The Spring Festival is the most grand traditional festival in China. Every year at this time, hundreds of millions of Chinese people embark on the journey back home for reunion, forming the largest annual human migration in the world – the Spring Festival travel rush. The 2026 Spring Festival travel rush will last for 40 days, from February 2 to March 13, with an estimated 539 million passenger trips. Among them, high-speed trains have become the first choice for most passengers due to their speed, convenience and comfort, and also attract many foreign tourists to experience the Chinese New Year flavor in depth. For foreign tourists who are not familiar with China’s high-speed train ticketing system, mastering scientific ticketing methods is crucial. This guide will detail the entire process, practical skills and precautions for booking high-speed train tickets during the 2026 Spring Festival, helping you easily buy high-speed train tickets and travel smoothly around China.
First of all, it is necessary to clarify the core basic information of high-speed train ticket booking during the Spring Festival, which is the premise of successful ticketing. The pre-sale period for high-speed train tickets during the 2026 Spring Festival is still 15 days (including the day of purchase). The key ticketing nodes should be kept in mind: tickets for the first day of the Spring Festival holiday (February 15) will go on sale on February 1; tickets for New Year’s Eve (February 16) will go on sale on February 2; tickets for the first day of the Lunar New Year (February 17) will go on sale on February 3; tickets for the peak return trip on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year (February 23) will go on sale on February 9; and tickets for the Lantern Festival (March 3) will go on sale on February 17. You can calculate the ticketing time for your target travel date by analogy. It should be noted that the online on-sale time of different railway stations is different. Foreign tourists can log in to the 12306 official website in advance, click “On-sale Time” under the “Information Query” column, select the target on-sale date and station, and query the specific on-sale time to avoid missing the best ticketing opportunity. In addition, during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, the railway department will add more passenger trains on popular routes, including night high-speed trains on major high-speed lines such as Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shanghai and Shanghai-Kunming. The newly added tickets will be given priority to passengers who have submitted waitlist orders, which is also an opportunity for foreign tourists to seize.
Secondly, complete the pre-booking preparation to lay the foundation for efficient ticketing. The core certificate for foreign tourists to buy tickets is their valid passport. No additional procedures are required, just ensure that the passport information is true, valid and within the validity period. Before booking tickets, you need to complete the registration and identity verification on the 12306 platform, which is a mandatory requirement for railway ticketing in China. The 12306 platform supports both Chinese and English interfaces. Foreign tourists can switch to English in the settings of the official website or mobile APP to reduce operational difficulties. During registration, you need to accurately fill in your passport number, name (consistent with the passport, filled in pinyin), email address and commonly used mobile phone number. After registration, you need to complete the person-certificate consistency verification – the 12306 system already supports automatic reading of electronic passports. Foreign tourists can upload their passport photos and complete face verification through the “My – Identity Verification” function on the 12306 APP. After successful verification, you can book tickets normally, and users who have passed the verification do not need to repeat the operation. At the same time, it is recommended to bind a payment method in advance. The 12306 platform supports international credit card (non-UnionPay logo) payment. After binding, you can enable “automatic payment” and set “automatic order submission” to reduce the payment time during ticketing and improve the success rate of ticket grabbing. In addition, you can collect target train numbers on the 12306 platform in advance and set “on-sale reminders”. The system will send a reminder before the tickets go on sale to avoid missing the ticketing opportunity due to forgetting the time.
Next, we will detail the ticketing process and efficient ticket grabbing skills, which are the core links of high-speed train ticket booking during the Spring Festival. The 2026 Spring Festival high-speed train ticketing channels are mainly divided into online and offline categories. Among them, online channels are convenient and efficient, and are more recommended for foreign tourists. Online channels mainly include the 12306 official website and the 12306 mobile APP. The operation processes of both are the same, and the APP is more suitable for operation at any time. When booking tickets, open the 12306 platform (switch to English interface), select the “Ticket Booking” function, enter the departure place, destination and travel date, click query to display the available high-speed train numbers on that day. After filtering the target train number, select the seat class (first class, second class, etc. Foreign tourists can choose according to their needs. Second class has the highest cost performance, and first class is more spacious and comfortable), add passengers (accurately fill in passport information, consistent with registration), confirm that the order information is correct, and complete the payment within 30 minutes. After successful payment, the ticket is booked successfully. The system will send a ticket booking success notification via SMS or email, including train number, carriage, seat number and travel notes.
It should be noted that the “Ticket Booking Information Pre-filling” function on the 12306 platform can greatly improve the efficiency of ticket grabbing. It can only be used on the day the tickets go on sale and before the specific on-sale time. Foreign tourists can fill in the train number, seat class and passenger information in advance. When the on-sale time comes, click “Book Tickets According to Pre-filled Information” to quickly submit the order.
Tickets for popular train numbers are in short supply during the Spring Festival. If you fail to buy tickets for the first time, don’t panic. You can flexibly use the following skills to improve the success rate of ticketing. First, make good use of the waitlist ticket booking function, which is the “bottom-line artifact” for ticket grabbing during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush. After the direct tickets are sold out, foreign tourists can submit waitlist orders. Each user can hold 6 pending waitlist orders at the same time. Each order can select up to 3 travel dates, with a total of no more than 60 “date + train number” combinations. The more combinations, the higher the success rate of waitlist. When submitting a waitlist order, you need to prepay the ticket fare (calculated according to the highest ticket fare among the waitlist needs in the order). After successful fulfillment, the system will automatically generate an order and refund the difference. If the order is not fulfilled or the fulfillment fails, the full amount will be automatically refunded. It is recommended to check the “Accept Additional Trains” and “Accept Standing Tickets” options. The system will automatically fulfill when there are additional trains or standing tickets, further improving the success rate, and the official waitlist service does not charge any additional fees. Second, flexibly choose the “indirect travel” method. If there are no tickets for direct trains, you can try to buy tickets in segments (departure place – intermediate station + intermediate station – destination), or choose to depart from and arrive at adjacent stations. The 12306 system will intelligently recommend the optimal transfer plan. During the transfer, you do not need to leave the station and can directly transfer inside the station to save time. Third, seize the ticket snatching opportunity. After failing to grab tickets in the early stage of on-sale, you can focus on checking 1-2 days before departure, within 24 hours before departure and within 1 hour before departure. At this time, some passengers will refund or change their tickets, and the system will release some tickets, which is the golden time for snatching tickets.
In addition, it is necessary to proficiently master the refund and modification rules and precautions to avoid losses due to itinerary changes. The 2026 Spring Festival high-speed train refund and modification rules are as follows: for refunds, no refund fee will be charged for refunds made 8 days (including) or more before departure; 5% of the ticket price will be charged for refunds made more than 48 hours but less than 8 days before departure; 10% of the ticket price will be charged for refunds made more than 24 hours but less than 48 hours before departure; 20% of the ticket price will be charged for refunds made less than 24 hours before departure, and the minimum refund fee is 2 yuan. For modifications, no modification fee will be charged for modifications made more than 48 hours before departure; 15% of the ticket price will be charged for modifications to subsequent trains made less than 24 hours before departure; for wrong ticket purchases that meet the conditions of “within 30 minutes of successful ticket purchase + more than 4 hours before departure”, 1 order can be refunded for free per day. It should be noted that if the travel date of the ticket after modification or change of arrival station is during the Spring Festival travel rush, the refund fee will be charged according to the standard of less than 24 hours before departure. At the same time, the points on the 12306 platform can be used to redeem tickets, with 100 points equal to 1 yuan. Points can be used for modifications (minimum 1000 points charged), but not for refunds.
Finally, remind foreign tourists to pay attention to ticketing safety and travel precautions to ensure a smooth trip. When booking tickets, be sure to recognize official channels. Only the 12306 official website, 12306 mobile APP, railway station ticket windows, ticket agencies and automatic ticket machines are regular channels. Do not trust services such as “acceleration packages”, “carriage seat selection fees” and “membership fees” on third-party platforms, nor believe in the lie of “internal tickets”. All tickets are sold publicly, and there are no reserved internal tickets. Avoid disclosing personal information such as passports and mobile phone numbers to prevent fraud. When traveling, you need to carry your original valid passport (consistent with the information used when booking tickets). There is no need to exchange for paper tickets. You can directly enter the station through the station security check and ticket gate with your original passport. If you need to reimburse, you can print the reimbursement voucher at the railway station ticket window within 30 days after traveling. During the Spring Festival travel rush, the passenger flow at the station is large. It is recommended to arrive at the station 1-2 hours in advance to reserve sufficient time for security check and ticket inspection, abide by the station order, and do not carry prohibited items. At the same time, you can pay attention to real-time notifications on the 12306 platform. If the train is delayed or cancelled, the system will send information in a timely manner, and passengers can handle refunds or modifications according to the prompts.
During the Spring Festival, China’s high-speed trains connect the reunion of thousands of families and carry foreign tourists’ exploration and yearning for Chinese culture. By mastering the ticketing process, skills and precautions in this guide, you can easily buy 2026 Spring Festival high-speed train tickets, take high-speed trains to travel between China’s cities and villages, feel the strong Spring Festival atmosphere, and experience China’s development and charm. Wish every foreign tourist a smooth trip and a happy, unforgettable Spring Festival in China.
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