9 seats left · until 9 Oct
Private expedition · 21–29 November 2026 · 11 seats
Eleven Spanish founders in hardware, software, robotics, drones and electric vehicles. Nine days in southern and eastern China. In through Hong Kong, out through Shanghai. Not a corporate trip, not a factory tour: a founders’ expedition.
I want a seat See the day by day
01 — Route
We enter through Hong Kong, which is internet without a firewall: WeChat, Alipay and eSIMs get set up before crossing. Downtown to Shenzhen is 14 minutes by high-speed rail. From there, a flight to Hangzhou and 45 minutes of bullet train to Shanghai. Beijing and Guangzhou were dropped on purpose: the south is where things get built, and Hangzhou and Shanghai are where the software is.
Madrid → Hong Kong and Shanghai → Madrid, both non-stop. Inside, high-speed rail and one Shenzhen–Hangzhou flight. Private van with driver in every city.
02 — Visits
What the agency channel sells are not meetings: they are guided tickets to visitor centres, €2,400 to €5,600 per company per group. We filtered. Two paid accesses that are worth it, whatever can be seen freely is seen freely, and the visits people actually remember are opened by the group itself.
Included · paid access
Tencent
BYD
Tencent Shenzhen HQ: not for what you learn but for what you see; being inside is part of understanding the scale. BYD Shenzhen: technology hall, a SkyRail ride and a talk on their management model. The only one with someone from the company explaining how they operate.
On our own · open to the public
DJI
NIO
Tesla
DJI flagship store, Huaqiangbei, NIO House, Tesla GIGA Museum, robotaxis in Shanghai, West Lake. Paying €2,900 to walk into DJI’s showroom with a guide when you can walk in alone is throwing money away.
The ones that matter · opened by the group
Unitree
UBTECH
Unitree, UBTECH, SenseTime, BrainCo and any manufacturer in the Shenzhen–Dongguan chain. No agency can quote them. They are not bought: they are opened. Eleven founders of this profile hold three or four warm bridges into those companies between them.
Condition of entry
A shared investor, a supplier, a former colleague, a customer. Not a bureaucratic requirement: it is the mechanism that separates this expedition from an organised tour. The visits people remember will come from here, not from an invoice.
03 — Itinerary
Deliberate: a four-visits-a-day agenda produces photos, not conversations. Wednesday and Thursday afternoons are reserved slack for the visits the group opens. Preliminary plan, subject to confirmation.
Cathay Pacific non-stop, about 13 hours.
Morning arrival. Group kick-off session. WeChat, Alipay and eSIMs. Afternoon: Victoria Peak and Star Ferry. Dinner with local guests.
Morning: HKSTP or Cyberport, optional. Midday: West Kowloon → Futian train, 14 minutes. Afternoon: DJI flagship store and Huaqiangbei.
UBTECH (humanoid robotics) in the morning. BYD in the afternoon: technology hall, SkyRail and a talk on their management model.
Tencent Shenzhen HQ in the morning. Afternoon: non-stop flight to Hangzhou. A light day on purpose.
Unitree in the morning, with the group rested and no flight to catch. Free afternoon, or a second visit if the group opens a door. Sunset at West Lake.
Bullet train, 45 minutes. Tesla GIGA Museum, NIO House and a robotaxi ride.
The Bund, Pudong, M50. Closing dinner.
Non-stop flight. Home by the afternoon.
Hong Kong · Sunday 22
04 — Hong Kong
It is the day the group stops being eleven strangers and the week gets an agenda.
Ten minutes each: what you do, what you are looking for in China and which door you can open. By the end, everyone knows who is who.
Victoria Peak, Star Ferry, decompression and jet lag. And WeChat, Alipay and eSIMs set up before crossing.
A Hong Kong VC, a European operating in China, someone from the supply chain. Cost: a dinner. Value: more than any of the visits we crossed out.
05 — Who it’s for
Founders and operators in hardware, robotics, drones, electric vehicles, advanced manufacturing and applied software. A small, homogeneous group: eleven people, no companions.
Not a trip you dip in and out of. Two visits a day, and you go to both.
What you do, what you are looking for and which door you can open. It is the week’s agenda.
A company, a contact, a call before leaving. It is what separates this from a tour.
What it is not: not a tourist trip with a tech veneer, not a factory tour bought from an agency, not a trip for companions.
Shenzhen · Nanshan
06 — Participants
The first two seats are taken. The other nine fill in as people confirm. Nobody else shows up here until then.
2 seats confirmed. 9 open.
07 — Price
Estimated price · full trip · 9 days · 7 nights
€5,000per person · estimated
€500Seat deposit. Balance in two payments, the last one 30 days before departure.
Includes non-stop international flights, 7 nights in 4★ hotels in single rooms, breakfasts, all transfers and transport between cities, guide and interpreter, access to Tencent HQ and BYD, working lunches on visit days and travel insurance. Free dinners and personal expenses not included.
Booking deadline: Friday 9 October 2026. Visits are requested eleven weeks ahead and flights are blocked once six seats are confirmed.
Hangzhou · West Lake
08 — Logistics
Out: Saturday 21 November, Cathay Pacific Madrid → Hong Kong, non-stop, about 13 hours. Back: Sunday 29, Shanghai → Madrid, non-stop. Home by the afternoon.
High-speed rail West Kowloon → Futian (14 min) and Hangzhou → Shanghai (45 min). One domestic flight, Shenzhen → Hangzhou. Private van with driver in every city.
Not needed. Spain has a visa waiver with China until the end of 2026 for stays under 30 days. No invitation letters either. Just a passport with enough validity.
7 nights in 4★ hotels, always in single rooms. One night in Hong Kong and six in mainland China.
Seat
Eleven seats, no public list. If the map fits — hardware, robotics, drones, electric vehicles, software — write and we’ll confirm. No form. No drip.
9 seats left. €500 deposit before Friday 9 October.
I want a seat [email protected]