Originally Posted by nollag
I’m travelling to China with Mrs. Nollag in the Autumn. Our tour ends in Guilin, but we would like to get the overnight sleeper train to Beijing.
I’ve tried booking this through chinatripadvisor.com, but they cannot send tickets to the UK, and rather want to send them to me at the hotel I’ll be staying in in Guilin on the morning of travel.
I’m anxious that the tickets may not arrive on the morning as promised, or that the desk clerk may not sign for them, etc. Is there some way to pre-book the tickets, so that I can be in possession of them before I leave the UK?
Thanks for your thoughts
We've had the best luck contacting the hotel we will be staying at in a particular town and having them obtain the tickets, usually through their in-house travel agent. The Chinese typically queue up the day before to get tickets. This seems ridiculous but my in-laws swear it's the only way they can buy them. Huge lines form right before New Years in train stations all over China to buy tickets at midnight.
Anyway, I've heard there are ways to purchase online but I'm not sure they are more reliable.
One thing you definitely don't want to do is wait around to get them right before you leave. Although as long as it's not during peak holidays I've found that the Soft Sleeper seats are typically available. On the overnight trains to Beijing the hard sleepers sell out a lot, though, I've found.