Independent travel in China with some help
Oct 25th, 2010, 03:37 PM
#1
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Independent travel in China with some help
We are a family of 3 that would like to travel independently but pre-book hotels, transportation, and possibly some tours. My husband and I did a tour in 1983, so would like to see some other sites from the classic. Any suggestions on companies that could help us?
Oct 25th, 2010, 03:47 PM
#2
There are several trip reports here from people who have traveled independently in China - try a search. The usual recommendation is not to pre-book, aside from your first hotel, unless you are staying in western chain hotels, in which case you will get the best price by booking yourself on their websites. Otherwise you will get the best price by showing up and bargaining. You can't pre-book trains more than about 10 days in advance anyway.
Oct 26th, 2010, 08:04 AM
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As thursdaysd says, pre-booking is not necessarily the best way to arrange lodging, transportation, or tours in China. I recently filed a long report on my independent trip to China last spring. Perhaps you will find it helpful:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...na-amazing.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...na-amazing.cfm
Oct 26th, 2010, 03:08 PM
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Thanks for your replies. Our problem is that we really only have 2 weeks and don't want to spend time hunting down hotels and train tickets and organizing day trips. Is there some agency that could "grease the wheels" to give us more true sight-seeing time? We've done this sort of thing in Japan, Peru, Turkey and it worked very well.
Oct 26th, 2010, 03:39 PM
#5
If you read some of the the China threads here you'll see that the tourist industry in China is a bit different. Train tickets aren't a problem - your hotel will get them for you for a fee if you don't want to pay a smaller fee to a travel agency down the street. If you want to stay in western chain hotels you can book them yourself ahead of time, otherwise it's really no big or time-consuming problem - pick a hotel area from your guide book and park one person with the luggage while the other looks. Consider it part of your China experience.
Day trips - hire a taxi off the street and take a good guide book. Or even use public transport - there are several reports here from people visiting the Great Wall or the Terracotta Warriors by bus. Where are you planning to go?
Day trips - hire a taxi off the street and take a good guide book. Or even use public transport - there are several reports here from people visiting the Great Wall or the Terracotta Warriors by bus. Where are you planning to go?
