China April next year

[gotoPzero]

I am planning a trip to the far east for next April. Northern Japan for 4-5 weeks most likely.

We want to see the terracotta army and great wall so thinking its a good opportunity to get this ticked off and go via China.

Anyone done it?

We can fly LHR>PVG using our Virgin points so its hopefully cost effective although cant book till mid 2024.

Then was thinking 2 nights in Shanghai.
1 day travel (train) to Xi An.
2 nights Xi An
1 day travel to Beijing.
2 nights Beijing.
Fly out of Beijing to Tokyo.

So give or take a week. Is that enough?

Will we need a guide?

I was going to use an agent for the visa.

Or would we be better booking the whole thing as a package? (thinking of any geo political issues and refunds etc....)

I am trying to keep costs reasonable though.

[Drawweight]

Not cheap and probably not what you’re looking for but the wife and I did 2 weeks in China by Viking Cruises a few years ago (although they don’t appear to have any this year)

Shanghai, Terracotta Warriors, Great Wall, Forbidden City, the works. I recall it involved a lot of flying.

DIY would be possible but I’m not sure of the logistics. I’m just glad it was all organised for us.

[gotoPzero]

We would probably want to take the train (I like trains...) and dont mind being on an organised group.

[JP78]

I mentioned it on the other China travel thread but I would speak to the team at Wild China. They are a good bunch and can help tailor a trip for you.

[romft123]

gotoPzero said:

We would probably want to take the train (I like trains...) and dont mind being on an organised group.

Trains. On our way back from 4 months campervanning around Oz, we flew to HK for 4 days. then overnight train to Shanghai, 3 days. Over night train to Xian, 3 days then overnight to Beijing. Booked all the train trips when in HK thru the office there. Booked hotels thru Agoda.....had no probs. Bus to the warriors was easy to find. Walked around Shanghai.....Beijing has an excellent metro and got a bus to the wall....easy peasy. (And we were early 60's)

[gotoPzero]

JP78 said:

I mentioned it on the other China travel thread but I would speak to the team at Wild China. They are a good bunch and can help tailor a trip for you.

Thanks will have a google

[gotoPzero]

romft123 said:

gotoPzero said:

We would probably want to take the train (I like trains...) and dont mind being on an organised group.

Trains. On our way back from 4 months campervanning around Oz, we flew to HK for 4 days. then overnight train to Shanghai, 3 days. Over night train to Xian, 3 days then overnight to Beijing. Booked all the train trips when in HK thru the office there. Booked hotels thru Agoda.....had no probs. Bus to the warriors was easy to find. Walked around Shanghai.....Beijing has an excellent metro and got a bus to the wall....easy peasy. (And we were early 60's)

Thanks sounds very similar to what we want to do.

What year was this if you dont mind me asking?

[M4cruiser]

One thing to be aware of now in China is everything runs on mobile phones. Ticketing, payments, communication, everything!
(So different from when I first went, when everything was cash, and my credit card didn't work.)
Tourists need to plan carefully, but because you're a tourist it won't be quite as strict as it is for local nationals.
But do check up with various sources the latest rules (I haven't been recently).
But it's something like this: Buy a modern Huawei sim-free phone to take with you, buy a SIM card when you arrive, and let them set it up for you (use a proper phone shop). You can also take your current phone set up for roaming if you want.

[romft123]

gotoPzero said:

romft123 said:

gotoPzero said:

We would probably want to take the train (I like trains...) and dont mind being on an organised group.

Trains. On our way back from 4 months campervanning around Oz, we flew to HK for 4 days. then overnight train to Shanghai, 3 days. Over night train to Xian, 3 days then overnight to Beijing. Booked all the train trips when in HK thru the office there. Booked hotels thru Agoda.....had no probs. Bus to the warriors was easy to find. Walked around Shanghai.....Beijing has an excellent metro and got a bus to the wall....easy peasy. (And we were early 60's)

Thanks sounds very similar to what we want to do.

What year was this if you dont mind me asking?

errrr 5 years ago, 2 b4 covid. I LOVE the website seat61, the man and his website is brilliant. I copied the train numbers then took all the info to the train station in HK with dates of travel and booked the lot. The sleepers were fine....very good infact. Found moving around China easy. The metro in Beijing, is easy. the ticket machines even have a little Union flag for english language and it was a fixed payment from point a to B , no zones etc. Our hotel in Beijing was just around the corner from the Forbd city/Tian sq. Any ?? fire away

[gotoPzero]

Looks like we might bring our trip forward as just found out the mrs gets visa exemption (Irish) till November.
Thinking September now.

Anyone been in September? Looks like will be warm but good chance of rain.

[gotoPzero]

Well, booked the flights. No turning back now.

Seems mrs does not need a visa (Irish).

So just me to sort out... had a look at the form looks fairly easy (I say that now !)

Had a look at trains and they seem fairly easy to book with a broker in advance of the booking window.

Hotels I think we are going to use a western brand we have some points to use so might as well.

The only thing I need to really research is a tour for the 3 main attractions we are going for (Xian, GWoC, forbidden city)

[JP78]

gotoPzero said:

Well, booked the flights. No turning back now.

Seems mrs does not need a visa (Irish).

So just me to sort out... had a look at the form looks fairly easy (I say that now !)

Had a look at trains and they seem fairly easy to book with a broker in advance of the booking window.

Hotels I think we are going to use a western brand we have some points to use so might as well.

The only thing I need to really research is a tour for the 3 main attractions we are going for (Xian, GWoC, forbidden city)

Great that you have finally booked flights, you will have an fantastic trip as it is an amazing country.

Trains are super easy to book and I wouldn't bother with a broker just book via the Trip APP. I book trains weekly and never had a problem, the APP is in English and the e tickets work perfectly.

Regarding hotels all the major western brands are everywhere in China and you can book rooms considerably cheaper than you would find in the UK. Again I would just suggest using the Trip APP or Booking.com, both work fine and are super easy to use.

I have lived in China for the last 10 years so if you have any specific questions please feel free to message me directly

[llewop]

We went on an organised tour many years ago, but what I wanted to mention is for the Great Wall; I would recommend looking at places beyond the ‘obvious’ Badaling which was and maybe still is the easiest to get to. We were taken to Jinsangling, where we more or less had the wall to ourselves (group of 20 ish plus guides) so great for pictures and atmosphere. Badaling was apparently more like Oxford Street.

A bit further from the city and (many years ago…) a dodgy cable car, but worth it.

[gotoPzero]

Thanks will keep it in mind

[Planet Claire]

I agree, stay away from Badaling on the Great Wall. Oxford Street is a good comparison.

[gotoPzero]

Well sh*t. Virgin have just announced that they are ceasing operations to PVG.

FFS.

I note that Hainan are ramping up UK operations... I guess its had an impact.

Not sure what we are going to do now. Was using points, so not sure I want to pay full price with someone else.