Beijinger Zhang Feifei (first right) and his friends during their three-day Baikal package, which was an exhausting but thrilling experience.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"It was unlike any of the longer, conventional tour packages I'd ever booked," the 36-year-old says.

"Usually, I'd wait until a weeklong holiday to go abroad. That's usually the only time friends and family can join."

He'd previously traveled much of Europe and the United States on Golden Week trips.

"I found our in-depth exploration of a single destination more fun than just scratching the surface of many sites in a city," he says.

Tour agencies have taken note of the trend and are developing extended-weekend overseas packages, especially to court Chinese hoping to avoid peak travel times.

Their itineraries are often half as long but twice as intense as traditional weeklong packages.

Zhang's group also went night fishing in Baikal aboard a private yacht. The package also offers museum, hovercraft and cableway experiences, plus special Russian cuisine.

And travel costs are lower outside holidays, says Beijing-based travel agency Brilliant Trip Club's founder, Zhang Yue.

"Our goal is to enable travelers to take just two days off around the weekend to go abroad without interfering too much with their work," he says.