China's high-speed rail is the largest network on earth — 40,000+ km of it — and it's the single best way to move between cities. Trains cruise at up to 350 km/h, leave from the city centre, run to the minute, and turn journeys that would be a half-day of airports into a comfortable few hours. Here's how to use it like a local.
In this guide
1. Why take the train, not the plane
- City centre to city centre — stations sit in town, so you skip the long haul to and from far-flung airports.
- No early check-in — turn up 30–45 minutes before, not two hours.
- On time, always — departures are punctual to the minute and rarely delayed by weather.
- Room to relax — wide seats, big windows, power sockets, a buffet car, and the countryside sliding past.
- Fast where it counts — under ~5 hours city-to-city, the train usually beats flying door to door.
2. Booking tickets as a foreigner
Tickets go on sale up to 15 days ahead and sell out on popular routes and around holidays, so book early. You have three easy options:
- Official 12306 app / website — the railway's own platform now has an English app; pay with major international cards. Cheapest, but the interface can be fiddly.
- Trip.com — a foreigner-friendly English booking site/app with card payment and support, for a small fee.
- We book it for you — on a China Voyage trip, your designer reserves seats, picks the best departures and hands you a ready-to-scan itinerary.
Whichever you use, book with the exact name and number of the passport you'll travel with — it's linked to your ticket.
Your passport is your ticket. China went fully paperless — there's no paper ticket to collect. You scan your passport to enter the station and again to board.
3. At the station, step by step
- Arrive 30–45 min early and confirm which station you leave from — big cities have several (e.g. Beijing South, Shanghai Hongqiao).
- Enter & security — scan your passport at the entrance, then send bags through a quick X-ray.
- Find your gate — read the big departures board for your train number (a G or D followed by digits) and its waiting area / gate.
- Board — gates open ~15 min before and close ~5 min before departure. Scan your passport, walk to your carriage number, take your seat.
- Bags — there's no check-in; you carry bags on and use overhead and end-of-carriage racks.
4. Seat classes — what to pick
| Class | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Second | 3+2 seating, comfy, power sockets. Perfectly pleasant. | Most trips — great value |
| First | 2+2 seating, more legroom and quiet. | Longer legs (4h+) or a little comfort |
| Business | 2+1 lie-flat seats, lounge access, meals. | A splurge on long or overnight-fast routes |
For most sightseeing hops, Second Class is all you need. On 4-hour-plus routes, First adds welcome elbow room for not much more.
5. Best routes for tourists
| Route | Time | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing → Xi'an | ~4.5h | Two ancient capitals in one day — capital to Terracotta Army |
| Beijing → Shanghai | ~4.5h | The flagship line; the two biggest cities, city-centre to city-centre |
| Shanghai → Suzhou / Hangzhou | ~25–60 min | Effortless day trips to canal towns and West Lake |
| Xi'an → Chengdu | ~3h | Terracotta warriors to pandas, straight through the mountains |
| Guangzhou → Guilin | ~2.5h | Big-city south to the karst rivers of the Li |
| Chengdu → Chongqing | ~1h | Sichuan fire to cyberpunk river city |
We handle the trains for you. On a private China Voyage trip we book the best departures, reserve your seats together, and your guide sees you onto every train — so the network does the heavy lifting while you just enjoy the ride. Design my trip →