Help and suggestions!

Hi @bellenomade,
A city I wouldn't miss in China is Xi'an! It's a big city but full of tradition. And for me food there is the best of China! Xi'an was the first city on the Silk Road so it was inherited some oriental atmosphere. Architecture is great with the great wall of Xi'an and beautiful mosques. HanTang Inn Hostel is a great place to stay there. It's a hostel but with very comfortable and affordable private rooms. Plus they offer free city tours and fun free activities on evenings.
Otherwise, if you like architecture, Fenghuang is a great village with typical Chinese houses. It's like going back in the old times of China. There are quite a lot of tourists there but we still liked the city a lot.
Don't hesitate if you need more info about these cities!
We spent one and a half month in China with a budget of 43 € per day for two people so your budget looks fine to me.
Cheers
Marine

Yes, China is becoming moderately expensive. Like so many travel destinations in the world.

That said, if you want to save money:

-- Don't travel around all that much, and when you do, avoid high-speed trains. Fares on traditional overnight sleeper trains are reasonable, but you'll need to book ahead of time to be sure of a berth. Sometimes airfares can be surprisingly reasonable, so always check them, as well. In particular, Spring Airlines occasionally has downright cheap fares. You rarely save much if anything taking long-distance buses in China.

-- Use and compare booking sites like ctrip, elong, agoda and booking.com. A much easier way to compare room rates than marching all around an unfamiliar city with your luggage. Two people should still be able to find a good double room in most of China for less than US$35/night.

-- Just accept that admission tickets -- apart from most of the sites in Beijing, strangely enough -- are priced outrageously and that you'll have to skip many sights. China isn't the place these days where you just drop into every temple and museum on your map.

-- Best to leave Shanghai as soon as you arrive. It's the most expensive city in China, and to my eye, not all that interesting.

That said, food remains if not an absolute bargain still reasonable in all but the fanciest places. So don't try to save money by sticking to noodle shops. If you're eating well you'll be very content, and all the minor problems of travelling in China will start to fade away.

There's a brand new Lonely Planet out. I don't know that it's any better than the 2015 one, but it's probably better than the Guide de Routard....

Don't bother spending so much money on entrance tickets. Most of them are ridiculously inflated. Official Chinese tourist sites are typically overdeveloped, busy with tour groups, and often not particularly interesting. Knocking down an old building, putting up a replica, and then charging 100 Yuan for access is typical. The interesting thing about China is wandering around the country and seeing how it all works, not the official sites.

I have almost never had to spend more than 200 Yuan a night for accommodation in China, and more often 150 Yuan or less. That's for a double room with private bathroom. Hotel standards are low in China, but there are plenty of places that aren't pricey. Finding ones that accept foreigners can be tricky, but hey, welcome to China.

China's huge, so transport costs aren't cheap. But there are multiple ways to travel, and you don't need to take the pricey high-speed trains.

As for where to go? China's too big to give an easy answer to that...

Hi Marine,
Thanks for replying. When did you travel in China and what was your itinerary like? We were considering travelling in Yunnan but the train fare is $150 p p one way.
Prema

Thanks for sharing 889!
I looked at train fares on the chinatravel website (i think) and it was $150 one way to Kunming on a G train. I couldn't find anything or see anything about the other trains. Any idea where I could look for these and also internal flights besides Spring Airlines?
Do we need to book through an agent or can we do this online?
Merci

Is not true that transportation is expensive in China: bus and subway are cheap, if you want to cach a train you can choose between normal speed train, very cheap, and gaotie (high speed train)very fast, a bit more expensive but very confortable...anyway is kind of cheap that too. For sure China is so big, so if you want to go from Shanghai to somewhere in Tibet it will take long time and much money, so i suggest you to focus on an area and don't try to see all in such a short time...you will just waste your time.
You can easly find double roomsin hostels for about 100-150 yuan per night with washroom in the room or double rooms in hotel for about 200 yuan...anyway try to be open minded and try to change your standards about the idea of hotel ^^
I think your buget per day is enouth, many museum are free...sometimes the place where you have to pay for go in don't worth the price, sometimes free atraction are more interesting. Food is very cheap: you can have a good meal with about 10-20 yuan per person in one of the many small restaurants or stalls you can find everywhere: if you want to eat in a restaurant the price is higher, if you eat in a western fast food is higher too, if you choose to try streetfood in those special streets made for tourists you will spend more, but a bowl of noodles can be about 10-15 yuan in a normal street. Even about food try not to be too picky: chinese food is different from western food but there are many delicious dishes, try something new don't stop just at those tipycal western fastfood.
Because you arrive in Shanghai, even if it can be more expensive than other cities, I think it worth a visit...I never been there but i heard it is a beautiful city, very active and full of things to see. It is a modern city but you can still find some old spots. Then from Shanghai you can easily travel in the region around and visit some nice old villages...remember that 2 weeks for visit China is really a short time so try to make a good plan before to leave and just focus on some places.

What currency (there are lots of different dollars out there) and is that budget per person or for both of you?

I've routinely traveled in China for periods of this length, and regardless of where I am, have averaged about RMB 500-550 per day, all-in as a solo. Some days are more than that, some are less. That includes a mix of transportation (flight, standard and fast train, bus), private double room w/ensuite in a clean but simple Chinese hotel, food including some western meals here and there, local public transportation and a local day private car/driver once or twice, entry fees, and miscellaneous. I have a certain comfort level that I don't like to dip below--but many travelers on this forum can go lower. I don't skimp on entry fees--if I want to see it, I do it. My estimates are that if I were traveling as a couple this way, that average daily cost would go up by about 50%, to about RMB 800 average per day since you don't have to replicate costs for accommodation and car/driver.

Now that translates to about USD 117 per day for two people. So if your budget of $100 was in USD and for two people, you're not hopelessly far off, but you will have to either live more downmarket part of the time, or choose itineraries that don't take in every expensive national park in the book.

The biggest budget-saving tips I can generalize on are:
--In the cities like Beijing and Shanghai, you might want to consider hostels and guesthouses due to fairly expensive room rates in the more convenient locations. Many other places, you can get a decent private double room for RMB 150-200 per night.
--Consider taking sleepers in standard overnight trains which can save a lot of money on transport and accommodation--but at that travel period which is high season, you'll need to book in advance and soon.

--Generally city sights are still reasonably priced for entry fees, the budget busters are the natural scenic areas with high entry tickets + expensive add-ons like cable cars and shuttles. So the latter, you might want to keep under control. Every well-known village has a high entrance fee now, but pick just one or two and then go to unknown villages nearby without fees.

--Don't try to cover every corner of China in 3 weeks. The bigger the geographic spread, the more you'll spend on transport.

Since you'll be looping out of Shanghai, my initial thoughts are Shanghai region (including Suzhou, water town, Hangzhou)> Huangshan (big ticket item) and Yixian villages > Wuyuan villages > Luoyang > Xi'an > Pingyao > Beijing, > return to Shanghai. Another option might be Shanghai region > Guilin region > Zhangjiajie (big ticket item) > Qufu/Mt. Taishan > Beijing > return to Shanghai.

I like Yunnan and Sichuan but they can be exceptionally rainy this time of year, which can put a damper on things since most pursuits there are outdoors.

You need to figure this out fairly quickly so you can identify any critical transport links like trains that might sell out, and get them booked.

Thanks for writing Giora :-)
The new LP is the essential guide and gives information about only 5 regions. I might still get it.
We thought of doing just Yunnan or adding Sichuan to the itinerary but I think it might be too much to do both regions in 16 days. Also all the travelling around could add up big time.
I'm not too familiar with the other regions of China, but maybe you have suggestions on where to go?
Merci

Hi Jiejie!
I forgot to mention that we did Beijing a couple of years ago so not likely to go back there. I will look into the circuit you've mentioned. Any ideas on where to go after Pingyao?
I am talking USD and that $100 for 2 people and not each person. Could be stretched to $118 :-)
We really did want to go to Yunnan and Sichuan - will the rains be lighter in another part of China?
How many days would you recommend for Xi'an?
Thanks again!