What the Stone Becomes

Special Notes

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

• Bookings are not open yet — two things have to be real first. One, a bookable base hotel in Yangshuo for the consecutive nights that stretch runs on. Two, the day 8 morning in Guilin settled and named. Until both are done we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
• December departures — two seasonal facts sit against December here. The Zhangjiajie product is a set of installations rather than viewpoints: cableways, an outdoor elevator, cliff walkways and a bridge. All four classes stop for high wind, ice or annual maintenance. The Li River also enters its low water season, and the Xingping raft section is often out of service. We hold no operating evidence either way for the coming season, so December departures are not opened for sale until our ground partners confirm the operating and maintenance calendar in writing. No order and no deposit before that confirmation. October and November departures are not held by this rule.
• Departure dates — no departures October 1 to 7, the national holiday week. That week is the peak of domestic travel: the Bailong Elevator queue at Wulingyuan runs long, and holiday crowds on the Li River and the Bund take the main items out of use.
• Visa window — the 30-day visa-free policy currently runs through December 31, 2026. Because this is a 15-day plan, departures on or before December 17, 2026 finish inside that window, so no departures after that date are arranged on this selling season. Later dates are quoted only after the official renewal is announced.
• US passports — this route is not sold to US passport holders, for two separate reasons, each sufficient on its own. At 15 days the plan runs past the stay window of the ten-day visa-free transit policy, so that policy is not open to it. Shenzhen is the exit airport and has no direct service to the United States, so the departure leg does not hold up. We state this before any payment and we do not work around it.
• The glass bridge is never compulsory — a solid floor path runs beside the glass span for its whole length. Walking the solid path costs nothing extra and takes nothing off the price. This route is not sold on the strength of the glass span.
• Shanghai Museum reservation — admission is in the base price. Who books the timed slot, by when, and the fallback route when no slot is available are being finalized, so every quote states the reservation arrangement for that order in writing. We do not promise a specific entry slot before that is settled.
• Macaques on the Golden Whip Stream — wild macaques on this section take food from open hands and open bags. Your guide states the on-site rules before the group sets off, and food stays in closed bags on that walk.
• Weather alternatives in Zhangjiajie — when weather or an equipment stoppage puts the group on an alternative route, every cost on that route is borne by us and never charged to you on the spot. That includes admission, cableway and transfer. Where the alternative costs less than the original item, the difference is not refunded.
• The night split at the end — 14 nights in total, with 7 of them across Yangshuo and Shenzhen. The split of those last 7 is being settled in the routing, and every quote states the per-city night count for that order in writing. No order is taken without it in writing.
• Confirmation and changes — the confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalized with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. This route holds one domestic flight and two rail segments, so a date change touches air and rail inventory as well as hotel inventory.