A family holiday in China is not only educational, but also character-building. It can promote mutual understanding and interaction between you and your children, and a foreign culture. China has some great destinations for family holidays, which are fun, safe and full of interesting and child-friendly activities to keep the children entertained.

e Follow these 7 steps and make your family trip to China exciting, memorable, and hassle-free.

1. Choose a Suitable Time for Your Family Trip

It’s hard to settle the date for a longer family trip when your kids are in school and you have a limited holiday allowance. Schools will recommend you plan your family trip for school holidays. You can enjoy a trip to China whatever the season.

If you don’t like crowds don’t go during China’s major holidays: school summer holidays (July and August), Labor Day (May 1–7), and National Day (October 1–7). Most famous attractions will be over-crowded with Chinese tourists during these holidays.

For where to visit in different seasons, see best times to travel to China.

2. Consider the Best Places for a Family Tour

If you have no idea about where to visit with your kids, we have recommended seven cities full of interesting activities for families.

1) Beijing: Besides the awesome Forbidden City, you can explore the Great Wall and toboggan down with your kids. It’s interesting to take a rickshaw in the hutongs (old alleys).

2) Shanghai: There are some of the world’s tallest buildings and traditional water towns in Shanghai. You can also experience the super-fast bullet trains.

3) Hong Kong: Enjoy stylish oriental shopping in Hong Kong, beaches, mountain trails, and have fun at Disneyland with your kids.

4) Guilin: Appreciate the beautiful natural scenery by cruise, raft, biking, and hiking. Visit the breathtaking Li River and rice terraces.

5) Xi’an: Visit the Terracotta Army; you can even make a mini terracotta warrior there. Enjoy a Chinese medieval banquet and entertainments, and learn the ancient art of paper-cutting.

6) Chengdu: There are many lovely giant pandas in Chengdu. Meet them, take a photo with a cub, or even look after them on a volunteer program.  

7) Dengfeng: If you are interested in martial arts, Dengfeng is the ideal place for you. You can watch Kungfu shows and also take a kungfu class in the world-famous Shaolin Temple.

See more details about The Top 7 Family Tour Destinations in China.

3. Find Interesting Things to Do with Kids

t might be stressful, and sometimes it can be a challenge to your patience, when traveling with kids. However, you can find some fun things to entertain them and make your family trip happier.

You can taste strange snacks at snack streets. Experience rickshaw-riding in the hutongs and toboggan at the Great Wall. A bit of cycling will blow the cobwebs from your family tour. You can take your kids to make some handicrafts, such as paper-cutting, opera face mask painting, T-shirt painting, and Chinese calligraphy.

4. How to Get to ChinaBy Air

The main international hubs of China’s air travel are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. You can take a flight to one of these cities and begin your tour. From there you can take flights to all major domestic cities.

By Train

For some cities in China the bullet train network rivals flights for speed and convenience. You can see more of China if you take a train.

5. Obtain a China Visa

Acquaint yourself with policies that concern children, such as visas, passports, and insurance. In most countries, children no longer share passports with parents, and their passports expire faster than adults’.

Children need their own visa on their passports. (Check the latest information with the China embassy or visa center in your country). 

6. Get Some Useful Travel Tips

Congratulations! Now you're almost ready for China, and a wonderful journey is already over halfway there. Here are some travel tips to make your trip a perfect one!

Lodging

Contact your travel advisor or the hotel in advance, and discuss any special requirements your children need, such as an extra bed or crib.

Familiarize your children with hotel facilities and emergency procedures. Put away any dangerous items that may harm your children.

Eating and Drinking

Never drink tap water in China: You can use a kettle for boiled water, or buy bottled water from supermarkets. Recommended brands are Wahaha, Nestle, Watson's, Robust, and Nongfu Spring. There are also some imported foreign brands of bottled water available in larger supermarkets.

Food allergies: If you or your children have allergies to certain foods, tell your travel advisor, your guide, and the restaurants.

Don't let your children eat food purchased from street vendors if their stomachs get upset easily.

There are KFCs and McDonald's in almost every city, and the tastes will be fairly familiar for your kids if they grow tired of Chinese meals.

Safety

Never let your children go anywhere alone, especially at tourist attractions or on crowded streets. Let your children carry a note (in Chinese) in case they do get separated from you. The note should have on it your name, phone number, your hotel's name, address and phone number, your tour guide’s name and phone number.

When you need to cross the road, hold your child's hand and wait for the green light. Always check both ways, even when the green light is on.

Gifts for Kids

You kids will be happy to get a gift during the trip. There are many souvenirsbringing Chinese culture to life, like a qipao or kungfu outfit, a toy panda, a Beijing opera doll, etc. If you would like more ideas on what to buy for your kids

Family Discounts and Special Arrangements

Check out preferential measures and discounts on transport fares and admission fees for families. Contact your travel advisor to discuss and arrange for the special needs of your children.

7. Make Your Packing Lists

The following list may give you some reference on what to pack for daily excursions in China. Ziplock bags are very useful. You can put dirty clothes and wet washcloths in them.

• Diapers, changing pads, bibs, and feeding bottles (for infants)
• Disinfectant gel, wet wipes, and toilet paper (can be bought in China, but there’s no TP/soap in many public toilets)
• Spare clothes for changes in weather
• Sunscreen, umbrella, insect repellent, and band-aids
• Camera/video camera: Your children might enjoy taking photographs or videos so that they can make their own video-diary or travelogue.
• Small games and toys for journeys, and snacks/drinks

Travel Alone or with a Tour Guide

Now you are mostly prepared for your family China trip, you may wonder whether to travel alone or with a tour guide. We recommend you have a private tour with your own guide and driver for a well-managed and relaxing trip. Avoid being part of a large group tour, where you will have to work hard to keep up with everyone else.

Your tour guide can suggest more fun things to do during your trip. He/she can help you balance the itinerary for you and your kids, and steer you away from stressful situations, like getting lost and tourist traps. Let the guide manage your tour, giving you more time to look after and be with your kids.

Recommended China Family Tours

Want a family itinerary crafted by an expert? Try one of these fully-customizable, pre-planned family vacations and book the vacation of a lifetime.

I have been doing purchase agency service in Guangzhou for 5 years. Experienced about Guangzhou wholesale market. Attend every Canton fair since 2008. I am doing free consulation about wholesale market in Guangzhou and nearby city also, here share some information, hope can be helpful.

⑴ furniture
Lecong town of foshan city is the biggest market for furniture in China.
It’s a town all about furniture, with over 20 furniture wholesale market building. Including almost all kinds of furniture. Here are the name of different price level market for office furniture, with the building name you can find them conviniently, all people there know these malls.

Address: foshan city shunde lecong town, 佛山市乐从镇

high price level
1. Name:“louvre ” 罗浮宫家具博览中心
office furniture location: first floor
http://www.lcifec.com/
2. Name:"redstar macalline" 红星美凯龙 http://www.lcredstar.com/en/

Middle price level
1. Name: "Sunlink furniture city ( north section)" 顺联北区
office furniture location: Block 9 to 11. There are 6 companies in block 11 that manufacture some items for you and can found all other items for you.
2. Name: Sunlink furniture city ( south section) 顺联南区

Low price level
Name: lecong international furniture city 乐从国际家私城

⑵ Adult clothing
Adult Clothing market is in Guangzhou railway station district, there are at least over 20 clothing mall there, different mall for different subject.

1. For copy clothing
Name: KINGDO/金都国际服装城
Address: near Guangzhou yuexiu district huanshi xi road NO. 139 / 汇美国际环市西路139号隔壁

2. For pyjamas and Lingerie
Name: Jing xiang / 金祥内衣城
Address: Guangzhou yuexiu district zhan qian road NO. 193 / 越秀区站前路193号金祥大厦内

3. For knitting and woolen cloth
Name: 广安针毛织服装市场 / Guangan knitting&woolen costume market
Address: Guangzhou yuexiu district zhan qian road NO. 195 / 站前路195号

4. For jeans
Name: Kang le /康乐牛仔城
Address: Guangzhou yuexiu district renming bei road NO. 921 / 人民北路921号康乐大厦一至三层

Guangzhou railway station district is a big district with several kinds of market, e.g.: cloth market, shoes market, watch market, fashion accessories market, cosmetic market, etc
5. For shoes
Name: BuYun Shoes World Plaza /步云天地, there are several other shoes building nearby also
website: http://en.shoesworld.net/
Address: No. 26 ZhangXi Road,Liwan District,Guangzhou,Guangdong,China

6. For watch
Name: southen watch trade center/南方钟表市场
Address: guangzhou yuexiu district zhanxi road No. 57 / 站西路57号
there are several other watch buiding next to eachother.

7. For leather bags
Name: 白云皮具中心/ bai yun elaborate leather trading and exhibition center
Add: Guangzhou baiyun district jie fang road No. 1356-1358 / 广州市白云区解放北路1356-1358号

⑶ Children cloth
Name: zhong shan ba Children's garment plaza/ 中八童装妇婴用品广场
ADD: Guangzhou liwan district zhong shan ba road/广州中山八路

⑷ textile and accessories
Name: China Fabric & Accessories Center/广州国际轻纺城
Add: Guangzhou Haizhu district Xingang road No.114/海珠区新港路144号(近中山大学)
In Guangzhou we call is zhong da fabric market also
zhongda fabric market is for the raw material of garment and accessories - it's the biggest in China. You are supposed to find anything about garment accessories in the world there, they can open your own model all the time.

⑸ ceramic
1.China ceramic city/中国陶瓷城
Address: foshan chancheng city jiang wan 3 road No. 2 / 佛山禅城江湾三路2号
2.China mosaic city/中国马赛克城
Address: nextto China ceramic city
it's the biggest wholesale market in China for the tiles, just nearby. it's 8 minutes by taxi away from the jihuayuan metro station in foshan city, there is metro go directly from Guangzhou to foshan. by taxi from GZ to there around 150RMB.

⑹ gift
it’s road including gift and stationary wholesale market, the following two are the biggest gift building
1. Wan Ling square/万菱广场
address: guangzhou yi de road / 广东省广州市解放南路39号万菱广场
http://www.onelinkplaza.com/en/main.php
Metro station: haizhu square

2. international toy stationary gift square/国际玩具文具精品广场
address: guangzhou yi de road /一德西路390号

⑺ stationary
Name: yi yuan stationary market / 谊园文具批发市场
Address: guangzhou liwan district huangsha hou dao NO. 25 / 广州市荔湾区黄沙后道25号

⑻ lighting
zhongshan city guzheng/中山古镇 is the lighting town of China, biggest lighting wholesale market in China, have almost all kinds of lighting

it's a city near Guangzhou, two hours by car awary from Guangzhou.
Name: zhong shan city Guzhen / 中山古镇灯饰批发市场
Address: zhong shan city Guzhen / 中山古镇灯饰批发市场

⑼ home decoration
Name: ba da tong home deco. market/八达通家居市场, over half of the exhibitor on 2012.03's China international fair is from there.
Add: Foshan nanhai lishui/广佛高速盐步里水收费站旁
website: http://www.bdt888.com/index1.asp

⑽ For building hardware and furniture accessories
Both foshan and GZ is ok, normally we guide customer to foshan if he buy big amount. if you stay in GZ and don't want to rent a car to foshan then GZ is better.

Market in Foshan
You can visit foshan hua yi decoration material marekt / 佛山华艺装饰材料市场
Address: 佛山市季华西路和325国道交汇处
Mainly for plywood, floor boards, ceiling, dope, anti-water material, stainless hardware,lighting, windows and door, fabric curtain.

Market in Guagnzhou:
There are over ten wholesale market for construction material decoration. Mainly gother in nan an road, da nan road and tai kang road.
1. nan an road construction decoration material road /南岸装饰材料专业街
Address: 越秀区南岸路
mainly for decoration material, lighting, steel door, hardware. Have several wholesale market like Guangzhou construction decoration material plaza / 广州装饰材料市场, nan an construction decoration material market/南岸装饰材料市场, xin zhi guang construction decoration material market/星之光装饰材料市场, Guangdong construction decoration material market/广东装饰材料市场.
2. da nan road decoration material street / 大南路装饰材料专业街.
Address: 越秀区大南路
hua di decoration material market / 华淦装饰材料商场, mainly for LED advertisement lighting, hardware. Decoration material.
Tai gu lighting center / 太古灯饰城, mainly for lighting.
Guagnzhou texitile decoration craftwork market / 广州纺织装饰工艺品商场, mainly for the fabric curtain.
3. taikang decoration material street / 泰康装饰材料专业街
Address: 海珠区泰康路
mainly for the decoration material, stationary, security steel door

⑾ Printing
Name: Guangzhou tian chen road printing machine and printing material market / 广州市天成路印刷机械印刷材料市场
Address: 广州市天成路印刷机械印刷材料市场
Mainly for: all kinds of paper, sticker, printing ink, printing accessories material. All kinds of printing machine, packing maching, etc.

⑿ For curtains in GZ.
1. for finished curtain
Name: 海印布料市场/hai ying qiao fabric market
Address: 广州市沿江东路429-431号，即海印桥西北引桥侧
There are several fabric curtain market nearby, it's the biggest place for curtain fabric

2. for fabric material of curtain2. for fabric material of curtain
Name: zhong da fabric market / China Fabric & Accessories Center/广州国际轻纺城
Add: Guangzhou Haizhu district Xingang road No.114/海珠区新港路144号(近中山大学)
zhongda fabric market is for the raw material of garment and accessories - it's the biggest in China.

By Spring Dan
Email: spring_dan@hotmail.com
Phone No./Whatsapp: 0086 13560075057

Building Material Markets

1. Furniture:
as everybody knows, Lecong is the biggest furniture wholesale market in China, maybe even in the world.
For the right side, like Shun lian North ，Shun lian South，most furniture are for personal decoration. Louvre sells most expensive but good quality products, and Shun lian North sells the middle price one , and Shun lian south is comparably cheaper.
Then for the left side, most buildings sell the hotel furniture and office furniture.
Besides, in Guangzhou, it also have big furniture mall like MACALLINE and Ji sheng wei bang， but furniture there are usually very expensive and best quality.

2. Sanitary products
For sanitary products, like faucet, closestool, wash basin, there are three places in Foshan, one is China ceramic city，sells the best quality and brandy things, like TOTO. Then Yi Mei Jia sanitary market is the biggest one, and have many choices for basin and bathtub, price there is middle and also have some famous brands there. Another one is Shi wan sanitary market ， but most shops there are shut down, only left about 10 shops there, but price there is lower than another two places.

3. Kitchen and wardrobe
In Lecong furniture market, there are also many shops selling wardrobes. But if you want to customize your design, there are two places you can go. One is also near Le cong furniture market, which specialized in lighting and kitchen. But most are brandy products, like OPPEIN, so price is expensive.
Besides, you can go to the NAN AN ROAD building material market， there are also many shops can customize wardrobe and kitchen

4. Lighting
As everybody knows, LECONG is famous for furniture, then another city—Zhong shan is good for lighting, Gu zhen is about 2 hours from Guangzhou, and you can find the biggest lighting market there
But Guangzhou also have 4 lighting markets, one is called TAI GU near bei jing road, it is the biggest one in Guangzhou, if you don’t buy many lighting, you can go there, most shops also have factory in Zhongshan, but price there is higher than Guzhen.
Another comparably cheaper one is called YUE JING hardware market， lightings there is cheaper.
And another called AN HUA lighting market is almost shut down now, but it will reopen in july.

5. Tiles
If want to wholesale tiles, Nan zhuang  in fo shan is the best choice.

6. Curtains
For curtain, you can find in NAN AN building street, but the HAI YIN cloth market(海印布艺城) is more specialized in curtains.
Big machine and facility
1. Industrial use machine
If you want to buy generator, solar system products, fire equipment, the YUE JING hardware market  can satisfy what you need.

Hotel and Restaurant Facilities

1. There are three hotel markets in Pan yu, Guangzhou, one is called Nan tian hotel market， this one is older and much cheaper one. and quality is very good
Another one is called Xin Ji Sha Xi this one is newer than another two, and price is medium.
And the third one also called Sha Xi older and bigger than the second one. But products in these two are similar, because many shops have branches in both place.
In these three markets, you can buy the cooking facility, BBQ facility and cake mixing facility, freezer. etc. and you can also buy the tableware in these markets.
Besides, opposite to the Sha xi hotel market, there is a very big tea market and big kid’s bicycle market.

2. Home appliance
For electrical appliance, Hai ying electrical market has all kinds of products, like TV set, DVD, alarm facility, TV, etc.

Fashion Products

1. Clothes
Near Guangzhou railway station, there is a big area full of clothes, like Bai ma Yi ma  but these buildings are very expensive. But another market near bai ma, which is in the basement market called DI YI DA DAO.price there is much cheaper, and this market combines factory and retail shops, so if you want to find some factory for order, you can visit there.
Another area is called Shi San Hang.this area is very low price, but very crowdy, and usually only opens until 2 pm, should go there earlier.
If you want to wholesale jeans, then Sha He is better choice for you. There are many jeans with low price, and if want to find factory, Zeng cheng(增城) have many jean factory.

2. Shoes
For shoes, Zhan xi road has many plaza. But in these market, you cannot retail. Besides, the metropoleplaza is cheaper, and you can do both wholesale and retail

3. handbags and belt
for handbag market, you can visit Bai Yun leather market， but this market sells many copy things, like LV, CUCCI, etc, besides, it also have copy shoes, glasses, watches, belts, and usually the office products are better quality than those in the shops.
If you don’t want copy things, and want to buy cheaper price handbags, you can go to opposite side, there is a street selling cheaper handbags and suitcase.

4. Jewelry
one is called Xi Jiao most are silver and gold color jewelry, and another is Tai kang the price there is cheaper and have more colorful jewelries.

5. watch
in Zhan xi, there are three watches building, selling both copy and ordinary watches.

6. underwear and bra, stock
Gao di street near bei jing road, it’s the best choice for belt, underwear, bra and stock. For example, some belts there only about 2 rmb per piece

7. gift
Onelink Plaza, is quite famous for gift, here also can retail

8. cosmetic
For cosmetic market, one is Xing fa plaza, one is Mei bo city, you can find many copy cosmetic, perfume and wigs there .