Ten Days Without a Visa

Special Notes

A few things on this route follow a border, a calendar or a supplier's confirmation. Here they are, told straight.

• You enter mainland China on foot — this route crosses at a Shenzhen land port rather than flying into a mainland airport. Two things follow. First, the transfer from the Hong Kong port to your Shenzhen hotel is not in the base price at this stage; a cross-border arrangement for that leg is being finalised, and until it is settled every quote states in writing how your party gets from the port to the hotel and whether that leg sits inside your base price. No order is taken without that in writing. Second, the entry formality itself is described below.
• The 10-day visa-free transit policy is not yet available for purchase — the procedure for entering mainland China at a land port under that policy is being confirmed with the port authority. Until it is confirmed and stated here, we take no order and no deposit on that policy. This matters most to US guests: see the passport note below.
• Passports — these passports currently enter mainland China visa-free for stays days, and the Shenzhen land port is an entry point for them: UK · French · German · Dutch · Belgian · Italian · Spanish · Portuguese · Greek · Nordic · Central European · Irish · Canadian · Australian · New Zealand. The current policy runs through December 31, 2026; because this is a 10-day plan, departures on or before December 22, 2026 finish inside that window, and later departures are quoted after the official renewal is announced. US passports are not on that list. A US guest takes this route either on the 10-day visa-free transit policy, which is what the plan is built around and which is not open for sale yet, or on a valid Chinese visa. Which one applies is settled in writing before any payment, and visa fees and processing time are your own.
• Checks we run for transit-policy guests — once that policy opens, three checks run against your actual tickets before your order is confirmed. Your stay length, counted from the recorded entry time at the Shenzhen port to the departure time of your Beijing flight, has to fall inside what the policy permits. The flight arriving into the region before you enter and your first flight after you leave must not go to the same country or region. And every city on the plan has to sit inside the stay area the policy permits, with no leaving and re-entering that area. An order that does not clear these is not taken.
• Day ten is the tight one — Xi'an city wall in the morning, the train to Beijing in the afternoon, the departure flight that night. Before your order is confirmed we check the booked train's Beijing arrival time against your flight time and write the margin into your confirmation; if the margin is too thin, the order is re-dated or day ten is re-planned before it is confirmed. Guests on the 30-day visa-free policy can add a Beijing hotel night and fly out the next morning instead, priced separately at the time of choosing. That extra night is not open to transit-policy guests, because it puts the stay past what that policy permits.
• Departure dates — no departures October 1 to 7, the national holiday week, when the panda base restricts visitor numbers. The closing day of the Shenzhen exhibition venue on day three is being confirmed; until it is, every order has its day three checked against that venue's published opening days before the order is confirmed.
• The Li River boat in the fourth quarter — Day four is a boat day, and that boat is both your transfer and the day's experience. The autumn and winter operating schedule on this stretch is confirmed for your exact dates before anything is charged. If the sailing cannot be confirmed for your dates, we tell you before you pay and re-plan that day rather than sell it.
• Optional add-ons — two on this route, both priced separately at the time of choosing and never added by default. The driverless taxi ride in Shenzhen runs on a commercial operator's own route network, is booked for a set date and re-checked after you land; its availability belongs to the operator and we do not promise it in advance. The Beijing final night is for guests on the 30-day visa-free policy only.
• Cabin class, hotels and insurance — The cabin class on the four train legs and the flight, the hotel tier and named hotels, and whether your order carries insurance are each written into your quote in advance. No order is taken without them in writing. We would rather write them per order than print a promise here we have not yet secured for every departure.
• Group — Private, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
• Confirmation and changes — the confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalised with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. Worth knowing when you pick dates: this route holds four train legs, one flight and one boat leg, so a date change touches rail, air and boat inventory at once.