Itineraries
Pick a plan, then make it yours
Each itinerary is built around real train times, reservation windows and opening-day constraints — then annotated so you can stretch, shrink or swap legs without breaking it. Organised by trip length first, then by travel style.
7 days · One week First Time in China: 7 Days in Beijing and Shanghai
The most relaxed one-week China trip possible under the 30-day visa-free entry scheme: four days in Beijing for the Forbidden City, the Great Wall at Mutianyu, and hutong old Beijing, then a 4.5-hour high-speed train to Shanghai for the Bund, Yu Garden, the French Concession, and a Zhujiajiao water-town half day. Every day includes a real booking rule or timing tip — the Forbidden City's 7-day ticket release, Mutianyu's cable car math, the Monday closures that should shape your schedule — plus a realistic budget and a 5-day cut-down version.
Beijing → Shanghai
9 days · One week Hubei and Hunan in 9 Days: River Cities, Avatar Peaks, and Phoenix Town
The Yangtze's middle course, done properly: Wuhan's river crossings and Warring States bronzes, Changsha's midnight snack economy and the 2,000-year-old Lady Dai, then the sandstone pillar forests of Zhangjiajie — the mountains that floated in Avatar — and a lantern-lit finale in Fenghuang's stilt-house old town. Every intercity leg is high-speed rail under three hours, every day carries the booking rule that governs it — Hunan Museum's 5-day release, Zhangjiajie's 4-day park pass, Tianmen's timed entry — plus honest budgets and the pick-one choices that keep the route humane.
Wuhan → Changsha → Zhangjiajie → Fenghuang
10 days · Two weeks-ish Classic China in 10 Days: Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai
The first-timer's China: imperial Beijing with the Great Wall at Mutianyu, the Terracotta Warriors and Tang-era walls of Xi'an, and Shanghai's futuristic skyline — all linked by high-speed rail. This day-by-day itinerary includes booking deadlines for the Forbidden City and Terracotta Warriors, train times and fares, a Zhujiajiao water-town half day, and a realistic budget for the full route.
Beijing → Xi'an → Shanghai
12 days · Two weeks-ish Beyond Beijing in 12 Days: Datong, Chengde, Tianjin, and Dalian
Beijing's imperial core, then the capitals the emperors kept around it: Datong's 1,500-year-old Yungang Buddhas and cliff-hung Hanging Temple, the Qing summer mountain at Chengde with its transplanted Tibetan temples, Tianjin's concession-era European streets and comedy teahouses, and a sea-breeze finish in Dalian — squares, boardwalks, and the country's best northern seafood. Every stop sits on a high-speed line from Beijing; the only long ride is the last one, Tianjin to Dalian. Booking rules spelled out: the Forbidden City's 7-day release first, Yungang's advance reservation second, and the Hanging Temple's daily climb cap third.
Beijing → Datong → Chengde → Tianjin → Dalian
12 days · Two weeks-ish China With Kids in 12 Days: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hong Kong
A twelve-day route paced for families — one anchor sight per day with a backup plan: the Great Wall by cable car and toboggan, pandas at opening hour, a full Disney day in Shanghai, a hands-on cooking workshop in Chengdu, and a Hong Kong finale of Disneyland, Ocean Park, and the Peak Tram. High-speed rail where it beats flying, short flights where it doesn't, child ticket rules explained, and realistic budgets for two adults plus one kid.
Beijing → Shanghai → Chengdu → Hong Kong
12 days · Two weeks-ish China's Great Outdoors in 12 Days: Huangshan, Zhangjiajie, Yangshuo, and Jiuzhaigou
Four headline landscapes in one trip: sunrise above the granite pines of Huangshan, the sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie that inspired Avatar, the karst peaks and bamboo-raft rivers of Yangshuo, and the turquoise terraced lakes of Jiuzhaigou — linked by high-speed rail and two short flights. Every day carries an effort grade from easy to hard, a weather Plan B for the mountains, and the booking rules that matter: summit lodging on Huangshan, Zhangjiajie's 4-day park pass, and Jiuzhaigou's advance online reservation.
Huangshan → Zhangjiajie → Guilin → Chengdu → Jiuzhaigou
12 days · Two weeks-ish China's Time Line in 12 Days: Beijing, Luoyang, Pingyao, Xi'an, and Dunhuang
Walk China's history backward and westward: the Ming-Qing imperial capital in Beijing, the Tang dynasty's Buddhist cliff art at Luoyang's Longmen Grottoes, the intact merchant walls of Pingyao, the Qin and Tang treasures of Xi'an, and the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang with the Mogao Caves. A day-by-day route by high-speed rail and one short flight, built around the reservation clocks that govern it — the Forbidden City and Terracotta Warriors at 7 days, and the Mogao Caves at 30 days, which you book first.
Beijing → Luoyang → Pingyao → Xi'an → Dunhuang
12 days · Two weeks-ish The Silk Road Overland: Xining to Urumqi in 12 Days
The northwest done as one overland line: acclimatize at 2,200 meters in Xining, day-trip to Qinghai Lake and the Chaka salt mirror, then ride the Hexi Corridor — the rainbow-striped Danxia earth of Zhangye and the fort at Jiayuguan where the Great Wall dies — to Dunhuang's Mogao Caves and singing dunes, finishing in Urumqi for Tianshan's glacial lake, Turpan's ruined cities, and the Grand Bazaar. Built around the booking clocks that govern it: Mogao's 30-day release first, then the trains, with Xinjiang's late sunrises and heavier security rhythm explained.
Xining → Zhangye → Dunhuang → Urumqi
13 days · Two weeks-ish A Food Lover's Route Through China: Beijing to Hong Kong in 13 Days
Thirteen days eating your way down China's flavor map: roast duck and copper-pot mutton in Beijing, hand-pulled noodles and halal street food in Xi'an, mouth-numbing Sichuan hotpot and a hands-on cooking class in Chengdu, then the Cantonese payoff — dim sum mornings in Guangzhou, a day trip to food-obsessed Shunde, and cha chaan teng and dai pai dong nights in Hong Kong. Each day has a themed meal plan plus practical tips on queues, bookings, and surviving the spice.
Beijing → Xi'an → Chengdu → Guangzhou → Hong Kong
13 days · Two weeks-ish Porcelain, Tea, and Tulou: 13 Days from Shanghai to Xiamen
The southeast's craft spine: Shanghai's skyline start, a Yangzhou pause for the Grand Canal and China's most civilized breakfast culture, then the working workshops of Jingdezhen — porcelain thrown and fired nightly for a thousand years — the bamboo-raft rivers and rock-tea cliffs of Wuyishan, and the medieval port of Quanzhou, where mosques, pagodas, and oyster-shell lanes mark the maritime Silk Road. Ends in Xiamen with the UNESCO tulou villages. Every leg runs on high-speed rail; the booking that matters most is Wuyishan's raft, reserved together with the park ticket.
Shanghai → Yangzhou → Jingdezhen → Wuyishan → Quanzhou → Xiamen
13 days · Two weeks-ish Yunnan and Guizhou in 13 Days: Waterfalls, Old Towns, and the Tibetan Edge
China's southwest at traveling pace: cool-summer Guiyang for the Huangguoshu curtain and Ming-era stone lanes, then the Yunnan line — Kunming's eternal spring and gulls, Dali's lakeside old town under the Cangshan range, Lijiang's canal maze below a 5,500-meter snow peak, and the train up to Shangri-La's Tibetan monasteries at 3,300 meters. Every leg runs on rail, every day carries a booking rule that matters — Jade Dragon's cableway releases just 7 days out — plus a tropical swap: trade the Tibetan edge for Xishuangbanna's rainforest and the China-Laos Railway.
Guiyang → Kunming → Dali → Lijiang → Shangri-La
14 days · Long haul Two Weeks in China: The Grand Tour Loop
The classic golden loop, done at 300 km/h: four days in imperial Beijing, two in ancient Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors, two and a half in Chengdu for pandas and hotpot, three in the karst landscapes of Guilin and Yangshuo, and a Shanghai finale. Every intercity leg is spelled out — train times, flight times, fares — with the booking deadlines that make or break a China trip, plus a pick-one option at Longji rice terraces and a mid-range budget of US$120-160 per day with the math behind it.
Beijing → Xi'an → Chengdu → Guilin → Shanghai
21 days · Long haul Three Weeks in China: The Deep-Dive Route
China in one long, honest sweep: imperial Beijing, the Ming banking town of Pingyao, Xi'an and its Terracotta Army, a Silk Road detour to Dunhuang's Mogao Grottoes, panda-and-hotpot Chengdu, then the Himalayan foothills of Lijiang and Dali before a Shanghai finish. Planes and high-speed trains are mixed for the fastest realistic routing — including the Xi'an-Dunhuang leg everyone gets wrong. Twenty-one days, nine hotels, real altitude, and the country's scarcest ticket (Mogao's Class A) all flagged, with a mid-range budget of US$110-150 per day.
Beijing → Pingyao → Xi'an → Dunhuang → Chengdu → Lijiang → Dali → Shanghai