Good luck.

Thank You very much!
I think, the problem is, we will arrive to China at 1st May - we need tickets from Shanghai - Tongling train departing Shanghai 1st May few minutes past 6 a.m. and we are ride back to Shanghai from Tunxi on 6th May night. I red this season is not welcoming for geting tickets, isn´t it?
So, can You give me advice which type of hotels offer booking service, please?
Thanks a lot!
Vita

True. The first week of May is very busy (the official holidays are May 1 through May 3), and train tickets can be hard to get.

I'd suggest to contact your travel agency or hotel to reserve the tickets in advance.

As for which type of hotels offer train ticket booking service, it depends on each hotel, and hard to give a definite answer. You may want to confirm with each hotel before booking the hotel rooms.

Hello, I am planning to travel from Dalian to Xian, via Beijing, by train. I understand that you cannot buy forward tickets, meaning, you can only buy tickets at a station for trains departing at that station, and not from anywhere else. What are the chances of being able to buy tickets for travel for that day itself? E.g. I will be arriving in Beijing on the morning of May 28, and would like to buy train tickets to Xian for travel that night, the night of the 28th. Thanks...

The chance for a train ticket on May 28 should be good. Not sure if you are getting sleeper ticket or regular ones, but sleeper tickets tend to be a bit harder to get than regular seat.

Good luck.

Hi, I'm planning to take the train from Beijing to Shenyang on July 2nd and then from Shenyang to Dashiqiao on July 3rd, then back to Beijing around July 10th. Is there anything going on at that time that would make getting tickets difficult? Those are both Fridays, but I can change a day or two if needed.

Also, I'll have one large piece of luggage with me; how is that handled? Do I take that on with me, or is it checked in somewhere?

thanks!

Can somebody help me? I'm travelling to China in 2 weeks. Is that ok to buy train ticket at the hotel tour desk or is it better to go to the station and buy there? Is that much expensive to buy in the hotel or in a tourist ageny shop? thx Marta

No, most hotels charge very little fee for the train ticket. It's part of their service. Always buy the train tickets from hotel if they offer that service.

Hi there, I am travelling from Beijing to Xian via overnight train sleeper on Friday night 18th December. Will it be easy for me to purchase ticket in Beijing or pre book it via the hotel?
Then another overnight train ticket from Xian to Shanghai on Sunday night 20th December? Are these busy times in China? will it be hard to get tickets?