When not to vacation in China?
 

I'm in the very beginning stages of planning a 2 week vacation trip to China. I'm looking at sometime from Aug.-Oct. 2011. I hope to spend about 2 1/2 weeks there, traveling between 3-5 cities. I am not taking a group tour; I'm going to try to put my trip together myself.

When are vacation/holiday times for the Chinese? I want to avoid trying to move about China at the same time the Chinese are. Also, weatherwise, is autumn a good time? is August still too hot?

National Day (first week of October) is the only stretch during that period that I would actively avoid. Also, air fares and hotel rates tend to drop significantly in September, so August will probably be more expensive. Those are all good weather months in most parts of China.

Stay away from the first week of October. It is a chinese holiday and a travel mess. Was there two years ago with the family and although the 5 star hotels were only 3/4 full--the city itself was a zoo. Half of China was in Beijing. I think this year there will be a ton of people in Shanghi for the holiday.

have fun!

thanks for the tip
 

I will definitely avoid that first week of October. I went to China in October 2001 on a tour, and as I recall it was quite chilly. I will watch the weather this year in China in August and September. As I will be trying to use award tickets to get there, I can't begin searching for seats for a Sept. 2011 trip until October this year. When exactly we go will be contingent on when award seats are available.

We'd probably fly into Shanghai and out of Beijing, or vice versa, with a few flight in between. Other than those 2 cities, I'm not sure where else we might go. I have to start reading travel books and Fodors and TripAdvisor. We'd be open to just about anything. Suggestions?

see link for temp/humidity data:
I would choose mid October.

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/coun...sia/China.html

I would plan 5 days in BJ, 6 days traveling around the west in a non highly structured fashion (e.g. Xinjiang, Shichuan, Yunnan), and 2-3 days in SH on the back end.

Our trip/tour in 2001 was 10 days only, 2 N Shanghai, 4 day Yangtze cruise (before the dam) 1 N Xian, 3 N Beijing. It was very whirlwind, zip zip here and there.

Do you know of any Chinese travel agents who can plan a private itinerary, make all the hotel reservations, domestic train/air tickets, airport pickups and dropoffs, and arrange local guides in each city visited? A customized private tour? This is how we are doing 2 weeks in Peru this September. When we went to Vietnam in 2006 we traveled on a private, customized tour and a guide went with us 10 of the 14 days. It saved me soooo much work in not having to do this all myself. Since I do not speak Chinese, help from a local travel agency might be advisable.

What you're aspiring to do may be possible in China, but is not very smart IMO. I suggest you consult with us again ~60 days before your trip; no need to go completely "whirl wind" but planning to the minute doesn't work too well over there.

I agree with moondog, I just visited 3 cities (Beijing Xian and Guilin), skipped Shanghai for a next opportunity (I hope), cause wisely I didn't include too much (like those european circles in 3 weeks where you are just 2 days in each city), and did all planning, reserves, etc. by myself. It was easy by internet, though I admit I always enjoy doing that. If you enjoy more a travel agency preparing everything for you, that maybe is ok, but in my experience the only chinese I learned was Hello and Thanks, and my 2 weeks I spent in China (may 9-22) were wonderful and I didn't have any incident at all. The only difficulty was sometimes at restaurants, where the waitress didn't understand me neither CocaCola or Coke, but I considered that like a funny episode, resolved later when I had a Cocacola photo as my cellphone wallpaper so I showed it (later I knew sodas are "kele").

Taxis are also a bit difficult, but the hotel people can write you the address in chinese.
Anyway, taxis and restaurant "incidents" could happen also if you travel all thru a travel agency.

Here at this forum you will find very useful information, I considered even enough, or complemented with a travel book.

Talking about the original topic, I have read also that the first week of may there's a holiday where places are very crowded. Gurus here may confirm or complete that info.

And I understanding you are going to Peru this september. I'm peruvian, love to travel, and have been in most important historic, archeological and touristic places of my country (including Cusco of course). If you want specific information or any info, feel free to send me a message.

Carlos Villavic.

Don't know what airline mileage program you have. I used American Airlines (oneworld) in the past to go from Lima to Los Angeles, and then Angeles Singapore. I guess I did it like 4 month before my trip. That was 1999 (since it was thru Miami, it was 30 hours flights, not counting the wait at airports.. but it was worth it if you realize that the Lima-Singapore was.. just $800 total).
In 2004 I went to India, and it was more difficult, I used awards for a Lima-London, but couldn't match dates for a London-Delhi paid ticket so I have to stayed 2 or 3 nights at London (so expensive London in 2004!!)

This year I tried to use my Continental miles 6 month before, just for the Lima-Newark so I'd pay the Newark-Beijing flight. No success. I believe each year there less available seats for awards, maybe because of the airlines crisis. Fortunately I could afford the whole price, so my suggestion is.. specially if your dates are not so flexible,, try to do it as early as possible, and try to talk with any contact in the arline that seems to be proactive and gives the best service. About awards, not all airlines people gives you the same info, the same service. Be patient and persevering

Yes, especially since you don't know the actual costs of the itinerary. The travel agent will seem very nice to you but behind your back he might be laughing at what a sucker you are to allow him to charge 200% more than what an informed traveler would pay.

I hate being ripped off
 

That's what I'm afraid would happen. I suppose I could look at some of the itineraries offered by travel agents, see how much the hotels and air tickets actually cost, and decide if it's a good value or not. I may follow the itineraries described in trip reports posted on Fodors.

As an example, I see a 14 day private tour from China Custom Tours starting in Shanghai then Suzhou, Hangzou, Wuzhen, and Beijing. $ star hotels, 3 meals a day, all transportation, $1200 each. Is that way too much compared to doing it on your own?

I may limit myself to only 2 other cities besides Beijing and Shanghai. Are there more places to visit closer to Shanghai in the south or Beijing in the north?

And at the other end, August can be extremely hot and humid. (I'm surprised that Beijing is not listed as hotter in the middle of summer-combined with the humidity and pollution in can be quite unpleasant). Of course to a degree the weather depends on where you are. Tibet is totally different.

We've discussed the pros and cons of such many times here, and the con side is a strong leader for a myriad of reasons. Here are two: 1) junkets usually have relationships with hotels that nobody would consider on their own; 2) those 3 meals per day usually entail eating at terrible restaurants.

When we visited China in 2001 on a tour, the meals were included. They were not very good and not authentic local food. We had to beg our tour guide to take us somewhere that he would eat, not to where he thought we'd like to eat.
is it typical of hotels in China to include breakfast in the rate?

I'm going to go to the library this holiday weekend and start reading up on touring China on my own. I'll also check the hotel reviews on TA.
Susie