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Travel around China

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  1. #1

    Travel around China

    Hi! So I'm looking at travelling round China at some point over the coming weeks. Places I've been recommended to go to include: Guilin, Yunnan province, Xi'an, possibly Xiamen. Might leave Shanghai/Beijing for another trip.
    At this stage I think it'll just be me. I don't speak any Mandarin. Anyone got any experience of lone-travel in China, or got any recommendation of a decent tour company?
    ALSO, how tricky is it to get a tourist visa for China? I'm from UK (but living in HK at the mo); so far I'm just on a tourist visa for HK which runs out next Feb.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Just go to any China Travel Agency and ask for a tourist visa for China. Have money and passport-sized photos ready. You will have to hand over your passport for a few days while they process it.

    I'm sure there are other methods as well.

    choicemountain likes this.

  3. #3

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    I highly recommend guangxi & Yunnan provinces.

    yangshuo, Dali, banna

    Last edited by Open Casket; 04-09-2015 at 08:34 PM.

  4. #4

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    No problem to do it diy. I suggest you get a recent Lonely Planet. All negativity aside, the transport system in China is excellent. You could cross the whole country by bus, if you dare.


  5. #5

  6. #6

    Thanks for the advice everyone. At this stage I'm thinking something along the lines of:

    Train to Guangzhou. One night in GZ
    Train to Guilin. ? nights there/Guanxi area.
    Fly to Xi'an. Couple of nights there
    Fly to Beijing. 3 nights?
    Then maybe Hangzhou.

    I can do longer or shorter in any of these places. I'd ideally like to see some of Yunnan too, maybe between Guanxi and Xi'an.


  7. #7

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    What do you want to see OP? Historical sights or natural scenery? Or both? For history, picked Xian (terracotta warriors, old city wall etc). Yunnan has some of both (Lijiang) and Guilin and Yangshuo offers stunning karst landscape that inspired Chinese landscape painting.

    If you haven't been to China before, pick Beijing as the first place to visit, as that city has the major sites (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square etc).

    Last edited by Cho-man; 05-09-2015 at 11:59 PM.

  8. #8

    Yep, both historical and natural.
    Hadn't seen Lijiang before... it looks great. For places like that is it best to go to Kunming and bus/train from there?


  9. #9

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by choicemountain:
    Yep, both historical and natural.
    Hadn't seen Lijiang before... it looks great. For places like that is it best to go to Kunming and bus/train from there?
    Fly to Kunming and either take the bus or fly to Dali, where you can transfer to a coach service to Lijiang (a few hours ride). I recommend you fly to Dali from Kunming, as bus travel time is unreliable, ranging from 4 and half to 9 hours, depending on the traffic. Flying may also incur delays, but at least its safer than taking the bus.

    From Dali, you can visit this Lake (forgot the name just now) and an old town. After that, take the bus to Lijiang. The main things worth seeing are the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Lijiang old town, The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5000+ metres tall, there is a cable car that takes you up to 4000 metre to see the glacier) and the Tiger Jumping Gorge, on the other side of the Jade Mountain, a narrow gorge where the Yangtze spill its waters through.
    Last edited by Cho-man; 06-09-2015 at 12:19 AM.
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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cho-man:
    Fly to Kunming and either take the bus or fly to Dali, where you can transfer to a coach service to Lijiang (a few hours ride). I recommend you fly to Dali from Kunming, as bus travel time is unreliable, ranging from 4 and half to 9 hours,
    Train provides a much more predictable and economical option.

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