Travel tips

(Chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2013-02-04

Travel within China during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. On the plus side, it is one of the best times of the year to "rub shoulders" with the Chinese people (the Chinese tend to be open and friendly, but they are even more so during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, a time when everyone except for the most essential staff enjoy a week's paid vacation), and the opportunities to "rub shoulders" with the Chinese people are indeed many, given the many cultural activities that take place during this period.The best places to watch these cultural activities are Beijing and Hong Kong. See top places to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

On the less positive side, it must be said that there are large crowds in transit everywhere in China at this time of year, not just at all of the major transportation hubs such as airports, railway stations and bus terminals, but also certain popular flights may be booked, trains in general are likely to be booked, and even regional and municipal buses can overcrowded.Train tickets are very hard to get. If you plan to travel during the Chinese New Year period, China highlights recommend you travel by flight. And of course shopping malls can be teeming with life, while public gatherings and processions can fill up plazas and block sidewalks.

In addition, many hotels are booked far in advance (the lower the rental price the quicker they fill up, naturally, which would suggest that the best strategy for foreign visitors is to make reservations as early as possible), restaurants can be jam-packed, and with such large throngs of people, all vying for the same limited resources, prices are naturally on the increase.

Still, the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, with their multitudes of Chinese people "in flux", need not be viewed as a strictly negative thing – in fact, some find the bustling crowds of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday period to be a large part of the attraction of traveling in China at this time of year.

The following collection of helpful tips are conceived with the foreign tourist in mind. Observing them will help you to avoid the most congested travel modes and destinations, the accumulation of frustrations from a lack of proper planning (such as not having made necessary reservations), and they can help you to take it all in your stride, as it were – i .e., with good humor and holiday cheer – where a certain amount of snags and glitches are unavoidable, given the sheer numbers of travelers, like yourself, looking to get from A to B, or to find adequate and affordable accomodations.

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