9.5 hours in a hard seat of a Chinese train may not have been our worst China travel experience, but when we pulled up at Erlian station at 7.23pm our first priority was to beat the wave of Chinese people to the cheap hotels!
We needn’t of worried. Wherever the mass of people disappeared to, it wasn’t the budget hotels. After discovering that the Hotel next to the station charged 228RMB for a double room – No surprise as the name of the hotel had the word “Royal” in it – we went about asking around for somewhere cheaper.
Eventually we got pointed in the right direction and about 10 minutes walk from the station we found the Antai Hotel (Spelt AH TAN on the sign), which is easily spottable from a distance due to its blue and white clock tower!
Information about hotels in Erlian had been remarkably scarce online, so we had opted to just turn up and find one. Locals from Erlian that we had met on the train suggested that the average price of a budget place was 70 to 90 RMB for a double room, so when we found The Antai Hotel for 100RMB ($18) we decided not to walk around endlessly in order to save an additional 2 or 3 dollars.
The good news is that the hotel is in great condition, clean room, comfortable queen bed, air-con, decent bathroom (though quite small) with hot shower and of course, importantly, close to the station!
They don’t have WIFI, but they do have ethernet – which suits us as we have a laptop and the ethernet is always more reliable than the WIFI. There is even a TV and boiling water!
We paid the 100 RMB for one night as well as 100 RMB deposit. The staff speak no English at all, but helped us as best they could to figure everything out. The rack rate on the wall says 128RMB per night, but we didn’t even have to negotiate to get the 100RMB price… but worth checking if you choose to stay here and make sure you get the discount.
