Let's Go China: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series

By Let's Go Inc. and Kaitlin Solimine

With nearly a million North American visitors each year, China is an increasingly accessible country for budget travelers. This book features a fresh perspective on China and coverage of Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet. Photos and maps.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312246706
• ISBN13: 9780312246709
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Let's Go Publications
• Length: 781 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Overall good but lacking in some important details

I have just came back from China using this book for my travel. One BIG mistake this book did not tell you is DON'T TRAVEL IN CHINA during 5/1-5/5 and 10/1-10/5. Apparently, the WHOLE COUNTRY is on a 5 day holiday. This has been going on for the past 2-3 years. When you look in the book, it only tells you that 5/1 and 10/1 are holidays. No, no, no. Majority of the country is on the move. Transportation, lodging and food service are difficult to find. A lot of government services are either closed or on minimum service schedule.Some of the prices and ticket prices are already out of date. I guess they have not made the effort to update this.A train schedule with explaination would've been extremely helpful. I was lucky to be able to speak Chinese. Even I was unable to make head or tail of the schedule that I brought. You can only buy one way train ticket. If you want round trip, you have to buy it at the other end or through a travel agent.

Helpful guide

I found this guide helpful, especially in Beijing. The writing is good and I especially liked how place names were printed in Chinese characters (which made it easy to show taxi drivers). I do find it regretful that the writers only spend seven weeks in the country though. Many people travel during the other 45 weeks of the year and it would be nice to have authoritative information from the non-peak tourist season.

Why does China need a budget travel guide?

I have been to China 5 times and on my most recent trip used this book. I've used both Fodor's and Frommer's guide before. I found this book to be the most complete and accurate of the three. This book also covered a lot of the smaller destinations such as interesting cities that the other guides ignore or lend short thrift to (for instance, Kaifeng).However, I'm unclear why China needs a budget travel guide as China must be one of the cheapest places to travel to in the world. So, I was a little disappointed that it didn't list some of the more "expensive" restaurants ($8-$15/person for Beijing duck at a real fancy place for example).

Breaks down the barriers to China

I just returned from a Spring Break trip to China and found Let's Go China 2000 to be immensely helpful. This book helped me overcome one of my biggest fears about going to China--the language barrier. Let's Go China has a remarkable bilingual tranlation system. For each place of interest, restaurant, hotel etc. the book lists not only the English name and the phonetic tranlsation, but also the Chinese characters. Since very few locals speak English and very few of them could understand my half-hearted attempt at pronouncing "Qianmen Xi Dajie" (Front Gate Boulevard West), I could simply show them the printed character name of the place that I wanted to go, and they'll point the way. (This worked even better with taxi drivers, most of whom do not speak English). In addition, all of Let's Go China's street maps had English and Chinese. So when I was totally lost in the Muslim Quarter in Xian, I just walked up to an old muslim guy sit'in on the corner and showed him my map. He was able to locate himself on the map using the Chinese and then pointed the directions on the map. I understood his instructions by following the English. This is a truly useful innovation that really helps independent travelers. Foreign travelers with other guides without bilingual maps were too afraid to venture into the hard-to-navigate places like the hutongs (catacomb of alleyways in Old Beijing) so they hired expensive trickshaw tours. I was able to apply my savings to better uses.Let's Go is really good at mixing budget advices and highlighting pricy, but unforgettable places to visit. For example the Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Imperial Park (formerly the banquet hall of emperor) was one of the fanciest places that I've ever eaten at. Sure, it was pricy, but I got around it by ordering a few pieces of dessert and a coke. The imperial ambiance was incredible! Another great place: The Louwailou restaurant on the West Lake in Hanghzou, a favorite of Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai. The West lake sweet and sour carp (heavenly!) puts all of these Chinese carry outs in America to shame. Another myth: budget travelers can't go to casinos. Being from New Jersey, I know that Atlantic City is the cheapest place to eat, stay, and get entertained. So going to Macau was more of a cultural experience (Oriental plus Portuguese) for me. China's changing so fast that I was surprised at how up-to-date LG China. While fellow foreigners I met spoke of frustration over the inaccuracies of their 1997 or 1998 guides (One poor Brit in Hangzhou wasted half a day in Hangzhou searching for a hotel that had been bulldozed), I had no problems with prices changes, transportation schedules etc. Let's Go even included the new Beijing Subway Line, which just opened last October.The biggest savings I made was before I even left the US. Following Let's Go's advice, I booked my plane ticket from travel agents in New York's Chinatown. They'v

you can't travel budget in china without this book

you really can't travel budget in china without this book. most people i saw traveling in the country had lonely planet, and they were complaining non-stop about how terrible it was. i tried using it for a few days and then went crying back to let's go (the former lonely planet users in tow). this book is just the best, that's all there is to say about it, man! you will not be able to survive in china without this book--it's accurate, INCREDIBLY thorough, easy to follow, and pretty darn funny, too. it also has lots and lots and lots of cultural and historical info, which is totally useful because it really is culture shock to be traveling in china no matter where you're from (the beijing introduction and the whole opening section about chinese culture, especially movies and literature and the arts in china), made me so much more aware of and enriched by the stuff i saw. this book is awesome, really. they even have this cool "discover china" thing at the beginning that gives you suggested itineraries that you can follow throughout china, which is great because the country is HUGE!