BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey folks I'm heading to Asia in a couple days and I need a place to stay for a week in Shenzhen, my budget is about 13 bucks a night in Shenzhen (assuming this is feasible) and 20 a night in Shanghai. I tried hostelworld and a couple of other places and all I could find was four places. They seemed alright but I like to see a little variety or at least hear from real people where some good places to stay are.

I'm also wondering if anyone knows what the situation is now for getting a VISA when going from HK to mainland. Is it easier for me to do that or to get one before I leave. Keep in mind I'm leaving next Tuesday and I will be in HK for a week.

Thanks for any help.

Nathan.

Good luck finding a decent place. Neither city is cheap. I'd change the range to about 300RMB per night. Then you can get a comfortable bed in a safe place. Try Home Inn or 7 Days Inn.

If your interested these are the places I stayed at when I was in Shenzhen.

I flew in and arrived around 1 am so I stayed at a place near the hotel, the Vienna Airport Hotel.
It's about 3 Star not to bad (just remember that the beds can be rock hard in China). 90RMB ($13) a night, Free airport transfer but you have to call them which can be an issue in it's self because the number on this site is wrong but if you decided to go here I can dig the number out of my notebook for you. Room wasn't bad TV, bathroom. But Boa'an isn't connected to the Metro so you have to get a bus into the city (20Kuai/$3).

The other place I stayed was My Little Hut. It's right in the middle of Louhu only a block from the Metro and 4 stops from the Hong Kong boarder and the fancieness which that brings. It's about 65Kuai ($9) a night. Its on a side street of a major road which I enjoyed people watching from my window while recovery from my jetlag. I got a privet double, you get your own privet bathroom with it. 24hr check in but you can't lock your own room, there's a girl on the floor day and night who locks and unlocks the room for you. Even though the counter is on the street make sure you have a backpack because the rooms are on the 4th floor and when I was there I was studying and had a whole lot of text book to cart up the stairs which is an ordeal I don't want to impose on you.

Even though in general I found Shenzhen disgusting and the pollution was so bad that it made my eyes water. I recommend looking for a place in Nanfang. I had to go there to get my train ticket to Xi'an where I was studying and it was a haven from my little pollution jungle in the middle of the city. It's very nice and has lots of gardens and is connected at the end of there Metro network. Which I love because it's so clean and runs on time and easy to use.

One thing I will tell you though is to have about 300kuai extra on you when ever you check into any hotel of hostel. Every place I stayed at they asked for about this much extra to act as a sought of bond. You get a receipt and the money when you checkout but it wasn't something I was expecting at 1 in the morning. Luckily I had exchanged about $50 in Singapore so I had some cash on me.

Can't help you with Shanghai but have fun. The website that I got my hostels from gives a fairly good listing of places to find something. When I was leaving I used it to book a place for a lady I was studying with at Mingtown Etour Youth Hostel . I don't know how it was but it was only $7 ($45 kuai) a night and she hasn't linched me so it couldn't have been too bad.

Regarding visas, you should officially get one in your home country. For that you will probably need to show return flights and accommodation bookings.

If in Hong Kong, you will need to use an agency. Places such as www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/ can get the visa for you,but you will pay extra for using an agency.

Hello there,

I can only comment on Shanghai. I stayed at MINGTOWN Etour International Youth Hostel Great Hostel, within walking distance from most major sites (next to Nanjing Rd), clean, and friendly staff, and great coffee!

hope this helps.

Safe Travels

In Shanghai we stayed in Home Inn near the Shanghai Stadium, paid 249 Yuan a night for the two of us. The Home Inn group are lovely places to stay and they are not expensive for what you get. Not sure about the visa service in HK although I did here there was a problem for some countries, certainly something you need to look into. Got our single entry 30 days visa in Hanoi cost $65 for the express service via a travel agent.The problem with the Chinese visa is it's from date of issue so it's not possible to get it early if you are staying any length of time or are away for some time like we were.
Best of luck
Jean