Advice Needed

Hello, I will be traveling to Beijing for five days in mid-April%26#39;09 with my family: hubby and three girls aged 14,10 and 8 and I would like to have some recommendations on the followings:

1. where I can a book a family room in a three or four-stars hotels in Beijing.

2. which option is better: booking a taxi or renting a private driver with space wagon ( or mini van) and a private English-speaking tourguide.

3. My tentative itineraries are:

Monday - arrive from gz to Beijing in mid-morning and hotel chk in then maybe have a walk in Qianmen or insect market at Wangfujing area

Tuesday: Forbidden City, Tian An Men, Summer Palace

Wednesday: Great wall (Badaling or Mutianyu or Simatai?), Ming tombs

Thursday: Summer Palace, Hutong tour

Friday: Olympic park: bird nest and watercube

Saturday: leave Beijing to Shanghai

Any suggestions where can I fit the schedules to visit the science museum and natural history museum during the day and which shopping /eating area can I take my girls for shopping and dinner at night time.

Feedback would be much appreciated:)

Thank you.

Advice Needed

You can%26#39;t all fit in a regular taxi, so you would be best off renting a vehicle big enough for all of you for trips to places like the Great Wall. Most of the time you don%26#39;t really need a guide.

You can sometimes do two taxis, with a parent in each vehicle. At other times, you might be best off taking the subway.

Tues. It%26#39;s hard to fit all of this into one day.

Wed. Go to Mutianyu and skip the Ming tombs. Go to the Olympic park on the way back to the city.

Thurs. This works--not sure why you have the Summer Palace listed twice?

Friday. Consider the Temple of Heaven and Yonghegong Lamasary.

You may find the museums disappointing, but you could do them on Friday, and possible on Thursday after the Summer palace. Museums can be an alternate plan on a rainy day.

Advice Needed

Combava, I reserved an apartment at Lee Garden Apartment (http://www.lgapartment.com) for my trip to Beijing in April. The location of the apartment is very central. You may check the past reviews for this apartment.

Yeah, why do you have Summer Palace listed twice? You can%26#39;t fit it in on Tuesday, leave it on Thursday and do the Olympic Green after it.

Are you taking overnight train or flight for Beijing -- Shanghai?

Don%26#39;t bother with Badaling, either Mutianyu or Simatai will be fine. Since you%26#39;re not going to Badaling, skip the Ming Tombs as well.

We used Qing (chineseqing_2008@hotmail.com) as a guide when we were in China and she was excellent. Qing has an extremely friendly personality and I think she would really be good with younger people as we know she is with adults. She has a driver with a van that would accomodate all of you nicely.

We stayed at the Park Plaza as it was highly recommended on this board. Very nice and convenient place for sure but I really don%26#39;t know about room accomodations for a larger group.

Enjoy your trip.

Thank you so much:) I am so grateful for your suggestions and it is a blessing that I encountered such a wonderful website!

Sorry I put Summer Palace twice because I was unsure about which day is better to visit:(

Ellyse, can please you suggest me which hotel can I book in Shanghai where we will stay for 1/2 half day and 1 night and few tips on places we should visit. Thanks

Cheers:)

Oops! Sorry.....we are going to fly from Beijing to

Shanghai

Thanks

Hmmm, why not the overnight train?

Half a day in Shanghai? Why so short? Are you flying in and then flying straight out again?

Here%26#39;re some URLs for general Shanghai sightseeing information. If you need more specific recommendations, please give more information about your arrival/departure times, and sightseeing interests.

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1d57/5be/

www.frommers.com/destinations/shanghai/

lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/china/shanghai/

roughguides.com/website/鈥?/a>

travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shanghai.htm

travelforkids.com/Funtodo/China/shanghai.htm

Family rooms will typically only fit 3, as the usual Chinese family is 2 parents + 1 child. You might want to consider serviced apartments instead. For Shanghai, try Somerset Xuhui, Somerset Grand, New Harbour, Hong Kong Plaza etc.

Combava, we stayed at New Harbour Sevice Apartment a couple of years ago when we visited Shanghai. We enjoyed our stay there. Following is the link

http://www.newharbour.com.cn/

Hi Ellyse the reason why we stay half a day in Shanghai is that we will be on a cruise for five days. We%26#39;ll leave Shanghai on the next morning (on the 19th of April) and will be back on the 24th before noon. Hotel check-in and thus we will have another half a day to visit Shanghai once more. Then we will leave Shanghai on the next day to Hong Kong.

Thank you for the websites, maybe I will try to visit the Old Town first and then the Bund or strolling down the French Concesssion? Any suggestions? Will my girls get bored? Where can I buy Longqing chaye (tea)? Also please let me know whether I can find a minivan taxi for my family and luggage at the Shangahi airport.

Thanks to all of you for your tips...Wanderer I%26#39;ll contact Qing soon.

benefits from computer viruses