Ten years ago when we travelled China we went as part of a group tour. There were a number of practical reasons for this. Logistically it was very difficult to reserve things in advance and we were travelling with our children. This time we arranged a private tour for the four of us for the middle 2 weeks of our vacation. However for the first and last week we arranged everything on our own, confirming that next time we should be able to organize the whole thing on our own.
However there were some nice things about the private tour:
- It was nice to have someone meet us at the airport and drive us around.
- It was nice to have someone arrange to get tickets to the attractions and make reservations.
- It was nice to have someone highlight alternatives and make recommendations (but this requires a guide you can trust)
- It was nice to have someone deal with the unexpected, such as weather, closed events, etc.
- The guide made sure the driver was in the right place at the right time.
The downside of any organized tour in China is:
- Being taken to “friendship stores”
- Limitations in menus; being taken to approved restaurants.
- Variability of guides: some are good and flexible; some go by the book.
- Unexpected expenses: in some cases additional fees were required to get in to certain sections of an attraction. I don’t know why they just didn’t include them. Often the additional fees were less than 2$/person.
To go one your own with out a guide requires some ability to communicate with locals (i.e. Mandarin) and pre-planning so you know where to go at the macro level (i.e., which city) and the micro level (which attraction). As well, research offers an idea of what reasonable prices are for things, so you don’t get over charged.
At this time taxis are inexpensive so one can easily get to/from the airport or around town. For daily excursions a driver can be hired from the hotel. In Huangshan it was 200Y for 4 hours. We ended up taking taxis. Hotels can often be booked online. We used Sinohotels and were happy with their service and hotel recommendations. Booking airlines can be done on the Internet. Booking trains and buses needs to be done in person. During Chinese holiday periods this can be very difficult. We found that booking train and bus travel could be done the same day, at least on the major routes that we were taking. It is helpful to have cards written in Chinese that state your destination (hotels, airport, specific bus stations, attractions). These cards are needed for every where you want to travel by taxi.
You don’t need to tip taxi drivers, they probably already ripped you off. Make sure you check the meter. You can round up to minimze change if you want.
Get a bell hop in hotels to open your room you never know what you’ll find.
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