In the wake of the national holidays millions of Chinese boarded the train networks and returned home to visit loved ones. Why trains, you ask?

The big reason is of course that it’s far less expensive than flying. But for foreign visitors to China, the rail network can be more than just a cheap alternative. For one thing, it’s safer and more comfortable than flying. You can check in much closer to your departure time, and delays are almost unheard of. Naturally, it takes rather longer than in the air but, so long as you’re not in a rush, travelling around China by train is by far the best way to see something of the country, to get to know your fellow travellers, and to enjoy the magic of a night (or two, or three or even four) in a sleeper carriage. Why not give it a try?

Once entrain, travel is an easy and smooth journey, however there are a few things you need to know before you get to the station. Help is at hand with our guide on how to book train tickets in Shanghai.

Step 1: Work out when (and where!) you want to travel
Use any of the sites listed at the end of this article to find timetable (and in some cases, fare) information. If you don’t speak Mandarin, writing down the train number, destination and departure time is often sufficient to show the salesperson at the train station or ticket office.

Of course, if you do speak Mandarin, you can ask the salesperson yourself about train times.? If you can read Mandarin too, timetables are usually posted near the ticket windows.

The letter prefixes before the train number indicate the type of train, with D being the fastest. Take a look at this Wikipedia page for a helpful explanation of all the varieties.

Step 2: Decide how you want to travel
For any overnight journey there are typically four options, in descending order of both price and comfort: soft sleeper (in pinyin: ruanwo), hard sleeper (yingwo), soft seat (ruanzuo), and hard seat (yingzuo).

As a general rule, hard sleeper is the best value for money. You get your own bed, and since everyone goes to bed early anyway, it’s rarely much noisier than in soft sleeper. Unlike in soft sleeper, you won’t get your own TV, and the carpet might look a little more worn, but hard sleeper is also the best way to mix and mingle with your fellow travellers. You’ll be hard pressed to avoid at least an introductory conversation when you first get onboard. Useful tip: the soft sleeper carriages typically have the only Western-style toilets on board. But there’s nothing stopping you making use of them on your way to or from the dining car...

Soft seat is worth considering if you can get by on not much sleep, or if you’ll be arriving at your destination in the middle of the night and heading straight to a hotel anyway. Unless you’re especially short of funds, or there are no other seating options left, hard seat is generally best avoided. It can certainly make for a fun experience, but forget about getting even a minute’s sleep – you’ll be sharing the carriage not just with other hard-seaters, but plenty of folk who’ve bought standing room only tickets at the last minute.

Step 3:?Time it right
For most routes train tickets can only be bought up to 10 days in advance. Usually you have to buy the ticket from the departure city, though increasingly you can also buy the return leg at the same time. If you want to be sure of getting the seat you want, book it as far in advance as is allowed. Chinese trains typically sell out, and there’s very little chance of getting a seat of any kind, let alone a sleeper if you leave it until the last minute.

Step 4: Find the most convenient point of sale
First time visitors to the city often assume they have to go to the train station they’ll be leaving from in order to buy their tickets. This can mean the best part of a whole morning spent travelling to and fro, and standing in line. In fact, there are authorised ticket offices all over the city, charging only 5 RMB for their services.

One of the most convenient, at least for anyone living in the French Concession is on the corner of Fuxing Lu and Fenyang lu, at the back of the violin shop. Other ticker offices can be found here: http://www.echinacities.com/cityguide/Shanghai/Vis/GettingThere/VisTicketingServices.aspx
If you do go want to go to the station to book, there is an English speaking ticket window at Shanghai Railway Station. Previously Window 43, it was changed this year to Window 10, on the ground floor of the main ticket office just to the southeast of the main station building.

Step 5:?Make sure you go to the correct station!
There are in fact three long-distance train stations in Shanghai, but the Western Train station only runs very limited services. Almost every destination nationwide is served by either the original Shanghai Railway Station, or the shiny new, and rather beautiful, South Railway Station.

Shanghai Railway Station serves destinations north of Shanghai, including Beijing, as well as the overnight train to Hong Kong.? It’s located at 303 Moling Lu, and is on metro lines 1, 3 and 4.

Shanghai South Railway Station, at 289 Humin Lu, near Liuzhou Lu, is on metro lines 1 and 3. It serves destinations south of Shanghai (but not yet Hong Kong), including the nearby Zhejiang cities of Hangzhou, Yiwu and Ningbo.

Even if you think you know, it doesn’t hurt to be sure. Check your ticket to see which you’re travelling from: Shanghai Railway Station is 上海火车站 (Shanghai Huochezhan), while the South Railway Station is 上海南站 (Shanghai Nanzhan).

Step 6:?For the rest of it, cheat!
There are a number of dedicated websites that provide helpful, in-depth information about all aspects of train travel within China. Some are run by foreign travel agencies, and while reliable, typically charge vastly inflated prices if you choose to book tickets through them. ?Our advice is instead to use any or all of the following sites, which provide all the information you need to plan your journey, then go ahead and buy the tickets yourself. Why miss out on part of the experience!

Travel China Guide allows you to search by your departure and arrival cities it retrieves timetabled journey information that includes train types, travel times and cost. The site has simple view format that allows you to compare journeys and select the best one.

CNVol also provides details of train schedules, and even tells you the price of the various ticket options.

There’s also a wealth of information on the always-interesting Seat61.com, which is especially helpful if you’re planning an international journey. After all, it’s possible to travel by train from Shanghai all the way to the heart of London...

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