China Travel Forum

[Lyly Sidney]

I'm from Washington and plan on traveling to China sometime in the Fall. I have never been and would like a little insight.

Do I need some sort of travel visa? Or is a passport just fine? (I don't anything about this sort of thing)

Do I need shots or immunizations of any kind?

I'm interested in History, Architecture, Art, Culture, Food, People etc. I'll be traveling alone. I'm a student on a budget (but at the same time I don't want to miss out on the full experience). Where should I stay? I cannot afford to get a $100/night hotel every night.

I plan on exploring China for about a month. I want to hit Beijing, Shanghai and Xian for sure. What's the best way to travel withing the country? air, train, bus...? I'm looking for something cheap, but time efficient. Also is this something I need to book ahead of time? Or I can take care of it when I'm there?

What city should I fly into? It there a particular order of places to visit that is best?

I'm sure I have lots more questions, but this gets me started.

Thank you!

[Thomes123]

Yes you will need a visa, and of course a passport to put it in. You apply to your nearest Chinese embassy/consulate. You are unlikely to need any sort of vaccinations unless you would be entering China from a yellow fever area.
I would suggest you start by researching airfares from a convenient airport to a convenient entry point, bearing in mind that to Beijing these are rising exponentially in the couple of months before the Olympics (August, but I see fares have already gone up for July and even June).
I would also suggest you look at people's travel pages for China (put China in destination search box at top of this page).