Published: November 2026 — prices and itinerary reviewed on this date; later updates are shown in the revision note below.
Please read the notes below before you book. FAST operates a radio-quiet core zone: all electronic devices - phones, cameras, watches, fitness bands, power banks - must be surrendered to free lockers before the shuttle, and this is enforced by security check. Plan the day accordingly, including how students will record observations without devices; we supply printed field sheets. Two teacher places are included free of charge and their cost is shared across the student price; additional teachers are quoted at the adult rate. All students must be covered by travel insurance, and we require a signed medical and allergy declaration per student before departure.
Q: How is this priced for a school group?
A: Per student, in three bands: 16, 20 and 30 students. Two teacher places are included free and their cost is shared across the student price, so a larger group brings the per-student figure down. Teachers beyond two, and any accompanying parents, are quoted at the adult rate. The quotation includes the service fee, 6 per cent VAT and the exchange rate assumption, and it is held for seven days - school approvals usually need longer, so tell us and we will extend where we can.
Q: What can students actually do at FAST?
A: More than look at it, within the constraints of a radio-quiet zone. The astronomy experience center has working exhibits on pulsars, fast radio bursts and the physics of the dish, plus a planetarium. Students measure the dish's geometry from the viewing platform, work through the signal-to-noise reasoning behind the site's location in a karst depression, and complete a field sheet on the engineering. What they cannot do is photograph it or bring a phone - which is itself a teaching point about how radio astronomy works.
Q: Is the science content age-appropriate?
A: It is pitched at ages 13 to 18, and we adjust the workbook by year group. The geology days work for 11 and up, because landforms are visible and measurable; the astronomy content is more demanding and lands best with students who have some physics. We send the workbook in advance so teachers can brief before travel and align it with the curriculum. For younger groups we lean on the geology and the craft days and shorten the astronomy session.
Q: What about supervision and safety?
A: We run one guide per twenty students plus the school's own staff, with a separate operations contact for the group. Vehicles are licensed for passenger transport, drivers hold the required permits, and every activity has a written risk note supplied in advance for the school's approval process. Accommodation is twin-share with teachers on the same floor, and we require a signed medical and allergy declaration per student. Evening curfew and room checks are handled jointly with school staff.
Q: How does the cultural day work?
A: It is structured as fieldwork rather than a village visit. Students rotate through three stations: indigo dyeing, where the chemistry of reduction and oxidation is the content; silverwork, where the economics of a craft that functions as a household savings account is the content; and a household interview, arranged in advance with families who have agreed to it, on how tourism income has changed the village. Students write up the stations and present at the end of the trip.
Q: Can the itinerary be adjusted for our curriculum?
A: Yes, within limits. The fixed points are FAST, the bridge and the two karst sites, because they carry the science. What flexes is the weighting: a geography group gets more Maolan and Xiaoqikong, a physics group gets more astronomy, a humanities group gets more village fieldwork and less geology. Send us your learning objectives and we will map the days to them before we quote, rather than retrofitting a syllabus onto a sightseeing route.
Q: Do I need a visa for this trip?
A: Most travellers do not. China's unilateral visa-free scheme covers 50 countries for stays of up to 30 days, and the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme covers travellers from 57 countries entering through 65 designated ports - Guiyang Longdongbao is one of the ports on that list, which makes a short Guizhou trip workable on transit status alone if your routing qualifies. Both schemes are reviewed periodically, so we check your nationality and entry port against the current National Immigration Administration list before you book flights.
