03 · Plan Transport & Bookings

High-speed rail is the backbone of most first trips: city centre to city centre at 300 km/h, without airport security theatre. But trains, stations and booking windows follow their own logic — learn it once and the whole country opens up.

Trains: the mechanics

• Book with your passport. The passport is the ticket — enter the name and number exactly as printed on the document, and bring that same passport on travel day; gates and conductors scan it.
• Booking windows open roughly two weeks before departure, and popular routes (Beijing–Xi'an, Beijing–Shanghai, holiday weekends) sell out fast. Book the moment your dates are fixed, not the day before.
• Station names matter. Big cities have several stations — Beijing West, Beijing South and the airport are different worlds. Check the station on your booking and how far it sits from your hotel before you decide which side of town to stay on.

What to book before you fly

1. Your first night's hotel — you need it printed for entry anyway.
2. Long-distance trains between the cities with fixed dates.
3. Anything genuinely time-sensitive: quota-limited Great Wall sections, shows, or the panda base early-entry slot if it matters to you.

What to leave open

City-to-city day trips, restaurants, most museums, and metro rides are walk-up friendly — and leaving them open is what lets a route breathe. The balance is simple: book the skeleton, improvise the flesh.