have a look at travelsphere and also chinaholidays. You might find some good itinery ideas there.

Thanks Fiona

I'll be following your progress with interest as hopefully I'll do a China trip sometime in the future.

Hi
I think Pudleduck did a tailormaid holiday to China with a firm called China Holidays, maybe she can give you their contact number if you PM her, she also did an excellent trip report which you could search for on the board.
I have been to China twice, both times were set tours though on the first you could have extra days in Hong Kong at the end of the tour. The first tour was an extensive 20day tour the second was just 9days, when we again visited Beijing and had a five day Yangtze cruise.
China can be very tiring as there are often long distances between places you visit, entailing early starts and lots of hanging around in Airports so I wouldn't try to go to too many places , but you will be able to relax somewhat on the cruise.
I would say the main places to visit would be Beijing (3 days there would probably be enough) Xian for the Terracotta Warriors (1-2 nights ) Shanghai (2-3 nights) then The cruise or the Cruise then Shanghai, depending on which direction you are cruising and how many days, then Hong Kong for however many days are left. You will of course have to allow days for the flights etc.
There are of course lots of other places you can visit, I really liked the Li River area but if you are doing the cruise you probably wouldn't want to go there.
It's a fascinating country there was almost 10 years between my two visits and the changes were tremendous, my second visit was in the year 2000 so I would think the major cities will be almost unrecognizable now, still worth a visit though.

We did a Thomas Cook tour last year for our first wedding annivesary to Borneo. There were a few people on our tour that had done the Yangtze river tour with them & they said it was fantastic.

I woudn't hesitate one bit with booking a TC tour, they can also arrange the additional stop overs for you. We stayed an extra 3 nights at the end of the tour & another couple went to Kuala Lumpar before the tour & then met us in Borneo.

Puddleducks report

Thanks

I have read through puddleducks report, very interesting indeed.

Stacey thanks for your reply but TC won't even be considered after all the F up's I have had with them in the last few weeks over my just completed holiday and one booked for October, we will never use that lot or any of their companies again

China Holidays looks good and I have sent the link to our friends for them to look at.

Thanks
Graham

Hi Graham,

I really can't speak highly enough of China Holidays. Rowan who helped us plan our holiday was wonderful and their staff regularly travel to China so that they have first hand experience. Don't be afraid to ask for anything that's not in their brochure, they'll tailor make a holiday to your specific requirements, including any hotel not featured. All of the guides they paired us with spoke excellent English and were very knowledgeable.