Of course not, but there are lots of offers out there where the itineraries and packages offered seem much the same and lots of tour operators offer rock bottom price packages inclusive air from the United States. This has been the case on namely one eastern China well trodden route, Beijing via Xian and Guilin - Yangshuo to Shanghai, usually done as 7-night trip, 8-day itinerary. Americans seem to snap it up as a hot deal, kind of like they used to travel Europe in the old days.
Yes, you get to see the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, run through the legendary Terracotta Army, get packed on a bumper to bumper boat down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo to marvel at the karst formations, and then engulfed in a sea of trinket sellers and on to Shanghai you go. There awaits you stroll on the Bund and Temple of the Jade Buddha, and. Well, it's become one of those, for many Americans, anyway, "It's Thursday, must be Guilin."
Why is it that many Americans love this kind of mass travel? Sure the price is a factor but if most will likely not ever make it to China the second time, why not try to make more of your China tour? Chinese are in part to blame as they certainly have a keen sense of the type of consumers we are and they know how to sell it to us.
There is certainly lot more to China then this popular traverse. But to make more of your visit you need tom add a few more days and stray away from the well beaten path. For one there is a way to make your itinerary a sample of Grand China. It will include most of the ancient capitals, including the key UNESCO heritage monuments, but also number of China's natural wonders.
If you really study up on China, your trip should catch a taste of Silk Road, Xiahe to Mt. Wenshu, from the Western-most end of the Great Wall at Jiayuguan to Dunhuang, and Turfan to Heavens Lake. And you should have a slice of Tibet, and for that you may not need to go all the way to Tibet, as you can get a sample of it in Sichuan or Yunnan; of course Lhasa and the heart of Tibet inclusive Gyantse and Shighatse, not to mention Mt. Everest is a must if you should come all this way.
In the end you realize that you can had ly scratch the surface in even three weeks but at least you will have gotten a real taste of China, certainly more than you can on just seven nights. There is Harbin and the north-east, there is the tribal and remote Guizhou, and there is Fujian, Hong Kong and the south-east. Well, too many places, too little time, you will have to come back again because China can grow on you. And with Yuan only bound to get lot stronger, it will not get cheaper, so best plan your trip now.
Above all, China is best visited on a custom tour, a China private tour. And if you make your trip at least two weeks you can include a Yangtze river cruise. In fact the best way to include it in your itinerary is sailing downstream, from Chongqing. A convenient way of getting there is from Chengdu, and best place to get off is at Yichang, as by then you will have seen the Three Gorges and from there you can easily connect to Guilin via Guizhou, or continue elsewhere, whether Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Author Resource:
One of the best ways to plan your trip is to look at the China tour options structured around Yangtze river cruises . Have a look a the map and you can see that the part of Yangtze river to see is in the heart of China and thus the waterway constitutes a logical component of your tour. No matter what you decide, remember that a great civilization with thousands of years of history demands a grand journey, a composite of several China tours woven into one unforgettable experience.
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