jacketwatch

We are considering a trip to China in the fall and I would like to know if there is a bullet train from Beijing to Xian where the terra cotta warriors are. I understand its about one hr. by air so I would imagine thats a long standard train ride but perhaps a bullet train would be rather nice. Thank you.

temppeternh

In order:

Train no. (G-something)
Departure station (Beijing West)
Arrival station (Xi'an North)
Departure time
Arrival time
Journey length in hours (小时) and minutes (分)
Cost of a second-class seat (二等座) in ¥RMB

Note, in passing, it's Xi'an (Xi + An). Food on board is pretty dreadful, so take your own with you.

• G89
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 06:53
  
  11:24
  
• 4小时31分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G651
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 06:58
  
  12:47
  
• 5小时49分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G653
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 08:05
  
  13:48
  
• 5小时43分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G671
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 08:16
  
  14:16
  
• 6小时00分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G307
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 09:38
  
  15:35
  
• 5小时57分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G655
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 09:43
  
  15:37
  
• 5小时54分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G429
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 10:45
  
  16:20
  
• 5小时35分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G659
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 11:53
  
  17:36
  
• 5小时43分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G87
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 14:00
  
  18:23
  
• 4小时23分
• 二等座￥515.5

• G673
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 14:35
  
  20:26
  
• 5小时51分
• 二等座￥515.5
  
• 买票

• G661
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 14:48
  
  20:41
  
• 5小时53分
• 二等座￥515.5
• G663
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 15:45
  
  21:21
  
• 5小时36分
• 二等座￥515.5
• G665
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 16:00
  
  21:50
  
• 5小时50分
• 二等座￥515.5
  
• G669
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 17:31
  
  23:00
  
• 5小时29分
• 二等座￥515.5
  
• G25
• 北京西
  
  西安北
  
• 18:55
  
  23:23
  
• 4小时28分
• 二等座￥515.5

thursdaysd

And I will add a recommendation for soft sleeper on the night train.

See: https://www.seat61.com/China.htm#Wha...0trains%20like

jacketwatch

Thank you all. Temppeternh: Most of what you listed is in Chinese but I think I get the idea. Lots of choices throughout the day.

temppeternh

Which is why I gave you a key at the top, explaining, line by line, what each line means. Here it is again:

Train no. (G-something)
Departure station (Beijing West)
Arrival station (Xi'an North)
Departure time
Arrival time
Journey length in hours (小时) and minutes (分)
Cost of a second-class seat (二等座) in ¥RMB

jacketwatch

Thats all Greek to me. . I suppose somewhere there is an all English version. Thank you.

thursdaysd

jacketwatch - if you start at the top, train G89 leaves Beijing at 06:53 and arrives in Xi'an at 11:24, costing 515.5 yuan. The others follow the same format.

All the trains leave from Beijing West - 北京西
All the trains arrive in Xi'an North - 西安北

Note that Beijing means northern capital and Xi'an means western peace, so the character for west shows up in both: 西 and so does the character for north: 北 I found if helpful to learn the characters for the places I was visiting (and some menu terms).

temppeternh

The material provided lists all the high-speed trains running between Beijing and Xi'an daily.

Each entry begins with the train number. This is easily identified because it begins with G.

The next line below this is the name in Chinese of the departure station, which is always Beijing West.

Below that is the name in Chinese of the arrival station, which is always Xi'an North.

The next line is clearly a time. It's the departure time.

And the one below that is clearly a time, too. It's the arrival time.

Beneath that, the line with number + 小时 + number + 分 is the length of the journey in the familiar form number + hours + number + minutes.

And finally, the line with price, clearly indicated by the ¥ sign, is the price of a 二等座, or second-class seat, one way.

The following line, also beginning with a G, indicates that a new train is under discussion.

If this really is all Greek, then it's time to book a tour.

jacketwatch

Beijing to Xi'an train ticket online booking & delivery | Ctripp
This seems good. Thanks again for the help.

CanadaChinaTraveller

You can get full details of schedules in English on the website of any ticket agent such as www.china-diy-travel.com
Note that there is a cheap bus from the Xi'An (main) train station to the Warriors. There is a free bus departing from the North station (where high-speed trains arrive). You just need to show your train ticket. However the bus is not easy to find and you need to lug your luggage around which is not ideal.
The bus from the old station is most convenient. The buses are on the right of the train station (when facing the station), you can't miss them.

jacketwatch

I assume the old and the north station aren't the same, correct?

The luggage is an issue. We just may leave our hotel in Beijing to go to Xian but not check out so we can just take an over night bag with us, then go back of course.

Is there an area in Beijing you would recommend in terms of closeness to shopping, restaurants etc. within walking distance. I looked at the Regent 99 Jinbao St Dongcheng Dstrct, Beijing, which looks good but I know nothing about this area as we have never been to China before. I also saw many in this area "Wangfujing" which seems to be pretty good too. Can you or anyone comment about this please.

Thank you.

thursdaysd

How much time do you have in China? There is plenty more to see in Xi'an besides the Warriors. My third visit was for three and a half days (night trains in and out) and I certainly wasn't bored.

jacketwatch

Its flexible. I'm retired now and Sue is one step away with basically being able to take off when she wants too so I was think 7 days in Beijing but now am wondering if that is too much. What do you think? We will be taking a NS from ORD-PEK and most likely on Hainan 787 which should help soften jet lag issues.

kja

I spent 3 full and very busy days in Xi'an and would have liked more time there.

Wangfujing was too westernized for my tastes, but it is certainly has a lot of shops and restaurants (generally westernized) and is within walking distance of a few of Beijing's highlights and to metro stops. Beijing is, of course, too big for everything of interest to be within walking distance of anything -- but the metro is very easy and convenient to use.

thursdaysd

Well, you could easily fill seven days in Beijing - hopefully Peter will post the link to his impressive guide to Beijing. However, there is much more to China, and three full days in Xi'an is not too much. I might be inclined to go on to Chengdu (another night train) and then fly home from there but you would need more than a week.

My second trip to China is at the beginning here: Travels Round Asia 2001 -- Wilhelm's Words

And parts of my third are at the end here: Rails Around the World 2004 -- Wilhelm's Words

kja

I agree -- it is very easy to fill seven days in Beijing!

My trip report:
Thanks for helping make my trip to China amazing!
I started and ended in Beijing; Xi'an was in the middle -- it's long, but you should be able to search or scroll to the relevant sections.

Hope that helps!

jacketwatch

Thank you all. Sounds like we may need at least 10 days, maybe more. My friend in KL wants us to spend 5 days there so may have to revamp my plan

thursdaysd

The more the better - it's a big country!

CanadaChinaTraveller

No the Xi'An north station and the old Xi'An station are not the same. The "old" station is actually just called the Xi'an station.

jacketwatch

Thank you