I have a number of friends who are interested in joining these cheap tours. This is an attempt to summarize what we did.
$99 Beijing Tour by Nexus Holidays Tours
Day 1: Departure from the US
Day 2: Arrival in China. Picked up at the PEK airport and transported to your hotel. Dinner is on your own that evening.
Day 3: Departed from hotel at 7:30 a.m. Visited Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City in the morning. After lunch, went to Temple of Heaven. Went to Wangfujing Street (shopping) for about an hour, dinner, and then attended acrobatic show.
Day 4: Departed hotel at 8:00 a.m. Visited Jade Store (shopping). Visited Ming Tombs. After lunch, visited Great Wall. Return to the city and had about 1 hour to check out the Birdsnest. Had Steamboat dinner.
Day 5: 2 hour ride to Tianjin, visited indoor snack food market, lunch at restarant that served the famous Dogs-Don't-Care buns. Return to a Silk Factory (shopping)
Day 6: Visited Chinese Medicine/Pharmacy (shopping). Went to Jingshan Park (overlooking Forbidden City), lunch (western buffet), Silk Street Market (shopping). Dinner, and then, a show (very good!).
Day 7: Left hotel at 6:30 a.m. drive to Chengde to visit temple at the top of the hill and Summer Palace (Mountain Resort). This is about a 4-hr drive each way to/from Beijing. Upon return to Beijing, we went to the Olympic Center for a foot massage (shopping for medicine to soak your feet in!). Dinner. Night drive through city.
Day 8: Visited Summer Palace in the morning. Stop at Tea Factory (shopping). Lunch, visit to a Pearl Factory (shopping). That night (the last evening), the tour guide gave us back 30 RMB to find dinner on our own. They brought us to a shopping center that is similar to Silk Street Market.
Day 9: Ride to Airport (but we stayed an extra day and travelled to Shanghai the next day)
$49 Shanghai Tour by Nexus Holidays Tours
Unlike the Beijing tour where we stayed in ONE hotel for the entire stay, we stayed in Shanghai for the first and last night. Then, we travelled to all the cities included in the tour. I left my big luggage in storage at the Shanghai hotel because we would return to the same hotel. And used my carry on luggage for the next 5 days. What that means is that each day, I had more and more "smaller" bags due to shopping!
Day 1: Arrival in PVG (Shanghai Pudong Airport - there are 2 airports in Shanghai - the Pudong is the new one). Picked up and brought to your hotel.
Day 2: Ride to Puxi (downtown Shanghai), shopped at a place that was converted from a temple. Visited Shanghai Museum. Lunch. Ride to Hangzhou (4 hours). Visited West Lake, took boat ride across the lake, attended a show (TERRIBLE show about West Lake! They played the music really loud - it's a theatre where you can drink tea while watching) and then, dinner. Spent the night in Hangzhou.
Day 3: Visited Tea Factory (shopping) in the morning. Lunch. Left Hangzhou for Nanjing. Visited Dr. Sun-Yet-Sen's Masoleum, Night Market, Dinner, back to hotel. Spent the night in Nanjing.
Day 4: Visited Nanjing Bridge and there is a factory making these globes with artwork inside (shopping). I couldn't take photos to show you! Lunch. Departed Nanjing for Suzhou. Arrived in Suzhou in time for a sunset ride along the Grand Canal. Evening activities include a night market and dinner. Spent the night in Suzhou.
Day 5: Visited Silk Factory (shopping) in the morning. Lunch. Departed Suzhou for Wuxi. Went to Ling Shan (big buddha). Dinner, spend the night in Wuxi.
Day 6: Visited Pearl Factory (shopping) and then, the Yixing Teapot Factory (shopping again!). Lunch. Ride back to Shanghai to another jewelry store (shopping again!). Dinner on our own (tour guide gave us 30RMB for our dinner). Acrobatic Show that evening in Shanghai. Return to pack!
Day 7: Ride back to Airport.
As you can tell, it's quite hectic and 1/2 the time is spent on shopping. That last day was very disappointing. We went to 3 factories in one day. We didn't even get to see the Bund or the Expo site in Shanghai. I would have liked to spend more time in Shanghai. Luckily, I do have friends in Shanghai so maybe I could plan to visit them again before they return to the States!
Let me know if you have further questions on this tour. The costs were explained in another post.