When to go
The best time to plan a trip is during the Arirang Mass Games (mid-August until mid-October most years) or during a national holiday. Special performances, which have been rehearsed for months, can be included in the itinerary. During these periods train and plane tickets are harder to obtain, so ensure that you have booked well in advance. In general, the most pleasant months for a visit are April, May, June, September and October. July and August are often unpleasantly humid and overcast. Tours don’t usually run in the winter: they finish in November, and then start again in March. The month of February sees the Great Leader’s birthday and foreigners are particularly unwelcome at this time of year. Those finding themselves in North Korea in winter will find power shortages common (although not usually in hotels) and it’s generally a cold and miserable time to visit.

Getting there & away
Beijing is now the only real transport hub for people entering North Korea, offering both regular trains and flights to Pyongyang. Traffic entering through Russia from Vladivostok –which is still a theoretical possibility – has fallen off to a trickle. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that tourists are often obliged to pick up their visas in Beijing, thus making the use of other routes impossible.

Land

Train
There are four trains each week in either direction between Beijing and Pyongyang via Dandong and Sinuiju, the border towns of China and DPRK respectively. They run Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. On each day, train No 27 leaves Beijing at 5.48pm and arrives at Pyongyang the next day at 6.05pm (about 23 hours). Going the other way, train No 26 departs from Pyongyang at 10.10am arriving in Beijing at 9am. The fare each way is €75 for a soft sleeper. In contrast to the plane, it’s possible to pick up your train tickets to Pyongyang without a DPRK visa.

The North Korean train is actually just two carriages attached to the main Beijing–Dandong train, which are detached at Dandong (Chinese side) and then taken across the Yalu River Bridge to Sinuiju (Korean side), where more carriages are added for local people. Non-Koreans remain in their original carriages.

The trains usually spend about four hours at the border for customs and immigration – two hours at Dandong and two hours at Sinuiju. You may wander around the stations and take photos, but ask permission first and obey the directives of signs and officials about going outside.

Sinuiju station will be your first introduction to North Korea and the contrasts with China will be quite marked. Everything is squeaky-clean and there are no vendors plying their goods. A portrait of the Great Leader looks down from the top of the station, and at all other train stations in North Korea.

Soon after departing Sinuiju, you’ll be served lunch. The food is excellent and the service is fine. Make sure you have some small denomination euro notes to pay for the meal (about €5), as this is not usually included in tours. There are no facilities for changing money at Sinuiju or on the train. The dining car is for the use of non-Koreans only.

Your guide will meet you on arrival at Pyongyang train station and accompany you to your hotel. Likewise, when you leave North Korea, your guide will bid you farewell at Pyongyang train station or the airport and you then travel to China unaccompanied. Be very careful taking pictures from the train in North Korea. While you’ll get some great opportunities to snap everyday DPRK scenes, do not take pictures in stations as this will cause big trouble if you are caught.