Start from a theme, not a map
The worst brief we ever get is “ten days, the highlights” — it describes a thousand identical trips. The best brief is one stubborn sentence. These are the kinds of sentences we love; they’re starting points, not packages:
Trains-only China
Sleeper trains, 350 km/h day trains, station food. The country as a railway epic — including the stretches where flying really is faster, flagged honestly.
Three generationsGrandparents to grandkids
Paced for the slowest walker, built around the shortest attention span, with a cabin (our cars’ second rows) that everyone fights over at the start and shares by day three.
RootsThe ancestral village
For diaspora families: the county town your grandparents left, prepared with local-archive legwork before you fly. Emotional, specific, and absolutely not a group-tour product.
Second timeChina, deeper and stranger
You’ve done Beijing–Xi’an–Shanghai. Now the secondary cities, the festival calendar, the provinces your first trip skipped. We’ll talk you out of the bits not worth a return.
Winter food crawlChengdu when the crowds leave
November to February: half-price hotels, hotpot weather, pandas still working breakfast. Winter is our favourite season to design for — ask us why.
Mobility-firstChina at walking-stick pace
Elevators mapped, steps counted, vehicles that kneel (ours don’t — we choose routes and hotels so they don’t have to). Honest about where China is still hard.
Yours isn’t here? Good. That’s the point of this page.
The process
How a custom route gets made.
One stubborn sentence
Tell us the theme, the people, the dates — rough is fine. A call helps but isn’t required; the start form is built for exactly this.
A written sketch in 3 working days
Day-by-day skeleton, the thinking behind each choice, and a real price built exactly like our published journeys. Free, and zero obligation.
Two or three honest rounds
You push back; we tell you which pushes cost money and which cost nothing. This is where most custom quotes elsewhere go vague — ours get more specific.
Confirmed in writing, then money
You see the full written itinerary and terms before anything is charged. 30% locks the bookings; the balance lands 45–60 days before you fly.
Four things we say no to
1. Self-drive. You never drive — international permits aren’t valid here, road rules and liability differ from home, and a professional driver is always included. Policy, not an upsell.
2. Bus groups. We’re built for private parties. Above six travellers we’d rather design two parallel routes than one crowd — and we’ll tell you that instead of taking the booking.
3. Shopping stops. No jade factories, no silk “museums”, no “tea ceremonies” with a till at the end. This costs us commission income and we’re fine with it.
4. Last-minute miracles. Inside four weeks, first-class rail, the good multilingual guides and the hotels we actually like are mostly gone. We’ll propose a simpler trip rather than a rushed one — or say not this time.
Custom, in euros and days
No surcharge for being custom. Land-only prices follow the same logic as the published journeys — from about €300–400 per person per day depending on party size, season and hotel level, with the same what’s-in-and-out breakdown you can read on our public cost page. The three-working-day sketch carries a real number, not “from” fog.
How long until I see a first route sketch?
Within three working days of your first message or call you get a written sketch: a day-by-day skeleton, the thinking behind each choice, and a real price built the same way as our published journeys. The sketch is free and obligations are zero.
Does a custom route cost more than a published journey?
No mark-up for being custom. The price follows the same land-only logic (from about €300–400 per person per day depending on party size, season and hotel level), and you see the same what’s-in-and-out breakdown as on our public cost page.
How far ahead should we start?
Eight to twelve weeks is comfortable: enough for the good guides in your language, first-class rail seats and the hotel rooms we actually like. Under four weeks we’ll usually advise you to simplify rather than rush.
Can we mix custom days with a published journey?
That’s the most common custom of all: take a published route and bend it — add rest days, swap a city, insert a festival or a family visit. Same process, same pricing logic.
Start here
One stubborn sentence. We’ll take it from there.
A person replies within one working day. Sketch in three. No payment until you’ve read the full itinerary and said yes in writing.