Independent vs Tour – Why we chose to do a tour through China

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China can be a challenge for even the most experienced traveller, the sheer size of the country and the language barrier and other frustrations can detract from the experience and leave a somewhat negative view of the place. In the time leading up to our trip to China I spent time reading other travellers blogs and speaking to those that I knew had been there. The impression I got was more negative experiences than positives so it got us thinking about how we wanted to travel the country ourselves.

We usually like to avoid organised tours as much as possible as not only do they cost more but they don’t offer the same level of flexibility and freedom as independent travel. On the plus side though you don’t have to worry about organising transport or accommodation as it’s all taking care of for you. From past tours that we have done we have enjoyed them immensely and some of our fellow travellers have become lifelong friends. Our style of tours has always been small group grass roots adventure, this way you still have flexibility and freedom and you still get to enjoy family run accommodation and the joys of public transport!  I also like these types of tours because they are more often small group and your fellow travellers are like minded. The other thing of course is that grass roots tours are always at the budget end of the scale.

For our trip through China we chose to take a tour as we felt that we wanted to get the most out of a destination that can be frustrating to travel.  We chose G Adventures after attending a Travel Expo in Melbourne, not only did they offer us a 20% discount but they are the only budget tour operator that covered all the destinations we wanted to go.  The first couple of days we spent in Beijing on our own and this was the only time we got to experience China independently.

To summarise our thoughts:  I have put together a list of what we thought was the positives and the negatives of taking the tour we did:

Positives

Being a grassroots style tour we:

• Stayed in the same style accommodation 3* hotels and guesthouses we would normally stay in if travelling independently. Although had we done it independently we would have the choice and we may have done a few more hostels.
• We used local transport so no different than if we had done it independently
• We had a Chinese speaking guide who took away the frustration of trying to communicate in areas where English was not spoken widely. This was particularly handy when ordering food in restaurants and negotiating taxi drivers in cities!
• Our guide provided us with local knowledge and recommendations on activities and places to eat and gave us insight into Chinese culture
• We had free time to do our own thing and activities were optional.
• We had the fun of sharing the experiences with a group of like-minded people
• Eating out in China is culturally a group/family affair and many dishes are normally ordered for everyone to share. As a group we had the opportunity to enjoy tasting a variety of dishes that our guide could order on our behalf. If we were on our own we wouldn’t have this experience.
• We didn’t have to worry about where we were staying or how we were getting between A and B it was all organised for us leaving more time to relax and enjoy our trip.

Negatives

• You only got to spend one or two days in each place so if you liked a place then there is no opportunity to stay longer.  We liked Yangshou and could have spent longer there!
• You are tied to an itinerary whereas travelling independently you get the flexibility and freedom to go where you want and stay in a place for as long as you want.
• You are stuck with the same people for 21 days so you hope you get along with everyone!  We were lucky our group was a good group with a good mix of ages and nationalities and more importantly we all got along!
• It was more expensive doing the tour, independently we could have saved money.

Overall though we do not regret doing the tour and I think positives certainly enhanced the experience to the extent that China became a favourite destination.

If you want to know more about the tour we did then click here for the itinerary