Holidays to China from New Zealand: A Kiwi Traveller’s 2026 – 27 Planning Guide

I’m Baker Gu, CTS Tours’ China travel specialist. When a Kiwi traveller writes in asking about a holiday to China, I get one of two questions:

1. *“Is it actually easy to go right now?”*
2. *“What does a fair price look like from Auckland — and what do I get for it?”*

Both are fair questions. China travel from New Zealand has changed a lot in the last twenty-four months — the visa-free arrangement, the return of scheduled departures from Auckland, the rebuilt domestic rail and air network. This is the planning guide I’d give a friend asking me the same thing.

CTS Tours is the New Zealand China travel specialist. We have been bringing Kiwi travellers to China since 1928 — ninety-eight years of one job, done one way. This piece is opinionated. If you want the brochure version, the tours page lists every itinerary we run.

Visa-free entry: the single biggest change for Kiwi travellers

The headline you need: ordinary New Zealand passport holders can enter mainland China without a visa for up to 30 days under the current bilateral arrangement, which has been published through 31 December 2026.

What that means in practice:

• No embassy queue, no $200+ visa fee, no posting your passport away weeks before you travel
• 30 days is enough time for any of our published group itineraries, including the 15-day Best of China
• You still need a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates
• You still need a return or onward ticket and proof of accommodation for at least your first nights

A few people each month write to ask whether this applies to them. Two things to flag:

• Diplomatic, official and service passports sit under different rules — check with the embassy
• Hong Kong, Macau and Tibet need separate arrangements; the visa-free window is mainland China only

If your travel runs into 2027, double-check the policy nearer to your departure. We update guidance with every booking and our team will tell you in writing what applies to your dates.

What “holidays to China from New Zealand” usually looks like

Most Kiwi travellers I work with want one of three shapes of trip.

1. The full first-China holiday: 12 – 16 days, headline cities and one signature landscape

This is the most common shape, and it’s the trip Best of China was built around. Fifteen days, Beijing → Xi’an → Puyuan → Hangzhou → Shanghai, returning to Auckland via Beijing. You get the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, a Song-dynasty water town, West Lake, and the Bund — the country’s essential narrative arc — in one trip.

See the full itinerary on the Best of China page.

2. The deeper specialist trip: 14 – 21 days, one or two regions, slower pace

Travellers who have done a city tour somewhere else in Asia, or who already know they want Yunnan, the Silk Road, or Zhangjiajie, fit here. We run dedicated routes for each — Yunnan Explorer, Silk Road Signature, Zhangjiajie and others on the China tours from New Zealand hub.

3. The stopover or short city break: 3 – 5 days, one city, en route to somewhere else

If you’re transiting Shanghai or Beijing on the way to or from Europe, our stopover tours get you a proper experience without losing your onward flight. Beijing Express and Shanghai Express are the most-booked.

For the rest of this guide I’ll focus on the first shape — the full first-China holiday — because that’s what most people searching “holidays to China from New Zealand” have in mind.

The 2026 and 2027 Best of China departures, in plain numbers

Best of China is the itinerary I put first when someone asks me what a sensible Kiwi China trip looks like in 2026 – 27. Fifteen days, group format, all the essential sites, leaves from Auckland.

| Departure | Length | Lead-in price (per person twin-share) | Single supplement |
|-----------|--------|---------------------------------------|-------------------|
| 3 November 2026 | 15 days | NZD $3,880 | NZD $720 |
| 25 March 2027 | 15 days | NZD $4,080 | NZD $720 |

The two departures run the same itinerary — same hotels, same guides, same inclusions, same day-by-day programme. The NZD $200 difference is entirely driven by the international airfare: March from Auckland into China sits inside a higher fare window, November is the softer pricing period.

If your dates are flexible, the November departure gives you a lower lead-in price. If March suits your calendar (school holidays, autumn at home, anniversary), the value of having the spring season in China is real — cherry blossom is one of the cleaner photographic months I work with.

What’s included in the lead-in price

Both Best of China departures include:

• Return international flights from Auckland (the trip is routed Auckland — Beijing on outbound and Shanghai — Beijing — Auckland on the way home)
• Domestic transport: high-speed train G89 second-class Beijing → Xi’an, then internal flight Xi’an → Hangzhou
• Hotels for all 13 in-country nights (4-star in Beijing, Xi’an, Hangzhou and Shanghai; the 5-star Puyuan Hotel for the Song-style water town night)
• English-speaking local guides in every city
• Breakfast every day, plus a programmed lunch or dinner on most days
• All entrance fees on the itinerary — Forbidden City, Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, West Lake boat cruise, the lot
• Land transfers between airports, train stations and hotels

What’s not included — and where to budget extra:

• Travel insurance (we strongly recommend it; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade asks every traveller to carry it)
• Tips (we suggest about NZD $10 per person per day to cover guide and driver)
• Optional evening shows: the Tang Palace Banquet in Xi’an or an acrobatic show in Beijing
• Meals not on the printed itinerary — plan on NZD $20 – 40 for a sit-down dinner in most cities
• Personal expenses (laundry, drinks, shopping)

Other Auckland-departing tours, with airfare included

Best of China isn’t the only inclusive package we run from Auckland. The 2026 – 27 line-up I’d put in front of a Kiwi traveller:

• Beijing – Xi’an Discovery — a focused 10-day option for travellers who want the headline north only. See Beijing – Xi’an.
• Shanghai and Surroundings — a Yangtze Delta loop through Suzhou, Wuxi, the water towns and Hangzhou. Browse Shanghai Surroundings.
• Grand Tour of China — a longer Signature route that adds Guilin’s karst landscape onto the headline cities. See the Grand Tour.
• Yunnan Explorer — Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La and Tiger Leaping Gorge, routed Auckland — Beijing — Dali. The Yunnan Explorer page has the full itinerary.

All four routes follow the same pattern: international flights from Auckland, internal transport in China, hotels, guides, meals as specified, and entrance fees — the package shape Kiwi travellers expect.

How CTS Tours actually runs your trip

I’ll be direct about why CTS earns its place on this market. There are three things mass-market operators cannot replicate, and they are the reason we have been here since 1928:

- Kiwi-led front office, on-ground China operations. Your enquiry is handled by our Auckland-based team. Once you’re in China, you’re looked after by CTS’s own offices in the cities your itinerary visits — not handed to a wholesale subcontractor. When something needs to change at short notice (a weather day, a ticket queue, a hotel switch), that direct relationship is what makes it work.

- Small group format. Discovery tours run as escorted groups, but they’re kept small. You get better access at peak sites, you can hear the guide, and the group dynamic stays workable for the full fifteen days.

- Honest itinerary writing. Where Forbidden City tickets are capacity-limited, our itinerary tells you what we substitute (Jingshan Park overlook and Prince Gong’s Mansion). Where airfare moves the lead-in price between November and March, we tell you which fare window each departure sits in. The brochures don’t always do that.

If you want the small-group, premium-end version of the same trip, our Signature tours cap at sixteen travellers, with boutique 4- to 5-star hotels and additional access. Discovery is excellent value; Signature is for travellers who want the polish.

Best months to travel

For Kiwi travellers, I send the most groups in April – May and September – October. Mild temperatures, manageable crowds, and the landscape conditions you want for the photos.

• Spring (April – May) — the Beijing cherry blossom window, the Hangzhou tea harvest, comfortable walking weather everywhere
• Autumn (September – October) — my personal favourite. The afternoon light in Guilin is exceptional, and October is foliage season in the north
• November (when Best of China departs) — still mild in Shanghai and Hangzhou; crisp and dry in Beijing and Xi’an. Lower domestic crowds, lower airfares from Auckland
• March (when the second Best of China departs) — the early-spring shoulder, with thin crowds and rapidly improving weather as the trip moves south from Beijing into the Yangtze Delta

I’d avoid mid-July and August (hot, humid, peak Chinese domestic travel) and the first week of October (the Golden Week public holiday spikes prices and crowds). Chinese New Year (late January or February) is spectacular but logistically tight — we run a small number of trips through it for travellers who specifically want the festival, but it is not a default recommendation for first-time visitors.

How to start your booking

Two ways most Kiwi travellers begin:

1. Browse and enquire — pick a published itinerary from the China tours hub, then submit the enquiry form on that page or call 0800 CTS 888 (0800 287 888). Our team will confirm availability on your dates, walk through inclusions, and answer the practical questions before you put down a deposit.

2. Tailor-made — if you want to combine elements (say Beijing and Xi’an from Best of China, then Yunnan from Yunnan Explorer, then a Shanghai stopover), our tailor-made service builds it as a private trip on your dates. This is how most Signature clients book.

If you’re still deciding shape, my first-trip planning piece covers the practical logistics in more detail, and our China holiday packages guide walks through the tier choices.

Ready to start planning? Browse our China tours from New Zealand hub, see the full Best of China itinerary, or contact our Auckland team. I’m happy to take questions directly.