Driving in China has its dangers, as does road travel everywhere. But consider this:

• China is a very large country. When travelers go to the United States, the U.K., France or Japan on a driving holiday, they wouldn’t go to New York, London, Paris or Tokyo. Instead, they go to, for example, Arizona, Scotland, Provence, or Hokkaido because that’s where driving is enjoyable. Similarly, in China no one would enjoy a driving holiday in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen or Guangzhou. Instead, we will take you to Yunnan, or Sichuan or Tibet which are ideal for an enjoyable driving journey.
• By driving yourself, you are at least in control of your own car, which is much better than being at the mercy of someone else whose ability and skill you don’t know and can’t control (although if you want a chauffeur for your trip with us, rest assured that all our local drivers are vetted for safety first!)

For more detail about what we do to minimize risks and maximize safety on our journeys, from pre-journey briefings to in-car walkie-talkies, please see our ‘Road Safety in China’ briefing.

Sadly, no – neither overseas driving licenses nor international driving permits are recognised in China. However, since 2007 the Chinese government has issued temporary driving licenses that enable visitors to China to drive in the country.

A temporary Chinese driving license is included in your trip with us. We will make the application on your behalf before the trip. All you will need to do is to visit the Vehicle Registration Bureau briefly at the start of your journey, usually in Kunming or Chengdu, to complete your application. This involves having a ‘health check’ (much less scary than it sounds, the check essentially amounts to a short eye test and a few questions) and to sign the application form.

In order to drive in China on any kind of driving license, one must be over 18 and under 70 years old at the time of application, and should not be colour-blind (although in practice this last is not a hard-and-fast-rule). There are also rules regarding disabled drivers that are in the process of changing at present – if you have a condition that may affect your application, please check with us in advance.

This depends on the travel document you will use to enter China on the trip. Because the temporary driving license (TDL) is aimed at visitors to China, the government requires that TDL applicants hold an ‘L’ (tourist) or ‘X’ (business) visa for China that is valid for stays of up to ninety days only.

If you hold a home-going permit (回鄉證) or a PRC residents’ permit you will need to apply for a full six-year license before you drive on one of our journeys. For Hong Kong residents this can be done in HKSAR, for foreign residents living in China, you will need to apply in your city of residence.

If you need a six-year license we will not charge you for the temporary license included in your trip with us, but please note that there will still be an additional charge involved, which will vary depending on your location and documentation. Confused? Please contact us for details, and we’ll be happy to explain further in person!

Our cars set out on each journey equipped with a pre-programmed GPS and a walkie-talkie. The GPS will be programmed for you each morning with that day’s route and the walkie-talkie works over a range of up to ten-kilometers, enabling you to communicate with other cars in the convoy and the lead car, even if they fall out of sight. As well as the high-tech stuff, we will also give you a map and a detailed Route Book before you set out on the trip.

Finally, the Lead Car will wait at various points en route for you to catch up if your car falls behind because you wanted to stop for a break or to take photos, etc. – so there’s no need to stay in a tight convoy if that’s not your style!

So far we’ve had travellers on our journeys ranging from 3 to 70 years old! We place no age limits on travellers who can join our trips, and we provide a range of itineraries to suit different tastes and energy levels. Please note, however, that the driving itself is limited to those between the ages of 18 and 69 due to Chinese regulations.

Our advice for you is to satisfy yourself (and potentially your physician) that the type of journey and altitudes to which you will travel are unlikely to be a problem for you, and we are confident that an On the Road in China journey will be a wonderful experience for you and your party!

Of course! Children, particularly those who are slightly older, will find our journeys eye-opening experiences – travelling through remote and rugged parts of China will give them a new perspective on their home lives.

In particular, we recommend our ‘Adventures in Yunnan’ journey, because this has been designed with families in mind – including plenty of fun activities as well as more two night stays and shorter driving times than our regular journeys.

On this website we have only listed prices for one potential combination of travellers (four adults sharing one car and two rooms). Please get in touch with us to see how much the trip will be for your group – prices vary depending on how many people share each car, how many rooms you will need and the season when you want travel (Easter and autumn are our high seasons). Please remember that international flights and visa fees are not included in our journeys.

Our journey prices include absolutely everything, except your flights to/from the starting point/end point of the journey, your visas, occasional meals on free days, and personal purchases. When we say absolutely everything, we mean it: from hotels to a la carte meals and drinks (including beer and wine) and daily refreshments for your own picnic baskets, from the cars to insurance and fuel and tolls, from entrance fees to jointly attended activities to your temporary Chinese driving license, from the lead car to the entire crew, from itinerary-internal flights or trains or ferries to GPSs, maps, walky-talkies, from special permits to border-crossing formalities and fees….really everything! You won't have to take out your wallet again! (For a detailed list about what is included in each journey, please see the journey pages on our website.)

Also, please note that in addition to the journey price, we also ask that you pay a vehicle deposit of CNY10,000 per vehicle. This amount covers our car insurance excess and is refundable at the end of your journey. While our insurance in China is very good – thanks to our relationship with Avis – drivers still need to cover the first CNY10,000 of any repairs to the vehicle.

Depending on the size of your group, how far in advance you will book, and which departure date you choose, we will on occasion be able to give small discounts.

As your journey will take place in China and the majority of costs are in Chinese yuan, we quote our prices in the same currency. For the latest exchange rates, we like to use those provided on www.xe.com as a guideline.

When it comes to payment, you are welcome to pay in (almost) any currency. For our payment details, please see this document.

When you have decided on the journey you want to do and the departure date, please contact us and we will send you a booking form (also downloadable here). It’s also important that you take a few minutes to review our booking conditions. Once you’ve done that, please complete and sign the booking form and return it to us, along with your deposit payment. We will countersign the booking form and send you a copy for your records.

Luxury Driving Experience Limited (On the Road in China’s legal name) is a registered tour operator in Hong Kong. We are a member of both the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council (license no. 353338), and the Hong Kong Association of China Travel Organisers.

If the dates listed for our standard small-group journeys do not suit you, please contact us. We can offer a private departure date on a standard itinerary, or can even tailor-make an entire journey to fit your interests – perfect for small groups of friends and family!

Of course – we are happy to help you arrange longer stays at either end of our journeys – please just let us know your requirements when you book.

Good you ask! Each of our scheduled journeys has a go/no-go date indicated on the booking form. If the journey is a no-go (either because of a force majeure condition or because too few people booked the journey), we will refund you any money you have paid in full. No-go's occur only very infrequently, but you need to be aware of this.

Once you have booked your trip with us, you only need to do two things: 1) book your flights to the start point and back from the end point of the trip, and 2) apply for your Chinese visa (and visas for Laos/Thailand/Vietnam where necessary). Please note that neither of these items is included in your journey price.

For a list of Chinese embassies and consulates general, please visit the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for details of the visa office closest to you. As travel to China has increased in recent years, so has the time needed to apply for a visa. Please make sure that you start the process well before you travel!

The SUVs that we usually use can seat four adults comfortably or two adults and up to three children. We have had up to five adults share one car before, but it can be a bit of a squeeze!

If your party is larger than that, we are able to source larger vehicles for specific routes. Just let us know your requirements and we’ll do our best to help.

We strive to make our journeys as comfortable as possible, and use some of the best hotels available in the region, from award-winning inns to international 5* resorts. However, in some places – especially in regions where tourism is still in its infancy – the hotels may not be as comfortable as you are used to.

For each of our journeys we have used a ‘Comfort’ rating to indicate the general standard of accommodation en route. Please take this into consideration when booking your journey, and contact us if you would like more information about the hotels we use.

Unless the Journey Dossier for your journey states otherwise, your rooms will have – at a minimum – a clean en suite bathroom with a shower and a seated toilet.

While you are on the road in the daytime, unfortunately we cannot always guarantee the same standards of hygiene, and public toilets are almost always of the squat variety. However, we take a portable toilet tent with us just in case there is no acceptable alternative available and provide hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes in your car.

After booking your journey we will send you a Pre-Departure Guide. This will contain information specific to your journey about the climate, what you should pack, internet access en route, and so on and so forth. If you have any important questions about these things before you book your trip, please let us know when you first enquire about the trip.

We include travel insurance (with cancellation insurance) and vehicle insurance for all our journeys. For full details of our coverage, you can download a PDF “Insurance Coverage Explained” here.

For Hong Kongers holding home-going permits: Nothing! Just your home-going permit (回鄉證) will be enough to enter Tibet.

For foreign nationals: In order to enter the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) – whether by road or by air – you will need a your passport, a Chinese visa (‘L’ tourist visa is preferable) and a Tibet Entry Permit. If you join one of our Tibetan journeys, we will apply for the Tibet Entry Permit on your behalf. When we receive your booking form for the journey we will advise you on the requirements for this process.

If you hold a diplomatic passport, Chinese ‘J’ journalist visa or have any other non-standard paperwork, please contact us before booking your journey to Tibet.

The average elevation of the Tibetan Plateau is a breath-taking 4,500 metres (14,750 feet). When flying to Lhasa or ascending quickly, many travellers will suffer some discomfort for the first few days. In some instances, individuals may get altitude sickness (also known as ‘Acute Mountain Sickness’ or AMS), or more serious health problems.

Before joining a trip to Tibet, we recommend that you read our ‘High Altitude Travel Briefing’ and visit your family doctor to discuss the altitudes to which you will be travelling. If you only have a short time in Tibet, it’s a shame for the experience to be marred by illness, so please take your preparation seriously!

Some of our journeys go into high altitude. On these journeys, some travelers may suffer from Acute Mountain Sickness (abbreviated as AMS and otherwise known as “High Altitude Sicknes”). AMS is not to be taken lightly. If the journey you are contemplating one of our high-altitude journeys – all of our journeys that take you to Tibet, Sichuan and Qinghai, but also those that go into the Tibetan region of northwest Yunnan – we strongly advise you to read our AMS Briefing Paper. With proper precaution, serious cases of AMS can pretty much be avoided; without proper precaution, it can become very serious.