Traveling in China and need a good app to book your next few flight and train rides?
Are you currently in China staring at a ticket booth wondering how you’re going to even buy a ticket to your next amazing Asian destination? China is making traveling for foreigners easier by bringing them apps and tech to make understanding the unfamiliar routes easier.
If you’re a foreigner traveling to China, use the most utilized app for organizing your travel online, Trip.com (Formerly Ctrip).
Ctrip English is loaded with capabilities to make your traveling in China easier. It comes in both English and Chinese versions, so if you’re good with Chinese, try your luck at the Chinese version.
Why Not Use Traveling Apps like Priceline, Trivago, or Travelocity?
It’s sort of like going to China and eating with a fork instead of chopsticks. One is more utilized and accurate to the culture than the other.
What I’ve found during my travels in China is that I would spend more if I tried to use my traditional online travel agents to purchase my ticket and accommodations in China. It was like trying to buy items off of Amazon instead of Taobao.
Basically, it was a more cost-effective choice and I saved tons of money.
Using the Trip.com’s English app and booking tickets online made the idea of traveling in China, and essentially being illiterate, a lot less intimidating.
I could book tickets with confidence and travel without the hassle of communicating where I wanted to go or having a host country native purchase it for me.
Below are some of the many reasons I utilized Trip.com during my time in China as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Save on Travel with Trip.com (ENG)
Book Planes, Trains, and Buses Effortlessly
The Ctrip English app’s easy design makes it easy for you to book planes, trains, and buses with minimal issue.
The app offers its main services on the home screen of the app and then allows you to pick your destination easily like your normal Priceline and Trivago apps.
Once you’ve picked the perfect flight or train, you can browse through and choose the cheapest flights, and the app lets you swap in and out the currency category you fit into so you can monitor just exactly how much you’re paying.
Most flights are priced very normally and similar to prices you would take for similar distances and durations in your own country. But if you would like to take a train, you may find yourself paying significantly less for your travel depending on which kind of train to take.
I used to pay a mere $16 for a one-way 2-hour train ride from Chongqing City to Chengdu, Sichuan.
Find the Cheapest Hostels & Hotels
Well, no shocker there, the Trip.com English app functions just like a normal travel app. You can adjust the filters and find the right price for your travel. The reviews are incredibly accurate and depending on where you stay, know that you are most likely in good and accommodating hands.
The people of China often specialize in the hospitality and pay great attention to detail.
What I love about this app is you can find significantly cheaper prices on hostels starting anywhere from $8 per night in wonderful accommodations like capsule hotels!
Acquire C-Money & Put It Toward More Travels and Accommodations
If you shop for your hotels, flights, and trains properly on Trip.com English, you may find deals that offer you free C-Money.
After you accumulate so much C-Money, you can put those dollars toward purchasing other prepaid hotels and flights or getting discounts on your overall hotel purchase. This is an incredibly helpful tool if you are staying in China long-term and plan to travel extensively around the Asian countries.
Good news, you can also get C-Money even if you venture outside of China! C-Money is electronic currency and can only be redeemed through the Ctrip English app and requires a PIN for you to use.
Trip.com (Ctrip) Points Can Accumulate & Go Towards Future Travel
Trip.com Points are different from C-Money. C-Money is more of a coupon issued to you if you purchase a certain flight or hotel. Trip.com points are accumulated each time you make a purchase and complete your travel.
The downside of the points is, they will expire unless you accumulate 300,000 or more points.
Only then will they be safe from expiration. After accumulating points, you have up to two years to redeem them. Points are accumulated based on the cost of Chinese currency, just to be forewarned.
- For flight bookings, points will be delivered to your account three working days after you have issued your boarding passes.
- For China Mainland hotels, you will receive your points around one week after you leave the hotel or longer depending on whether or not you are traveling using national holidays.
- For Hong Kong and Macau Hotel bookings, you will receive Ctrip points up to one month after you check out of your hotel.
As for other hotels non-related to your travel in China, you will receive your points for travel up to one day after tickets are purchased.
Trip.com English Recommends Destinations You Might Enjoy
Like I said before, Trip.com (Ctrip) English is a great lol for traveling in China, but it’s also a great tool for traveling to many of the countries surrounding China.
With Japan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, and some many other wonderful destinations being so close, why not take advantage of the opportunity to get there for cheap?
Depending on the season, Ctrip will recommend certain destinations or discount travels to those destinations! Travel to Japan during Sakura Season, save big on trips to Taiwan, spend a week soaking up the sun on the beaches in Thailand, or going big.
And taking a luxurious trip to the Maldives nice you’re on that side of the world.
Choose Trip.com for Your Adventures in Asia
Trip.com English the apps and the online platform cater to over 300 million members making it a trusted online travel agent and resource. It offers multilingual options that cater to everyone who uses it making their travel experience that much easier.
And this app covers 1.2 million hotels in over 200 countries and offers convenient flights to more than 5,000 cities around the world.
If you haven’t started using the app yet, then what are you waiting for?
