I'd like to go to China perhaps later this year (after the Olympics!) or more likely, in 2009.

First of all, go solo or as part of an escorted tour?

I've always enjoyed the freedom of being on my own in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe, but I'm a bit wary of going solo in China. On the other hand, I've heard both good and bad things about escorted tours.

If I go independently, how easy or hard is it to get a visa? I'm a U.S. citizen.

I'd like to hear what everyone's experiences have been.

Thanks!

It's no harder to get a visa as an independent traveler than it is as a group traveler. There is no reason you can't travel independently if that's what you prefer. There are lots of trip reports on this forum from those who have traveled independently. Browse through some of them to get ideas about what you want to do, where you want to go. Then you'll be ready to ask some specific questions.

1)To get China visa is easy even to the first-timer, China welcome you;
2)For individual,China muti optional tours is better than package or escorted tours,because of they are easy,cheaper and fexible.Some travel agency support post-payment service;
3)To reserve the hotel and air ticket via Internet is good ideal.

The above poster appears to be a travel agent spammer who is putting much the same 'information' under many threads.

There are very many good reasons for avoiding tours of all kinds in China, and as mentioned above, these are discussed under several threads.

To reserve Chinese domestic air tickets over the Internet is usually a very poor idea, unless you like spending more than you need to. And this is the same of supposedly 'discount' hotel web sites, too, although for famous-name foreign-run hotels, their own web sites are usually guaranteed to have the best rates.

As already said, if you prefer to travel independently there's no reason why you shouldn't do it in China, too.

Peter N-H

Assuming that I decide to go in December 2008, any suggestions on how long I should hold out in the hopes of getting "cheap" flights or how soon I should get my ticket?

I also understand that I shouldn't buy nonrefundable tickets before I have the visa in hand. Do I need to know my exact dates and times of travel when I'm applying for the visa?

You do not need to know exact travel dates to get the visa. As others have said, it is extremely easy to get a visa (using a visa service such as mychinavisa.com is recommended). You must arrive in China within 6 months of the visa having been issued, but that's the only restriction (except, of course, for length of stay).

I'm not sure of your neck of the woods or which airline, but where I am special discount offers for international flights to China start appearing mid-Sept.

If we're talking about domestic flights, you just book as you go in China. It's not a question of 'hoping' for cheap flights in December, but merely a matter of getting them. When I flew Shanghai to Beijing I paid less than ¥400 for a ticket that was officially more than ¥1000. That's exceptional, but 30% to 50% off the supposedly real price is fairly standard.

You don't need exact dates and times when buying the visa. Visas are typically valid for any time within 60 days of issue (although recently there have been some reports of 90), for visits of 30 days (although there have recently been reports of restrictions being lifted on Americans, who have been getting 90 days).

Much of this kind of information you can find in any good guidebook.

Peter N-H

Peter N-H, thanks for your advice. I meant flights from the USA to China. I'm in North Carolina.

PeterN_H said: Visas are typically valid for any time within 60 days of issue (although recently there have been some reports of 90)...

This is definitely not true. Visas are valid for 6 months from the date of issue.

There is no 'definitely' with visas. The situation changes all the time, often overnight, and also depends on:

Nationality
Where the visa is purchased
How many previous visas are in the passport
Whether the applicant is of Chinese descent
Whether an agency is used
Phase of the moon...

And the visa duration also depends on the visa type.

While many have recently been reporting that they've obtained visas more easily than before and that are valid for first entry within a longer period, others (including US citizens applying at home with no previous visas) have reported 60 or 90 days. This is something influenced by many factors, and the conditions of each application have to be precisely stated for the data to be of use. And even then the story may be different the next day. Expect sudden swerves in the rules in the period leading up to the Olympics, depending on how things go.

Peter N-H

I'm sorry that I can't help with the visas, but with the travel part I can: Go solo! I'm directionally challenged and don't speak a word of Mandarin (okay, now I speak two words of it) and I was fine on my own for three weeks.

If you'd like to read about my trip, it's here: \\http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34656568

I got an enormous amount of help through the Oriental-List as well as the forum here and on Lonely Planet Thorntree. I met lots of lovely helpful people, as always, and loved being able to wander at will.

You don't mention how long you want to travel or what parts of China you want to visit, but you might consider a combination of solo travel and escorted tours. I'd start by making a list of the places you want to go. Since this is your first trip, Beijing and Shanghai will likely be on your list, but where else? Once you know the cities, you can plan your route.

The major cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an) are easy to manage on your own or you can join a city bus tour if you want to see a lot in a short period of time. On my first visit to a new city, I usually take the 1/2-day or one-day "orientation" tour and then ramble about on my own for a few days to return to places where I want to spend more time. Book day tours on your own online with local companies to get the best price - if you book through your hotel, they will charge almost double.

You can also book side trips from these cities or knit together multiple escorted tours if you want to cover more regions and customize your own trip, at your own pace. This is especially useful if you want to build in a day or two on your own before joining a group.

Second-tier cities such as Chengdu, Kunming, Dalian, Yantai, Tianjin, Wuhan, Wuxi, Qingdao, Harbin, Chongqing, Shenyang, Changzhou, Liaoning, Sichuan, Hangzhou, Heilongjiang, Lijiang, Xiamen, Fujian...can certainly be more challenging so maybe think about doing tours there.

If you are planning to go to Hong Kong or Taiwan, keep in mind that China considers these international destinations when it comes to travel, so plan accordingly (reconfirm flight 72 hours in advance, arrive early, etc...).

Flights and hotels are the easiest thing to do on your own, from the US or in China. There are plenty of inexpensive flights all across China on both domestic and international airlines and good accommodations from budget to luxury.

I usually go solo, but I enjoy meeting new people on the mini-tours and have met a lot of very nice people that way and kept in touch with some of them afterwards. In fact, my first time to Beijing, I joined a bus tour and got along so well with a few folks that we decided to go to dinner together. One of our party was born and raised in Beijing, but had not been back in many years. Since she spoke Mandarin, she picked a local Peking duck restaurant way outside the city center, got us a taxi and ordered an enormous selection of dishes (no English menu and we were the only Westerners). Dinner for six cost less than US$15pp, we had a great time and never would have found the place on our own, much less had the courage to trek out there and order a meal!

I just bought my Visa (US citizen Tourist) and it is good for 1 year from issue with duration of 60 days. Basically I can go to China anytime between now and one year, however once I am there it expires in 60 days. Keep in mind the price is now $130...Yikes...