Am I crazy to do it myself in China?
 

I am traveling to China for a week in April, flying into and out of Beijing with my husband and three kids, aged 11, 10, and 8. Everyone I know who has done this trip has gone the heavily packaged tour deal. I was planning to do that too but we just aren't a tour group kind of family. All our best travel experiences have been those random things that we stumble into that we would have missed on a tour. But I admit I'm a little intimidated by China. So I'm looking for a little encouragement here. The intinery I'm thinking about would have us flying into Beijing on a Tuesday, take the night train to Xi'an on Wednesday, spend one night in Xi'an, come back the next night and then have the rest of the time in Beijing. Does this seem reasonable ? My tentative plan has our main sightseeing days in Beijing over the weekend. Is that bad or good? Can I really plan and execute all this myself with enough research on these forums and elsewhere? Are all the tour companies just lying when they say taking their tours will save you money? Will Beijing taxi drivers let our family of five ride in one taxi?

Thanks

Yes, you can do this on your own. There are several trip reports here from people who have traveled in China on their own, and who have visited places besides Beijing and Xi'an, which are firmly on the tourist circuit. Now that trip reports are flagged and listed separately you shouldn't have too much trouble finding them.

You might want to defer your trip to Xi'an a day or two in order to give yourself time to buy train or plane tickets in China. (See http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...ai-to-dali.cfm for why.) I would recommend taking the night train, except there are five of you, and if you wanted soft-sleeper you'd have to split up.

Since I travel solo I can't answer the taxi question, but taxis in China are very cheap, and it wouldn't break the bank for you to take two. Definitely find a guidebook with Mandarin characters as well as pinyin, and don't leave your hotel without the card to give to taxi drivers so you can get back.

I traveled to Shanghai to meet a friend there for 4days then went on to Bejing for 4days alone then back to Shanghai for another two nights alone and home. It all went well and I booked everything online(only 3 hotels and the 2flts) but my suggestion would be to have either a car service or hotel car service pick you up at the airport-the taxi drivers are fast and furious and there are no seatbelts. Taxis within the city were not able to pick up as much speed so they were ok and cheap but the taxi from the airport was another story!

China is definitely very doable by yourself. I did much of it as I went along, but I realize with a family you might want a bit more structure. Thursdaysd gave some great advice here, and reminded me as well that my trip report to China didn't get tagged yet. Here 'tis, if you want a bit of China reading:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...s-in-china.cfm

Happy trails!

If you still find it overwhelming on arrival you could consider signing up for local tours?

I always thought I would have to take a tour to see China - just in case....of what I don't know! I have been three times now - no tour, and it is the only way to go.

Tours in China mean forced shopping stops, tourist restaurants and herding. Sorry, no thanks.

I took my 9 and 11 year old to Beijing and Hong Kong in November, a week each. To answer a few of your questions - no you won't get five in a taxi as the cars are, generally speaking, smaller than in North America. But, as someone above pointed out, taxis are very inexpensive in Beijing. The subway system is also clean, fast, safe and straight forward to use. Oh, and very, very cheap.

Maybe two months ago I answered someone's post about what my kids most enjoyed about Beijing. If you click on my name and go past the first page of answers, you should find it.

It will take you three or four days of solid sightseeing to see Beijing's top level sights. One of the things that will charm your kids most are just the day to day differences - the people in the parks, the restaurants, the kiteflyers, street markets etc.

Any questions, don't hesitate.

We spent 3 weeks there in October and did it all ourselves we even went to the wall on the local bus without any problems at all, same with the terracotta warriors in Xian. Just make sure you do your homework here beforehand. Another good idea is to get the excellant lonely planet and Eyewitness guides for China I got both on ebay for a few pounds.

Mary, it is very doable by yourselves, you are only going for a week and 2 cities that are the main tourist locales. Start reading and planning right away, this forum is a wealth of information and Fodorites are the most helpful people you will come across.

Mary, it is doable and would be the best use of your time. Our trip to China for 14days was in Oct '07 and we too were a little "concerned" about doing this ourselves. We planned everything, hotels, sites, private car/driver, guide, internal flights and then had a US agency book all the arrangements. It was not necessary and could have been done totally online but we felt we needed that little bit of security. We were subjected to many required "stops" because the guides are required to do so. We di finally give them a letter saying we refused some of the stops.You do need to plan though. The language is not a real barrier unless you go off the beaten path, they understand English but may not speak it fluently.