Travelling during National Week in China

July 15, 2009 10:57 AM

I've got a six week sabbatical break from my job coming up, beginning in mid September. My plan is to fly to Hong Kong, and then spend some time travelling around Yunnan and Sichuan. I will be in China during the National Week holiday, which I gather is kind of a big deal in terms of hotels, planes, trains etc. Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to deal with it? Is it even going to be a problem, or will I just notice touristy places getting a little busier?
posted by Sifter to Travel & Transportation around China (5 answers total)

Best answer: Travel by plane if you can afford it during National Week. I cannot emphasize this enough for the sake of your sanity, particularly if you aren't used to the bustle and the mass of people that is mainland China. I really enjoy travelling in Chinese trains but National Week is its own kind of crazy: for many people, such as migrant workers and students, National Week is one of the few periods of the year where they are given time off to travel home. For others, the week is a chance to travel domestically - so yes, major tourist locations are notoriously busier due to domestic tourism.

Consequently, train stations will be overwhelmingly crowded and busy as that is a time when absolutely everyone will be travelling. Unless things have changed since I lived there in 2006, the ticketing system can be confusing and seemingly arbitrary (in terms of when you can purchase fare and ability to purchase one-way/ round trip tickets), particularly if you are purchasing the more budget-friendly 'hard sleeper' fares, and even more so if you can't speak Mandarin.

If you are adament about travelling by train, considering finding a local travel agent who will may be able to obtain tickets more easily than you can, and so you can avoid the purchasing bustle at train stations.

If you are landing in HK first, also check with HK tour agencies to see what they can offer in terms of lodging/ transportation. Bonus is that you are more likely to find someone who speaks English there than in a mainland travel agency. China Travel Service HK is one of the major agencies that arranges mainland travel.

In terms of booking domestic flights, I've had success using Ctrip.com
posted by kitkatcathy at 11:39 AM on July 15, 2009

It can be a nightmare to travel during that October holiday in China. Its not so much foreign tourists, its Chinese tourists, people traveling home, visiting family etc. If you're staying in one city it won't be so bad but trying to buy train tickets during that time is horrible and the stations/attractions are totally swamped. I buy my train tickets in person at the station normally (with my very limited Mandarin) but it was impossible to get them, even through a local tour agency during that time. So book ahead for any travel or hotels!

I visited the terra cotta warriors during the holiday and the crowd around the pit in the ground was solid and 6 people deep shoulder to shoulder. Sure, maybe a little town in the middle of nowhere won't be busy but you still need to get there. So if you're moving around at all during the holiday, trying to connect through cities or changing your route along the way it will become an issue. I would almost suggest moving your holiday around it if you can. You will deal with it but there will be a lot fewer frustrations (in an already frustrating country to travel in for many people) if you don't travel during that time.

I've been in China twice during the holiday (2004 & 2006). The first time I was in Beijing and got stuck there for 10 days. At least there was a lot to see. I actually changed my plans because I couldn't get a ticket to the city I wanted to go to. A very expensive "tourist class" train berth to another city became available so I took it.

The second time, in 2006, I actually didn't even make it into China during the holiday. I was trying to cross the land border from Kyrgyzstan to China on the first day of the holiday and China completely shut the border for 10 days. I had to travel an extra day to the nearest town in a very remote region (which I'd already spent time in) and wait until the border re-opened. Once I got into China the week after the holiday some of the trains were extremely empty (the luxury express train from Kashgar to Urumqi) and some were still really full (anything heading East from Urumqi) and I had to take a hard seat overnight (sitting up cattle class with the lights on) and that was booking 4 days in advance.
posted by Bunglegirl at 1:04 PM on July 15, 2009

During that week/10-day period, could you get to a place that was really great and packed with stuff and then hunker down? Or perhaps go camping in some of the more remote areas?
posted by mdonley at 1:09 PM on July 15, 2009

Additional resource supplementing my earlier answer: Mr. Kitkat just reminded me that we used eLong for flights and hotels too.
posted by kitkatcathy at 2:25 PM on July 15, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks guys - I think what I might do is try and aim to be in a big city and just hunker down for the time. A friend who lives in HK says it's actually not so bad during the holiday, so maybe I'll head back there.

Cheers for the input!
posted by Sifter at 7:36 AM on July 16, 2009