Hello Friends, Ni Hao!
I am excited to be visiting China soon. I will arrive in Shanghai, and depart from Beijing. I was wondering what is the best way to travel between the two cities? Train? Air? And as a hiker/backpacker, I love to see the counrty-sides and small towns of places I visit, along with the natural beauty. Can anyone recommend some special places between the cities to visit? Also, how about hostels in the two big cities? Any foavorites?!?! I really appreciate any feed back, duo xie!
Reply to this Hello Bosco, welcome to the Forum!
The overnight Z train series is my preferred way to travel - they are top quality comfortable trains that journey overnight. I found this to be a great journey. Another type of train is the T train, but these are a bit older.
There are newer trains that have just started this route - the usual D trains during the day, but also three new D trains at night - these are even more luxurious than the Z versions, and thus would be more expensive.
I cannot comment on the towns between the two cities as I was in a rush to get between the two cities. If you did want to do the stopovers, you will need to try local trains instead - but I cannot help you with this information.
Reply to this Hi there, if you are short of time take the plane - about two hours. If you have the time the train is a nice experience, as you will both meet Chinese people and you get a different view of the country. There are two cities fairly close to Shanghai that are worth visiting, in my opinion, Suzhou and Nanjing. They are both big cities but there is plenty of opportunity to see how people live. Nanjing has very little of tourism while Suzhou has famous Ming gardens (I think they are really beautiful) which draws quite a lot of foreign tourism. As for smaller towns you may be disappointed, the beautiful ones have been made into tourist attractions, while the normal ones usually have little to offer, in this part of China. They can be quite drab and depressing. I haven't visited the area around Beijing, but the coastal cities there may be interesting.
Reply to this Bosco,
Don't know when you are going, but if this gets to you before you leave, I suggest that you make a side trip, out of Shanghai, to the town of Xitang. This is a Water Town, built on converging waterways. It is probably 1000 years old. Not highly commercialized (like some other Water Towns). You can spend hours here and find delightful sights and friendly folks.
Groucho
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Reply to this Many thanks to you all, your comments are much appreciated!
I never knew about the 'Water Towns' and am now very excited to visit one of them....I'm wondering which would be best to visit: Xitang or Suzhou? And the best way to get there from Shanghai? I'm assuming a train is the best, is one much closer than the other? Any idea how much time should I allocate for the water town? I was thinking a half to full day.
My plan is to spend a couple days in Shanghai, and then visit a water town en route to Beijing. Still undecided about the trip between the two big cities, I have a total of only 10 days, so time is of concern...any other ideas for things to do/see in between the big cities would be much appreciated!
Thanks again for all the help!
Reply to this First, about the transportation.
To Xitang from Shanghai: You can take a train to Jiashan County in the Shanghai South Railway Station. There’re about 3 trains come and go every day and it takes less than one and a half hours. Then take a bus in Jiashan Station to Xitang in about 20 minutes. Spend a night at Xitang is worth to recommend for you can enjoy another scenery.
To Suzhou: There’re many coaches and trains to Suzhou from Shanghai. Especially, it only takes about one hour by train. A round-trip in a day is ok, but too hurry to appreciate the historic and beautiful city.
In Mission Impossible III, Tom Cruise is running through narrow twisting old lanes along a small river. It’s Xitang! With nine rivers converging at this town, dividing it into eight sections, there are many bridges linking it together. Inside the town, there are many well-preserved architectural groups constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, which boast a higher artistry and study value. The only regret is now it’s getting very commercial, so it takes time to enjoy the quiet atmosphere there.
Suzhou is also a water town but much more famous than Xitang to foreigners. While talking about Suzhou, the old saying mentions it as a “Paradise on the Earth” or the "East Venice of the World”, referring to its natural beauty, classical gardens, bridges and waters, traditional operas and soft dialect tone. The city is well-known to its classical gardens, in which two of them have been listed as the great world heritage sites.
Hope these could help.If you need further information ,just let me know.
Reply to this Hi there,
For Xitang the fatest way is actually to go by local "tourist" bus, ok, you wont see foreigners there but those are buses used by Chinese to go outside of Shanghai for sightseeing,
Once there, you dont need to be with the other passengers, just be back to the bus on time in the afternoon to go back to Shanghai!
The bus departs from the stadium (one station south of Xujiahui), once you exit the subway you would need to enter the stadium and walk around it (it is in the back) (the word gonggongqiche zhan - bus station in chinese - might be handy if you get problem to find the station)
Would cost less than RMB100 return and is direct! The bus normally leave in the morning (around 8 or 9 am)
For some pic/ info about Xitang, feel free to have a look at my blog,
Xitang, the Beauty of an Ancient Chinese Water Town
Cheers
Laetitia
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