ASUDan130

I am a frugal traveller. I like to save money where I can. Yes I do take cabs but prefer public transportation. When it comes to eating I always hunt for the cheap/local stuff. I am just wondering how in general the cost of visiting is? I am not concerned about Hotels right now just day to day stuff. I have been to Thailand and of course that was super cheap and Europe everything is so expensive. Where does China measure up?

moondog

Where are you planning on going in China (Shanghai is expensive; Gansu is cheap)?

benzemalyonnais

China has a wide range of prices....if you want expat stuff it will be decently expensive....Chinese stuff is cheaper usually...meaning subway, bus, cheap food....you can easily travel China for 20$ a day staying in a hostel and taking thr subway/bus......but the inflation is bad here and everything is overpriced because people are desperate for cash...i think you should plan on spending more than Thailand if you want to spend a lot of time in big cities.....even Guangzhou,Nanjing, are more expensive...all tourist cities except Hangzhou have good metro though

rkkwan

Exactly. In Shenzhen, a lunch in a mainstream diner can cost up to 40RMB, which is more than in same type of eatery in Hong Kong. On the other hand, a Lanzhou Beef Noodles in the capital of Gansu cost 3.5RMB, though with only tiny bits of beef in it.

One thing I find fairly expensive is admission prices to many tourist sites. 50-100RMB to visit a temple is not unheard of. Compared to usually free to visit a cathedral or church in many countries. And the really famous scenic/historical sites even more.

Loren Pechtel

It also comes down to how well you fare at dealing with places that don't expect foreign tourists.

We have often eaten perfectly good meals in Shanghai for under 10 RMB/person. Nothing fancy but no complaints. I wouldn't want to try it without speaking Chinese, though. (My wife is a native speaker.) We almost always use the bus to get around unless there are 4 of us. (At which point a taxi is often competitive with the bus if you would have to take two buses.)

Many buses call the stops in English as well as Chinese but you had better know where you are going--the English is a recording, the driver won't understand you.

As has been mentioned upthread, tourist site prices are often way out of line with other costs.

Blue Tiger

While staying in a four star hotel you will be charged about 22-28 RMB for a coke.Walk out the hotel to a little convenience store and it is about 4-5 RMB.

Me and my friend had bowl of Guilin noodle soup and a Coke and the whole bill was 8 rmb.
Also paid 760 RMB was a nice seafood dinner for 5 people .
Taxis are cheap, seafood is fairly expensive.You should get rooms for 50 usd/night

jiejie

China on balance is more expensive than SE Asia but not Japan or Korea levels. While you can find frugal alternatives for accommodation and food, even in the most expensive cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, intercity transportation will cost more due to cost structure and distance, as will admission to sights. In the low-budget travel department, it is nowhere close to Europe. Excluding hotels and sights (which are completely depending on your itinerary that we don't know), take your Thailand experience and increase daily expenses by 20% for budgeting purposes.

anacapamalibu

With the devaluation of the USD and inflation. Its not
really worth traveling to China for tourism or pleasure.

5 to 10 years ago it was a good value. Now, not worth it.

rkkwan

My uncle, like quite a few other Hong Kongers, bought weekend apartments in Panyu or Shende south of Guangzhou, a few years ago. He said many of his neighbors from HK have sold their places there, as cost of living in the Pearl River Delta region are really approaching HK.

moondog

I think, but I am not certain, that cashing out of the PRC real estate market was a smart move for them. HK is still more expensive than China, but the gap is closing at an alarming pace.

rkkwan

Well, real estate markets in PRC and HK are another issue; but just for going to have dim sum or buying fresh fish and vegetables to eat, there used to be a big savings, and these HKers felt they could really enjoy the value in China when they stay there on the weekends or holidays. But simply not the case anymore, so why bother going up and fight the crowds at the border?

And you worry about food safety. At least the HK government does occasional spot-checks on the imports. Up north, there's no such thing. Tourists don't really have to worry about it, but if one goes there every other weekend and spend 40-50 days in China a year, it becomes an issue.

anacapamalibu

There is really no more value in China unless you have a coal mine in Hohhot.

Its a pretty much a played out market.

30K RMb/sqm in Beijing for a second rate apartment.

Forget it.

mnredfox

All good comments so far. China is cheap, but hugely a function of how posh do you need to have a trip. If you want to go real budget (I often do), here's how I'd budget a trip to China (say 2 weeks):

1. Flight - good ticket is around $1K, excellent if you can find for less than $800 (recent deals around $550)
2. Visa - work does this for me, but I think tourist is around $175 after all fees (shipping, processing etc)
3. Hotels - if you're willing to go cheap and go local (say hostel style), you can find good accommodations in Beijing/Shanghai for say $25/night including breakfast.
4. Food (and water) - if you're willing to eat local, then you can easily spend less than $5/day (esp if hotels include breakfast). You don't need Chinese if you're willing to point, and obviously most street vendors you know what you get (i.e. fruit shops, etc).
5. Transportation - widely variable, with buses and subway being the cheapest. Walking is free but only short distances. If touring, maybe $10/day.
6. Souveniurs - I don't buy stuff, just take pictures, so for me quite free. But likely will want to buy gifts for friends.

shore9

Two of us will be spending the month of October in China. We plan to go all over the country, probably following the following itinerary:

Beijing - Shanghai (and surrounding areas) - Guilin - Kunming - Tibet - Xi'an - Beijing.

We would likely stay in cheap hotels / higher end hostels (double rooms). Given we'd likely eat out for most meals and probably take a few flights domestically, how much should we be budgeting for the month that we are there?

We were thinking of about $3,000 CDN, however after reading this, it sounds like China has shot up in price since I was last there.

moondog

I think $3000 is a reasonable budget for you to strive towards. Apart from BJ and SH, cheap hotels are still quite cheap (figure $25/night). As far as food, taxis, activities are concerned, I spend between y300 and y500 per day, but that's mostly in BJ and SH. It's not too hard to get by on half that when traveling out west, but since you are two people, maybe count on y300, or $45. So, that's 70*30, or $2100, leaving you $450 each for all of your internal flights/trains/buses. This is doable, but if you want to completely avoid hard seats and slow trains/buses, I'd advise you to earmark at least $600 for this purpose. Part of the problem is that Tibet is expensive to get to (btw, I am assuming there are easy/cheap ways to get Tibet permits now).