megdean

We will be docking in Tainjin on our cruise next winter and plan to go to Beijing for two nights. One option is to hire a tour guide to drive us between the port and Beijing. But maybe the bullet train is a better idea. Seems faster, less expensive and saner. Is this a good idea? How far is a bullet train station from the cruise ship port? Is it highly reliable - will we be assured of getting back to the ship in time assuming we plan accordingly? Anything else we should keep in mind?

Thank you.

temppeternh

> Is this a good idea?

Yes.

> How far is a bullet train station from the cruise ship port?

There are plans to extend the high-speed line from Běijīng right to the docks, but for now Tángū Railway Station is 11km from the ferry docks by road. There are usually eight services to Běijīng a day, departing between 08.36 and 21.52, but these seem to have disappeared from the timetable at the moment. There are very frequent departures from Tiānjīn South Station, 66km away, taking between 33 and 48 minutes to reach Beijing South. Even allowing for hour's taxi ride to the station, this is the quickest route. Unfortunately taxis are rapacious and hard bargaining necessary.

More easily, there’s an hourly direct bus from the cruise terminal taking three hours to reach Běijīng’s Capital Airport for ¥94, as well as services to Běijīng’s Zhàogōngkǒu Bus Station (not well-served by metro, so taxi necessary). From Capital Airport you can take the airport express line straight into the city.

A tour guide is merely a costly irrelevance, principally concerned with guiding money into his own pockets in all sorts of kick-backs. In general China travel services such as cars booked from overseas will cost you several multiples of what they need to cost. So do it yourself: if the service from Tanggu is restored by next winter take that. Otherwise taxi to Tiānjīn South and high-speed train from there.

CanadaChinaTraveller

Tanggu station has been closed for a while.
Taxi-train-taxi will be faster but not cheap. There should be many others on your cruise looking at the same thing so you can share some expenses. Go check in cruisecritic.com

megdean

Thank you for your help on this. If my husband and I were by ourselves, we would definitely have no problem going on our own. But with 8-10 of us, some who are novice travelers, it could get confusing. I will check out cruise critic.

temppeternh

> But with 8-10 of us, some who are novice travelers, it could get confusing.

If you decide this will be difficult then of course it will be difficult.

But more people means two taxis not one. Not exactly an increase in difficulty.

As long as one person isn't a 'novice traveller' that's all it takes.

The trains go the same speed and the distances remain the same regardless of the numbers of people.

Booking transport and a guide from overseas with a larger group will simply mean more money lost.

You're extremely unlikely to find anything more than repetition of received 'wisdom' on Cruise Critic: 'I did it this way and paid this much so that's the right way to do it and the right price to pay.' Needless to say, there's a flaw in the logic of such reasoning.

But of course you must do whatever makes you comfortable. The strong advice from China has already been given.