Introduction

Whether you are on a tight budget or just money conscious, it is always a good idea to know what expenses you can expect on your travels. Obviously every trip includes the cost of getting to your destination. This is usually by an airplane - unfortunately majority of places you cannot get to overland and even if you could, currently it would be very likely more expensive.

So in case of budget destinations, the factor that we need to focus on is where can we stretch our money furthest - and it that sense China can be considered a budget travel destination. Once you have your plane ticket and visa sorted, your daily budget can be quite reasonable.

In this post I will break down for you the cost of travelling to China on a budget.

What can you expect to be your daily expenditure when travelling on a budget?

Your daily budget on a non-travel day can easily be around 15-20$ (per adult). Children under 1.2m can enjoy riding on trains for free (assuming they don't have their own seat) and can stay in hotels for free.

A family with children who still fall into the "stay and ride for free" can manage a budget of 50$ a day when your intention is just to explore the city and eat delicious food. Naturally all additional attractions have to be added separately.

Here is a breakdown of the costs you can expect on your holiday.

Hotels

The quality and prices of the hotels vary, but looking at Trip.com (which should be your default app for booking hotels in China), even in capital city of Beijing there are hundreds of options under 20$/room for 2 people. If you are able to spend a bit more, around 50$ you can already get a nice room.

Public transport

Travelling around Chinese cities is cheap - really cheap! You can expect to pay few cents for a single metro ride - 2-10RMB.

Train

Train travel is cheap compared to Europe, but because China is a big country, it all depends how far you want to go and how much time you want to spend travelling - the fastest high-speed train are naturally more expensive.

Just to give you an idea of the prices, here are some examples:

Chengdu -> Chongqing (300km)

  • 20$ 2nd class on a fast train
  • 6$ 2nd class on a slow train

Beijing -> Shanghai (~1300km)

  • 80$ 2nd class on a fast train
  • 20$ hard seat on a night train
  • 40$ hard sleeper on a night train

Beijing -> Kunming (~2100km)

  • 150$ 2nd class on a fast train
  • 70$ hard sleeper on a slow train
  • 40$ hard seet on a slow train

Xi'an -> Urumqi (~2500km)

  • 60$ hard sleeper on a night train

Beijing -> Lhasa (~3700km)

  • 95$ hard sleeper
  • 45$ hard seat

Looking at these prices, when you think about train travel prices in Europe it is just uncomparable - in Switzerland going from Zurich to Geneva (250km) on a full price ticket would cost you 90$ - same amount of money that can get you from Beijing to Lhasa on a sleeper train!

Food

Food is cheap. Really cheap. Unless you go to a fancy restaurant - where you still probably will end up paying not more than 80$ - your daily budget should not exceed 10$. You can easily buy a hearty bowl of noodles or dumplings for 20RMB, which is a little over 2$. 8$ per day is more than enough!

Souvenirs and everyday items

Since everything is made in China anyway, it is not surprising that every no name item is cheap. To give you an example - in Chongqing we bought a "bian lian" toy figure that cost 10RMB (1.3$). In an Asian supermarket in Zurich I have seen almost the same toy for 13CHF -10 times the price!

You can buy an umbrella for 10RMB (1.3$) - and be sure that if it is raining there will be someone selling them 😄

Naturally, buying artisan and branded goods is a different story - a bespoke designer shop will definitely have pricey items on the shelves - although still cheaper than in the West.

Entrance to tourist attractions

Entrance tickets to the tourist attractions are also reasonably priced. Here are some examples:

Great Wall of China (Badaling) - 40RMB/5$

Terracotta Army Xi'an - 120RMB/15$

Chengdu Panda Research Center - 55RMB/65$

How much does it cost to travel to China?

Assuming you want to stay on a low budget, here is an estimated minimum cost of your trip

Flight - 600$/pp

Visa - 150$/pp

Hotels (21 days) - 420$

Transportation - 200$/pp

Food - 210$/pp

Additional cost (attractions, souvenirs etc.) - 100$

Total cost for 1 person: 1480$ (730$ cost of 3 week stay in China)

For a couple without kids: 2640$ (1240$ cost of the stay in China)

For a family of 4 like us, with 2 small children, that qualify for being "free", that would mean a cost of raughly 4000$ for the whole trip.

It is not exactly free, but given that to fly to other East-Asian countries that are considered a cheap travel destination, you still have to pay for a plane ticket, so you still end up paying at least 1200$/pp for the trip.

However, in China the value of money is much higher - superior transportation system makes travelling both easy and enjoyable.

What to watch for when trying to stay on a budget?

Avoid all things that are targeted at expats - restaurants, cafes, bars. Shopping malls tend to have Western prices. If you want to stay on a budget avoid going for coffee and eating Western food as those are the kind of things that tend to be expensive.

Conclusion

I hope I made my case trying to show you that China is not at all an expensive holiday destination - or at least it doesn't have to be, as for high-end tourism and luxury resorts, China also has a lot on offer.