Explore
INTERNAL FLIGHTS
China is a country of great distances. If you don't have enough time to explore it, you'll either stick to a particular area or you'll need to fly.
The recent appearance of new airlines – national and regional – has caused a drop in flight prices, especially on the most popular routes such as Shanghai – Hong Kong and Beijing-Shanghai. Even so, the Beijing-Shanghai flight still costs around €250, and the Shanghai-Hong Kong flight can cost €150.
The main airlines are: Air China; China Eastern Lines; China Southern Airlines; Chunqiu Airlines
Some of these airlines have subsidiaries that increase the national and regional offer of flights.
TRAIN
The Chinese railway network is vast and dense. Covers practically the entire country, except for Hainan. With the country's population approaching 2 billion, it is not surprising that Chinese trains are often overcrowded, especially around Chinese New Year and other holidays and holidays.
It is estimated that, at any given time, around 10 million Chinese travel by train in their country. Due to this influx of passengers, but not only that, if you do not plan to buy tickets well in advance, you may find yourself frustrated, at 5 or 6 in the morning (the time when ticket offices open at the stations), as the 356th buyer in a row which simply doesn't diminish because dozens of other buyers (many of them speculators) access the windows sideways, with the inexplicable complacency of disrespected compatriots.
Ticket prices depend on the distance of the route and the class in which you travel. The lowest class is the hard seater (yìng zuó) the most sought after by the population and, as such, very difficult to obtain on certain routes. It is usually pineapple and can prove to be traumatizing for any passenger in the First World, when it comes to hygiene.
Em hard sleeper You will travel in an open compartment with 3 beds stacked on each side, already equipped with sheets, blanket and pillow. The bottom bed is more expensive than the ones above. The tickets hard sleeper they are also very difficult to buy.
The most exclusive, comfortable and expensive class is the soft sleeper (roan wò), in practice, a bed with a mattress, in a bunk bed, in a compartment with doors for 4 people).
If there are vacant seats, if you board a train with an unreserved seat ticket, you can ask the conductor to change (bupiào) to a higher class.
Ticket purchase
In addition to ticket offices at train stations, you can try to buy tickets at the counter of the hotel where you are staying or at travel agencies such as CITS which, of course, adds a commission to the ticket price.
Another hypothesis that may or may not work depending on the impositions of the Chinese authorities at any given time, is to buy online at sites like China Travel Guide
TRUCK
Over time, long-distance buses have become a good solution for traveling around China, especially if the journeys in question are not too long. Bus tickets are generally easier to buy than train tickets and often cheaper. Buses also stop in smaller towns where trains do not stop.
On the other hand, some itineraries – especially in the rural interior – are still made by roads in very bad condition traveled by drivers who do not know any traffic rules.
CAR RENTAL
To get straight to the point, it is simply not allowed by the Chinese government, except in Hong Kong and Macau. Apart from these territories with special administrative regimes, if you want to explore China by car or motorbike, you will have to hire a driver whatever. it can be done by the reception of hotels and guest houses or by travel agencies such as CITS
In any case, traffic in China is absolutely anarchic and poses risks of serious accidents at every intersection or corner, so any plan that involves self-driving should be considered reckless.