The tour costs £1595 per person excluding regional flights
The tour costs £1,595 per person, excluding regional flights. Most accommodation is in four-star hotels.You’ll fly Air China from London to Beijing, and visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven. Activities don’t stop in the evening, either: you can take a cruise on Houhai Lake or tuck into a traditional Peking duck feast The next stop is Xian From there you’ll fly to the futuristic city of Shanghai. Besides the museum and gardens, you can take your granddaughter for an evening stroll along the Bund, the riverside promenade on the west bank of the Huangpu River. You’ll drive into the mountains and take a cable car to the summit of Mount Huangshan, then spend a day exploring the breathtaking scenery and take a cruise down the Xinan River.
International flights aren’t included, so you will have to buy an “open-jaw” ticket to Beijing returning from Hong Kong. British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba ) offers flights for around £400 for you and £320 for your granddaughter in April.If you’re keen to travel a little more luxuriously and don’t mind being in a larger group, CTS Horizons (020-7836 9911; www.ctshorizons ) offers a 15-day tour, “The Dragon’s Crown”, departing on 25 March or 8 April. The cost of £765 (adult) and £720 (child) includes internal flights, transfers and accommodation with breakfast plus some other meals. Next you’ll fly to Xian – the start of the Silk Route – to visit the site of the Terracotta Warriors and explore the old walled city. Finally, the trip takes you to Beijing.The cost of the holiday is £1,499 per adult and £1,389 per child, with departures on 26 March and 2 and 8 April.
From paddy fields along the Li River to the remote village of “Dragon’s Backbone”, you’ll be treated to stunning views of the countryside. An overnight train will take you to the peaceful countryside of Guilin, where you’ll spend two days exploring the landscape by bicycle or rickshaw. Flights depart from London and arrive in Hong Kong, where you spend the first two nights. After exploring the glittering metropolis, you’ll catch a bus to Guangzhou and enter mainland China. Expect lots of construction work as the city gears up for the 2008 Olympics.For the physically active, The Adventure Company (01420 541007; www.adventurecompany.co.uk) offers “Land of the Dragon”, a 15-day trip through rural China for groups of three to five families.
Tourism to the city has intensified since your pioneering trip 25 years ago; your granddaughter may enjoy the Tang Paradise theme park.As for China’s capital, Beijing, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are essential visits. The 6,000 immaculately preserved life-size figures were unearthed at the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang just outside Xian in the 1970s. And once you get out of town to Yangshuo and see the crystal-clear Li River, limestone pinnacles and cave network, you will really appreciate China’s spectacular rural scenery.Heading into China’s interior, Xian is a great city to explore, with walls dating back to the Tang Forbidden City, and if your granddaughter is interested in Chinese history she will adore the Terracotta Warriors. Moving west into the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is Guilin, an attractive city surrounded by unusual limestone peaks and cassia trees, which, despite rapid economic growth, is managing to retain its natural beauty. Hong Kong is a popular stop because it has the greatest variety of tourist attractions – and, of course, shopping. You will undoubtedly notice changes in the city since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.Further north in Guangdong province, the capital Guangzhou – once known as Canton – is a thriving industrial city that is worth a passing visit, as you will no doubt remember, to see its high rises, temples and outlying White Cloud Hills.
Do you have any suggestions for a small two-week group tour? My budget is around £3,000 S Dodd, Winchester
A. Group tours of China can be ambitious and physically demanding – which is why it is important that you find one to suit both you and your granddaughter. Many tour operators offering trips to China do not cater for under-18s, but there are a select few that have specially tailored family adventures for children and adults in good physical health.
Easter is an ideal time to visit China, since the weather in the more-visited coastal regions is generally temperate and prices tend to be lower.You will find that most organised tours include the places you visited on your last trip, taking you in a semi-circular arc from south to north or vice versa. However, I would like to see some new places and I need to make the adventure appeal to my granddaughter Some travelling by boat or train would add variety. I am aware that everything has changed enormously and it would be interesting for me to revisit some of these places.