China itinerary and budget help please. :-)

Hello all,

I%26#39;m thinking of going to China but will only have 2 weeks to spend there ladning in Hong Kong. I%26#39;d like to visit Beijing and the Great Wall as well as Shanghai, using sleeper trains to travel. Does anyone have any recommendations of places to stop between these destinations to see some of the countryside, maybe do a trek or something like that? Also, what sort of budget should I be looking at? I%26#39;ll be looking to travel as cheaply as possible.

Thanks in advance for your help

Anthony

China itinerary and budget help please. :-)

I think a budget of around 300-500 RMB/day should be reasonable. Not rock-bottom, but not really mid-range either.

Do your 2 weeks have to include sightseeing in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong (2 days) -- train/bus/ferry -- Shenzhen (only for transit) -- overnight bus -- Yangshuo (3 days) -- train (1 day, via Guilin) -- Shanghai (3 days including sidetrip to water village eg Xitang/Tongli/Luzhi) -- overnight train -- Beijing (4 days) -- train (1 day) -- Hong Kong

If you could fly twice (Guilin -- Shanghai and Beijing -- Hong Kong/Shenzhen) then you could have 2 more days to spend on sightseeing.

China itinerary and budget help please. :-)

Thanks Ellyse,

Is it easy to book train tickets in China or would I be better booking them online before I go?

Thanks again

Do NOT buy train tickets online as the companies which offer you this ';privilege'; charge you an arm and a leg for it.

Are you doing the itinerary I gave above, or something else?

When would you be travelling?

I really like the sound of your itinerary thanks. Particularly Yangshuo which I hadn%26#39;t read about before but sounds great. Whether I could fly really depends on the cost. Do you know roughly how much those two flights would be compared to the train prices? Also, would it be difficult for me to buy train tickets at the station as I speak no Chinese (although I%26#39;m trying to learn a bit).

Thanks again, you%26#39;ve been a massive help.

If you will not travel in 2 golden week and spring festival period, it is not difficult to get ticket, just go to railway station to buy the ticket, easy. For accommodation, you could choose 3 star budget hotel or hostel. BTW, if you will travell mainly by train, the latest china train timetable could be got through www.adventurechinatrip.com/chinatrain.asp.

Good luck

If you haven%26#39;t read about Yangshuo before, please take a look at http://www.yangers.com for up-to-date, detailed information.

Amount of discount available for flights would vary according to when you%26#39;re travelling, where you%26#39;re buying the tickets, when you%26#39;re buying the tickets, etc! You still haven%26#39;t said when you%26#39;ll be travelling.

I would gauge hard sleeper prices to be roughly one-third of normal discounted flight price.

If you want any help with itinerary, transport or accommodation, feel free to leave me a private message or email. My email address is in my profile, and so is more information about myself and my travels in China.

hi i just got back form china and the pleace that i loves the most was the summer palace the park is so serien , try to avoid the market places casu ethe just loev to bargen , they will tell you the merchandise is worth 100 yen you can get it for 5 , and most of the stuff thier like tha electronic gadgets have poor quality , but over all the trip was intresting , chinese food is nothing like the food they serve here in the states , so beware of where you eat