[JBest]

Can anyone recommend any tour companies that operate tours designed or suitable for single travellors? I am thinking about taking some w/e trips to Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok and other places around the region but may have to do it alone. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience of this. Thanks!

[jayinhongkong]

I would just go on me own mate. Do a little research online and head out. I can't stand package tours. lol

[hbrand]

Yeah I'm the same Jay, prefer to do it on my own usually... but have to admit I just came back from the second and by far the best experience I have had with a package tour in Beijing. Awesome, went with Dragon Air and took every hassle out of the whole thing. Especially if you only have a few days and don't speak Mandarin. Private guide and driver, most meals, great hotel, airfares and they mixed and matched the tour to our specifications too.

Even got upgraded to business class. Noice.

www.kaholidays.com is the website. Beijing rocks by the way, check out Coco Banana's, the Green-t-house and of course Great Wall, Forbidden City, Hutongs etc. Way better than most people had told me

I can recommend!

[4+4=44]

hello
i've been pek on my own too, nice place, nice food and nice people, maybe i was lucky, no tour was needed, coz there was a nice taxi driver who shows me around the city, costs around hkd400/day, was so much fun
hey, where you wanna go? i was planned to italy but cannot take such a vacation, so, the planned was changed, i am still searching some information, Cambodia is on my list (ankor wat), if you are interested in this, just let me know

[4+4=44]

hello jbest
did you find the info you want? just back from angkor wat, it was an awesome trip, here's the travel agent i chose, Skal Travel Service, tel: 23007900, for single traveller only need to add hkd150 for the packages, as you may know single traveller is not easy to find some sales packages like from CX holiday....

[JBest]

Thanks for the information "4" (hope you dont mind if I call you that for short!). I went away with a big group last weekend so still haven't made it away on my own yet. However, I'll check out the agent you recommended. Thanks again. J

[WeLuvDodgeball]

To start with, I'm not really an advocate of tour companies. They are usually overpriced and spend too much time showing you worthless junk to purchase instead of the proper sites you that want to see.

However, You might want to look into Kumuka. This is an Australian backpacker friendly outfit. I actually used them for a two week trip through Morocco in 2004 and was very impressed with them. They actually put us up in nice 3-4* rooms, we ate at nice restaurants, and they didn't take us on sales trip to lots of local factories... Ok, so we did visit a carpet factory, but its Morocco... You had to do this...

I know they do some trips of China ranging from 8, 15, 20, and 27 days... I think. The range of sites and modes of travel seem pretty good to me, but its a bit pricey. If your on a backpackers budget, it might be a bit steep, but if you have a little cash to spend, this could be a good way to travel around and meet some new friends on a little tour company.

www.kumuka.com

Like I always say ... "This isn't for everyone, but these guys seem pretty good, so check out their website and give it a thought"

Lastly, Kumuka isn't the only provider of tours like this. You can try other traditional backpacker friendly tour companies like Nomad, Contiki, Explorer, and others... They likely have tours of China.

[JBest]

Thanks for the suggestion WeLuvDodgeball (and hbrand - sorry I didn't thank you before). I will check it out. I appreciate what everyone says about travelling in tour groups but as a woman who can't speak the language(s) and who sticks out like a sore thumb in Asia, travelling alone just doesn't sound like my idea of fun ...