China holiday and Yangtze river cruise
Highlights
Beijing | The Great Wall of China | Forbidden City | Temple of Heaven Park | Mutianyu | Xi'an | Drum Plaza and Great Mosque | Terracotta Warriors | Chengdu | Leshan Giant Buddha | Chengdu Giant Panda Research Centre | Yangtze River cruise | Liuzhou | Yangshuo | Guilin | Shanghai | SuzhouDescription of China holiday and Yangtze river cruise
Classic tours in China should always include some of the country's, and the world's, most iconic symbols with the Great Wall of China, Terracotta Warriors and crowd-pleasing national animal, the giant panda, needing no introduction for cultured travellers and tourists alike.However, take your tours in China on a Yangtze cruise and you'll start to see the country from a whole new perspective with limestone rock formations around Yangshuo and the jaw-dropping Three Gorges, along the middle of the Yangtze, adding to the excitement of an all-encompassing 20 day China holiday.
No China tour would be complete without comparing the ancient world and the contemporary equivalent with the hutong districts and Forbidden City in Beijing providing the perfect platform to travel overnight on sleeper trains and Yangtze cruise boats all the way to the bright lights of the Bund in Shanghai.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com
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Small group holiday
Small group travel is not large group travel scaled down. It is modelled on independent travel – but with the advantage of a group leader to take care of the itinerary, accommodation and tickets, and dealing with the language. It’s easy to tick off the big sights independently – but finding those one-off experiences, local festivals, travelling markets and secret viewpoints is almost impossible for someone without the insider knowledge gained from years in the field. If you’re heading off on a gap year your, perhaps – but for those with a two-week holiday, a small group tour will save valuable planning time.The leaders are not guides – they’re not there to shepherd you around. Instead, they’ll let you know which local restaurant serves great value food – without running the risk of travellers’ tummy. They’ll allow you to avoid hour-long queues at train stations and attractions.
We like to think of small group travel as the Goldilocks option. It is independent travel without the fuss, worry and bunk beds – and organised travel without the coaches. And it’s cheaper than a tailor made tour. It’s sits somewhere in the middle – and we think it’s just about right.
Have big, life-enriching experiences that would be impossible to organise without lots of time and insider knowledge.
Simplicity
Make the most of your holiday time by letting someone else do the hard work and boring logistics!
Peace of mind
Small group tours take care of the security aspects – and provide a safety net should anything unexpected happen.
If you don’t have three months to spend exploring, small groups trips let you cover more ground in less time. Your days are not spent queuing for tickets or finding hotels – so you can squeeze more into your holiday.
Solo travellers who’d like company
Likeminded travel companions plus peace of mind for those travelling alone. Single supplements are usually available – providing privacy if you want it.
Less confident travellers
Stray from the tourist trail without worrying about getting lost, and meet local people without dealing with the language barrier.
Couples and friends have private rooms, and you can choose to eat alone or not. Single supplements give solo travellers their own room.
“There won’t be any free time”
Free mornings or afternoons let you explore on your own, or just relax.
“The accommodation will be basic”
Trips are as high or low end as you like. Though off the beaten track destinations won’t have luxury hotels, this is all part of the adventure.
“I won’t like the other travellers!”
Tour operators try to create groups with a similar demographic – age, families, activity levels... Chances are, you’ll even make new friends.
“Will we be following an umbrella?”
No.
Story: The first British woman to climb Manaslu, Valerie climbed Everest for her 50th birthday. She’s spent fourteen Christmas Days trekking to Everest Base Camp, and is involved insetting up Responsible Tourism initiatives in the Himalayas.
Story: Roshan has led over 130 trips – he adores showing travellers around Sri Lanka. He won the company Leader Award in 2010, but his career highlight was working on their Tsunami Project – which earned him a responsible tourism award.
Responsible tourism
China holiday and Yangtze river cruise
Carbon reduction
Your holiday will help support local people and conservation. We must also reduce CO2. Learn about the CO2 emissions of this holiday and how to reduce them.
Environment
Accommodation and Meals:
On this trip we spend 12 nights in hotels, 3 nights on a cruise boat and 3 nights on a first class sleeper train. All of the hotels and the cruise company we use are locally owned and locally staffed, which is way of boosting employment levels in the areas we visit. We also try to select accommodation for environmental awareness, which is still in its infancy in China. For example, the hotel in Beijing encourages clients switch off lights with signs, has optional daily linen changing and air-con is only turned on when temperatures hit 26 degrees outside. Where meals are not supplied, tour leaders will take clients to locally owned restaurants where food is authentic and either locally grown or sourced.
Community:
Often people can experience quite a culture shock when travelling in China, so our local guides are always keen to help clients understand the culture better and to connect more genuinely with local communities. Part of this cultural exchange and support of community is made by visiting small businesses throughout the trip. There are several occasions where guests are encouraged to do this- for example, in the Muslim Quarter in Xi’an, there are bazaars and food markets where it is possible to support local producers and even see crafts and food made (dumplings, pancakes, fruit drinks etc.).
Local Craft and Culture:
There is so much on offer in terms of culture on this trip. Just to name a few activities, we see the Great Wall and Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Mosque and Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and the Leshan Buddha. We even offer optional activities where you can see the opera, an acrobat show or take a kung fu lesson! Crafts are available throughout the trip and there are some wonderful, traditionally made souvenirs available- especially in Yangshuo. Leaders will be able to advise where the best places to shop are and what should be avoided e.g. traditional medicine made from endangered animals.
UK Office:
It all starts at home so we have first worked at reducing our carbon footprint in our UK Offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.
Group Size:
This small group tour has a maximum of 16 participants, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. The small number also allows us to stay in unique, family-run hotels that cannot benefit from coach tours and other mass tourism due to their limited sizes.
5 Reviews of China holiday and Yangtze river cruise
Reviewed on 03 May 2019 by Jean Thomas
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The food! The Terra Cotta warriors, the pandas
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
It was not good for the other 2 participants, one of whom didn't eat fish and the other was a vegetarian. Even the broths were made with pork stock. ( I just enjoyed it all!)
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes. The hotels were locally owned and not part of Western chains, we made a point of using local restaurants and not KFC, McDonald's, Starbucks etc. And we mainly used public transport when it was needed
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Much better than I expected and very good value for money
Reviewed on 26 Nov 2018 by Heather Magowan
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Walking the Great Wall of China.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Not too big a suitcase as a lot of moving plus steps at train stations.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Very slight.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very good but not a leisurely holiday. Should be graded higher. Would like to have spent more time in countryside.
Read the operator's response here:
Reviewed on 13 Nov 2018 by Ruth Thompson
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The time in Yangshuo was the best part of the holiday. That landscape is amazing.
2. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes.
Reviewed on 28 Oct 2016 by Christine Casey
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Walk on the Great Wall in near perfect weather and early in the morning before it was too crowded or too warm.
Terracotta Warriors exceeded expectations despite seeing hundreds of photographs and reading articles. Its still mind blowing in scale and detail.
Seeing six baby pandas being fed, burped and put outside to play in Chengdu. Again early morning before the park was too crowded.
Water show in Yangshou - world class and unique setting.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take Yuan with you. Almost impossible to use credit cards except in Western style shops (which I avoided like the plague).
Optional trips are really good.
Be prepared to push and shove. Culturally it's what they do. Nothing will prepare you for the number of people at the tourist attractions and in the cities. If
you can't cope with crowds and noise don't go.
Food is great
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
In as much as possible. There was good use of local hotels, transport, guides and restaurants. Trains were used whenever possible.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
It was excellent. We were particularly impressed with the local guide- his organisation local knowledge etc was tremendous and really made the holiday. We were recommended to use you to select a holiday and I have already fed back that this really worked for us.
Reviewed on 14 May 2015 by gillian black
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The walk along part of the Great Wall of China
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Make sure you are fit enough to carry your own bags as some railways don't have lifts or escalator . Wheels on your luggage is a must!
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes we helped and bought from local traders
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
9 out of ten
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