Improvise China Tour Itinerary, Tips and Tricks, Share Your Experience

People who have travelled on these tours to China, Could you please throw some light on how can we improvise the Itinerary & travel tips and tricks to make the best experience of it. Please Share Your Experience.

Itinerary
Day 1 Australia to Beijing
Day 2 Beijing - Tiananmen Square | Optional tour: Beijing Golden Mask Dynasty Show & Forbidden City Tour
Day 3 Beijing - Great Wall of China, Jade exhibitions, Beijing local | Optional tour: Beijing Peking Duck Dinner
Day 4 Beijing to Wuxi - Chinese herbal institute, Temple of Heaven
Day 5 Wuxi to Suzhou - Brilliance of Lake Lihu, Freshwater pearl farm
Day 6 Suzhou to Hangzhou - Lingering Garden, Suzhou Silk Factory | Optional tour: Romantic Show of Song-Cheng
Day 7 Hangzhou to Shanghai - West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, Tea plantation| Optional tour: Huangpu River Cruise
Day 8 Shanghai - Bund | Optional tour: Shanghai Chinese Acrobatic Show & Shanghai Insight Tour
Day 9 Shanghai - Leisure Day
Day 10 Depart Shanghai

For example including
1) Universal Studios in Beijing
2) Disneyland in Shanghai
3) Which Optional tours are worth it and which can be avoided
4) Which airlines, hotels were used, how much luggage allowed
5) Can we activate the Payments in Australia with Australian Sim and Credit / Debit cards for AliPay, WeChat Pay etc
6) Does Google Playstore work in China with eSIM bought here
7) Which Apps that can be installed beforehand which can be used there for Travel, Theme Parks, Shopping, Food etc
8) Which Apps can only be installed in there
9) Is activating the eSIM straightforward or do we need to connect to Wifi first after landing
10) Can we buy the things online and get them delivered to Hotel (Room). Which websites apart from Ali Express.
11) Can we get outside food delivered to Hotel room
12) Are there any offline maps in case eSIMs doesn't connect
13) Is having the big suitcases apart from the carry on luggage will affect the travel, is it better to buy there to bring back the shopped items
14) What are the best places to Shop there to buy gadgets, clothes, homeware items etc. What people usually buy there which are expensive here.
15) Where and when to buy the tickets for Theme Parks on deals, is premium access to rides worth it

Comments

  • I'd definitely check out those places where the Chinese actors pretend like they are living in the olden days times, harvesting by hand and such. Sounds like a real life West World theme park, like Asian World or something. Except instead of robots they have human actors. And you can't shoot them for fun.

  • "People who have travelled on these tours to China, Could you please throw some light on how can we improvise the Itinerary & travel tips and tricks to make the best experience of it. "

    Call Wendy Wu.

    We did one a couple of years back and it was really good. There was a set itinerary but you could do 'extras' if you wanted for a small additional cost. If you can speak the language it sounds like you might be better off organizing the trip yourself. You seem to have way too many items on your wish list than what I would expect a reasonable tour operator to be able to accommodate.

  • +2

    Have a backup VPN just in case, very hard to download a VPN app without being on a VPN.

    I found buying Chinese esims via trip.com with new user discounts pretty economical. They don't require a VPN either, somehow get through the firewall, but need one for wifi still.

    Universal studios Beijing was great, but very crowded even on a weekday, and not much shade while queueing.

    Wechat was fine with a CBA debit card setup at home, used the app to pay for basically everything.

  • +2

    What time of year? Beijing is awfully cold in winter, especially on the Great Wall and the Forbidden City gets boring after a while. There's a free area behind the Forbidden city that is just as good if you only want to look at a few of the old buildings. The Peking Duck is a rather tasty feed though. High speed trains are a great way to get around as you get to see the countryside. The subway trains within the city get super crowded and you have to push your way on or miss out.

  • +2

    5) Yes you can attach Australian cards to Wechat Pay and Alipay. Each payment up to 200RMB are fee free, with 3% surcharge above that. Make sure to attach MULTIPLE cards to each system, your bank may block your card from overseas use even if you tell them beforehand.
    6) Play Store should work since eSIMs use either Taiwanese or HK VPNs.
    7) You just need one app for shopping, food, and travel - Dianping - the google reviews of China. You can also use AMaps for pure map purposes. Both are available on Play Store/iOS.
    8) None, as long as you can install the Tencent App Store (Chinese app store) on your phone, you can install apps from any physical location.
    9) You can preactivative eSIMs usually and just swap the active SIM setting when you get there.
    10) Yes, but you will need Chinese reading skills (You can use Taobao or Pindoudou app)
    11) Yes, but you will need Chinese reading skills (You need the Meituan app)

  • +2

    Skipping the Terracotta Army or seen them already?

    • no, its not included

  • I put together a 2-week itinerary with ChatGPT, that alternates hotel nights with sleeper train nights, if that tickles anybody's fancy:

    Day 1: Arrive Beijing
    Morning/Afternoon: 798 Art Zone, paper‑cutting workshop
    Evening: Check‑in, evening stroll around hutongs
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 2: Beijing
    Morning: China Science & Technology Museum
    Afternoon: Cloisonné enamel workshop
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 3: Beijing → Xi’an (Train Night 1)
    Morning: Temple of Heaven
    Afternoon: Travel to Beijing West
    Depart: ~20:40 Z-train Z19/Z21
    Arrive: ~08:00 next day in Xi’an
    Overnight: Soft‑sleeper train

    Day 4: Xi’an
    Morning: Tang‑style pottery class
    Afternoon: Calligraphy + Ancient tech demo
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 5: Xi’an → Chengdu (Train Night 2)
    Morning: Muslim Quarter exploration
    Afternoon: Station transfer
    Depart: ~21:40 K385
    Arrive: ~08:08 next morning in Chengdu (~10½ h)
    Overnight: Soft‑sleeper train

    Day 6: Chengdu
    Morning: Panda Research Base
    Afternoon: Shu embroidery workshop
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 7: Chengdu → Chongqing → Guilin (Train Night 3)
    Morning: HSR Chengdu → Chongqing (~2 h)
    Afternoon: Ceramic painting in Chongqing
    Depart: ~19:00 K-train Chongqing→Guilin
    Arrive: ~07:00 next morning in Guilin (~12 h)
    Overnight: Soft‑sleeper train

    Day 8: Guilin
    Morning: Li River brush‑painting near riverside
    Afternoon: Reed‑Flute Cave (easy walk)
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 9: Guilin → Zhangjiajie (Train Night 4)
    Morning: Station to Guilin North
    Depart: ~19:00 K-train Guilin→Liuzhou→Zhangjiajie (~12 h)
    Arrive: ~07:00 next day in Zhangjiajie
    Overnight: Soft‑sleeper train

    Day 10: Zhangjiajie
    Morning: Tianmen cable‑car + skywalk (easy ride)
    Afternoon: Family pottery in local village
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 11: Zhangjiajie → Nanchang → Hangzhou (Train Night 5)
    Morning: HSR Zhangjiajie → Nanchang (~3 h)
    Afternoon: Transfer at Nanchang
    Depart: ~16:51 K71 Nanchang→Hangzhou (~16 h)
    Arrive: ~08:53 next day in Hangzhou
    Overnight: Soft‑sleeper train

    Day 12: Hangzhou
    Morning: Scroll‑painting class + silk‑weaving demo
    Afternoon: Canal boat + engineering museum
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 13: Hangzhou → Shanghai
    Morning: Leisure in Hangzhou
    Depart: Day HSR (~2–3 h)
    Afternoon: teamLab Digital Art Museum
    Evening: M50 art district and toy design studio
    Overnight: Hotel

    Day 14: Shanghai / Departure
    Morning: Shanghai Science & Technology Museum
    Afternoon: Bund stroll + Pudong skyline
    Evening: Depart

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