Tour company in china
 

We are going to china in October 2011. We are going with a tour group bc we are older and don't want to deal with the hassle of things. What company should we use? I have gotten quotes fromTravelchinaguide.com
China highlights.com
China tour.com
Has any one had experience with any of these before?

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...ncy-review.cfm

Google search.

affordableasia.com great rep price point for China tours

with Air China flights the best sales sometimes on

travelzoo.com hot deals top 20..

Check reviews on yours do careful research.

ctrip.com good personal experience in past for local.

How would i got about planning a diy trip? with flights hotels tours etc? What shoudl i budget pp per day? we dont need the nicest hotels.

Have you ever planned a DYI trip to any foreign country? It's the same process of China. Do you have a guide book? Do you know where you want to go, what you want to do/see? Start with that, then go on to deciding how to get from place to place and where to stay.

What is your budget per day? Based on that you can decide on hotels and transportation.

Yes I planned a month long trip to europe this past may. Its just a little overwhelming bc its, well china!We want to go for 10-12 days
Going to Beijing - Xian - Guilin - Yangshuo - Guilin - Shanghai.
is train travel cheap? We were thinking that it might be cheaper to take a night train in between places, so it wont cut down on sight seeing and it might cut down on hotel costs.?
We really havent set a budget. The airfare is pretty expensive so besides that would it be possible to keep it around 900-1150 usd per person for the whole 10-12 days?

That is a very standard itinerary, and no reason to worry just because it's China. Night trains are fine, you'll find lots of useful info on Chinese trains here: http://seat61.com/China.htm

If you do a search on China on this board you'll find several trip reports from independent travelers. You'll also learn that China is a little different when it comes to booking travel - you don't do it very far ahead of time. Food can be very cheap, and hotels, if you don't insist on western chains, can be bargained down. Take a look at Lonely Planet for some idea of costs at the budget end. The places you have picked see most of the foreign travelers, though, so will be more expensive.

I know people think that planning for China is wildly different than planning for Europe, but mostly it's the same. As thursdays says, one difference is that you can get better prices on flights within CHina one you are there. But if your time is limited, you can do ok booking flights on ctrip.com

Night trains are fine IF you can sleep on the train. If you are not going to get a good night's sleep on the train, you won't enjoy the sightseeing the next day.

I note that you say you'll have 10-12 days in China, but you list 6 stops. That's too many. Do a bit of editing and you'll have a better trip.

That itinerary is basically just 4 main places, and is doable with 12 days on the ground. The only trip that a night train may make sense is between Beijing and Xian. On the other trips, takes too long and doesn't make sense.

One thing about planning Chinese travel that's VERY different from traveling in the US or Europe is it is possible to NOT BOOK anything in advance. Gives you a lot more flexibility and not going to add too much to your cost. Not saying you CANNOT book in advance, but it's possible to not book.

Thanks!
Has anyone had good experiences with guides we could use in the cities?
Thjanks

What do you want the guides to do? You really don't need city guides - you'll be better off with good guidebooks. If you don't want to use public transport, taxis are cheap - and you don't tip.

We want the guides to show us around, on tours of the sites etc

On this board do a search on China. You will see many Fodorites who have traveled by themselves and not used guides and tours.

There are many tips you can get from the reports too. I have been to China several times and actually preferred to go myself for sightseeing. I dont know the language either, but carried a little guidebook with basic words in Chinese language.

You can even get wonderful books at the library to browse through and when you find the one you like, you can buy the latest edition.

For most places you do not need a tour guide. So, do some research and give it a try. If you have traveled to Europe by yourself, I am sure you can handle China too.

Good luck.