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Licensed China inbound operator Enshi Qicheng International Travel Service Co., Ltd.
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Home/Trip cost

What does a trip to China actually cost?

Choose your country, destination and month. You get a full breakdown — airfare, hotels, private vehicle and driver, guide, tickets, meals — before anyone asks you for an email address.

9 destinations19 origins5 currenciesUpdated September 2026

Unit prices come from published sources wherever they exist. Attraction tickets are taken from the Enshi Prefecture Development and Reform Commission state price list of 28 April 2026. Guide day rates are our own published guide service rates. Hotel, vehicle and meal ranges are contracted market rates for Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou. Every figure is a planning estimate; your quote is confirmed line by line.

Start here

Three ways people usually ask

Tap one to load the calculator. The figures come from the same model as the calculator, so they move when you change currency.

Your estimate

Change anything and the numbers update as you go.

Total per person, including international flights
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In plain words
Per person per day—
The split—

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Every unit price we used

This is the whole model, in the open. Nothing is hidden behind “enquire for price”.

Hotels, vehicles and guide
ItemWhat it isUnit price
Hotels — per room per night, breakfast for two
Comfort3–4 star or a good chain¥260 – ¥420
Boutique4 star or a well-run guesthouse¥420 – ¥700
Luxury5 star or a resort¥780 – ¥1,500
Private vehicle and driver — per day, everything included
1–2 travellers5-seat sedan or SUV¥550 – ¥800
3–4 travellers7-seat MPV¥750 – ¥1,100
5–6 travellers9-seat van¥1,000 – ¥1,450
7–9 travellers15-seat minibus¥1,300 – ¥1,800
10–15 travellersmid-size coach¥1,900 – ¥2,800
16–25 travellerslarge coach¥2,800 – ¥4,200
Guide — per day, eight to ten hours
Mandarinour own published rate¥400 – ¥600
Englishscarce outside the big cities¥900 – ¥1,400
Other languagesJapanese, Korean, French, German¥1,100 – ¥1,700
Meals — per person per day, lunch and dinner
Standardlocal family restaurants¥90 – ¥150
With signature mealsTujia, Miao or Cantonese set dinners¥160 – ¥280
Attraction tickets per person
DestinationTypical stayUnit price
Enshi7 days · canyon, cave, Tujia villages¥520 – ¥900
Zhangjiajie6 days · the sandstone pillar forest¥700 – ¥1,150
Guizhou7 days · waterfalls, karst, village life¥620 – ¥1,050
Visa-Free Corridor10 days · three adjacent visa-free provinces¥1,840 – ¥3,100
Xi'an5 days · Terracotta Army, city wall¥520 – ¥950
Beijing5 days · Forbidden City, Great Wall¥350 – ¥720
Chaoshan5 days · old town, food, coast¥180 – ¥420
Yunnan8 days · Lijiang, Dali, snow mountain¥580 – ¥1,100
Sichuan8 days · pandas, Jiuzhaigou¥620 – ¥1,250
Insurance, fees and adjustments
ItemWhat it isUnit price
Per person
Travel insurancecover for the whole trip¥40 – ¥120
Chinese visa feeonly if your passport needs one¥900 – ¥2,200
Applied on top
Operator service feeon the land cost15–20%
Children aged 2–11sharing a bed with parentsland 55% / airfare 75%
Low season, Nov–Marhotels and vehicles×0.90
Peak season, Jul–Aughotels and vehicles×1.32

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What the price includes

Everything below is in the number the calculator gives you.

✓What the price includes

  • Private vehicle and driver for every day of the itinerary
  • A licensed guide with you throughout — Mandarin, English or another language
  • Hotel with breakfast, two sharing a twin or double room
  • Every attraction ticket, shuttle bus and cable car listed in the plan
  • Lunch and dinner each day, at the level you choose
  • Airport and high-speed rail transfers
  • A named contact you can reach 24 hours a day, with the language you booked
  • Travel insurance for the duration of the trip

✗What it does not include

  • International airfare — shown as its own line, and you can book it yourself
  • The Chinese visa fee, if your passport needs one
  • Drinks, personal shopping, and anything not listed in the itinerary
  • Optional extras: photography, hot springs, extra evening performances
  • Tips — appreciated, never expected
  • A single-room supplement, unless you ask not to share

04

Why the month matters more than anything else

Hotels and vehicles are the two costs that move with the calendar. The same itinerary costs up to 32% less in low season than in peak season. Note that 1–7 October is China's National Day holiday: inside that week prices jump 40–50% above the multiplier shown.

January×0.90low season
February×0.92low season
March×0.92low season
April×1.00shoulder
May×1.00shoulder
June×1.20shoulder
July×1.32peak
August×1.32peak
September×1.00shoulder
October×1.05shoulder
November×0.90low season
December×0.90low season
Low season ×0.90–0.92 Shoulder ×1.00–1.20 Peak ×1.32

September is the value month for Enshi: shoulder-season hotel rates, dry clear weather, and the summer crowds gone. The last week runs into the National Day holiday, when domestic travel peaks and rates jump sharply.

Malaysia · Singapore · Thailand

Visa-free for 30 days. Most travellers from these markets speak Mandarin, so a Mandarin guide is enough and the English-guide premium disappears. Halal restaurants are available in Enshi and Guiyang.

United States · Indonesia

Not on the 30-day visa-free list, but covered by the 240-hour visa-free transit — which requires a genuine onward ticket to a third country or region. Tell us and we build the routing around it.

UK · Canada · Australia · NZ · Japan · Korea

Visa-free for 30 days on an ordinary passport, tourism included, no onward ticket needed. Most of these policies currently run to 31 December 2026.

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Group tour, private tour, or do it yourself

The lowest sticker price is rarely the lowest total cost. Here is what actually changes.

Group tourPrivate tour — this pageDo it yourself
Typical 5-day cost per person¥1,200–2,500See the calculator above¥900–1,600 out of pocket
Group size20–40 strangersYour party onlyYour party only
Departure datesFixed, set by the operatorAny date you likeAny date you like
VehicleShared coachYour own car and driverTrains, buses, taxis
GuideMandarin only, addressing the groupYours all day, in your languageNone
Shopping stopsCommon on low-priced departuresNone, written into the contractNone
Changing the plan on the roadImpossibleReroute the day if you wantEntirely up to you
What it really costs youTime and freedomMoneyTime, language, and a lot of planning

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Five ways to bring the number down

In order of how much they save.

01Travel in shoulder season

Late September, November, March and April give you the same scenery for up to 24% less on hotels and vehicles — 32% if you travel in low season.

Up to 32% off
02Fill the car

The vehicle and the guide are fixed daily costs. Four people pay roughly 40% less each than two.

~40% per person
03Take the train between cities

High-speed rail is comfortable, punctual and a fraction of a private transfer. Keep the car for the last stretch.

20–35% off transfers
04Skip the English guide if you speak Mandarin

This is the single biggest line you can move. Malaysian and Singaporean travellers rarely need one.

≈US$75 per day
05Book in the right order

Airfare 60–90 days out, hotels 30 days out, everything else whenever you are ready.

10–25% off airfare

07

Questions people ask before booking

If yours is not here, ask us — we answer in English, within 12 hours.

Is this a real quote?

No — it is a planning estimate built from published unit prices. It tells you which league you are in. A confirmed quote comes once we know your dates, because hotel and vehicle rates are only held for a few days at a time.

Why is there always a range instead of one number?

Because two honest operators can differ by half. A driver-guide in a seven-seat van is not the same product as a separate licensed guide with a fifteen-seat bus and a hotel upgrade. We show you the floor and the ceiling rather than a single number that is wrong for most people.

Is the price per person or for the whole group?

Both are shown. Per-person figures assume two adults sharing a twin or double room. A single traveller pays noticeably more per person, because the vehicle and guide are not shared.

Can I book my own flights?

Yes, and many people do. Airfare appears as its own line so you can swap in whatever you actually paid.

How much deposit, and how do I pay?

Typically 20–30% to confirm, with the balance 15 days before arrival. Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Alipay and WeChat Pay, in USD or CNY. Cancellation terms are written into the contract, not agreed over the phone.

What about children?

Ages 2–11 sharing a bed with parents pay about 55% of the land cost and 75% of the airfare. Under two, free. The calculator applies this automatically.

Can you handle halal, vegetarian or no-chilli meals?

Yes. Enshi has halal restaurants in the city centre and we plan the whole route around dietary requirements when you tell us at booking. Tujia cooking is heavily pork and chilli based, so saying so in advance matters.

What if I want an English-speaking guide?

Ask when you enquire. Genuinely licensed English-speaking guides are scarce outside Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai, so they carry a real premium — roughly 2.5 times the Mandarin rate. If you want one, book early.

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Where these numbers come from

We would rather show our working than ask you to trust a number.

  • Enshi Prefecture Development and Reform Commission — Government-set ticket prices and in-scenic transport for state-priced attractions (Published 28 April 2026)
  • National Immigration Administration — Unilateral visa-free list — 50 countries, 30 days, tourism included. Most policies currently run to 31 December 2026. (Updated 17 February 2026)
  • National Immigration Administration — 240-hour visa-free transit — 57 countries, 65 ports, 24 provincial regions (Updated 20 August 2026)
  • Enshi Qicheng International Travel Service Co., Ltd. — Our own published guide service day rates (2026)
  • Exchange rates and airfare ranges — Indicative economy round-trip fares by origin market, September 2026 (Reviewed September 2026)

Exchange rates are indicative and shown for planning only: 1 USD ≈ ¥7.10 · 1 MYR ≈ ¥1.60 · 1 SGD ≈ ¥5.50 · 1 HKD ≈ ¥0.91 (September 2026). Settlement is in CNY or USD at the rate on the day of payment.

Next step

Want this as a real number?

Tell us your dates, how many of you, and what you want to see. You get a fixed, line-by-line quote — usually inside 12 hours, in English.

☎
WhatsApp / Phone+86 185 7133 3893 · 24h
✉
Emailhello@dragonroute.cn
⚲
OfficeEnshi, Hubei, China

A named person answers, not a queue. We reply in English, simplified or traditional Chinese.

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