weewilly

going to china in oct.is there a good travel agent in beijing that I can buy air tickets and make tour and hotel resv. for this tour or should I buy package tour in china10 days

PeterN_H

Lots of posts on this topic if you do a search using the box above.

The short answer is that you don't need to book in advance, and you certainly don't need a tour. Just book as you go, save a lot of money, and be more flexible as a result.

The only caveat would be if "October" means the first week. This is one of the two Chinese domestic travel peaks, and not a good time to travel at all, as everything is booked out, and every interesting corner of China is thronged with people (although Beijing itself, whose citizens are better able to travel on average than most Chinese, can be reasonable as the outflow can be greater than the inflow). Leave it until the third week of October and prices plummet. But only if you just book your domestic flights while in China itself, and your hotels over the counter (unless you're planning to stay only in familiar foreign brand names, in which case you'll usually get the best prices by booking via the hotel's own Web site shortly before you leave).

Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html

michi

We will probably book a tour and wonder if booked in China, would our travelling companions be mostly Chinese? Since English is our language it would be good to have a mix. Anyone have experiences to relate about waiting till you get there?

Thanks.

PeterN_H

While there are some tour companies based in China which target expats, their prices are as high as anything you'll pay from overseas.

Travelling with a Chinese tour company means paying much less, but it also usually means that you don't get what was promised, you are still overcharged for what you get, your tour will include large numbers of shopping 'opportunities', you'll spend lengthy periods and tawdry side-shows which pay the company kick-backs and but only 30 minutes at some major historic site.

In short, this isn't a good idea.

Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html

michi

Peter

Thanks for your input.

Does your answer mean that we should either go it alone or make reservations through a reputable (Chinese) tour company located in Canada. We have already put feelers out to Laurus Travel who will assist if asked. We travelled with them last year.

We are not able to go it alone.

PeterN_H

Yes, if you must book a tour you'd be better to do it at home because even though it will cost more it is more likely to be designed to please foreigners, you can ask for guarantees about the amount of shopping stops and expect to hear the truth, and if anything goes wrong you can expect compensation.

Those who can travel independently and who usually prefer to do so, should do so in China, too.

Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html

michi

Peter

I have gone to your website for further information. Thanks.