China Travel Forum

We want to go to China this year. I found this travel agency with 2 itineraries I would like:
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/group/tour08.htm
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/group/tour-03.htm

- what itinerary is better?
- Is it the price ok?
- How easy would be to do the same itinerary without tour but on our own?.

Thank you.

Having looked at the itinerary, my personal choice, offered the two would be:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/group/tour-03.htm.

The price looks reasonable.

Yes, you could do this for less money if you did it yourself, BUT

1. How is your Mandarin; and

2. How much time are you willing to put into the planning / arranging everything from hotels, to meals, admissions and transportation yourselves?; and

3. What experience do you have arranging for this type of trip by yourself?

Looked at both itineraries, and I would prefer the -08 tour as it includes the Yangtze cruise. Some people are not impressed, but most people are. On my tours the people always loved the river cruise, and personally I enjoyed it every time. Must admit though that part of my enjoyment was being able to relax for a while (I was the tour manager). This is of course a personal opinion. Prices appear reasonable.

Here is my Terra Cotta/X'ian page, for some background:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1276e2/5a0/

Hi there. Visited China last September, looked through tour brochures, found the one that covered all the places we wanted to go, got a price from our travel agent and it came to $5,500 for 3 weeks in China visiting Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Shanghai. This price was way over our budget, so we went back to our travel agent and then just booked bit by bit, taking full advantage of specials on offer at the time for airfaire, accommodation etc. Got exactly the same itinery as tour brouchure itinery ..... and the final costing came in at .... $2,500AUD!!!! So, we saved about $3,000 just by doing it ourselves.

We DO NOT speak Mandarin at all, only know half a dozen phrases to get us by. I travelled with a friend and we found the language barrier to be frustrating at times, but not enough to deter us thats for sure, in fact it made for some very funny moments we will treasure always!!!

It IS indeed possible to travel China on our own itinery, and my friend and I much prefer doing it that way. Mainly, because it saves us so much money, but also because we are not locked into someones elses schedule and we are free to come and do as we please. We did book private guides to take us to the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, both were booked online through high recommendations here by fellow VTers.

If you would like any more info, please ask or email me, or take a look at my pages - cheers :)

It is quite easy to travel on your own in China. Speaking Mandarin is not needed.
You can look up all the trains in www.travelchinaguide.com, buy the tickets through your hotel and make the reservations via internet. Most hotels offer transfer from train station or airports, they offer tours or a tourguide to any place you want to see.
Even though I am working for a touroperator, organizing tours to China, I would recommend you to do your own organizing if you have enough time. Because organizing the trip in China takes some time.
And donot forget the lonely planet guide for china. This is really helpful!

Happy travels
Ulrike

Let me just play devil's advocate here. Anything is easy when you know how. Rocket science is simple if you are a reocet scientist.

However if the original poster is not familiar with how to set up a personal tour, China is not the country to practice on. A tour director would know how to do it (me), a tour operator would know how to do it (last poster), an experienced traveller would know how to do it (others above), but someone who has not done so before, - perhaps should take a tour with the idea that this is the first and last such tour, and pay attention on the tour with the intention to learn as well as enjoy, so they can do this on their own next time they travel.

Knowing nothing about the original poster, although I see by their page that they have indeed travelled before, they may be perfectly capable of planning this on their own. Only if they have never planned a tour before, should they consider my thoughts. Please do not misunderstand, the above poster is absolutely right. It is not really that difficult to plan your own tour in China. Only if you have never done so in the past, or if you do not want to be bothered with the details, should you take the tour. No disrespect to anyone. Just an additional point of view.

Well said Erik. Other than the inclination and time to do so, experience is an important attribute required in planning and then doing your own trip.

I have always "done my own" trips all over North America, the Carribean and Europe. I guess it never occurred to me to take a tour. Yet some people would not travel in any other way than an organized tour, even close to their own home turf. It's either a lack of inclination, lack of time or something outside of their "comfort zone".

Heading off to a developing country, especially if you do not speak the local language is a daunting task. Yes it can be done, but you are at a higher risk of having a less than fully satisfactory trip. If nothing else, the learning experience will result in inefficiencies in your planning and execution of the trip. Like anything else, doing something new is out of your comfort zone.

Frankly, I find some of the posters on this site a bit scary. There has been more than one post along the lines of "I think it would be cool to climb Mt Everest - can I do it in less than 3 days, where can I rent a coat and do I need a visa?". I think the experienced travellers should remember what they were like when they first got into travelling. A lot less adventurous than now, I think.

Using internet China is not that hard to travel on your own and without much organizing. I have travelled in China 1987 all on my own, not speaking the language, not able to read Chinese, no Chinese people speaking English, no good guide book about China in that time, no VT. It was difficult but very possible. Compared with 1987 travelling in China is soooo easy today. I can help you with informations and advice, just send me an email.

I did the same thing, back when dealing with the China Government Travel Service was the only way in. I was a Tour Director of some of the first tours entering China, so I know what you are talking about. It was constant frustration and the service was arcaic at best. The difference between then and now is nothing short of miraculous. I am sure the OP, would appreciate the personal assistance from you. If they decide to attempt this on their own, we will all be glad to help. After all that is what we are here for.......d:o)

What's your definition of "better" and "ok"?
I would take ANYTHING other than the 3 Gorges cruise, so my choice is the same as GrumpyDiver's. Odinnthor claims to have been on the cruise a lot of times, but that was before the water level went up!
I went on the 3 Gorges cruise in January 2007 and found it a royal waste of my money and time. If you want my full trip report and candid photos, or if you want help (from someone who's very experienced with DIY travel in mainland China) with organising your own trip without going on a tour, email me at ellyse99@yahoo.com and put "VirtualTourist" and your own username (eg imolinar) in the subject line.

Thanks so much for ur replies. We had travel already to a few places both by our own and private tours. I am asking what option is best because I think it depends on the country. In Egypt we took a tour and met a couple that were there on their own, and there were really frustrated and comparing I think they ended up spending more money than us.

"ellyse", - bad choice of words perhaps....?
I don't "claim" anything. I either did, or I did not. Would be interested in knowing how you know when I "claim" to have travelled. I am perfectly aware of the different waterlevel on the river. How could that be. Because I have been on the river both before and after. I prefer before to be sure. However people that do not know the river as it was before, enjoy it just fine. My "after" tour certainly did. I get it that YOU don't like it. However your opinion is not the final word, - it is just your opinion. I trust that you will not make any further "claims" regarding my travel history.

Well I think apologies onn y part are in order. It appears thatm I input a tip that I had in my WORD collection without properly checking it. I should have. It severely needs updating to include my inbetween other work tour.
Apologies hopefully accepted.

imolinar, it also depends on what your sightseeing style is like. If you're not the kind of person who has to hit up all the "must-eee spots", and doesn't like to go for kickback shopping stops, likes to have control of your own time, then DIY.

Good warning Ellyse - take an organized tour and you are guaranteed to be routed through at least one or two tourist shops per day. A considerable part of the income of the guides comes from commissions or as you put it more bluntly, "kickbacks".

Total waste of time (I'm a guy and nor much of a shopper).

I agree with GrumpyDiver. I'm never one for any tours in China, least of all local ones. :(

Well I agree with ellyse and manfred, I HATE organised tours, for many reasons. Because they work our more costly, they take you to places (usually) that you dont want to go, and therefore allow for less time at the places you do want to spend more time at, they are crowded and not personal. I feel that by using a private guide, you can devise an itinery that suits you, you can nominate a pick-up time that suits you (and I am more than positive that by having an early pick-up time and therefore getting to attractions earlier than group tours, that you avoid mass crowds and get more quality time there) and ... well it is just better - for me anyway!!!

I realise everyone is different. I am NOT a seasoned traveller (not yet anyway!!!) and so I am not fully confident travelling to remote countries, especially ones that speak a different language, but .. I am all up for an adventure, and I do believe you get more of an adventure being a DIY tourist!!!

That is only my opinion - and everyone else is surely entitled to theirs!

BTW, since some posters here might argue that I speak Chinese and thus it's easier for me to travel in China... I also DIYed for a week in Seoul and I don't speak ANY Korean at all! I might be able to make some sense out of some romanised Korean (eg place names and food) but no way am I going to understand it spoken.