Chinese Train Tours

Hi all,

I know I read a post about touring China by train but I can't find it again. Has anyone taken the X'ian 7 day tour by train in a soft sleeper?

Hi,

We are going back to Beijing in March of 2006 and are planning to fly to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors, stay over one night and fly back to Beijing. We were in China years ago and took a train ride from Canton to Hong Kong --we had flown the reverse. I don't think I will repeat a trip on a train in China. The toilets were holes in the floor and at every station someone came on with a hose and hosed down the toilet floor with water. Sorry, not my idea of a comfortable train ride. I wouldn't drink or eat anything on that train.

Sheila

I took the train from Beijing to Xian twice, once in March 2004 and the other in May 2005. The March 2004 trip was on a hard sleeper, I wouldn’t recommend it… it was not comfortable… and the toilets were nasty. It was a 4 day tour, really only a 2 day tour because day 1 and day 4 were allocated for traveling. On the May 2005 trip, we took the new express trains to Xian, it was only soft sleepers. The train had private compartments with 4 sleepers; each sleeper had a small tv at the foot. The compartments had their own temperature control, although ours didn’t work at that time. They had both squat toilets and regular western toilets. I think one on each end of the car. These new trains were much more comfortable. The old trains have soft sleepers too but they are not as nice, make sure you take the new soft sleeper ONLY trains.

Personally I think 7 days in Xian is a bit long. 2 full days of touring in Xian is more than enough. 1 day to see the outer city sites, such as the Terracotta Warriors, the tomb of QinShiHuang (the first Qin Emperor) and another day to see the sites in the city, such as the Muslim Quarter/Great Mosque, Wild Goose Pagodas and the city walls. But of course a 7 day tour would be more leisurely.

Hi all,

 

I know I read a post about touring China by train but I can't find it again. Has anyone taken the X'ian 7 day tour by train in a soft sleeper?

Hi,

I, too, had wondered the same thing. I leave for China for 3 weeks on March 8. Everyone, and I mean everyone discouraged me from taking the train. I was told the only train worth taking was the Mongolian Express-Beijing to Moscow. That train is a 21 day trip and very westernized. Other than that, the sleeper trains in China leave a lot to be desired. Another thing no one considers, which raises the cost considerably-if there are not 4 people in your party or you do not pay for all 4 berths, you may be sleeping with strangers. I'm not really sure I want to be woken at 3:00AM by some drunken teenager who is backpacking his way across China. Just food for thought. Check Lonelyplanet.com for further information about the trains. They are really not made for the average Western tourist.

Fly to Xian. You only need to stay a couple of days. It will leave you much less stressed.

Gina