Originally Posted by
Gorrack
I personally wouldn't take a bus or car directly to Baoding, because PEK is in the NE corner and Baoding is SW, so you may deal with some nasty traffic, and the buses can be filthy.
Buses are generally no more filthy than trains IME, but the traffic is actually a much bigger factor going to BJX (i.e. eye of the storm) v. Baoding directly. What tips the scales in favor of the train for me is the schedule frequency and the speed of the train itself. That having been said, if a bus happened to leaving within 30 minutes of when I showed up, I'd avail of it.