UK Flights to China - best connecting destination?

[brett]

Hi all,

I'm starting to plan a trip to China. My lady lives in Hubei province, which is more or less in the middle of China.

I was wondering if you guys have any tips as to what the best airport is to fly into if you need to get a connecting flight?

I think Yichang Sanxia Airport is about 2 hours from Shanghai (but uses a different airport), Beijing and Guangzhou.

I'd really love to visit Xi'an as well, but again there don't seem to be any direct flight from the UK.

Also does anyone have a recommended travel agent who can book flights and hotels? I usually use Expedia but they don't seem to know where Yichang is. Should I use one of the agencies in London's Chinatown? Or is there somewhere else that is good?

Cheers!

[David5o]

Brett,

There are virtually no direct foreign international flights into China apart from Shanghai and Beijing. If there are , they would be from close-by Asian countries that China has ties or agreements with, like Malaysia, Japan, Philippines etc. So unfortunately you will have to fly into one of those two international airports in China or to Hong Kong, for any onward flights within China's interior.....

[wilsbrough]

Hi Brett.

I flew with Air China, direct from Heathrow to Beijing. I went straight to their website and got a ticket for £360 all inclusive (no extra charges) and booked it only two months before my travel date. I believe they also do connecting flights from Beijing to all over China, so you can book it all in one go. Also, there is the new high speed train (like the Japanese bullet train) I took it from Baoding (hebei) to Beijing west train station, 300km in 40 mins! very roomy, there was much more legroom than on the plane. (i'm 6'4) Air con and comfy. i'm pretty sure it goes to Hubei, but don't know about the town you need to get to. It could be worth looking into, as you will see more of the country than looking out of the plane window.
Andy

[David E]

Out of Singapore, Tiger Airlines (the China arm of Singapore Airlines) does flights to dozens of Chinese Cities....velly cheap too !!
DavidE

[Willy The Londoner]

Brett
you should base your journey on going through Hong Kong.  There are so many flights every day from London - Hong Kong you will probably pick up a few bargains.  The onward flight is likely to be more expensive than the 6000 k flight from London.  So shop around.  I usually go by Qater and change flights in Doha as it is cheapest to Hong Kong

Willy

[Londoner]

Qatar Airways also flies from London to Guangzhou via Doha

[brett]

Thanks all.

My lady has agreed to meet me in Guangzhou which is great as Expedia can be used for flights and hotels. You can also fly there from a few European cities like Paris, although unfortunately not from the UK.

[David5o]

Brett,

That's good news if you can Fly to other Cities in China apart from Beijing and Shanghai from Europe. This must of changed a bit, and China's opening up even more.

Well Paris shouldn't be much of a problem for you, but i'd still hunt around, for cheapo tickets. At the right time of year and on the right airline you can get some fantastic deals out to China and Hong Kong....

David....

[brett]

Yes it's good that you can fly to Guangzhou from Europe, the good thing about that is that the flight times are usually quite shorter than changing in the middle east or somewhere else in Asia.

I wish you could fly directly to Xi'an or somewhere in Northern China though, it would be more convenient than having to fly all the way to Hong Kong then back again.

I'm not too worried about flight costs, as I went to Japan last year, and a holiday in China is much cheaper! If you have to change planes in Europe the flights are usually quite cheap anyway.

I think I will book a good ***** hotel to help impress my lady, but there are some extremely cheap ** hotels on Expedia, although I don't know what sort of crazy experience you would get in a ** rated chinese hotel lol :icon_cool:.

[David5o]

Brett,

If this is the first time your going to meet your Lady, get her to book the hotel for you, you'll get it much cheaper than from any agency on the net. The other thing, ... don't try to impress too much, they may well get the idea that your wealthy, and that can/will cause you big big problems later on!! Get her to book a 4star hotel maybe, ...just depends on the comfort level you want while your there. There's not an awful lot of difference between a 4 and 5 star, but the costs can be substantial, even for that cup of coffee in the lounge haha!

There is no comparison between costing of holidays in Japan and in China. Japan has to be one of the most expensive place's to stay as far as hotel accommodation is conserned ....in fact everything else too, when i come to think about it!! ...hahaha!!

David.....

[Willy The Londoner]

There is no comparison between costing of holidays in Japan and in China. Japan has to be one of the most expensive place's to stay as far as hotel accommodation is conserned ....in fact everything else too, when i come to think about it!! ...hahaha!!

David.....

Trust you to bring the price of dumplings in it David.

Willy

[David5o]

Willy,


Trust me, i'm not a dumplings man, .... well not of the edible kind anyway!!

David....

[brett]

Actually, I found Tokyo hotels pretty cheap, but then I base that on London hotel prices, which are outrageous for what you get.

Decent Tokyo salaryman hotels are generally < £50 a night on Expedia, which is expensive for Asia, but cheap by European standards. Once there you can survive on very cheap food in stations (well provided you can read the vending machines or find a place with plastic food models in the window) and travel is also cheap - I went from Shibuya to Mount Takao (distance roughly equal from London to Brighton) and it cost about £1.50.

[David5o]

Brett,

That wasn't my experience when i was in and out of Tokyo, i remember the train ride from the airport being something totally ridiculous, and virtually everything i bought was also expensive (i was very thankful i was on an expense account in Japan). Maybe i had been spoilt too much by other countries in Asia!!...haha!! But i do remember the hotels where i stayed ( company policy for my seniority was 4 star) being hyper expensive, but the company paid, so i wasn't that bothered...

David....

[brett]

Hmm, maybe you were scammed on the train ticket? It costs around £14 on the non-stop N'EX train, a veritable bargain compared to the Heathrow Express.

Yes the 4 star hotels are expensive (like the place featured in Lost in Translation) but I stayed at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, which had perfectly decent rooms with LCD tellys, big double beds, electric toilets and a teeny bath. And if that wasn't enough the hotel also has an aquarium lol :s.

But I do know that people on company expense accounts see a totally different city whereever they go - my brother in law went to Hong Kong on business and remarked how expensive the place was, whereas I thought it was incredibly cheap. Mind you, he did stay in the Conrad and dined in fabulous restaurants, whereas I did most of my food shopping in 7-11's :icon_cheesygrin:.