With vast areas, rich history, varied landscapes, fine delicacies, diverse cultures, colorful minorities and vibrant mega-cities, China offers travelers compelling reasons to visit. No matter if planning a wonderful family trip, a cultural in-depth student school trip, celebrating a sweet and memorable honeymoon, a senior traveler, foodie, shutter-bug or adventurer, China presents its best to make the most out of your holiday.

For first time travelers, the top 3 destinations of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai are must-sees to discover the nation’s ancient history as well as its modern atmosphere. Leisurely Yangtze River Cruises and the magnificent Guilin, known for its breathtaking sceneries, are chosen by 70% of first time travelers. Pandas are one of the rarest animals with their distinctive features awaiting fans in Chengdu making a wonderful family trip, and so much more. You could view Plan A China Trip and get inspired to plan your own dream trip.

For a brief China experience of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, 8 days is sufficient. If you have a longer holiday of 10-15 days, Guilin with its stunning karst pinnacles, a relaxing Yangtze Cruise, the Chengdu pandas and the delicious Sichuan cuisine will enrich a wonderful stay in China. You need to simply let us know your travel interests and approximate travel length, and dates and our travel experts will customize the best trip for you tailoring to your wishes and needs.

As a vast nation, the weather varies greatly from north to south and east to west. But generally speaking, the best time for travelling in China falls in Spring and Autumn as summer can be hot and winter is chilly. Thanks to China’s large area, there are wonderful places to explore in summer like Tibet, Silk Road cities, and Shangri-La in Yunnan. Winter as well enjoys fantastic views and what’s even better, all places tend to be quieter with lower prices. For the top cities of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, anytime of the year is a wonderful time to visit as there is less impact to weather conditions.

Yes, citizens of most countries need a visa to come to China except those from these 3 countries(Singapore, Japan and Brunei) as they meet the 15 Days Visa Free Exemption. China also has launched 72-hour Visa Free Transit Policy in many major cities like Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guilin, Chongqing, etc. and 144-hour Visa Free Transit Policy in four regions revolving around Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong Province and Liaoning Province. For more visa questions and preparations, please check China Visas.

Yes, tour guides are recommended. China is a large country with many differences in varied aspects. Mega cities like Beijing and Shanghai are comparatively easy to explore as there are English signs of places (though you might find some shocking ones translated from Chinese). But travelers still find it hard when it comes to discovering history, getting authentic food, understanding local culture and communicating with local people. Other cities with less excellent infrastructures will be even more difficult for travelling on your own even with the help of some translation apps on your phones as Chinese is a complicated language and robot translators often mislead people. With escorted tours, knowledgeable local insiders will introduce you the country from different sides, show you the best of each destination, connect you with the country's history and its people, make your trip much easier and more enjoyable.

Chinese cuisine has been long expected by foodies. Yet meals except hotel breakfasts are left on your own, but touring with ElysianTour, you are still given chances to take a dip of authentic Chinese food throughout the journey. Our insider tour guides will offer the best recommendations on popular restaurants catering for your tastes and preferences so that you could eat like a local and avoid the touristy eateries.

All our tours are customizable. If you cannot find a tour that you like, you could either press Customize this Tour button to customize any tour that is closer to your preference. Alternatively, you could create your own unqiue trip on our Create Your Trip page by sharing your trael interests and needs with our travel experts.

We would 100% recommend private tours. You could enjoy your own pace and make the most out of your trip with exclusive services provided to you and your travel companions. And, all our private tours are customizable that you could freely adjust the tour arrangements till your satisfaction and make it your own unique trip.Plus, our private tours have very competitive prices to guarantee the best value.

Yes. ElysianTour has worked with many solo travelers and provided unforgettable trips. Moreover, we try our hardest to help solo travelers keep their budget.

Yes, we offer accessible tour packages. So far we have customized unforgettable vacations for many travelers who have access issues. Many highlights and hotels in China are wheelchair friendly, and we will even get you to the Great Wall of China to appreciate the world wonder. You only need let us know your mobility level and we will craft the best itinerary for you.

Yes. ElysianTour offers tour itineraries that are well balanced with guided explorations as well as free time to wander and discover places on your own.

China's National Holiday (Oct 1st-Oct 7th) and Chinese New Year (approx. falls in early February each year) are both holidays of 7 days for Chinese people and travelers are not suggested to visit China during these two periods due to the big crowds everywhere. But it is fine if your travel dates meet the first or last two days of the holidays since the crowds will be much smaller. And if your travel dates are fixed and will meet the holidays, your local guides will help arrange the best visiting order to make your visit more comfortable.

For your information, ElysianTour is still at your service during the holidays to help plan a worry-free trip for you and will respond to your enquiries and questions within 12 hours.

2 months ahead of your travel date is suggested. You could confirm your booking in time when you are satisfied with the tour package to guarantee smooth bookings, reservations and entry visa submission. We have handled many urgent bookings within 2 weeks successfully. We also have many clients who plan and confirm their trips a year ahead.

Yes. ElysianTour tries its hardest to provide a secure and smooth tour to our customers, but travel insurance is strongly recommended from the clients' home country in case of any unforeseen circumstances. You are suggested to get travel insurance to cover trip cancellation and interruption, medical expenses, lost luggage, or injuries, etc..

The most important thing to pack is your travel documents including passports, visas and a photocopy of all to keep somewhere safe in your luggage in case you lose them. A digital copy of the documents is also suggested, for example emailing to yourself and saving in a subfolder. For clothes, weather will be of the main concern. So please check the weather of each place you will visit and prepare proper clothes with at least one smart outfit in case of attending some shows or parties. In addition, please bring your medicines if you are under any medication. 

Luggage allowance varies by airline but generally, it is as follows:

Carry-on Luggage

First Class: Two free pieces, each no more than 5 kgs (11 lbs) Economy class: One free piece, no more than 5 kgs (11 lbs), no bigger than 20 cm (7 inches) ×40cm (15 inches) ×55 cm (21 inches).

Checked in Luggage

40 kgs (88 lb) for First Class, 30 kgs (66 lbs) for Business Class and 20 kgs (44 lbs) for Economy Class.

Yes. You can get some before your departure and once you get to China, it is easy to exchange either at the airports or hotels. 

Shopping malls, hotels and restaurants in big cities usually accept foreign credit cards. However, for convenience stores and small shops only cash is accepted. Mobile payment is getting very popular today in China. So, if you live in China and have Wechat or an Alipay account, it makes shopping much easier. 

Yes. You will need to check with your service provider the fee for international roaming or for a reasonable plan for travel outside of your country. If you do not plan to use your phone, please switch it to airplane mode once you land in China to avoid expensive cellular charges for data by apps and other.  Wait until you can use Wi-Fi provided by hotels, café, shopping malls, etc.

Yes. Your tour guide will help you get a SIM card so you can make phone calls or download data while in China. You are still suggested to use Wi-Fi as long as there’s access provided to save on data charges. However, if your phone service is under contract from a specific phone carrier, you cannot use a Chinese SIM card.

Wi-Fi access is quite common today in China. You will get Wi-Fi access in cafés, shopping malls and hotels to keep in touch with family and friends or to everyday news.

In mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the common voltage is 110-220 Volt 50 Hz. But in Taiwan, it is 110 Volt 60 Hz. And the common power plugs are two-prongs with 2 flat pins, two-prongs with round pins and three-prongs with 3 flat pins. If your country uses a different voltage, when you arrive in China, you could borrow the adapter from the hotel.

Yes. Most hotels offer customers hairdryers & toiletries in the bathroom while hairdryers could be placed in the closets. If you cannot find the hairdryer in your room, please contact the house keeper or service stuff and it will be quickly brought to you. Toiletries are sometimes not provided in the hotels on the mountains to be environmentally friendly. Your travel specialist will let you know if any of the hotels you stay does not provide them before your departure.

Yes. Large cities have fairly easy public transportation systems that take travelers everywhere to go exploring. For taxis, you need to simply wave to stop one but it can be difficult to get one during peak hours. Your local tour guides in each city will tell you the differences between different colored taxis. Hotels carefully selected by ElysianTour have excellent locations allowing easy access to shopping malls, scenic spots and local life. 

Yes. No matter how late or early your entry to China is, your friendly guide and driver will meet you upon your arrival and transfer you back to your hotel.

Contact number of your local guide is usually given to you before your tour departure and you are suggested to get a card of the hotel at the reception. Both will help you to either get back to your group or your hotel. 

The deposit requested by the hotel at the check-in counter is in case of any incidental charges. You could pay either by cash or by credit card which will be returned or cancelled when checking out if no incidental charges occur.

No. In general, it is not safe to drink from the tap in most places. However, there are some hotels that offer drinkable tap water indicated clearly with a sign next to the tap. Otherwise please drink bottled or boiled water as the Chinese people do and hotels in China provide electric kettles in the rooms. 

More and more famous scenic spots offer western toilets for convenience of western tourists while some have only Chinese squatting ones. Your tour guide will let you know the best place to use the toilet on each spot. But you are suggested to always bring some toilet paper with you as it’s only offered by very few toilets at attractions or in public areas.

In China, visits to temples do not require tourists to take off their shoes or wear scarfs but you are suggested to dress properly to show respect to the religion. Female tourists should not wear too revealing of clothes even in hot summer.

Yes. Hotels are all at prime locations with easy access to restaurants, malls where you can go get local food. But staff in local restaurants do not speak much English so while ordering dishes, you may need look at pictures on the menu. If you have any allergies, your local tour guides will be informed in advance, and they will help write down them in Chinese that you just need to show the restaurant staff when you get there.

Tipping in restaurants, for taxis is not necessary in China as it is included in the bills. However, it is customary to tip hotel staff like the bell boy, housekeeping as well as your local guides and drivers.