High-Speed Rail & Getting Around

China built the largest high-speed rail network in the world from a standing start in 2008, and it has changed how the country travels. Trains are punctual to the minute, city-centre to city-centre, run every fifteen minutes on trunk routes, and cost roughly ¥0.45 per kilometre in second class. Once you have used it, domestic flying feels like a mistake.

The trunk routes

Route	Fastest time	2nd class fare
Beijing – Shanghai	4h 18m	¥553
Beijing – Xi'an	4h 26m	¥515
Beijing – Guangzhou	7h 15m	¥862
Shanghai – Hangzhou	45m	¥73
Shanghai – Suzhou	25m	¥40
Shanghai – Xi'an	6h	¥671
Xi'an – Chengdu	3h	¥263
Chengdu – Chongqing	1h 10m	¥154
Guangzhou – Guilin	2h 40m	¥217
Hong Kong – Guangzhou	50m	HK$247
Lanzhou – Dunhuang	4h	¥260
Xining – Lhasa (conventional)	21h	¥495 hard sleeper

Classes and what to book

Second class (二等座): 3+2 seating, ample legroom, power sockets, tray tables. Comfortable and what almost everyone should book.
First class (一等座): 2+2 seating, wider, quieter, about 60% more. Worth it on journeys over five hours.
Business class (商务座): 2+1 lie-flat seats, meal included, roughly triple second class. A genuine luxury on the Beijing–Shanghai run.
Sleepers: on conventional long-distance trains. Soft sleeper is four berths in a lockable compartment; hard sleeper is six open berths and is perfectly civilised.

Booking

Two routes. Trip.com's international app is in English, takes foreign cards, and adds a small booking fee — the default for most visitors. The official 12306 app is cheaper and now has an English mode, but registration with a foreign passport can be fiddly and payment sometimes rejects foreign cards. Either way you book with your passport number, and the passport itself becomes your ticket.

Book earlyTickets release 15 days ahead. Popular routes and any date near a holiday sell out. Off-peak, same-day is usually fine.
Arrive 40 minutes earlyStations are enormous and airport-like, with security screening at the entrance and a separate ID check.
Use the foreign passport laneAutomatic gates read Chinese ID cards only. Look for the staffed gate at the end — show your passport, it is scanned, you go through.
Find your waiting areaDeparture boards list your train and a gate number. Boarding opens 15 minutes before and closes 3–5 minutes before departure, firmly.

Flying

Worth it only for genuinely long hops — Beijing to Kunming, Shanghai to Urumqi, anywhere to Lhasa or Jiuzhaigou. Chinese domestic flights have a poor punctuality record, particularly out of Beijing and Shanghai in summer, and airport transfer times often erase the notional saving. Book through Trip.com or the airline directly; Ctrip's Chinese app frequently shows cheaper fares.

In the city

Mode	How	Cost
Metro	QR code in Alipay's Transport mini-program, or buy a single-journey token	¥3–10, and there is a metro in every city you will visit
Didi	In-app, in English, or through the Alipay mini-program. Pays automatically	¥20–45 across a city; the default for taxis
Street taxi	Flag down; show your destination in Chinese characters	Similar to Didi. Insist on the meter
Shared bikes	Hellobike and Meituan via Alipay or WeChat, unlocked by QR	¥1.5 per 30 minutes. Excellent in flat cities
Buses	Same QR as the metro in most cities	¥2 flat. Slow but scenic

Driving

Don't. Foreign licences and International Driving Permits are not valid in mainland China; you need a temporary Chinese licence, obtainable at some airports for short stays. Combined with the traffic culture, the signage and the parking, it is not a sensible use of your holiday. Hiring a car with a driver, at ¥500–900 a day, is common, cheap and the right answer for rural areas.