Transport

In short, you have two choices:  train or plane

While the train is certainly not first class, do not be fooled into thinking that plane is necessarily the best option, as the route is only served by Air Koryo, the world’s only one star (worst) airline, and Air China three times a week.

Realistically, the only way to enter North Korea is from Beijing, China.  Though a train route does exist via the Russian border at Tumangan/Khasan, it is only available to Chinese and Russian citizens.  All borders crossing from South Korea have been suspended since a tourist was fatally shot in 2008 and do not look likely to re-open any time soon.  Tension is such that if your passport contains a North Korea stamp you will not be allowed into South Korea, so try asking officials to stamp a blank sheet of paper instead.

Train

From Beijing;s central train station you can board Train K27/K28 to Pyongyang, which leaves four times a week. There is only one class on the international train between Beijing and Pyongyang: soft sleeper. It can be booked at the station in Beijing, but reservations must be made several days, if not weeks, in advance. Your tour agency will usually do this for you, unless you are travelling on work purposes.

There is also a direct rail link into Russia, crossing the North Korean/Russian border at Tumangan/Khasan. This route is served by a direct sleeping car Moscow – Pyongyang and vice versa and runs twice monthly (11th and 25th from Moscow), arriving Pyongyang 9 days later. However, since the mid-nineties this has not been an officially permitted route for tourists, and KITC refuses to organize trips using this route; two Western tourists have been successful in taking this train into North Korea, but report that further trips on this route would probably not be successful.

Plane

North Korea’s sole airline, Air Koryo, currently has scheduled flights from Beijing, which depart at 11:30am every Tuesday and Saturday, and return from Pyongyang at 9am on the same days.   Air Koryo also flies to and from Shenyang (near the North Korean border in Northern China) every Wednesday and Saturday, and to Vladivostok in Russia every Tuesday morning.  These flights are for Chinese and Russian citizens only, unless prior arrangements for visas and escorts have been organised.  If even you don’t fly with Air Koryo, you can still be their friend on Facebook.

Air Koryo is the only one star airline on Skytrax’s list and has been banned in the EU due to concerns over safety in the past.  The Air Koryo fleet consists largely of Soviet-made aircraft built between 1965 and 1990, plus the pride of their fleet, a 2008 Tupolev Tu-204, which now usually handles the core Beijing–Pyongyang route.

The only other airline with scheduled service to North Korea is Air China, which flies three times weekly from Beijing to Pyongyang. Neither Aeroflot nor China Southern continue to fly to North Korea.   Air China is recommended above Air Koryo due to its far more modern and safe fleet, however you will not be able to book, or even see, a flight to Pyongyang on Air China’s website, so you must go through an authorised North Korea travel agency.

Bus

While there are reports of a bus that crosses the border from China into North Korea, this is strictly for Chinese citizens only, if it still runs at all.