Thorn Tree travel forum

1

OK, try and not do it during the last week of April and the first week of may. national holidays and the transport routes become a nightmare.

Two, you can do it on your own if you want, an organized tour will add much money to your costs and you will vbe shunted around diferent merchants and overcharged (with the exception of Inner Mongolia).

Plan using books, this forum, and others and get an idea of where you want to go to, and what you want to see. decide where you want to enter China and where you want to leave.

Do a search of this forum, as there have been many "Itinarary" questions, and these may help you flesh out your plans.

then come back and ask us again.

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road" - Henry Ward Beecher

2

My travels around were in my 50's and now 60's and things can be a little confusing, but I think China is easy to negotiate, especially since you are going to all the tourist sites.

Definitely do as Harry suggests and stay away from travel in late April early May.

Get a good guide book and then book your hotel ahead for the first stop. Then have the hotel staff help you with your questions and tour needs. Nearly every hotel can put you into various tours.

I'd suggest not going to the Yangtze river cruise as so many people get bad experiences. Go over to Guilin/Yangshuo and take a small boat out of Yangshuo to float the Li River. Also some rafting can be done in that area.

Have a good trip and go ahead and do it on your own as you have in other countries.

john

3

i agree with harry mudd............i and my friend (2 females age 59) put together our own 3+ week trip this past sept and only used assistance of a tour company in china for some side trips to outlaying areas...............ALSO (and most important to us) he got us into an actual excavation pit currently being worked in Xi'an as well as into the basement vaults to see murals that have been removed from a tomb..... the person in china i worked with is Rienself Wei who works for China odessey tours (service@chinaodyssey.cn) this is his email address and i would highly recommend his help............he also put together a yangtze cruise for us as well as an excursion to the great wall, and the prices were very reasonable.

4

i mispelled Reins name...............it is Reinself Wei..................judy

5

Hi there,
If you want to travel with a small group inexpensivly i would recomment Intrepid Travel. I went with them last year on their "essence of china southbound" trip and i had the time of my life. It was really great. They have a website i think it is www.intrepidtravel.com but not too sure. you can google it though.
I know a lot of people will suggest independant travel and i normaly travel independantly but because of the language barrier etc we decided to take a tour to save hassle and we were very gald that we did. I wouldnt recommend a big coach trip or anything but this trip was really basic and just helped us with little things like transport which saved us time on organising that so we could concerntrate on site seeing.
have a great time.

"your worst day of your holliday is always better than your best day at work"

6

My friends are in their 60s and used this company. They were very happy with the tour and the flexibility of the tour guide.
Tour company

That being said, you can certainly do it yourselves with some patience and a sense of humour.

cheers from Ruth