2 weeks in China this summer, Travel Department or independent

LastLagoon

Hi, we are thinking of going to China this summer for our honeymoon,2 weeks is all I can get off with work, would we be mad to try and do it independently (neither of us have Chinese)

Thinking of doing the Travel Department 12 day trip to Beijing,shanghai and Xian. Anyone have any experience with them? Would rather go independent but with the short timescale seems like the way to go,seems good value too

athtrasna

Have you visited Trailfinders? They are the absolute best at putting this kind of itinerary together and also work with Intrepid and another tour company that I would rate much more highly than The Travel Department.

The only thing is I think you are putting yourselves under massive pressure doing such a short tour. A honeymoon is supposed to be relaxing time together, don't forget you're talking a l-o-n-g flight each way and then to hop from city to city in a very intense country...I really don't think it's a good choice.

LastLagoon

athtrasna wrote: »

Have you visited Trailfinders? They are the absolute best at putting this kind of itinerary together and also work with Intrepid and another tour company that I would rate much more highly than The Travel Department.

The only thing is I think you are putting yourselves under massive pressure doing such a short tour. A honeymoon is supposed to be relaxing time together, don't forget you're talking a l-o-n-g flight each way and then to hop from city to city in a very intense country...I really don't think it's a good choice.

We don't really do relaxing holidays so that won't be anything new! My fiance really wants to see china and once kids arrive it's game over for this kind of thing so it's now or never. Will have a look at trailfinders,thanks

edeldonlon

I think you could do it alone but it takes lots of planning. I've been to china twice and while it is a great country to travel around if you only have 12 days I would book something with G adventures https://www.gadventures.co.uk/search/?f=c0d446305999

hfallada

I did all of those cities. TBH Xian is a **** hole and we couldnt wait to get out of it. Its really run down and polluted. It wasnt worth the trip to see the terracota warriors. I find the landscape of West Cork impressive. I didnt find the Terracota warriors impressive.

Beijing is really worth the trip. There is tons of stuff to do.

Likewise Shanghai is amazing. Go see the Planning of Shanghai exhibition/Museum. It was empty when we were there, but the highlight of Shanghai for us. It showed them transforming Shanghai into a world class city.

Take the high speed train between Shanghai and Beijing. Its quicker than the plane if you factor in the no real security on it and you go into the centre of the city with the train.

We regret going to Xian and would have gone to Hangzhou which Marco Polo said was his favourite city he visited. My Uncle who lives in city, says is amazing. Or Chengdu with the Pandas.

spurious

Try get to Guilin if you can.

ScottSF

My wife and I traveled independently to Shanghai and Hong Kong for 2 weeks several years ago and had a wonderful time. Next time Beijing for sure. If you prefer to research, book, and travel independently, they why not do it yourself? It gets easier every year to create the perfect vacation itinerary yourself via the Web.

There is still plenty of time to learn a few words of Chinese. You could probably take a beginner course (at least in Dublin) if you wish.

If you are looking for more variety on an unforgetable trip, consider Beijing plus Seoul or Tokyo, or perhaps Shanghai plus Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Bangkok for example.

hfallada

ScottSF wrote: »

My wife and I traveled independently to Shanghai and Hong Kong for 2 weeks several years ago and had a wonderful time. Next time Beijing for sure. If you prefer to research, book, and travel independently, they why not do it yourself? It gets easier every year to create the perfect vacation itinerary yourself via the Web.

There is still plenty of time to learn a few words of Chinese. You could probably take a beginner course (at least in Dublin) if you wish.

If you are looking for more variety on an unforgetable trip, consider Beijing plus Seoul or Tokyo, or perhaps Shanghai plus Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Bangkok for example.

We didnt have a word of English and were fine. The only problem we had was our hotel, was just renamed so no one knew where it was. So we just had a hotel business card on us and the taximan could drive if there was issues.

If you go alone seat61 is great for train info. Also internal flights in China are cheap and dont really change in price, you book last minute due to the fact its a monopoly with no competition.

LastLagoon

Thanks for the info so far, plan on doing a lot of research this weekend, reason it was left so late was that we were planning on doing it next summer,but that's not possible now,so has to be this summer,and we only have 19 days to play with.
If I went independent I'd probably still keep beijing and maybe shanghai, main thing I'd do different from the travel Dept tour would be to cut out Xian, they spend nearly 3 days there, I could live without seeing the terracotta warriors to tbh.something like yangtze river or Tibet would appeal, but probably would be taking on too much given time limitations

LastLagoon

Also given we are doing this mid-june, what is the story with getting a tourist visa,are we leaving it a bit tight?

Zebra3

No, you should be fine. Get your plans sorted soon, embassy here should have it sorted in a week or so.

English will be fine for getting around in the big cities. All signs bilingual (Chinese/English).

hfallada

LastLagoon wrote: »

Thanks for the info so far, plan on doing a lot of research this weekend, reason it was left so late was that we were planning on doing it next summer,but that's not possible now,so has to be this summer,and we only have 19 days to play with.
If I went independent I'd probably still keep beijing and maybe shanghai, main thing I'd do different from the travel Dept tour would be to cut out Xian, they spend nearly 3 days there, I could live without seeing the terracotta warriors to tbh.something like yangtze river or Tibet would appeal, but probably would be taking on too much given time limitations

The Chinese are a "unique relationship" with Tibet to put it nicely. I think you need permission or special visas to go to Tibet. As it was the only sign ever in English in the train stations. Warning there was travel restrictions to Tibet.

zagmund

We "did" China a couple of years back with the kids. Don't assume that everything stops when you have kids - did your parents never bring you on holidays or something?

Having done the guided tour thing, I would (if I ever go back there) be quite happy to travel independently. Navigating the main cities is as easy as it is in Europe - plane sign means airport, hotels have their names up, taxis are everywhere, the tourist attractions will have their stuff in the hotel lobbies in English (by and large), the concierge in any sort of half decent hotel will line you up with a driver to bring you to places.

One thing I would do differently would be to have the "down time" bit in the middle instead of at the end. We went to Sanya (far south, beaches, Costa Del China) for a couple of days before heading home, but in reality we were wrecked in the days before we got there as we left it too late in the trip.

I actually liked Xian, sort of. We cycled around the old city walls (on top of the walls). The Terracotta Warriors museum/exhibition was one of the few decent interpretive experiences. Most other places we went to were a bit too much what-it-says-on-the-tin. The traditional tractor museum (if it existed) would have displays saying "Here is the 1956 Xi Hua", right beside one saying "Here is the 1957 Xi Hua" and so on, until 1985. 30 years, 30 tractors, 30 signs. Oh yeah, like the Mongolian horse riding, which was a Mongolian person riding a possibly Mongolian horse around a paddock in Mongolia. Technically, it was Mongolian horse riding, but I don't think Genghis Khan and his people would be impressed with the standard.

z

zagmund

Oh yeah, the reason I say we "did" China is that all we did really was follow a very well established tourist trail, like (possibly stereotypical) Americans who have "done" Europe because Paris=France, Venice and Rome = Italy, London of course, and maybe another city if we have time.

You will no more get to see the real China in two weeks than the above tour represents seeing anything other than 1% of the real Europe.

z

spurious

A few years ago now, I went to China and travelled along the Yangtze - before the dam was completed - I also visited Beijing and Shanghai, the former I couldn't breathe in, the latter was much more interesting for me. We also visited smaller cities like Suzhou.

I think it would be possible for you to combine an organised trip (perhaps along the Yangtze) with your own arrangements for whatever cities you would like to see. If you'd like to go to Guilin it should be very easy to get to as so many Chinese people go there.

You might decide to fly home out of Hong Kong while down that direction. Lovely country and people. You'll have a great time whatever you choose to do.

Arbiter of Good Taste

LastLagoon wrote: »

Also given we are doing this mid-june, what is the story with getting a tourist visa,are we leaving it a bit tight?

I travelled to Beijing a few years on business. My PA screwed up and forgot to sort out my Visa. I discovered this a week before travelling. Got my business visa sorted in two days. You will be fine.

clever user name

Personally, I would do it independently. Everything can be booked relatively easily!!

I lived in China for 2 years, so have seen a fair bit of it. So as for where to go, it depends on what you're into. As far as the cities go, I would recommend Shanghai first and foremost...amazing city!!! Beijing is good too, although far more polluted. It has a lot of the traditional tourist spots too. I agree with the above poster about Xi'an, not my cup of tea. Terracotta warriors was a big disappointed. You're basically herded around a platform like a bunch of cattle. Guangzhou is good too, as is Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guilin.

If you're looking for something a little different I recommend going to Hunan Province to visit Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang. Fenhuang was easily the most beautiful town I visited in China. Zhangjiajie has the most spectacular 'mountains' you will ever see...and if you like hiking/walking it is great.

Hong Kong and Macau are also worth a visit.

China is enormous, so if you are planning on going to both Shanghai and Beijing (and other locations) make sure you take the bullet train or fly, especially if you are only going for 2 weeks.

And don't worry about the visa, you can get that just a few days before if you wish. But remember that to get the visa you need to show the embassy your travel plans (flights, where you're staying initially). So you can't get the visa until you've actually booked your holiday.

Any questions feel free to ask!!

whatawaster

We travelled around China for about 3/4 weeks back in 2011.

4 days in HK - amazing city, though expensive, especially the accommodation. We then got a train to Shanhai, which is a beautiful city, particularly the French Quarter. Was lucky enough to see Ireland beat Australia in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in an Irish bar in Shanghai. Great day.

Then got the high-speed train to Beijing. Beijing was without doubt the highlight of the trip. The Summer Palace is a must see. Beautiful. The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City. Great Place altogether.

We then went to Xian, which neither of us liked. The Terracotta Warriors was interesting enough, but not as good as I'd expected.

Chengdu was excellent. Pandas etc.

Beautiful country.

LastLagoon

Just an update on this,ended up going with the travel department for convenience. Mostly ok, it would be hard to ruin the sights we got to see but they did their best with forced trips to jade,silk and pearl "factories" that were really just an excuse to keep us confined in a shop selling "government approved" product at a massive markup which is kicked back to the tour guide. It has left quite a sour taste in the mouth as there were 5 of these enforced stops which took time away from what we were actually there to do.we were kept at some of these places for an hour and the sales staff were quite aggressive. At one stop, an "art gallery", we were told the art for sale was by local school students and that all the money would go to them,which I don't believe.

You are told the quality is guaranteed by the government and that the price is lower than anywhere else,which is BS as you can get the exact same stuff at the airports for half the price (and probably still a rip off at that). Very annoyed as I did plenty of research on the many scams pulled on tourists at the main spots but didn't realise our tour guide would be getting in on the act also

Pretty annoyed as part of the reason we went with travel department is to avoid all the other scams with are set up for tourists at the main tourist attractions, of which there are many. Look,I know you will get this at tourist destinations worldwide,but for the travel agency to get in on the act is another thing. I suspect what happens is that the travel department pay their guides a pittance,and the guides are then given licence to drag us to these places in order to supplement their wages.

Had not planned on using a tour group again anyway but I will definitely be recommending people avoid the travel department after this trip. If you do decide to use a tour group try and get confirmation that these sort of forced stops are not part of the itinerary. Looking back through all my correspondence with travel Dept only the jade factory visit was mentioned no mention of the other 4 places.
Tldr: should have gone independent
Ps I actually really enjoyed xi'an as we had some free time to explore ourselves. Also booked a great food tour of the Muslim quarter ( not the tacky tourist Street) independently which was excellent. Most of the highlights of our trip we when we got away to explore ourselves,it's just not the same in your little air conditioned cocoon on the bus. I was willing to pay this price for the convenience of having travel logistics taken care of but to have to endure travel agent sanctioned scams on top was too much