How much to budget for a 1 month's trip in China?

[agenda]

I'm planning a trip to china for about 4 to 5 weeks.

Currently, I plan to land in Tianjin, and leave by Hangzhou, from the scoot deal, it's only $280 with baggage.

I intend to travel to Beijing and stay there for 4 to 5 days. After which, I will travel to Xi'An, then to Gannan, Lanzhou and all the way to Urumqi before taking the train back to Shanghai.

I did some research and for major transportation between cities, I expect to spend about $700 including flights. This will be a backpacking trip so I will be staying at budget hostels, probably in dormitory and what not.

How much should I budget for it?

 

[Hisashiburi]

Not sure if it is a good idea to take the train from urumqi to shanghai... it is really far n would take a long time.

Food wise u can budget about $10 per day.
Also need to factor in local transport.

 

[agenda]

Not sure if it is a good idea to take the train from urumqi to shanghai... it is really far n would take a long time.

Food wise u can budget about $10 per day.
Also need to factor in local transport.

Yes, it would take about 2 days to get there, the cheapest being a direct train else get to Xi'An then to Shanghai. It's about $265 and is half the price of flying.

 

[dilphinus]

I'm planning a trip to china for about 4 to 5 weeks.

Currently, I plan to land in Tianjin, and leave by Hangzhou, from the scoot deal, it's only $280 with baggage.

I intend to travel to Beijing and stay there for 4 to 5 days. After which, I will travel to Xi'An, then to Gannan, Lanzhou and all the way to Urumqi before taking the train back to Shanghai.

I did some research and for major transportation between cities, I expect to spend about $700 including flights. This will be a backpacking trip so I will be staying at budget hostels, probably in dormitory and what not.

How much should I budget for it?

Depending on season, lodging prices will differ. Also in some places, like Gannan, there are no hostels.

Work out a list of attractions you want to go and check their prices. Google is amazing. You can find the fees of attractions online. Food wise, one can survive on $10 a day or $30 a day, it's up to the individual. Suggest you stock up on dry food, ie, muesli bars or biscuits, in case you dont like the food or cant get food (on trains or buses). They dont sell muesli bars in China.

If you have not taken a Chinese train before, I dont suggest you take the train for more than 12 hours. Some trains, the condition is ok while some, you dont even want to go to the toilet. If you are unlucky to get a dirty train, i dont know how you can survive with minimal trips to the toilet òr even trying to use the toilet. Overnight trains are easier as you can always use the toilet before boarding the train and after alighting. Some toilets in the train stations are horrendous while some are ok. I cant stand the toilets at the Beijing Main Station. The Tianjin Station and Beijing South Station are ok. The Hong Qiao train station is ok too.

Bus and metro tickets are about RMB2 to RMB3. The fares are higher for Shanghai metro if i remember. I tend to take the taxi more often than the metro in Shanghai.

I have taken the local bus in Suzhou, Kunming, Datong, Hohhot, etc, and the fares are around RMB2.

Ive been to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Suzhou, Shanghai, Harbin, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Beijing, Datong, Hohhot and Erlian. If you can eat at the roadside eateries and not at shopping malls, your meal wont be >S$5 for a meal set, ie, rice with tomatoes and egg, or a bowl of noodles. Your meal wont exceed $10 if you eat at the food court of a shopping mall. I tend to spend more on food in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai is the most expensive for me as we tend to eat at nice restaurants. In Beijing, i tend to eat more in the malls and restaurants, same for Guangzhou.

Dont forget your visa.

 

[agenda]

Depending on season, lodging prices will differ. Also in some places, like Gannan, there are no hostels.

Work out a list of attractions you want to go and check their prices. Google is amazing. You can find the fees of attractions online. Food wise, one can survive on $10 a day or $30 a day, it's up to the individual. Suggest you stock up on dry food, ie, muesli bars or biscuits, in case you dont like the food or cant get food (on trains or buses). They dont sell muesli bars in China.

If you have not taken a Chinese train before, I dont suggest you take the train for more than 12 hours. Some trains, the condition is ok while some, you dont even want to go to the toilet. If you are unlucky to get a dirty train, i dont know how you can survive with minimal trips to the toilet òr even trying to use the toilet. Overnight trains are easier as you can always use the toilet before boarding the train and after alighting. Some toilets in the train stations are horrendous while some are ok. I cant stand the toilets at the Beijing Main Station. The Tianjin Station and Beijing South Station are ok. The Hong Qiao train station is ok too.

Bus and metro tickets are about RMB2 to RMB3. The fares are higher for Shanghai metro if i remember. I tend to take the taxi more often than the metro in Shanghai.

I have taken the local bus in Suzhou, Kunming, Datong, Hohhot, etc, and the fares are around RMB2.

Ive been to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Suzhou, Shanghai, Harbin, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Tianjin, Beijing, Datong, Hohhot and Erlian. If you can eat at the roadside eateries and not at shopping malls, your meal wont be >S$5 for a meal set, ie, rice with tomatoes and egg, or a bowl of noodles. Your meal wont exceed $10 if you eat at the food court of a shopping mall. I tend to spend more on food in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai is the most expensive for me as we tend to eat at nice restaurants. In Beijing, i tend to eat more in the malls and restaurants, same for Guangzhou.

Dont forget your visa.

Thank you for your reply!

I roughly know what I want to see between Xi'An and Urumqi, will be travelling to Beijing then to Xi'An, take a detour to jiuzhaigou, gannan, lanzhou, jiuquan, dunhuang, hami, urumqi/turpan.

I will take the train to Xi'An for 1 day and head to Shanghai straight before back home.

Do you think SGD$50 per day is enough for everything? Excluding flights and major train trips between Beijing, Xi'An, Urumqi and Shanghai.

 

[dilphinus]

Thank you for your reply!

I roughly know what I want to see between Xi'An and Urumqi, will be travelling to Beijing then to Xi'An, take a detour to jiuzhaigou, gannan, lanzhou, jiuquan, dunhuang, hami, urumqi/turpan.

I will take the train to Xi'An for 1 day and head to Shanghai straight before back home.

Do you think SGD$50 per day is enough for everything? Excluding flights and major train trips between Beijing, Xi'An, Urumqi and Shanghai.

S$50 a day excluding lodging is definitely more than sufficient, but if including lodging, them definitely insufficient.

 

[agenda]

S$50 a day excluding lodging is definitely more than sufficient, but if including lodging, them definitely insufficient.

Including lodging, I intend to stay at shared dormitory to lower costs

 

[spurman]

Beijing u will spend more one.
Hotels. Hostels. Normal food also more ex. Transport if take their mrt or bus should be cheaper.

Also sightseeing will not be cheap too. Visit forbidden city wo the hearing guide and also visiting the house of clocks n treasures. Prob ard 100cny if i no wrong liao... the tian tan cheaper ard 40yuan.
Summer palace ard 80yuan if i not wrong again.

Of coZ th3se places can take bus or mrt there.

But great wall. Mutianyu or badaling hmm. More diff modes of transports req.

Hangzhou... west lake foc entrance. The lei feng ta. Think i go up got pay a bit.


30 days.... some days u will feel lik3 staying and eat better one.

Maybe i suggest

1. Food. Ard 1500 bucks.
2. Inner transport. Ard 800 bucks.
3. Hostels. Hmm. Tricky. Maybe 1000 bucks.

 

[dilphinus]

Including lodging, I intend to stay at shared dormitory to lower costs

Insufficient. Already told you some places that you are going dont have hostels. You want to save cost on lodging, camp.

You do up your itinerary. Calculate cost of attractions, trains, and cost of lodging then add in $15 to $30 a day for food and misc.

 

[wenghan]

Just for sharing. Do bring enough RMB. I just came back from Beijing and Harbin. Many places, even the established restaurants, shopping mall and hotels, do not accept VISA and Master cards that are not issued in China.

Sent from a tablet using GAGT

 

[beanstalk6]

Aye, not every place has hostels, and hostels may not offer the cheapest also. If you speak and read Mandarin, your options outnumber those of the Western backpacker who feeds off the Lonely Planet or Google. I look up lvren.cn， qunar and http://www.qyer.com/.
Flights may be cheaper than trains for some routes, and if it is a return trip, consider flying on one leg, especially if the train takes a long time, like to Urumqi, for instance. Buses can also factor in your consideration. Many cities offer tourist bus routes to destinations outside their urban areas.

 

[agenda]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I guess it'll be very hard to stretch to $50 a day. I'm looking at alternative travel plans, either entering Xi'An straight and departing Urumqi for Singapore or entering at Tianjin, travel between Beijing and Shanghai and back home. Either way would keep my trip to under 20 days.

 

[dilphinus]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I guess it'll be very hard to stretch to $50 a day. I'm looking at alternative travel plans, either entering Xi'An straight and departing Urumqi for Singapore or entering at Tianjin, travel between Beijing and Shanghai and back home. Either way would keep my trip to under 20 days.

The budget flight on Tiger from SG to Xi'an is overpriced. You are better off at other options.

The flight between SG and Urumqi is expensive as well.

You will spend a fair bit on the attractions in Beijing, the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc.

You can consider Shijiazhuang, Pingyao, Nanjing, nearby cities to Beijing and Shanghai. As long as you head to Urumqi, your travel costs will increase significantly.

For 20 days, you might as well just do 14/15 days so you don't have to apply for a visa. 2 weeks is sufficient for Shanghai and Beijing.

Yunan is worth a visit. Do some research on Dali and Lijiang, etc.

 

[agenda]

The budget flight on Tiger from SG to Xi'an is overpriced. You are better off at other options.

The flight between SG and Urumqi is expensive as well.

You will spend a fair bit on the attractions in Beijing, the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc.

You can consider Shijiazhuang, Pingyao, Nanjing, nearby cities to Beijing and Shanghai. As long as you head to Urumqi, your travel costs will increase significantly.

For 20 days, you might as well just do 14/15 days so you don't have to apply for a visa. 2 weeks is sufficient for Shanghani and Beijing.

Yunan is worth a visit. Do some research on Dali and Lijiang, etc.

The cheapest I got for a Xi'An return was $49X with China Eastern, that doesn't include the $110 for the train ride between Xi'An and Urumqi. The cheapest for flight all-in was $700, at the end, I'll save about $100 and it makes my trip more viable, as I can stretch to 3 weeks and afford to live on $70-$80 a day.

If I were to do between Beijing and Shanghai, I would most probably visit Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou as well

 

[quanyou]

first of all i suggest to apply for a unionpay card via uob or any bank that has one to backup yourself since you are going for 1 month. If you have alipay, you can also top up alipay in SG to back up yourself, alipay is very widely use in china now. carrying too much cash is no advisable in china. bring a lousy smart phone and install alipay on it. i was in GZ last week and some food stall road side accept alipay.

 

[K|muRa^84]

Is uob unionpay accepted all over china?

 

[Faiden]

Is uob unionpay accepted all over china?

impressive , China is very advance now , way more advance than SGP , 95% places accept visa/master card.

Just that Union pay , unless you are a local , that will have system / points , rebate tie up... like a membership thing..

Dude , a lot of tourists in China per year... ... AMEX is accepted in most hotel , boutique and good restaurants , VISA and Mastercard are widely accepted...

Unless one is going to some "really rural mountain area, thats a different story,, but CASH is widely accepted too...

 

[badsector]

most places now accepts alipay and wechat pay also..

 

[siyimi]

u may want to consider to fly, coz there may b some last min deals from airlines that offer up to 80% off the usual price if you can fly within that week/ day (usually first or last flight)

i got my heavy discounted fare at kunming airport to lijiang @80% off, but that was an very early flight!

 

[alvinchiazy]

For Beijing and Shanghai, you should expect things to be a little more expensive. For instance for transport, Shanghai's MRT goes by distance, but Beijing's subway is flat rate of 2RMB.