When to Go April, May and especially September and October are the best time to travel in China, Mongolia and Nepal as the weathers are generally warm and comfortable. As a result, these are the peak seasons for tourists and could be very busy in most of the attractions. In the mid-summer months most parts of China become quite hot although the weather still fairly pleasant in Mongolia, Tibet and Nepal. Winter seasons are cold in north China and Mongolia and weather then in Himalaya regions is unpredictable.

Have your own idea about where to go and what to see? We could tailor-make it for you. Just call us on 01932 828997, e-mail us at info@tourchina.co.uk or send us your enquiry form.

Set Tour or Tailor-Made

With our first-hand and in-depth knowledge about China and the adjacent regions, we had designed the tours which we believe embody the essence of the cultural, historical and geographical aspects of the regions. They offer truly exciting and memorable experience as well as best value for money. However you could also shorten or add extra time spent in any locations in the itinerary or even make up your own itinerary completely. We are here to listen and tailor-make it to suit your need.

Our Set Tours

For the tour with the group formed in the UK, the size of the group will be maintained within 12 people, which ensures best possible guide services and minimising delays in transfers and reducing waiting times.

The Tour Guides

We use professional graduates with good English language skills and local knowledge. They are eager and responsible in the jobs, friendly and helpful in their nature. You’ll be escorted during your entire journey.

Flights

For the international flights specified in the itinerary, we use British and major Western European Airlines as well as Air China and Qatar Airways. For internal and regional flights in China, Mongolia and Nepal, we primarily use Air China as our chosen carrier, which has a modern fleet of Boeings and airbuses with a very good safety record.

Airport Taxes and Service Charges

All the airport taxes and service charges, whether for international, regional or internal flights, are included in the tours, therefore taking away all the hassles and hidden charges and allowing you concentrate on enjoying the holidays.

Luggage Limitations

20kg maximum. Clients are solely responsible for excess luggage. Security rules relating to the luggage and hand-carrying bags are to be observed in accordance with the airport and airlines regulations. Please check on the ground with your tour guides and the authorities for further details.

Train Services

Train services in China are convenient and comfortable. Overnight trains are soft-berth with each cabin equipped with air-conditioning and 2 bunk beds on each side for 4 occupants. There are clean and adequate wash basins and toilet facilities in the carriage and extra seats and rest areas. The train normally has a separate carriage as canteen which serves drinks and freshly cooked food.

Coaches and Cars

All the coaches and cars we use are air-conditioned, apart from the tours in Tibet and Nepal, where high altitude causes inefficiency in vehicle's air-conditioning system. The drivers are well-trained and experienced with extensive local knowledge.

Cruise Boats on the Yangtze

The Cruise-boats we use are all 4-stars or above, which are fully furnished to a high standard with viewing lounges and dinning rooms. The individual cabin is based on twin sharing and equipped with toilet and shower facilities. Single supplement is available.

Hotel Accommodations

Standard twin sharing with single supplement on offer. To ensure high standard facilities and services, all our hotels are 4-stars and above except in a few small provincial towns where we use the best hotels available.

Meals

Our set group tours includes full board - Breakfast is served in the hotels, lunch is arranged close to the tour sites and evening dinner will be in the local restaurants, which are purposely arranged to provide you with the chance to sample different Chinese cuisines.

Special Dietary Requirement

Upon request, we will pre-arrange special diet such as vegetarian, food without diary product, Muslim Hallal food, etc. during your holiday in China. As for the food served on the flights, we will make such request to the relevant airlines upon booking your flights, although we could not guarantee it as it's out of our control.

Visas

Visas are required for British citizens to go to China, Mongolia and Nepal. Upon booking, we will send you the visa application forms together with your holiday confirmation document. For the Chinese entry visa application, the procedure had been changed from 26th June 2008 by the Chinese Embassy. All the visa applications are now required to be submitted to CVASC (Chinese Visa Application Service Centre), which is responsible for receiving visa applications for visit to mainland China from ordinary passport holders who are UK citizens and citizens of other countries possessing UK permanent residence or work permits, collecting visa fees on behalf of the Chinese Embassy and returning processed visa applications. The application could be lodged online, the passports could be sent and then returned by post. Please visit the Embassy and CVASC website at www.chinese-embassy.org.uk  www.visaforchina.org.uk for detailed procedures. To assist your visa application, you can attach the copies of your holiday confirmation document together with the cover letter we send you to your application forms to CVASC. Should you have any question or require further assistance during the process, please let us know. For safety and security, we strongly recommend the use of Royal Mail Special Delivery service for sending and returning the passports.

The visa fees that the various embassies charge as follows:

Chinese Visa Single Entry: £30.00

Chinese Visa Double Entry: £45.00

Mongolian visa Single Entry: £30.00

Nepalese visa Single Entry: £20.00

Nepalese visa Multi Entry: £55.00

Taking and Exchanging Money

Sterling cash is just as convenient to change into the local currency as other major currencies such US dollar and Euros. Money could be changed in the banks located at the airport and the high street in the towns and cities. Traveller’s cheque could also be cashed in most of the banks. Major credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, or American Express could be used in most of the hotels and department stores and some of the restaurant. As all the transfers, tour sites entrance fees, airport taxes and most of the meals etc are paid for, you only need to carry a small amount of cash for convenience or personal use.

 

Travel Insurance

We consider adequate travel insurance to be an essential aspect to booking a holiday. In addition, we recommend that you purchase travel insurance that properly covers your participation in whatever activities you may undertake at the time that you make your booking. If you decide not to purchase our insurance, you must provide us with details of your alternative insurance on the booking form.

Our travel insurance has been designed to specifically meet your needs on your China Tours Limited holiday. The cover is underwritten by Travel & General Insurance Company plc, except for Section K (Legal expenses), which is underwritten by DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited. Both Insurers are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. A dedicated sales team at Travel & General Insurance Company Limited t/a tagconnect will provide fulfilment of the policy.

The schedule of the cover below sets out the cover provided by tagconnect insurance. A policy document that fully defines the cover, conditions and exclusions will be sent to you. When you receive your policy, please take the time to read it carefully to ensure you understand what is and what is not covered and that all activities that you may wish to participate in are included.

 

Schedule of Cover

Section	Proposed limits Sum insured per person	Excess per person
A     Cancellation and curtailment charges	Up to £5,000	£50
B     Emergency medical repatriation and         associated expenses abroad         Hospital benefit	Up to £5,000,000   £20 for each 24 hour period to a maximum of £500	£50   Nil
C     Emergency assistance in the UK	Up to £2,000	£50
D     Personal accident	Up to £25,000 (age limits apply)	Nil
E     Delayed departure                  travel delay                  Abandonment         Missed departure         Missed connection	£20 first 12 hours and £10 each subsequent 12 hours to maximum of £100 Up to £5,000 Up to £1,000 Up to £1,000	Nil £50 £50 £50
F      Personal possessions                       Single item limit                       Valuables limit         Delayed baggage (after 12 hours)         Travel documents	Up to £1,500 £250 £200 Up to £100 Up to £500	£50     Nil £50
G     Personal money	Up to £100	£50
H     Hijack	£50 for each 24 hour period to a maximum of £500	Nil
I       Mugging	£50 for each 24 hour period to a maximum of £500	Nil
J      Personal liability	Up to £2,000,000	£250
K     Legal expenses	Up to £25,000	Nil

Age Loadings:

Children 2 to 17 --- 1/2 of the normal premium;

Family --- 2 x the normal premium;

65 to 70 --- 2 x the normal premium;

71 to 75 --- 2.5 x the normal premium; 

Eligibility:

Please note that the travel insurance is only available to UK and Republic of Ireland residents. 

 

Single Trip Policy:

Premiums including Insurance Premium Tax
Period	Per person
Up to 10 days	£30.00
Up to 17 days	£37.00
Up to 24 days	£42.00
Up to 31 days	£46.00

 

Annual Multi Trip Policy:

If you are frequent traveller who travels more than two or three times each year it will be more economical for you to purchase an annual multi trip policy. Our policy offers great flexibility and a number of important advantages.

Premiums including Insurance Premium Tax
Policy		Worldwide
Individual policy (18 to 65)		£70.00
Couple Policy (18 to 65)		£130.00
Family Policy (18 to 65)		£135.00

 

Important declaration: 

An insurance policy can only provide cover in respect of an accident, illness, injury, loss, damage or an event/occurrence which is sudden, unforeseen and beyond your reasonable control. Therefore any facts known to you, which could possibly result in you having to make a claim, must be disclosed, otherwise you may not be covered.

 

You must tell us about all material facts. A material fact is one that is likely to affect our decision in accepting or continuing your insurance. For example, these could be your employment circumstances, medical history or those of a travelling companion, immediate relative, business associate or other person that may influence you to cancel or curtail your journey.

 

In addition, you must be able to make the following declaration for yourself and anyone travelling with you.

 

As far as I know neither I, nor my travelling companion(s), nor immediate family, nor business associate(s), nor anyone I am visiting, nor anyone else for whom I would expect to be covered:

1      is waiting for an operation, hospital consultation or any other hospital treatment or investigations including the results of a routine test;

2      has been seen by a specialist or been admitted to a hospital overnight in the last 12 months (other than for regular check ups);

3      has any breathing or heart problem (including angina) or high blood pressure, which has needed treatment (including regular medication) in the last two years;

4      has received treatment, including regular medication, in the last 12 months for:

a        any disorder of the blood such as clotting, bleeding or anaemia;

b        any form of stroke;

c        any form of cancer, leukaemia or tumour;

d        a transplant;

e        any psychiatric illness, dementia or dialysis treatment;

   f       any other pre-existing and on-going medical condition that a registered general practitioner could reasonably anticipate may give rise to a complication needing medical intervention prior to or during a journey (if in doubt check with your general practitioner);

5      has been diagnosed by a registered general practitioner as having a terminal condition;

6      know of any reason why the journey is likely to be cancelled or cut short.

If you cannot make this declaration when you take out the insurance, you must contact

Healthcheck on 0845 408 0585

If you are interested in purchasing cover from tagconnect, your Travel Organiser will forward your details to our dedicated sales team who will contact you to arrange the insurance. If you do wish to enquire further about this cover, please call 0845 408 0583 quoting reference 137105 or e-mail our sales team at insurance@tagconnect.co.uk, quoting the above reference number.

Please ensure you read your insurance policy carefully. If it does not meet your requirements, please return the policy, proof of premium and any other relevant documents to us within 14 days of receipt and we will refund the premium in full, provided you have not travelled or made a claim.

Failure to comply with the terms & conditions of the policy may result in cover being restricted.

Vaccination and Health

Please consult your GP for further advice.

Water

Bottled and boiled water are safe to drink. We do not recommend drinking tap water directly.

Electricity Supply

Electricity is at 220volts and 50HZ. The hotel rooms are equipped with hair drier and electrical shaving point. Generally power point is two-pin type, so it might be necessary to bring a universal adapter if you require its use.

Booking and Payment

To book a holiday with us, you need to complete the booking form and send it to us with £100.00 deposit. If you require the booking form in hard copy, please let us know and we will mail it to you.

 

Upon receiving your booking form and deposit, we will make necessary reservations with the airlines, hotels and all other relating services, and will inform you if there is any unexpected problem in the process. We will then send you a Confirmation Invoice which confirms the details of your holiday booking and shows the outstanding balance. The balance needs to be paid no later than 60 days before your departure. Sometimes due to the shortage of flight seats, we may need part of the payment immediately upon holiday confirmation in order to secure the flights with the airlines. We accept cash, cheque, credit & debit card payment, or direct bank transfer. Cheque should be made payable to CHINA TOURS LTD. For credit card payment, please be aware that we have to pass on the extra charge that the credit card company levied to us for processing such a payment. Once the balance paid and cleared, we will send you the international flight tickets together your holiday information pack at least two to three weeks before your departure. All the internal flights and train tickets, and hotel vouchers, will be issued inside China and our agents in China will pass them to you during your holiday, we don’t handle them here in case loosing them in the post.   

 

You can change or even cancel a confirmed booking and we will do our best to accommodate your demand, but we also reserve the right to levy extra charges for the change. Please refer to our Booking Conditions for the terms.

For further information or if you would like to discuss your holidays with us, please call us on 01932 828997 or email us at info@tourchina.co.uk

Holiday Protections with us

CHINA TOURS LTD is licensed and fully bonded by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL (Air Travel Organisers’ Licence) Number is 6247. Your monies paid to us for holidays and flight arrangements with us are financially protected and guaranteed. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange refund any money you have paid to us for advance booking. For further details, please visit ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk

USEFUL LINKS

Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Chinese Embassy in UK
China National Tourist Office
Mongolian Embassy in UK
Mongolia Tourism Board
Nepalese Embassy in UK
Nepal Tourism Board