whether you are visiting china for the
food
the nature or the bustling cities you
will have a lot of choices
china is more expensive than other asia
destinations
but it can be visited on a budget
this is katie from creative travel guide
and after living
and traveling in china we share how to
travel china on a budget
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looking for more travel tips make sure
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firstly
let's look at how you can get cheap
accommodation
in china staying in a chinese hostel is
a great way to save some money
the major cities like beijing and
shanghai
will have typical hostels that you are
used to in asia
but many chinese hostels are more like
three-star hotels
with private rooms and bathrooms as well
as
plenty of community rooms as well you
can find hostels in china
on hostel world or sea trip
which brings us on to our next tip for
saving money on accommodation in china
to book with a goda or c trip places
like booking.com and expedia
are perfectly good hotel websites for
europe or america
however avoid them for china sea trip or
pagoda offer hotels with prices up to 20
lower than other comparison websites
plus
these two websites give you an option to
pay on arrival we definitely recommend
doing this to avoid those card fees
another way to get cheap accommodation
in china is to book early
hotels in cities like shanghai or
beijing
do book up especially if you are
visiting in the holidays
also china is not one of those asian
countries
that you can rock up on arrival and get
cheap hostel rooms
so book everything in advance if you are
looking for a bit of a luxury but you're
still traveling on a budget
make sure to avoid the western named
brand hotels
so western chains like hilton or
marriott
can be found all over china however
they are pretty expensive instead
you can opt for the five-star chinese
hotels
that don't have recognizable brands but
are just as good and a lot
cheaper when you are booking that hotel
make sure to compare locations
like most cities in the world the closer
to the city centre that you are
the more expensive your accommodation is
going to be
and china is no different the best thing
about the major cities in china is the
fantastic
metro system this means that you can
stay further away from the city
use the metro or diddy app to see the
attractions
and get into the city while saving money
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also planning when to book your trip is
a great way to save money on
all accounts so traveling in the winter
is a great time to save money
on hotels and flights because winter is
off peak season
and it means you're going to find a lot
lower rates however
wrap up warm especially if you are
visiting north china
but that being said you are going to
want to avoid february
it is a chinese holiday so generally
speaking
avoid chinese holidays at all costs
national holidays in china are a big
thing
residents leave the cities and return to
their families for the holidays
but then rural locals will flock to the
cities
and travel destinations around the
country too
meaning trains flights and hotels are
booked to the max
and prices are at their highest avoid
traveling during chinese new year often
landing in february
and golden week which runs during the
start of october
if you can it's actually a great idea to
book your trip
just after a national holiday everyone
has to go back to work after that
holiday
so you're gonna be able to spend plenty
of time in destinations
and they'll be a lot quieter and a lot
cheaper
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so we've talked about cheap
accommodation now let's talk about
getting around
china on a budget so first things first
you are going to want to use the speed
trains
china has so many trains to choose from
and these are often a lot cheaper
than flying and even bus travel browse
and buy tickets on sea trip
and make sure to book in advance again
especially if you're visiting during a
holiday
or during the summer time for trains up
to around six
hours you can choose between second or
first class tickets
whilst longer trains will offer hard or
soft seats
or hard sleeper tickets plus if you do
take a night train
you can save money on a hotel room when
taking that sleeper train
however if you do have a limited time in
china then you can get some cheap
flights
a few ways to save money on flights is
by checking prices on skyscanner
but then also comparing prices on c trip
as well
like i mentioned before this is a
chinese travel app with prices that are
catered towards the locals
if you plan on getting many flights
around china
then definitely make use of those
multi-flight options
we tend to use skyscanner but most
comparison flight websites will offer an
opportunity for you to use multi-flights
this means that you will book five or
six flights at once and save some money
especially if you are choosing the same
airline and talking about airlines
spring airlines is a great option if you
are trying to travel china on a budget
they are a low-cost budget airline so
book your trips up using them
and make sure you check their website
directly as well
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so you've got to your chosen destination
in china now let's talk about how to get
around
the cities of china on a budget so
something that you cannot miss when you
are in china
is the sheer amount of bikes everywhere
so bikes are a big big thing in china
because you can rent them and literally
leave them wherever you want to
these bikes will have a barcode on the
back you can scan the bike using your
app and pay a very small fee to ride
around the city
and then leave it wherever you want to
when you are done with it
alternatively if biking isn't for you
then you can get the metro
now a lot of the cities in china will
have some type of metro system
and they all come with a metro app so
download these before your trip so you
can navigate your way around the city
alternatively you can also use diddy so
diddy is the chinese version of
uber and it is actually really easy to
use
make sure you turn on your location so
it can find where you are
and a lot of destinations on the app are
in english
plus you can communicate with your
driver and it will translate the text
for you
so you don't have to worry about not
knowing any chinese
moving on to my favorite part how to eat
cheaply
in china so firstly of course this is
one of my favorite rules for saving
money in a place
is to eat locally stick to the local
food and restaurants
in china you can get delicious meals in
a restaurant
for as little as 40 rmb whilst a western
meal will cost a hundred rmb or more
street food is also a great option
especially if you're in those tourist
cities
you will find food vendors around the
city selling snacks or whole meals
for as little as four rmb or 50 cents
unfortunately these are becoming less
and less common
outside of the tourist areas but when
you find one
make sure you take advantage of it but
you can find some hole-in-the-wall
restaurants
so street vendors are becoming less
popular due to government regulations
but that isn't stopping locals selling
their delicious and cheap foods
you can find vendors selling from tiny
booths around the city
especially near food or fresh markets or
you can find vendors selling from a
front window of their house this food is
catered to the locals so you know it
will be good
and affordable something you do have to
avoid though is
eating at hotel or hostel restaurants
now after a long day out seeing all of
the sights and attractions that the city
has to offer
it can be really tempting just to stay
in your hostel
and eat the food there however because
they know that you are a tourist
those prices are going to be higher you
are much better off finding a local
restaurant
perhaps one that is further away from
the city centre
and trying some local food at a cheaper
price
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and a few last tips for visiting china
on a budget
make sure you bargain so when buying
from vendors in both
markets or small stores negotiate a
price with the seller
this is particularly true if you are in
a market in the major cities
also make sure to avoid the scams in
some sightseeing
areas of shanghai or beijing you will
find
similar scams girls or students will
invite you to a bar restaurant
coffee shop or tea house only to order
an expensive dish and leave you with the
bill
if someone seems too nice and wants to
spend lots of time with you
there's probably a reason for it also
whilst you're in china you will need to
use
a vpn to access social media and google
whilst living in china we personally
always used expressvpn because it was
consistently reliable
but you can get a free vpn before
arriving in china too one last thing
whilst you're in china make sure you see
the free and cheap sites
similar to other places in asia china is
home to some
beautiful temples that are really cheap
to visit
as well as free beautiful parks and
interesting and affordable museums
so those are the best ways to save money
in china
and travel china on a budget let us know
where you are heading to in the comments
below
we can't wait to hear from you thank you
for watching if you liked the video
please make sure you give us a thumbs up
and hit subscribe
take care guys and until next time stay
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creative
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so