Making tracks

Red-crowned cranes in Qiqihar's Zhalong National Nature Reserve in Heilongjiang province.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Authorities have announced new tourism-train routes for summer sojourners. Yang Feiyue, Erik Nilsson and Su Zhou report.

All aboard for summer fun!

Summertime is the time to hit not only the road but also the tracks, as China's travel chugs into peak season with special tourist-train trips.

Rail authorities recently announced four scenic tours on three routes starting from Beijing in July and August. They head to the cooler Northeast and Northwest with stops at scenic sites, as well as to Hebei province's 2022 Winter Olympics bidder, Zhangjiakou.

Officials also announced the operation of the "most beautiful high-speed rail" route from Anhui's provincial capital, Hefei, to Fujian's provincial capital, Fuzhou.

"Trains are better than planes in connecting scenic spots," says Wang Jianguo, sales manager with the Beijing-based China Railway Travel Service, the summer trips' organizer. The agency is affiliated with the Beijing Railway Bureau.

The travel agency has offered special summertime rail tours for over a decade to accommodate demand, especially from families, during the hottest season.

He says the company has received about 80 daily calls from interested travelers since the announcement. The company's June 12 rail tour of northeastern China was fully booked.

Tourist trains stop at stations close to attractions, allowing passengers to visit sites, then hop back on board.

For instance, the Northwest route's train will stop for a full day and night so passengers can visit Qinghai Lake and other sites, Wang says.

The ticket price also includes a hotel room and meal, so guests can shower. (Food on board costs extra.)

Most travel will be done at night so travelers can spend more daylight hours at attractions. Yet much can be seen through the windows, so the experience is about the journeys as well as the destinations.