Asked by Milee from Malaysia

Our tour of West Lake in Hangzhou on 15 May should end around 11.30 am (as other members of the group have a 2.10 pm to catch back home).

My husband and I, however, plan to head back to Shanghai by the high-speed train. Do we have time to catch the 2.00 pm (G7316) from HZ railway station to Shanghai Hongqiao, or should we catch a later G7318 which departs from HZ East, and what is the travelling time from this West Lake to East station?

Although we are not in the May peak season would it be too risky to buy tickets at the station itself? Frankly,
we would prefer to buy in advance so as to secure seats on our preferred train but will collecting tickets be a problem and how much time should we allocate?