China on a Shoestring tour

This 25-day full circuit of China take in all the major sites and more. An amazing budget china tour that covers Hong Kong, Chengdu, Beijing & Shanghai, along with plenty of off-the-beaten track adventures and activities along the way. Starting and ending in the dazzling city of Hong Kong, we take you on a budget tour of China beginning with Yangshuo and its towering karst mountains, green fertile fields, and a long list of adventure activities to try out. It's then on to Chengdu for an encounter with the endangered but equally endearing panda bear. Next we drop in to Xi'an for a shot of China's rich and ancient cultural history, and a visit to the world famous Terracotta Warriors. Continuing on to Dengfeng, home to the iconic Shaolin Temple, it's all out kung fu madness, with a chance to watch and even train with the masters of martial arts. Eventually we reach Beijing, China's bustling capital, and from here we take a trip out to the unmissable Great Wall of China and a night camping on the walls, and also enjoy a spectacular sunset and sunrise. Heading towards Shanghai we spend a little time in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province amongst the beautiful bamboo forests and crystal clear lagoons, before reaching the world's biggest city. A night out in Shanghai is an experience you'll never forget. We finally work our way back to Hong Kong, stopping off in Fujian en route to sample rural China at its best. Hostels, camping & overnight train. Our Shoestring China tours are based on basic but comfortable and fun hostel accommodation. These are safe and have good showers, internet, washing machines, and real Chinese character. Like hostels around the world, they tend to be most popular with young travellers aged 18 to 35 who are travelling on a small budget and who are keen to meet people and make new friends in the lounge or bar. Accommodation is in shared dorm rooms with all bedding and linen provided (this includes sleeping bags and mats during camping excursions at the Great Wall). Luggage is tagged, recorded and stored at the hostels while you are out on day excursions. Camping at the Great Wall is only available between April and the end of September. You will have your own sleeper seat on each overnight train journey (full flat bed). We try to ensure that all our travellers are booked in the same compartement so you can have fun getting to know each other better, play some games, and share a few drinks.If you or a fellow traveller have a seat that is not with the rest of the group, the tour leaders have a process in place to try to switch seats. In some stations they will be able to board the train and arrange a seat swap with another passenger. In other cases you can make use of the emergency phone that we provide to accompany every group, and the tour leader will then use this to speak in Mandarin to the conductor or directly to another passenger to help arrange a seat swap. This normally works very smoothly and without incident.