The easiest way to buy a train tickets in China in 2024

Introduction

For Chinese people trains tend to be the preferred mode of transport for long distance travel. And for good reasons - they are comfortable, reliable, fast and relatively cheap. And environmentally friendly, but that is a lesser concern for an average person.

Because trains are so popular, they become a scarce resource in the busy travel periods like summer holiday or Chinese New Year, which is the peak time for domestic travel. At those times especially, don’t even think that you might be able to get the ticket at the train station. So, as a foreigner, how do you buy train tickets?

Ways to buy train tickets online

Official website: 12306.cn

Even though the official ticketing website has an English language version, it is not easy to navigate. Unlike any website in the West, it shuts down booking functionality for maintenance (or some other reason) every day between 11p.m. and 5a.m. Beijing time (which is 5p.m.-11p.m. Central European time). For that reason for a while we thought that it simply doesn't work, only to discover by accident one night that it does in fact work.

Online travel agency

There are multiple travel agencies online that offer to purchase tickets for you for a commission, like chinahighlights.com. However, they are also quite hard to navigate.

The best way: Trip.com

The easiest way by far is a website called Trip.com. While not as popular in the West, it seems to be the go-to website/app when it comes to train/flight and hotel bookings in Asia, and in China in particular.

Unlike an agency, they have an automated API to the ticketing website and they will attempt to make a purchase for you the moment tickets become available. The app allows you to pick your preference of type of ticket (e.g. soft/hard sleeper, 1st or 2nd class) and train departure time. It will then purchase the tickets when they go on sale if there are any available that match your selected criteria. It will continue to do so until the ticket sale is closed or until you cancel your purchase.

If the tickets are not purchased you will be automatically refunded. In case you have been allocated the ticket, they can also cancel it for you, but you will need to upload a photo of your passport first,

I highly recommend using the app - it is super easy and practical.

The new way: 12306.cn mobile app

This is the new way you can book tickets for your next trip to China. There is a mobile app developed for the Chinese railway. This way you can book the tickets directly on your phone, directly from the ticketing system. I haven't used the app yet. The interface looks relatively good. The prices seem to be exactly the same - Trip.com has a booking fee on top of that.

The 12306.cn does not allow you to reserve your tickets in advance - which is huge advantage of the Trip.com as you will be guaranteed that they will attempt to buy a ticket as soon as it becomes available as opposed to you trying to get the tickets when they go on sale. And given that you cannot pre-book the tickets, you cannot also specify multiple trains/comfort classes hoping that one will be available - you just buy whatever is there at the time when you access the app.

The verdict: Trip.com is still the easiest way to buy tickets in China

Given the experience of the 12306.cn website, I I will keep on using Trip.com app over the 12306.cn app for now!

Conclusion

Buying tickets for trains in China has gotten much easier thanks to the modern online solutions. However, the main issue of high occupancy remains. I highly recommend booking the train as soon as you know your travel dates.