Customize Your China Tour 2026/2027

Start with three decisions

First, decide how much of the holiday you want to spend moving between destinations. A traveller who enjoys trains may welcome an additional city; someone travelling with young children may prefer another night in the same hotel. Second, choose the experience that deserves the most time. History, landscapes and food lead to different combinations of stops. Third, describe your usual daily rhythm. An early departure works well only when the rest of the day includes suitable breaks. We would rather hear that your group needs a late breakfast than build a schedule that looks impressive but feels exhausting.

Build a route around real visiting windows

Opening days and admission arrangements affect the order of a journey. For example, the Palace Museum normally closes on Mondays, whereas the Terracotta Army uses different seasonal admission cutoffs. Those details belong in the first draft, before hotels and train choices lock the route in place. We recommend treating a major museum as the main event of its day, with a nearby walk available afterwards. Putting two demanding visits around an intercity transfer creates a fragile schedule. The official facts below show the sort of information we use when checking whether your requested route fits the available dates.

Choose a pace you can keep

For a first conversation, think in nights rather than a checklist of famous places. Two nights provide one full day without unpacking again; three nights give more room for a museum, a neighbourhood and a recovery period. These are planning examples rather than minimum stay rules. A short visit can be rewarding when its purpose is clear. We would use a compact Beijing stay for the historic centre and reserve the Great Wall for a journey with more breathing space. A Guilin chapter benefits from deciding whether the river, Yangshuo countryside or terraces are the main reason for going.

Make transfers visible in the proposal

A train journey includes the hotel departure, station arrival, security checks, boarding, the ride itself and the transfer at the other end. Ask us to show those pieces separately. Airport changes need the same treatment: the flight time alone does not describe how much of the day will be occupied. Our planning preference is to keep one major transfer on a day whenever possible. If your dates require a tighter combination, we can discuss which visit to shorten or move. A buffer is particularly valuable when a ticketed activity cannot easily shift to a later hour.

Tell us what comfort means to your group

Hotel star ratings do not answer every practical question. Explain whether you need connecting rooms, lifts, a quiet location, breakfast before an early start or a short walk to restaurants. Accessibility and dietary needs should enter the brief at the beginning. For walking days, tell us the distance and stair climbing your group is comfortable with. For meals, distinguish a preference from an allergy so that the arrangements can be checked appropriately. You do not need to send identity documents with an initial general enquiry; your advisor can explain which booking details are needed when you choose specific services.

Understand the price before choosing

Compare proposals by the services they describe. Check the room category, transport class, guide arrangements, included admissions and any optional experiences. A low headline price is difficult to judge when these choices are left unspecified. We recommend asking for the cost of important alternatives, such as an additional night or a different hotel location, while the route is still being discussed. The sample tours linked here are useful starting shapes for a conversation, but the final brief should explain your own priorities. Payment, cancellation and supplier conditions belong in the agreed booking terms, rather than being assumed from an example itinerary.

Use the planning form to begin

Open the existing form and share your likely travel dates, party size, destinations and anything that would make the trip easier for you. If your dates are flexible, give the range rather than choosing an arbitrary day. If you have already booked flights, identify the arrival and departure cities so that the route can be checked against them. A useful first response is a workable direction, followed by questions about the choices that affect availability and cost. You can then refine the plan through the same enquiry process. The Get Started buttons below continue to lead to that form.

Check the finished day plan

Before agreeing to arrangements, read one complete day from breakfast to your return to the hotel. Can everyone manage the walking? Is there a reasonable lunch break? Does the route leave time for the visit that motivated the trip? Our suggested timings are planning allowances, not a claim that queues always last a particular number of minutes. Official opening notices and the selected booking conditions remain the source for admissions and changes. A clear plan should give you a sense of how the holiday will feel, as well as which places appear on the map.

Sources and booking checks

• Palace Museum visitor information
• Qin museum ticket rules
• Qin museum visitor guide