How to apply for a China Tourist (L) Visa

This is a simple guide for individuals seeking to apply for a China Tourist/Family (L) Visa. Just to clarify, I am not in anyway connected to the China Embassy and the information I am posting here are based from my experience when I applied for the same visa together with my parents. 

I am a Philippine passport holder employed in the Philippines. Here's what I submitted when i applied for a Tourist or Family Visa (L):

CNY180 vs CNY260

Visiting the Great Wall is one of my bucket lists and I really wanted it to be perfect. It is possible to visit the Great Wall on your own but the great hesitation for me was the language barrier. It’s just too hard to communicate with the locals and we don’t want to stress ourselves asking for directions or asking if we are on the right bus, etc. So when I prepared our DIY Beijing IT I decided to book a tour instead of doing it ourselves. We booked the tour at our hotel’s tourist information center which has 2 options, CNY180 and CNY 260.

Beijing DIY IT & cost

Our IT is designed for one to walk a lot during the day then rest and recuperate at night. I really loved the parks and temples we visited. I especially love love love the trees and admire how they maintain the cleanliness of all the places we visited. Yes, almost all have entrance fees but it was worth it. The ambience was so relaxing and a real eye candy. We toured around Beijing using the subway system, it was convenient and affordable.

haggling in Beijing

Of course, when almost all items we buy today are made in China I was really looking forward to shop and score cheap products in Beijing. Listed shopping districts are Wangfujing Street, Xidan, Xiushui Market, Sanlitun area and Panjiayuan Market. Each had different things to offer but we were only able to visit Wangfujing Street because of its location at the heart of Beijing.

webfind wednesdays: DIY Beijing

I know today is Thursday but I am just really excited to share how our DIY Beijing tour was made possible :)

Because of the language barrier, traveling around Beijing could be confusing and exhausting especially if you are only armed with a map. Luckily I chanced upon two very informative websites that made our 4-day DIY Beijing itinerary doable.