Help Us Plan Tour of China (approx 10-12 days)

stressedoutmum

Husband and his friend are trying to plan a tour of China. Have read lots of reviews etc on holiday truths, trip advisor etc and am bogged down by the amount of information. Have found 12 Day 'China Interlude' trip with CTS Horizons on 7th November costing £1495 per person including some sort of meal each day:

Day 1 London
Day 2 Beijing Tiananmen Sq
Day 3 Beijing Forbidden City
Day 4 Beijing Great Wall and Temple of Heaven
Day 5 Xian Summer Palace
Day 6 Xian Terracota Army
Day 7 Guillin Hanyanling Museum
Day 8 Yangshuo River cruise
Day 9 Yangshuo River walk, Moon Crescent Hill, Big Banyan Tree
Day 10 Shanghai Silver cave, giant pandas,
Day 11 Shanghai - various
Day 12 London

For any travellers who know this is this a good price or do you recommend any other tour operators etc

Also does anyone know what the weather is like in these places each month. Was actually going to go towards end November. CTS Horizons have cancelled their tour on 19th November as no one as booked yet and 7th November is their final tour this year.

Am waiting on brochure from Wendy Wu and have also looked at a Company called China Direct who do a Beijing Shanghai Xian tour for £1395 for 9 days. Has anyone heard of them

Thanks for your help.

nigelgg

Tiananmen Sq & Forbidden City are not worth a day each. A single day would easily be enough. If you are going to take a day at each, you could go on an escorted bike ride through Forbidden City and to the hutongs on one day, and take some time at Houhai Park, where Beijingers and Chinese tourists go. Take a boat on the lake, walk around, it is a lovely spot.

Similarly the Temple of Heaven is not worth a whole day. Add on the flea market in SE Beijing, Panjiayuan, well worth the trip.

http://www.gluckman.com/BeijingMarket.html

The Great Wall is really a whole day trip, and will be the highlight of your time in Beijing. I expect your tour operator will get you up early to go there, and then make you leave after an hour. It is better to go later and stay longer; when we went, arriving about 11, hundreds of people were leaving, and we had a great visit with not too many people. Mutianyu is better than Badaling; better preserved and fewer people there. It is quite an arduous climb though! You could arrange a private tour with guide quite cheaply locally, and have a much better trip.

Xi'an is wonderful, and is another highlight. Try and spend as much time as possible in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

Have a great trip!

missile

What about the flooding?

Pollycat

stressedoutmum
We did a 27 day tour of China in 2008 with CTS Horizons, we found them very good.

Our tour was the China Panorama but the itinerary has changed slightly since then.
We were away for the majority of October, starting in Shanghai and ending in Beijing.
Tshirt and shorts weather in Shanghai, light fleece weather in Beijing.
We had heavy rain in Xian.
I used this site to check on temperatures and rainfall:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/city.php3?c=CN&refer=

We also looked at WendyWu tours, they seem to get some good reviews.

Here's a list of some of the other companies that I looked at:

http://www.vjv.co.uk/destinations/far-east/china-tours/index.html
http://www.chinaholidays.com/
http://www.tourchina.co.uk/
http://www.culturaltours.co.uk/index.php
http://www.travelsphere.co.uk/destinations/asia/eastern-asia/china/
http://www.archersdirect.co.uk/china
http://www.onthegotours.com/China
http://www.orientaltravel.co.uk/


I took this little book with me, it enabled me to read up about the cities we were going to visit next:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/China-Berlitz-Pocket-Guide-Guides/dp/9812682716/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281864183&sr=1-1

If your OH and his friend are interested, my review of the trip, including general points about escorted tours and the food is here:
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=127655&hilit=cts+horizons

gedebage

Have you thought of doing your trip to China independently? Is is easier than you might think and you will go where you want to rather than the tour operators taking you to the ' tourist traps'. I have been to China many times and have always booked my flights and hotels online. Transport throughout China is efficient and affordable.

PM me if you would like more detailed information.

arietta

Hi, I was just looking at trips like this a few days back for my OH.
The best site i found was: travelsphere.co.uk
For example they have a 15 day trip from £1299 (with Breakfast, lunch and dinner each day)
Excursions included are:

• BeijingCity tour, Forbidden City and Imperial Palace, Great Wall of China, Ming Tombs Museum, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Zoo
• XianTerracotta Army and Xian city sightseeing Han Tombs
• ShanghaiCity tour, Acrobatic Show
• SuzhouSightseeing programme
• NanjingCity tour

stressedoutmum

thanks for your kind replies. The travelsphere trip looks the best but he's booked now with Wendy Wu as he's not too keen on booking it all independently since he's never been. Happier now its booked and we can stop trudging through now.

Can anyone recommend any travel insurance companies for China? does it have to be different insurance as you are travelling around and not in one place??

Pollycat

We have annual worldwide insurance and that covered us.

jamsandwiches

stressedoutmum wrote: »

thanks for your kind replies. The travelsphere trip looks the best but he's booked now with Wendy Wu as he's not too keen on booking it all independently since he's never been. Happier now its booked and we can stop trudging through now.

Can anyone recommend any travel insurance companies for China? does it have to be different insurance as you are travelling around and not in one place??

Which date and tour have booked with Wendy Wu - we are going in October with this company.

Voyager2002

Does the price include the air fare? If not, it is an absolute rip-off.

Pollycat

All the tours I've looked at from WendyWu have included air fares - international and domestic.