Need to make it to Baoding for a dinner meeting @19:00 ish. Flight arrives at 14:30.
I ruled out the train due to city traffic of getting to Beijing West from the airport; also ruled out a private car b/c of cost (maybe last resort).

Can anyone share their experience of long distance bus travel (I have not done it before) in general, and to Baoding in particular (if possible). Please address luggage compartments, seats and creature comforts etc.. Are they on time? I plan to buy ticket after flight arrival. Mistake? Is it possible to get ticket online?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and comments.

You might want to call the bus company to inquire about updated schedules and reservations (long shot, but sometimes possible):

http://www.beijingchina.net.cn/beiji...o-baoding.html

In terms of comfort, I assume those shuttles use the same ~60 seat passenger buses that are common at airports and for medium distance inter city trips. Luggage storage underneath, acceptable seats, maybe a little bumpy in the rear section.

Thanks moondog

I was looking at the same web site.

I would think that they run more frequently than shown.

That's about what I would expect (e.g. similar frequency to PVG-Hangzhou). If you end up just missing one, it might make sense to bite the bullet and head to Beijing West.

You are right on.
That's my plan B

To Baoding, I wouldn't think that buses are more frequent than what's shown (above link matches what's on the en.bcia airport website, but who knows if it's completely current?). If the 16:10 bus is accurate, you won't make a 19:00 dinner. You'd need to leave around 15:00 and even if there was a bus, likely you wouldn't be through the incoming arrival process until after that. I'd make Plan B your Plan A, and get to Beijing West forthwhip and take the next G train out. Take a best guess on timing and book ahead if you want to be assured of a seat. Journey is short enough that even a standing ticket would be workable.

jiejie,
Thanks to chiming in.

Yes, Plan B is now my Plan A.
There are loads of G trains to Baoding. Journey time is about an hour. I also requested to push dinner meeting out a little just in case.

Advanced booking is necessary to get a seat and to avoid the super crowded scene at BJ West Station.

I agree with advance booking, but it may not help you avoid the crowded scenes at the BJX ticket halls.

Now that there are machines that issue tickets to Chinese with ID cards, they've closed the special windows for ticket pick-up in many Chinese stations. You just have to wait in the regular ticket lines if you don't have the ID card. I don't know specifically the situation at BJX, but my working assumption would be that the special window no longer exists and that you'll have to wait a bit in line to pick-up the ticket you ordered.

Agreed. As far as I'm concerned, advance ticketing with will call is only marginally better than simply buying at the station. OP might consider trying to buy a physical ticket upon arrival at PEK (we had a thread about this recently).

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.

Oh yea, and during the winter the pollution can get crazy bad, with smog potentially decreasing visibility on the road and increasing traffic accidents.

If you don't have a lot of luggage, fastest way is to buy a train ticket upon landing at PEK (there should train ticket station at the airport; if you're flying in to T2 it's on the left, right outside of the baggage hall).
You should have no problem purchasing a Business class ticket, 1st class most likely because it's the first stop out of Beijing.

Would try to buy a train ticket departing at least 2 hours in advance.
Yes BJ West can be a zoo to the uninitiated, so buy the ticket and have it printed out in advance at the airport.

Taking the subway would take 80 minutes, but guaranteed.
You could also try to take a cab, which could be anywhere from 50 minutes to 120 min.

Enjoy!

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.

If the OP does have luggage, then it will not be fun getting from the airport to the platform at BJX, at least by Metro. There's a lot of walking through a lot crowds.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in up-thread with great info and wisdom pertaining to how best to get to Baoding from PEK.

I will have 1 22" roll-on-board plus the usual backpack. Indeed it is not fun to take the AEX plus metro from PEK to BJX, anytime day and night. A taxi would take about 90 minutes that time of day.

Good to know that there are 2 train ticket offices in PEK: 1 in T2 and the other in T3. I was not aware of either before. I will get my ticket to Boading and additional onward tickets at the airport. (I gave up the bus idea, if there are indeed no more frequency than 6 daily).

I do like traveling by train in China. Did it 3 times this year, including a recent trip that went from Shenyang to Urumqi.

I still vote for the taxi. At least you'll be somewhat sane when you get to the train station.

Yep, I wouldn't do the subway, too much transferring even though you're not traveling that heavy. Either use a taxi, or take the Airport Shuttle which is going to be almost as fast as taxi. Shuttle goes to south entrance which is usually less busy/chaotic than the main north side entrance. Line 7 to Beijing West leaves pretty continuously all day. If you do taxi, have driver go to south side also.