I am considering flying into Beijing and training my way to my final destination...

I know this is a flyer forum but hopefully it's ok to ask this here:

Has anyone had recent experience with training out of Beijing? Every time I have ridden a train in China it felt like it was out of a 1930s movie, I rode hard seat and berth and both were painful... however they were in old style box cars with no AC...

The websites all list Beijing-Dalian as AC and the trains look newer (kind of TGV style) in the picture but I have learned pictures are not always what you get...

So my basic questions are:

Is it feasible to hop from the Beijing Airport to the Railstation (I think I am going to the old one since I will want to go to Dalian which is north east and I understand the new one hands south west stuff) in terms of cost (taxi fees - this is considering a flight to the same location will probably run me $100-150 and the train to my destination is supposed to be about $25) as well as time (it looks close on the google maps so is say a 3 hour gap from landing to train reasonable)?

Are the trains more comfortable now (When they say soft seat with AC I think of TGV that has car style seats, but years ago I think I rode soft seats and they were just benches with leather wrapped around them as opposed to benches without leather for hard seats)?

Thanks for the advice!

While I generally like trains, I think you'd be making a mistake to Beijing-Dalian by train upon arrival at PEK for a variety of reasons:

-you're already going to be at the airport, there are lots of flights, and the flight is short
-getting downtown, assuming you take a taxi, is going to cost you y125 or so and your target train leaves at 6:16p (i.e. the heart of rush hour)
-you could always catch the subway at dongzhimen, but this isn't fun, even without luggage
-you're going to want a shower, but I don't see any room in your schedule (or ovbious opportunities) for that
-take a look at a map; Dalian is close to Beijing, but only as the crow flies; you'll spend more time getting there than you would to Shanghai, which is twice as far
-maybe try out the train on the way back (that way, your relatives can help you buy your ticket); as it stands, you run the risk of having to do buy black market tickets on your outbound because you have zero schedule flexibility
-btw, I have an extremely high tolerance for risk when it comes to travel in China (things have a way of working out)..... but, I'm still telling you your idea is risky

Thanks moondog... I have the schedule showing outbound form Beijing to Dalian at 21:57... isnt' that 10PM?

Either way it makes sense not to take a train if I am already at the airport... just trying other ideas.

I was considering the train back to beijing since my plan is to stay in Beijing for 3 days so it won't have the "leaving airport" issue, but to combine this thread with your advice from my other about buying the PEK-DLC ticket once I land, is it wise to buy one way tickets instead of round trip to leave my options open?

Normally I have found rountrip costs about the same as one way, (ie $140 one way but $190 round trip) but it seems domestic flights in China, from what I can see, don't follow that rule so much...

If you think it's risky, then I will definitely say no, I am already getting butterflies with your buy the ticket on landing advice

Thanks again!

-I saw that train too, but it takes 14 hours (as opposed to 11) and is a K train rather than a T train (probably not a whole lot of difference, but T trains are almost always air conditioned IME)
-definitely just buy a one way ticket to DLC (as you noted, there is no savings in buying RT; plus schedule flexibility is always a good thing)
-and, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could always travel by boat (these prices seem high to me; probably an agent is involved).

K681/684 now only takes 10 hours. 21:57 - 8:05. In fact, it's now a non-stop, 927km, faster than the "T", which makes 9 stops and on a 1,066km route. Not sure why they don't call it a "Z".

But I don't disagree with moondog. You're at the airport already. I'll fly.

Thanks to both... I will concentrate on SFO-PEK-DLC by air and figure out the return portion maybe by train as it comes...
I notice yoee is showing tickets as low as $35 for next monday so if they get that low I may just book through them before I go to alleviate butterflies since I doubt they will get much less than $35...

Appreciate the help.

I have taken a boat tour before when I was much younger but was so scared I must cried the whole way... I haven't really thought of it since but since Dalian is a coastal city it seems like a no brainer in the hot wether if the smog isn't too bad...

Thanks for that, I will take a gander at it!