I've absolutely no idea how much money I will need.

Pretty much all food is already taken care of so my thought is that the only spending money I'll need is for drinks and souvenirs.

Do any past visitors have any tips they can share.

• How much did you spend and on what sort of things?

• Did you rely on Chinese cash or were you able to use cards?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I went to china a few years ago for approx 2 weeks. I took around £400 in currency and £200 in English money plus my credit card. The only thing I really spent any money on was souvenirs and drinks (mainly water) . I brought tons of souvenirs and I still brought home some currency and all my English money and I only used my credit card once when I purchased a very expensive duvet set from the silk factory that to date I've never used.

If taking currency - try to get small notes if possible, and when shopping remember to haggle.

I hope you have a fantastic trip.

I'm off on the Inspirational China tour on 4th September.

I've absolutely no idea how much money I will need.

Pretty much all food is already taken care of so my thought is that the only spending money I'll need is for drinks and souvenirs.

Do any past visitors have any tips they can share.

• How much did you spend and on what sort of things?

• Did you rely on Chinese cash or were you able to use cards?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi Leahk

As you say all the meals are included and so you won't be spending anything on those (obviously teas and coffees at Starbucks will need to be paid for!!). I pre-booked all the trips which saved hassle when I got there (as most people on my tour did), I took Chinese Yuan and my credit card. There is a small charge for using a card but I only used it once (if you take it don't forget to inform your bank!!). There are plenty of opportunities to shop and I suppose it depends if you want to buy a lot of personal items and souveniers but, for myself, I bought back over half of money!!

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask.

PaulineD

I'm off on the Inspirational China tour on 4th September.

I've absolutely no idea how much money I will need.

Pretty much all food is already taken care of so my thought is that the only spending money I'll need is for drinks and souvenirs.

Do any past visitors have any tips they can share.

• How much did you spend and on what sort of things?

• Did you rely on Chinese cash or were you able to use cards?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi

Personally I took £500 in cash with me and a credit card for back up. The post office credit card I believe has free withdrawals abroad but I never used it. I think I brought back about £150 pounds. A lot of money goes on tipping every day as there was the driver, local guide and tour manager. The larger places we went shopping in ie the silk and jewellery places would take card but for a lot of souvenirs these were all cash at the sites. Also if you do the Yangtze cruise there are additional trips that you can do, which aren't on the itinerary. You could pay for these by cash or card. If you wanted alcohol drinks in the evening I believe they were reasonably expensive.

Any further questions, just ask away, you will have a fab trip

Lucinda

Cheers

Shez

It was offered as an optional - "panda experience" - only 31 people per day are allowed to do it so it's not guaranteed but your tour guide may be able to book it - you get the opportunity to see a panda close up individually, feed it, spend time with it and have your photo taken sat next to it - you also get a t shirt, souvenir book, photo and frame etc. It costs 2000 Yuan (approx £200) which is paid directly to the panda breeding research centre for their work and lasts around an hour. About five of our group did it - I didn't but they all said it was a great expereince (albeit an expensive one!)

That would have been nice to do but wasn't offered to us on the May trip!!

PaulineD

It wasn't listed on the formal itinerary, I think the optionals may depend on the individual tour. We weren't able to do Xian by night as we had a day of torrential downpour and spent a full day in Beijing airport from 9am to 7pm until it was confirmed that all 600 flights were grounded so we lost a full day of the holiday and had to take a flight lunchtime the next day. It's a moveable feast I guess.

Oh that's a blow. We did have some rain but it wasn't enough to stop us doing anything thankfully.

PaulineD

I came home with £20 worth of YUAN.

This was spent on the following.

• Xi'an by night trip

• Beijing Houtons additional optional trip

• Shanghai Maglev train additional optional trip

• Chengdu Face changer show additional optional trip

• Souvenir group photo - Tiananmen Square

• Souvenir group photo - Xi'an

• Misc. little Souvenirs

• Bar (about £100 over 9 nights)

• Tips (about £100 - Coach Driver, Local Guides and JY rep)

• Snacks (chocolate/crisps/soft drinks

Some of the other travellers spent a lot in the Jade, Silk, Brocade and Pearl shops but in these you could easily use a credit card.

Some paid £200 to cuddle a Panda - this had to be paid in cash.

Some paid for Massages - these also need cash

Unfortunately because of delays at the airport there was no time for Duty Free shopping - otherwise I would have probably used all my YUAN.

It was offered as an optional - "panda experience" - only 31 people per day are allowed to do it so it's not guaranteed but your tour guide may be able to book it - you get the opportunity to see a panda close up individually, feed it, spend time with it and have your photo taken sat next to it - you also get a t shirt, souvenir book, photo and frame etc. It costs 2000 Yuan (approx £200) which is paid directly to the panda breeding research centre for their work and lasts around an hour. About five of our group did it - I didn't but they all said it was a great expereince (albeit an expensive one!)

Thanks for the info. Think I will pass on that then lol.

Having already discovered that the country’s carry-on limit is a stingy 5Kg – my carry-on case weighs almost 4Kg! – I decided I didn’t want 50 notes stuffed either into my wallet or my shoulder-bag, as well as another up-to-10 sterling. So I’ve cut it back to 20, adding some £50 notes to compensate. I’m hoping I shall be pleasantly surprised when I get to China and find I need more cash that the exchange rate will be a significant improvement on that here in the UK, as I have found in both Hungary and Poland of late.

I expect most of next week’s travellers are already organised with their currency but others might like to be made aware of that tip.