China - Yunnan

Before booking please check the status of the trip you are joining. We do not advise you to book flights until a trip is confirmed to run.

• There is a 5% booking incentive discount for all Available and Available - 2 more to guarantee tours. To confirm your place on a tour please make the deposit payment. Your final balance is payable no later than 56 days before the trip start date. On booking your trip you are agreeing to our booking conditions. Please read them fully via the link here. For each holiday a minimum number of participants is required to enable it to go ahead. Once the minimum number is reached, the trip status will change from 'Available' to 'Guaranteed to run'. You can check the trip status for each departure in ‘Dates and Prices’ table. Other than in exceptional circumstances, we will not cancel a trip once it has achieved this guaranteed to run status and so you are free to proceed with your international flight booking and other travel arrangements.If you are only interested in booking a tour that is already Guaranteed to run and you wish to be contacted by us when the trip you wish to join has been guaranteed, please contact us on office@redspokes.co.uk.

  Guaranteed Limited - trips are open for booking and confirmed to run but have a limited number of spaces available.
  Guaranteed - trips are open for booking and confirmed to run.
  Available 2 More To Guarantee - trips are open for booking but not yet confirmed. 2 more bookings will guarantee the running of this tour.
  Available - trips are open for booking but not yet confirmed.
  Contact - If you would like to book this tour, please contact us.
  Fully Booked - trips now closed for booking.

• Accommodation. We choose accommodation on the basis of comfort rather than luxury. Our prices are based on sharing a twin room; single rooms are available at extra cost.

  Most meals are provided on the tour (see trip notes for details) along with snacks and mineral water during cycling days.

  All transportation and local guides within the itinerary.

• International flights. On some tours internal flights are not included.

  Soft and alcoholic drinks are not included in the meal plan.

  Some meals on non-cycling/cycling days (please refer to itinerary)

  Optional extra excursions.

  Visa costs are not included in your trip price.

  Personal spending money.

  Travel insurance.

  Airport transfers outside of our trip arrival and departure dates.

  Tips for local staff Snacks and drinks with meals Miscellaneous personal expenses.

The tour starts in Shangri-La (Diqing). We appreciate that people join redspokes tours from all over the world; no matter what time you arrive at the airport on the tour start date you and your luggage will be transferred to the joining hotel. Please bear in mind that if you arrive before midday you may have to wait for your room to be made available. If you decide to arrive early or stay on after the tour, redspokes can assist you in booking your accommodation and airport transfers at additional cost. If you depart on the last day of the tour your airport transfer is included in the tour price.

Our tour price does not include your international flight.

Check out www.kayak.com or www.opodo.co.uk for an idea of times and prices.

You will need to arrange multi destination flights to arrive in Diqing Airport (DIG). This is not an international airport so you will fly into Diqing from one of China's major airports. Your journey home is from Dali (DLU).

You will at all times have the security of a back-up vehicle; either a jeep or a bus. The vehicle will carry your luggage (we transport your main baggage by support vehicle from each overnight stop to the next) and yourself if you want. The backup van will be with us throughout the day stopping around every 12 miles (20 km).

Our leaders carry a good tool kit and will help to fix any bike problems so all you normally need to carry is a daypack, for your camera etc. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be equipped for all repairs, so if you are bringing your own bike on the tour you must ensure that it is in good working order. If in doubt, have it fully serviced by a bike shop before you travel.

Our Yunnan tour is only suitable for mountain bikes. We have bikes available for hire. If you're not hiring from us you need to ensure that you bike is in good working order before you leave on tour. If you are not the most mechanically minded we suggest that you get your bike looked at by a professional bike mechanic. In particularly we would suggest looking and adjusting all wheel spokes, greasing all your bearings, checking your brakes/gears cable, tighten all nuts and bolts, check chain, quick release clamps, tires and put in new inner tubes and check wheel rims are not worn. In addition make sure the bike is well serviced and ride it with as much care and attention as possible.

We would also advise the following tools to accompany you on your tour: multi-tool, tyre levers, pump, 2 spare inner tube, spare spokes of the correct length to fit your wheels - check with a bike shop, brake pads, a few spare links for your chain, spares for any unique or high-tech items on your bike, e.g. fluid and bleed kit for hydraulic brakes.

Your bike must be carried as a part of your luggage allowance and, to this end, we do ask you to make every effort to keep your total check-in baggage to an absolute minimum. The baggage allowance for most airlines for an economy-class ticket is 20kg per person; although a degree of flexibility is usually extended to groups and the check in staff may accept up to 26kg per person without imposing excess baggage charges.

Your bike (in its cardboard box) will weigh 15 to 18kg. So, that means you will have a small allowance for clothing, etc. You should carry small heavy items in your day pack / pannier which you can take onto the plane as hand luggage.

Your hand luggage is not included as a part of your overall allowance, as it is not weighed. Please inform your airline that you will be taking your bike on the flight, and attempt to make every effort to secure from the airline an additional baggage allowance - but this is not always granted. Although we cannot guarantee that there will not be excess baggage charges, this is something, which very rarely happens.

In terms of clothing this is clearly up to you and we can only supply a rough guide as to what to take. This guide is entirely flexible and should be tailored to your specific needs. Sunglasses, lightweight trekking boots/shoes, cycling footwear, lightweight socks (3 pairs), underwear (4 pairs), lightweight long johns, lightweight, long-sleeved shirt, lightweight trekking shorts, padded cycling shorts (2 pairs), shorts, t-shirts (2), long-sleeved shirt, fleece jacket/pullover, biking jacket waterproof (breathable fabric), fingerless biking gloves, sunglasses, toiletries, basic first aid kit, to include: antiseptic cream, throat lozenges, painkillers, plasters and blister treatment and re-hydration salts (Dioralite) lip balm, sun cream, towel (small). If you have any questions about this list, please feel free to contact us.

If you wish to hire a bike or have a single room for the tour this can usually be arranged for you at extra cost. You will have the opportunity to request these extras at the time of booking or, subject to availability, at a later date, by emailing your request to us.

If you require additional accommodation or transfers in advance of the trip start date or at the end of your trip we can arrange this for you at extra cost.

If you are bringing your own bike you must bring spare parts specific to it. A detailed equipment list of what to bring with you will be provided on booking. Dark glasses, small day sack or pannier (assuming you have a rack to attach it to) to carry clothing, camera and valuables, a couple of spare passport photos, photocopies of key documents e.g. passport (data and visa pages), travel insurance policy, airline tickets, camera, photos of your family and postcards of your town to show the locals.

We have a wide mix of cyclists on our tours from couples,friends to solo travellers. Our prices are based on twin shared accommodation. If you sign up for one of our tours as a solo traveller we will twin share you with another person of the same gender in your group. If you prefer to have your own room this is an option on most of our tours for an extra charge.

It is mandatory that you are well-insured for the full duration of the tour. This must include personal injury, medical expenses, death, repatriation, helicopter or aircraft rescue, loss of luggage or equipment, cancellation or curtailments.

You should also ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting protection for the type of activities included in your tour. Any claims concerning matters for which you are insured must be directed to your insurers. We strongly recommend that you take out insurance at the time of booking your trip to ensure that you are covered in the event of cancellation.

For people within the UK Snowcard Insurance Services specialize in all mountain sports holidays including mountain biking. Follow the link above to obtain full information and a quote.

Capital Beijing
Government Single Party Socialist Republic
Currency Renminbi (RMB,¥)
Area 9,596,960 km2
Population 1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.)
Language national: Mandarin (Putonghua)
regional: Wu (Shanghaiese), Cantonese (Yue), Mindong (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
Religion Buddhist (~18%), Daoist (Taoist), Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%, Atheist 15%, most Chinese are religious pluralists.
Electricity 220V/50Hz (US/European plug for 2-pin, Australian plug for 3-pin)
Calling Code +86
Internet TLD .cn
Time Zone UTC +8

We choose accommodation on the basis of comfort rather than luxury. Our prices are based on sharing a twin room. Should you wish to have a room all to yourself there is a single supplement option on the majority of our tours. For more information on the additional costs please see dates and prices.

The majority of the accommodation for this trip is in Hotels with one night in a guest house.

Some rooms will have En-suite facilities and Air Conditioning.