China is a relatively an affordable destination compared to Japan and Korea. Cost of living and daily expenses are comparable between China and the Philippines, but there are differences in cost between cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. We spent a total of 20,783 Php for our trip including Airfare and Taxes but our living expense meaning minus the Airfare and taxes was only Php 10,475.
Here's what we've spent for EACH person (for 6 days, 5 nights in Beijing/Shanghai):
If you remove Airfare and Taxes, here's what we've really spent on our Travel expenses:
Our total expense (minus Airfare and Taxes) in China is Php 10,475 each. This already includes 5 nights accommodation, visits to 2 cities (Beijing and Shanghai), expenses for 5 days on food and transportation, entrance fees and Shopping. This is probably one of the cheapest cost that we incurred among all our travel, and here's why:
1. Similar to our Japan trip, don't book round trip tickets in one city. Book airline ticket going to Beijing and book return flight to Manila from Shanghai (or vice versa). This will save you tons of time and money as inter-city transportation is extremely expensive.
2. There are a lot of train options from Beijing to Shanghai. Most people will recommend riding the bullet train which costs a fortune. Being a budget traveler, we rode the overnight train which is a normal train with comfortable sits worth CNY 137 or Php 1,000. There are other options such as overnight sleeper which provides you a bed but will cost you much more than the regular seats.
3. Use Airbnb for accommodation! Aside from saving 1 night riding the overnight train, we also saved a huge amount of money by booking through Airbnb. We paid CNY 428 or Php 3,137 for 2 nights for 2 people in Beijing and CNY 137 or Php 1,000 for 2 nights for 2 people in Shanghai. Accommodation in Beijing is much more expensive compared to other cities, so take note of that in booking for hotels or other accommodation (will blog this soon as well).
4. Research and bring a copy of a printed itinerary with Chinese characters. This will avoid you the cost of riding taxis (which we did once from Airport since it was 1am) and you don't feel the need to get portable wifi as well.
5. This is not really a tip but what we've realized is that food in China is similar to Chinese food in Philippines, so we decided not to splurge on food as we normally do in other countries. We also were not able to see anything special to buy so our shopping costs are extremely low.
Overall:
The biggest cost savings will come from your accommodation and train ride if you'll decide to do intercity trip. So make sure to save on these! Other things like food, entrance fee, daily transportation, shopping, etc. are not really that expensive in China so there is not a lot of tip that we can share here.
Disclaimer: This is an old post from my Blogspot account dated April 5, 2015.
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