Tianjin Transportation

There are many river bridges and landmark buildings along Haihe river.

So there is a flourishing boat cruise from basic touristy to meal included cruises up and down the river.

For anyone who enjoy a river trip, this is not to be missed. Go to the bridge near Guwen Da Jie - Ancient Culture Street and Wanghailou Church and you will several ticket booths along the river bank selling different types of boat trips.

Like its counterpart in Beijing, the Tianjin Railway station is new, modern and impressive.

There are plenty of seats, eating places and souvenir shops to last minute "Ma Hua" dessert. However, I observed items like "Beijing Opening Ceremony" DVD are priced much higher than at major bookstores in Beijing - cost of rental?

As there is allocated seating, there is no rush in queueing and boarding usually start at 15 minutes before departure. As there are many trains, just remember the train ride number, what time and which gate to board.

Before the fast train started, most will travel the over 110 km distance between Beijing and Tianjin by the express highway.

Many standard tours from Malaysia to Beijing include Chengde and Tianjin. And so one spend some time almost an hour, more or less, on the road to get here.

So there is option of taking long distance bus from Beijing to get here and back.

With the opening of this express train frequent service between Beijing and Tianjin Interciy Rail, it takes only 30 minutes comfortable ride to get from one place to another.

There is a first class and second class ticket with small fare difference. More space room for your legs in first class, better refreshment and betterw waiting area in the train stations.

If you have a tight budget, go second class. There is a small charge if you buy return at Beijing station. No small charge if you buy return directly from the automatic machine which has Chinese and English language choice option.

The maximum top speed reached is 350 km per hour. Ride is comfortable and you see the country side go by outside. Highly recommended if you like trains.

There is a bullet train from Beijing (PEK) airport to Tianjin.
At the moment I have no further information nor a link to provide you. At least it is good to know that there is a quick possibility to reach Tianjin from Beijing airport.

Train schedule from Beijing to Tianjin:
T531 8:35am, 9:54am
T533 9:20am, 10:39am
T535 10:20am, 11:39am
T539 13:00pm, 14:19pm
T541 13:50pm, 15:04pm
T543 14:50pm, 16:09pm (*)
T547 17:05pm, 18:19pm ($)
T549 17:50pm, 19:12pm (*)
T551 18:30pm, 19:44pm

Train schedule from Tianjin to Beijing:
T534 7:25am, 8:50am (*)
T540 10:30am, 11:50am
T542 11:11am, 12:36pm (*)
T544 13:00pm, 14:25pm (*)
T548 15:01pm, 16:26pm (*)
T550 15:58pm, 17:18pm
T552 16:40pm, 18:05pm (*)

The main mode of public transport between Beijing and Tianjin is the intercity train. However, we took a long distance taxi back to Beijing. There are plenty of these taxis outside the Tianjin railway station, and the local taxi drivers would normally receive a commission if they send passengers to one of these long distance cabs.

We took a Volkswagen Passat taxi back to Beijing for RMB250. Very comfortable although the journey on the highway is a little hair raising due to the aggressive way the Chinese drive!

It's very fast taking train from Beijing, taking only 1:20 hrs. The trains is available every hour.

You can also take shuttle bus (at Zhao Gong Kou or Ba Wang Fen). these are aircon Mercedes bus, try not taking the "not so nice looking" local buses at the train station