Before You Go

Visa and Passport

We will provide an invitation letter to our clients upon request after you signed tour confirmation with our company and make payment. 

1. Our travel consultant will assist you in arranging China trip by email. After you finalize the tour itinerary with us, we will send you a ‘Service Confirmation’.

2. Have your signature on the confirmation and then send the copy back to us. All your tour bookings will be confirmed after the receipt of your deposit / payment.

3. We will make an invitation letter based on your personal information and the confirmed tour itinerary. The invitation letter contains the information as below. 

Name list: full names (the same as those on your passport);

Passport number: All of your group member’s passport numbers;

Date of birth;

Gender: Male or Female;

Passport expiration date;

Destination: the same as that on the confirmed itinerary.

Travel date

4. We will fax or email you the invitation letter with our company’s seal on it. 

Note: For the citizens in some countries, the local consular services of Chinese government may require a formal invitation letter from an official tourism administration, and then it will take at least one month to apply for it. Easy Tour China can help you with the application as well. 

International travelers who want to remain in China beyond the authorized visa duration are required to apply for an extension to their visa with appropriate reasons. 

The visa extension application form should be submitted to the Local Public Security Bureau 7 days before the expiration date of the visa. The length of the extension depends on the type of visa, and multiple entry visas can not be extended. 

Foreign visitors who want their visa to be extended need to provide the following relevant documents:

  1. Valid passport and visa
  2. A completed application form for visa extension
  3. Documents and papers supporting reasons for visa extension 

You are advised not to overstay the duration of your visa or fail to apply for an extension before your visa expires as you risk being heavily fined and have your travel plans disrupted.

As a travel specialist team, Easy Tour China can provide you with more details and visa extension assistance upon your request.

1. Please make sure whether you really lose your passport or not before you report it to the local Public Security Bureau (PSB office). If traveling with Easy Tour China, you can ask for the help of our local guide, who will take you to the nearest PSB office, which will issue a proof of passport loss or theft to you. 

2. Secondly, you need to ask your hotel to provide a stamped proof of your stay. 

3. Keep an original copy of the first page of your passport as the proof of citizenship with you in a separate place, which will make it easier for you to apply for replacing the passport. 

4. With the 3 above-mentioned documents prepared, you can go to the nearest embassy or consulate of your country and do the application of passport replacement. You’ll be required to complete a passport application form and pay a relevant fee.  

For US citizens, please visit the webpage: 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/lost/lost_848.html

For Canadian citizens, please visit the webpage: 

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/planification/203.aspx?lang=eng

For UK citizens, please visit the webpage:

https://www.gov.uk/report-a-lost-or-stolen-passport 

For Australian citizens, please visit the webpage:

https://www.passports.gov.au/web/renewal/loststolen.aspx   

5. After the new passport is issued, you need to go to the PSB office to apply for China visa again, so that you can go out of China and enter your own country smoothly.  

Based on the above information, everyone can see it is rather complicated to go through the procedures if someone loses his/her passport when traveling. Therefore, Easy Tour China travel specialists highly recommend you to put your passport at a safe place during your trip abroad, and keep a separated photocopy of your passport and visa in case of emergency.

Travel Insurance

Easy Tour China provides a limited travel insurance, which covers only for the clients who book a package tour with us. But this insurance is not available for the clients who book half-day tours, pick up & transfer service, hotels or air tickets. 

In order to offer you worry-free trip in China, we strongly recommend that all travelers should take out a comprehensive travel insurance policy before leaving their home country.

The insurance which we provide to our clients are limited, and the settlements we can claim in China is complicated. Therefore, for your convenience, we recommend that travelers should purchase comprehensive travel insurances at home before going abroad for a holiday, which policy usually covers a wide range of inconveniences from lost & damage of baggage, to flight delays & cancellations, etc. 

Here below are some online insurance companies for your reference, but Easy Tour China is not liable for any dispute or loss of the deal between you and the relevant companies: worldnomads, insuremytrip, Globallink.

Weather

Generally speaking, the proper seasons for traveling in China are from April to October due to the weather, holiday period and other reasons. Before you confirm your travel dates, please be aware to avoid the following holiday periods, which is terribly busy and not recommended for international tourists: the Labor Day Holiday (May 1-3), Chinese National Day (Oct 1-7) and Spring Festival (Lunar Dec 31-Jan 6). 

As China is a country with large area and different landscapes, There are always some good destinations best for each season.

Travel China in Spring (March - May): Guilin & Yangshuo, Huangshan Mt., Zhangjiajie Reserve

Travel China in Summer (June - August): Silk Road, Lijiang & Shangri-la, Tibet, Jiuzhaigou Reserve

Travel China in Autumn (September -  November): Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Badain Jaran Desert, Yunnan

Travel China in Winter (December - February): Harbin, Yuanyang rice terraces, Guizhou minority area, Hong Kong,

China is a vast country with many different weather systems. The climates in China range from tropical to high altitude, polar conditions. Generally speaking, spring is from March to May, summer from June to August, autumn from September to November, while winter is from late November to February. 

The Asian monsoon dominates the climate of China. Due to the monsoon, China typically has a wet summer and a dry winter. Despite the dominance of the monsoon, the country still displays a large variety of different climates due to latitudinal differences: southern and central China have a tropical or subtropical climate with no freezing winter cold; northern China, and the western regions, have a severe winter. Eastern China has abundant summer rain while the northern and western regions contain much desert and semi-desert.

From late April to early June and from September to early November are the best times for you to travel in China. During the periods, the weather is the most pleasant and comfortable all over China. In July and August it is hot and crowded due to the school vacations, while from December to March it is very cold in most of the places in China. Fortunately the hotel rates are lower during the period. 

Money & Currency

In fact, you don't have to take Chinese currency to China since you can exchange your currency in many hotels and banks easily.  

However, if you like, yes, you can take RMB to China. But I am afraid the value is limited and passengers who carry RMB 20,000 or more in cash or foreign currencies in cash exceeding US$ 5,000 shall be declared to the Customs, according to the regulations of the General Administration of China Customs.  

Currently, Easy Tour China mainly quotes tour prices in RMB (Chinese currency) together with the equivalent price in US Dollars to give you an idea:

1). If a revaluation of the Chinese currency occurs, Easy Tour China will still honor all quotations of the tour bookings that have been fully paid regardless of the revaluation.

2). Customers who have not paid for their tour in full at the time of any revaluation will be required to pay the difference between the old and new prices in US$ or other foreign currencies converted from the RMB quotation. So, usually, we suggest customers make the full payment at one time. This will be more convenient and much better for both of us.

Bank of China accepts 149 types of traveler's cheque issued by 17 traveler's cheque issuance institutions, among which traveler's cheque of American Express, Travelex, Visa and MasterCard, can be cashed at Bank of China.  

For more information, please see it on the official site of Bank of China about Traveler's Cheque:

http://www.boc.cn/en/pbservice/pb4/200806/t20080626_1323976.html

http://www.boc.cn/en/pbservice/pb4/200806/t20080626_1323976.html

Health

Yes, it is recommended. That would be helpful if you bring your medical record and doctor’s contact information, especially during an emergency case. 

No vaccines are required for China unless coming from Yellow Fever infected areas. If you plan to take a tour to China, please visit your doctor (ideally, 4-6 weeks) before your trip to get vaccines or medicines you may need.  

It is recommended to make sure you are up-to-date on routine vaccines before every trip. These vaccines include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, polio vaccine, and your yearly flu shot.  

After more than 30 years of fast development, China has witnessed great improvement in sanitation and hygiene conditions. Even in some remote areas, the accommodation, water supply and other facilities are good enough to host international travelers. 

For updated travelers’ alerts, please visit the webpage below:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA) 

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices

Disease Outbreak News by World Health Organization

http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/

Over the years, China has worked hard to develop its medical facilities and services. For medicines, all major classifications of drugs are available in mainland China and many drugs that are controlled in the West, such as antihypertensive and antibiotics, can be purchased over the counter here. If more professional care was necessary the patient was sent to a district hospital, and the most serious cases were handled by municipal hospitals.

In Beijing, Shanghai and other big cities, there are some modern clinics / hospitals managed by international organizations, which can provide international tourists / expats more efficient medical services without language barriers as all their doctors can speak English.

Please visit your doctor (ideally, 4-6 weeks) before your trip to get medicines you may need. Advise him/her where you are going, how long you are staying, what you will be doing during your trip to China.  

Please read the information provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA) on their webpage at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/china#packing-list