Visiting China - must be tour
 

My husband and I are planning on visiting China next year for a short tour from UK. We are interested in visiting Bejing, Xian, Chengdu and Hong Kong. We are absolutely not interested in cruises or shopping or classes and would rather travel internally by daytime train in China.
Now I know the ideal way to travel in China is by our own steam but this is out of the question for us. This will be our most adventurous holiday and we will not go unless we can get a tour company. I can live with the propoganda and read the history. I went to the USSR in 1979.

The problem is no-where can I get the holiday I want with good enough central hotels. I have looked at ditching the whole thing but I really want this.

Can anyone help with a suitable company please?

I don't have a company recommendation. But look for a company that will set up a private tour for you. Even then, you may well get shopping stops, but be clear about what you want/do not want. And refuse to shop at the shopping stops. Even tell them which hotels you want. I am sure there are companies in China that can set this up for you. I'm sure you will have to insist on your requirements, but it should be do-able.

Good Luck!

Just curious -- why do you think China would be "more adventurous" than the USSR? I was in China in 2010 and found it far, far easier than visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1994....

If you're set on a tour, at least arrange a private one, which typically has reasonable costs. In order to find a local company write to some of the hotels in Beijing, and they will undoubtedly give you some names, or they may have an in-house agent. We stayed at the Hyatt in Beijing, and I'm sure they can give you a name, even if you stay elsewhere.

Please don't "ditch" your trip. China has many important sites, and all serious travelers should see them. I concur with kja, I have been to Russia, and it was one of the most difficult places I have even been. You will find the infrastructure in China set up for tourists, and it is easy to find English speakers if you get lost, or whatever.

BTW, if you go on an individual tour, it will be much easier to avoid the gift shops. We often find our guides stopping at gift shops, but we give it ten minutes and then leave. If you're on a tour, you'll be stuck there for a long time. Also, you can engage your guide in some interesting non-political discussions. I always like to ask them about their sibilings, and what jobs they have, where they grew up, etc. That should add to your cultural experience.

Check some guidebooks, they should have listings for tour companies. What you want is called FIT - foreign independent tour. The higher-end US companies like Geo Ex and Abercrombie and Kent and Tauck will all provide that. At a price. My first trip to China was with Smithsonian - central hotels, but definitely shopping ops.

If you want central hotels on a budget you will have to go low end - Intrepid, Imaginative Traveller, possibly Adventures Abroad.

If you book the hotels yourself the hotels will provide train tickets and day tours, again, at a price.

I went on an organised tour to USSR and found it comparatively easy, although I was ill and had to come home privately half way through the tour organisers arranged all that.

China is in a different continent though from even Moscow etc.

My husband and I are quiet people and the idea of being able to merge into a tour is what appeals to us the most.

Dont think I have not looked at what everyone else is suggesting but what I have asked for is what I want, not other suggestions however kindly meant.

The holidays which suit us most are in the Titan and Virgin brochures but not even happy with these.

Can anyone help, please?

Caroline,
If you do a search on China & tour, you'll find a number of threads where people have traveled with an agency. I did a brief search and found (for starters) the following:

China Focus
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eview-long.cfm

Miscellaneous recommendations
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-for-china.cfm

China Spree
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/china-spree.cfm

That's for starters! I hope this gives you some ideas.

Understand that most tour companies will subcontract to a Chinese tour operator. While traveling to China is relatively cheap (compared to western Europe), the tour companies will cut cost by putting you in hotels out of the center, bringing you to restaurants for tourists where the food is bland, sub-par and repetitive and they will make a number of shopping stops or "factory" visits so that they can earn some commission.
The only two ways around this are to pay more for a high-end tour or private tour. Some names were suggested above already for this. The other is to hire a private guide in each of these cities. You can book your own hotels and trains online or they can do it for you.
Your reference to Russia 1979 doesn't really apply to China. These cities that you wish to visit get a ton of tourists every year and if you can visit Europe then you can visit China.

Or pay less for a budget tour, as I suggested above. My China tour with Intrepid used central hotels and had no shopping ops, but it did not stay in western chain hotels.

Caroline, we are all trying to be helpful.

So your requirements are:

A tour - not just everything arranged for you by a company, but traveling with a group

"Good enough" centrally located hotels

No cruises, shopping stops or classes

Internal travel by daytime trains

Have I covered your requirements? Have I missed any?

Getting all that in a tour may well be impossible. Intrepid has a family tour that includes all your destinations plus one, but only one day train and one night train. Actually I'm not sure all your destinations can be linked by day trains, have you checked?

Further reading says you have to have a child with you to take that trip. Sorry.

Take a look at China tours offered by smartours.com and gate1travel.com. Both are reputable American companies. I think they may be what you are looking for.

Hi there

Thanks so much for all the help and I will look into it all.


My comment to do with Moscow was nothing to do with the travel aspect but merely to let readers know that I can "take" communist propoganda with a pinch of salt.

I know that my request might seem impossible but thought it worth a go.

Kathie, thank you so much for listing all my requirements. Await your solution with interest. Travelling to China might not be what I am best at but I am willing to have a go.

Well, there's this, although the Hong Kong extension is by plane:

https://www.greatrail.com/tours/grand-tour-of-china

Caroline, I fear you will need to compromise on some of your requirements. So spend some time considering which items are more important to you, which are less important.

I normally recommend to people that they use a local company, but in China generally and for you specifically, I think you will be happier with a US-based or Canadian-based company.

All group tours include shopping stops. You can, of course, choose not to buy anything, but you will still have a shopping stop. If you want no shopping stops, you will need a private tour (and some people have reported back that they still had some shopping stops!). So is it more important to have no shopping stops or to travel with a group?

If you want centrally located hotels, that will mean a higher priced tour, so as you look at the various companies recommended to you, look first at at higher-priced trips.

I don't have an answer for you. I'd suggest you look at all of the companies recommended to you, and with your compromises in mind, choose one.

Good luck to you. I hope you will report back on what you decide and how you liked the tour.

Kathie and Thursdaysd, thank you both of you for your suggestion. Yes, I think a UK based company probably would be best. We actually went on a holiday across the US with Great Rail Journeys two years ago although I went back to US with daughter this year under our own steam.

Will let you know what we do and thanks a million to you all.

We went to China with Peregrine (Australian based) in 2006 and were very happy with our itinerary and local guide. He had a university degree in tourism and spoke good English. He was quite circumspect when issues of politics came up and we really weren’t subjected to any propaganda. There were a couple of ‘shop here’ stops but our group showed little interest and we moved on.

I haven’t looked at their China offerings recently, but I do know the tour we took is no longer offered, due to low numbers. There were just five us out, two Aussies, two Canadians, and one Brit. From the sound of it you would be most comfortable with a larger group. Most tour companies will give you an idea of how many to expect in their tour descriptions.

In Bejing we had a very nice hotel close to the Forbidden City but in other locales the accommodation varied. Our tour was was billed as ‘adventure travel’ and did go to some places where tourists didn’t often go, so that was to be expected.

Thanks for helping me understand why China seems more adventurous to you than the USSR - I should have realized that in 1979, you would almost certainly have visited with a tour, but that didn't occur to me. Too bad you had to leave that trip early; I hope you get to see it again some day.

Good luck with your effort to find a suitable tour for China!

I used China Culture Tours and Grace Wang for a private tour and was very happy with the tour and arrangements. I booked my own hotels so I could use points.

Peace, Greenie