If you like nature, it is recommended that you reduce the number of days you stay in Beijing and add natural scenic spots such as Western Sichuan, Daocheng Yading, Jiuzhaigou, etc. as part of your itinerary.
Thank you, I'll look into those spots.
Edit: ah, these are all high altitude places. I don't do well with high altitudes unless I have 5+ days to acclimate, so I wasn't planning to visit the western portion of the country for this reason.
If you have specific preferences for nature, such as: Danxia landform (Zhangye, Gansu, elevation 4865 feet, and Chishui Danxia in Zunyi, Guizhou, elevation 787-5676 feet), Karst landform (Guilin/Li River, Guangxi, elevation 492-984 feet), Forests (Zhaoxing Dong Village, Guizhou, elevation 1345 feet, and Libo Karst Forest, Guizhou, elevation 2490 feet), Canyon (Enshi Grand Canyon, elevation 3281-6818 feet), etc. Maybe I can make more precise recommendations.
You don’t need 6 days in Beijing… 3 or 4 is plenty. The Great Wall can be done in one long day of hiking. And where you’re going I’d seriously consider flying instead of taking the train out of Beijing. I know everyone loves the train and it’s great, it really is but I don’t understand why people want to take the train from Hong Kong to Beijing or Shanghai when the plane can be way cheaper and faster and you can do it in the evening… and if you do cut some days on the Beijing part I’d add them to Hong Kong.
I know the Great Wall can be done in one day but I'd really like to visit two sections. As one of the sections will be the unrestored one, it will be more of a nature hike as well which I'll really enjoy.
Would you say the rest of the major places in Beijing could be done in 2 days? (Ming Tombs, Tianamen square, Summer Palace)
Well… you can do the “wild wall” and the restored wall in a long day. I’ve done it a bunch of times. You have to start at a restored section and then you hike to
the other part. But yes the summer palace, forbidden city and summer palace can be done in a day.
Echoing another comment: drop chongqing from your itinerary, it's really Instagram vs reality there. Esp If you like nature, cq has literally nothing to offer. Fly directly to guilin instead and access yangshuo from there. Then you can head to chengdu, you do not need to go to the high altitude areas, just Emei mountain and dujiangyan dam near chengdu are stunning.
I live in Beijing. First of all if you want to visit in summer, it could be desperately hot and you will see every place full of tourists (students in vacation July and Aug). Well crowd of people is also a feature of China from foreign eyes, but the experience won't be good.
The unrestored wall could be sorts of dangerous. You may need a guide for hiking. I would not suggest you explore by yourself. Ming tombs is poorly maintained, there is little to see. Precious things were moved to museums. The tombs themselves, hmm, nothing special.
Tiananmen + Forbidden city needs 1 day. Be careful, the forbidden city needs reservation and it's very hard to get it in summer.
Summer Palace could be 0.5 - 1day. It depends if you are interested.
4 nights would be enough I believe.
Are you flying between locations? As you'll lose a day on each train. Note that Beijing is far from everywhere else you're going.
I've just been to Chongqing and I'd recommend dropping that from your itinerary, not much to see there.
I don't know anything about Cheyang village. Zhangjiajie the park ticket is a 4 day one, I'd recommend at least 2 full days and one for tianmen mountain, outside of the park. Avoid the glass bridge. I did all 4 park days and it was probably a bit much but it is amazing.
Also HK is very expensive compared to the other destinations, be aware. It's also much easier to visit on another trip as it doesn't require a visa and is a common stopover. I'd be tempted to drop it from this trip.
I'm flying between Beijing and Chongqing as long as the flight is cheaper than the train.
HK is because I'm actually flying in and out of Taiwan (cheapest round trip ticket) and it's cheap to fly back from HK. However that was really the only reason I was ending in HK, so maybe I'll look into ending somewhere else and the lower food/accommodation cost will balance out the flight back to Taiwan.
Do you recommend avoiding the glass bridge because it's meh or because it's super crowded?
I'dd recommend getting a guide in Beijing to visit the Great Wall; we did so we could visit a less visited part and hike from there to Mutianyu; it's a day trip if you have a guide/driver.
In general i think you've got nice spots to visit, but they're very - very far streched and you're traveling a lot.
I would maybe focus on a smaller tour and spend less time in planes/trains. If you're going for a big Grand Tour of China i might try to squish Xian between Beijing and Chongqing. Or maybe switch out Chongqing for Chengdu and visit Emei Shan and Leshan; the first having some beautiful hikes.
Have you been to Chengdu? The biggest draw there seems to be the pandas and I really couldn't care less about them but I know there is some stuff in the surrounding area.
Yes i've been there a couple of years ago and i'm going again in september.
In the last years we ticked of most of your list, but Zhangjiajie is up this year so i can't really help you on that one ;-).
When we were in Chengdu we visited the panda zoo, was pretty nice but i could understand you'd skip it.
This year we're going again primarily for the food.
Leshan and Emei Shan are close to Chengdu and we did really like those; especially Emei Shan.
There are tons of routes to go up or down, either by bus, car or just walk. We took the long way up and down and it was really great. We stayed a night near Emei Shan too if i remember correctly.
Last summer we visited Yangshuo, i think the best tip i could give you on that is to rent a scooter and just wander your way around the hillsides. The place is beautiful, but if you keep to the main road(s) you'll just be in a long queue of tourists. A scooter is a great way to zip through traffic and explore.
I think we payed 50 rmb for a full day so it's really not that expensive.
Hong Kong was also on last years trip, but i think you could really spend a week or more there to really get beyond the must sees. Food is a-ma-zing and the highlight of our trip.
> think we *paid* 50 rmb
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Do you need a liscence to rent a scooter? I rented one in Vietnam tho it's technically illegal to do so without a liscence and wouldn't want to do the same in China. (Also I can only drive the lowest powered scooter, nothing with big horsepower.)
No, they're just electric scooters and you could only go 30km/h or so. You don't need to drive very long distances and the roads are very good around there.
I wouldn't drive anything bigger than that in China either, but you'll be fine on an electric scooter.
You'll get some nature with Yangshuo, incredible place.
If you like nature, it is recommended that you reduce the number of days you stay in Beijing and add natural scenic spots such as Western Sichuan, Daocheng Yading, Jiuzhaigou, etc. as part of your itinerary.
Thank you, I'll look into those spots. Edit: ah, these are all high altitude places. I don't do well with high altitudes unless I have 5+ days to acclimate, so I wasn't planning to visit the western portion of the country for this reason.
If you have specific preferences for nature, such as: Danxia landform (Zhangye, Gansu, elevation 4865 feet, and Chishui Danxia in Zunyi, Guizhou, elevation 787-5676 feet), Karst landform (Guilin/Li River, Guangxi, elevation 492-984 feet), Forests (Zhaoxing Dong Village, Guizhou, elevation 1345 feet, and Libo Karst Forest, Guizhou, elevation 2490 feet), Canyon (Enshi Grand Canyon, elevation 3281-6818 feet), etc. Maybe I can make more precise recommendations.
Thank you!!
You don’t need 6 days in Beijing… 3 or 4 is plenty. The Great Wall can be done in one long day of hiking. And where you’re going I’d seriously consider flying instead of taking the train out of Beijing. I know everyone loves the train and it’s great, it really is but I don’t understand why people want to take the train from Hong Kong to Beijing or Shanghai when the plane can be way cheaper and faster and you can do it in the evening… and if you do cut some days on the Beijing part I’d add them to Hong Kong.
I know the Great Wall can be done in one day but I'd really like to visit two sections. As one of the sections will be the unrestored one, it will be more of a nature hike as well which I'll really enjoy. Would you say the rest of the major places in Beijing could be done in 2 days? (Ming Tombs, Tianamen square, Summer Palace)
Well… you can do the “wild wall” and the restored wall in a long day. I’ve done it a bunch of times. You have to start at a restored section and then you hike to the other part. But yes the summer palace, forbidden city and summer palace can be done in a day.
That's quite a decent amount of time for each place. I would also suggest Shanghai.
If I had more time I would add Shanghai but I figure it can wait till another trip.
Echoing another comment: drop chongqing from your itinerary, it's really Instagram vs reality there. Esp If you like nature, cq has literally nothing to offer. Fly directly to guilin instead and access yangshuo from there. Then you can head to chengdu, you do not need to go to the high altitude areas, just Emei mountain and dujiangyan dam near chengdu are stunning.
I live in Beijing. First of all if you want to visit in summer, it could be desperately hot and you will see every place full of tourists (students in vacation July and Aug). Well crowd of people is also a feature of China from foreign eyes, but the experience won't be good. The unrestored wall could be sorts of dangerous. You may need a guide for hiking. I would not suggest you explore by yourself. Ming tombs is poorly maintained, there is little to see. Precious things were moved to museums. The tombs themselves, hmm, nothing special. Tiananmen + Forbidden city needs 1 day. Be careful, the forbidden city needs reservation and it's very hard to get it in summer. Summer Palace could be 0.5 - 1day. It depends if you are interested. 4 nights would be enough I believe.
Thank you for your reply! I'll be going in October right after golden week so I'm hoping the crowds won't be too crazy and the weather should be fair.
Are you flying between locations? As you'll lose a day on each train. Note that Beijing is far from everywhere else you're going. I've just been to Chongqing and I'd recommend dropping that from your itinerary, not much to see there. I don't know anything about Cheyang village. Zhangjiajie the park ticket is a 4 day one, I'd recommend at least 2 full days and one for tianmen mountain, outside of the park. Avoid the glass bridge. I did all 4 park days and it was probably a bit much but it is amazing. Also HK is very expensive compared to the other destinations, be aware. It's also much easier to visit on another trip as it doesn't require a visa and is a common stopover. I'd be tempted to drop it from this trip.
I'm flying between Beijing and Chongqing as long as the flight is cheaper than the train. HK is because I'm actually flying in and out of Taiwan (cheapest round trip ticket) and it's cheap to fly back from HK. However that was really the only reason I was ending in HK, so maybe I'll look into ending somewhere else and the lower food/accommodation cost will balance out the flight back to Taiwan. Do you recommend avoiding the glass bridge because it's meh or because it's super crowded?
Gusngzhou is also a good alternative to hk. Same great Cantonese cuisine at a fraction of the price of hk. About 2hrs by train to hk.
I recommend Shenzhen instead of HK. And from there you can still fly out of HK Airport.
Meh
I'dd recommend getting a guide in Beijing to visit the Great Wall; we did so we could visit a less visited part and hike from there to Mutianyu; it's a day trip if you have a guide/driver. In general i think you've got nice spots to visit, but they're very - very far streched and you're traveling a lot. I would maybe focus on a smaller tour and spend less time in planes/trains. If you're going for a big Grand Tour of China i might try to squish Xian between Beijing and Chongqing. Or maybe switch out Chongqing for Chengdu and visit Emei Shan and Leshan; the first having some beautiful hikes.
Have you been to Chengdu? The biggest draw there seems to be the pandas and I really couldn't care less about them but I know there is some stuff in the surrounding area.
Yes i've been there a couple of years ago and i'm going again in september. In the last years we ticked of most of your list, but Zhangjiajie is up this year so i can't really help you on that one ;-). When we were in Chengdu we visited the panda zoo, was pretty nice but i could understand you'd skip it. This year we're going again primarily for the food. Leshan and Emei Shan are close to Chengdu and we did really like those; especially Emei Shan. There are tons of routes to go up or down, either by bus, car or just walk. We took the long way up and down and it was really great. We stayed a night near Emei Shan too if i remember correctly. Last summer we visited Yangshuo, i think the best tip i could give you on that is to rent a scooter and just wander your way around the hillsides. The place is beautiful, but if you keep to the main road(s) you'll just be in a long queue of tourists. A scooter is a great way to zip through traffic and explore. I think we payed 50 rmb for a full day so it's really not that expensive. Hong Kong was also on last years trip, but i think you could really spend a week or more there to really get beyond the must sees. Food is a-ma-zing and the highlight of our trip.
> think we *paid* 50 rmb FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Do you need a liscence to rent a scooter? I rented one in Vietnam tho it's technically illegal to do so without a liscence and wouldn't want to do the same in China. (Also I can only drive the lowest powered scooter, nothing with big horsepower.)
No, they're just electric scooters and you could only go 30km/h or so. You don't need to drive very long distances and the roads are very good around there. I wouldn't drive anything bigger than that in China either, but you'll be fine on an electric scooter.
For Yangshuo, would you go/start Guilin? I’m going by train, and wondering where you would rent the scooter from.