China holiday

AJH42

My BH and I are thinking of "doing" China in Nov. An eleven day holiday for Approx 999GBP, is this good? What should we know? Is there a good/bad time to go? Basically-Help!

Andrew

xiao_jiang

China is a very good tourist destination, a lot of fun place, such as the Great Wall, Jiuzhaigou, Huangshan, Lijiang, if you like eating . should not miss the food in China.However, I think if China played better in the spring

pinksleepybear

Yes, it is generally a good time of year to go. Slightly earlier (Sept/Oct) would be better though, if you go towards the end of November it will start to be getting cold in the north.

Personally, I would baulk at paying that much for a short holiday, it isn't that hard to travel in China independently. However, I think that sort of price is typical for an organised holiday and will be less hassle than sorting it out yourself.

Sam_Bee

Wow - funny how different minds measure things differently. I think £999 is good value for 11 days long haul, especially if it involves travelling around a bit.

I judge it a bit like buying wine - because of the fixed costs involved (taxes, bottle costs, transportation) if you spend £2.99 on a bottle only 17 pence goes on making the wine. If you spend £3.99 the amount spent on making the wine doubles to 35 pence, and if you spend £4.99 a whopping 77 pence is spent on actually making the wine. So an extra quid or two sees a quadrupling of the money spent on the wine - so you can guarantee it will be better (I was taught this when working at Oddbins as a student - figures are circa 1999!).

Or, for a holiday at £999, £450 will cover the longhaul flight (Air China I bet) and taxes, £200 will cover any internal flight, £150 will be profit, leaving £200 to pay for the hotels, tours, guides and food eaten in 11 days. Or about £20 per person per day.

If you spent another £500 per person, then that will see almost £60 per person per day being spent on hotels, guides, trips, food etc. A level I could imagine would drastically improve the experience....

See, there's money saving tips and false economy!

P.S A large part of the above is based on educated guesswork & many years of pricing the components of trips to Asia, so is not 100% accurate, but close enough!

edda

We went in November 2 years ago.

Main plus: much quieter at main tourist spots esp. in Beijing. Could get to see places without too much trouble, although some were still busy.

Negatives: Gardens quite bare and few leaves on trees, so don't go if you're into flora (we aren't). Some tourist facilities are closed - e.g. chair lifts and cable cars.

Loads of specialist Chinese companies - try CTS Horizons or Wendy Wu for a starting comparison.

AJH42

Thank you all for your help.
The advice and comments are sufficient to allow us to make an educated decision.

Sorry about the delay-been away from home.

Andrew


:beer: