China on the Cheap

$899 Buys Two Cities, Air Fare, 4-Star Hotels, 10 Meals and Sightseeing

Blaine, WA, December 15, 2011—China Spree Travel, the company known for “First Class Travel at Bargain Prices” has a great Winter Special called A Tale of Two Cities.  The tour, available from January 22 to March 28, starts at only $899 (plus $79 tax and fees) from San Francisco, and includes transpacific and intra-China air transportation, airport transfers, three nights in Beijing and three nights in Shanghai in conveniently-located 4-star hotels, six lavish American buffet breakfasts, four Chinese-style lunches and escorted sightseeing tours with entrance fees.

In Beijing, the hotel is the Huabin International (or similar), and sightseeing includes the famous Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City (with 9,999 rooms, the world’s largest palace complex), the architectural masterpiece Temple of Heaven, the 700-acre Summer Palace, the Sacred Way of Ming Tombs, and the highlight:  the Great Wall of China.  China Spree’s Culture Insites Program provides a rickshaw ride through Old Beijing’s hutongs, ancient neighborhoods of narrow alleys, and lunch with a Chinese family in a traditional courtyard home.

In cosmopolitan Shanghai, the hotel is the Crowne Plaza, and sightseeing includes the 16^th-century city bazaar with its classical Chinese architecture, the celebrated Bund (a riverside promenade that was once the heart of colonial Shanghai), and the futuristic skyscrapers of Pudong, the symbol of modern China. Then there’s a full day of leisure in Shanghai, with the opportunity to explore this fascinating city on your own.  Or, there’s an optional ($35) tour to Suzhou, a 2,500-year-old city famed for its canals and classical gardens, and Tongli, a charming little water town full of cobbled lanes and canals, where a gondola ride is included in the tour.

The tour starts at $949 from Los Angeles, $1,199 from Washington, D.C. and Chicago, and $1,229 from New York (plus tax and fees).   Add-on air fares are available from many other U.S. departure cities.  All prices quoted are cash only, per person double occupancy and are subject to availability.

For more detailed information about A Tale of China’s Two Great Cities and other Winter Specials, log onto www.chinaspree.com and click “China Tours.”