China Travel Forum

[Windsor]

Hi,

me and my partner will be spending 3-4 weeks in China in May. At the moment our plan is to fly into Beijing and out of Hong Kong. We want to go to Shanghai but apart from that havent decided where else to visit.

Before we make further plans, we are wanting to know how easy or difficult it is to travel alone when neither of us speak to language. Our tour operator has advised us we should book a guided tour with them but the prices are over our budget.

Should we take their advice and book with them or is it possible to book trains, hotels, excursions etc ourselves?

[James Long]

You can do this yourselves--lots of people do. You'll need a good guidebook, a phrasebook, and the willingness to put in some effort.

In Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong you will have little problem. You can have your hotel/hostel help with purchasing train and plane tickets. You can find hotels or hostels through Tripadvisor or a guidebook.

Taxi drivers don't usually speak any English, though, so you need to be able to give them the name of your destination in Chinese. Your hotel staff can write this out for you or you can point to Chinese characters in a guidebook or on a bilingual map.