Hi everyone, I am planning a hiking trip in China from between 10 to 14 days. I want to aviod the big cities but with a touch of creature comfort. Can anyone suggest a website or tour company that they have experienced? Your help will be most appreciated.

Alex

Oxford tours is an excellent UK-based company offering walking tours. From their website, it does not appear that they offer tours in China, but it might be worth contacting them for recommendations or to see if they can custom-desgin a tour for you. Take a look at http://www.atg-oxford.co.uk. I have used them in Italy for walking tours in the Tuscany region, and really recommend them. They have full guided tours or they can just arrange hotels, baggage transport and suggested walking routes.

Thanks Cicerone, will check them out.

From an earllier post by Peter I have been in touch with Wiiliam of www.wildwall.com. Is not exactly a hiking trip but sounds quite interesting.

If you're looking for some great hiking not far off the beaten track but still easy to get to, try the Three Beaches National Park in north-west China (www.threebeaches.com). It's on the Xi'an - Chengdu train line so not too hard to get to and it offers great canyon hiking as well as mountain biking and rafting opportunities.

It has an eco-resort which can act as a base camp which is reasonable and comfortable.