The classic first-timer routes
7 days: Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai
The golden triangle for first-timers. Day 1-3 Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City, hutongs), Day 4-5 Xi'an (Terracotta Army, city walls, Muslim Quarter), Day 6-7 Shanghai (Bund, Yu Garden, one day trip to water towns). Beijing-Xi'an and Xi'an-Shanghai are both ~4.5h by high-speed rail.
Fly into Beijing, fly out of Shanghai — no backtracking, zero wasted days.
- Day 1: Arrive Beijing, evening Wangfujing or Qianmen night walk
- Day 2: Great Wall (Mutianyu — fewer crowds, cable car)
- Day 3: Forbidden City + Jingshan Park + hutongs (book the Forbidden City 7 days ahead!)
- Day 4: Train to Xi'an, evening Muslim Quarter
- Day 5: Terracotta Army morning + city wall cycling
- Day 6: Train to Shanghai, Bund at dusk
- Day 7: Yu Garden + Nanjing Road, fly home
14 days: add Chengdu, Guilin and Hangzhou
Take the 7-day triangle and extend south: Beijing (3) → Xi'an (2) → Chengdu (2 — pandas, hotpot) → Guilin/Yangshuo (2 — karst peaks, Li River) → Shanghai (3) with a Hangzhou day trip. Add flights for Chengdu-Guilin; the rest is rail.
This route mixes imperial, modern, gastronomic and landscape China — the perfect first-trip balance.
21 days: the grand tour
For the traveller who wants everything: Beijing (3) → Xi'an (2) → Chengdu (2) → fly to Lijiang (3 — old town, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) → Dali (2) → Kunming (1) → fly to Guilin (3) → fly to Shanghai (3) → Hangzhou/Suzhou (2). Add Tibet or Zhangjiajie as an alternative leg for the adventurous.
21 days lets you slow down: river cruises, cooking classes and hutong mornings instead of checklist sprints.
Theme trips
Food lovers: Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi'an
Three cities, three cuisines, one glorious eating tour. Chengdu: hotpot, dandan noodles, teahouses. Guangzhou: dim sum mornings, congee, seafood. Xi'an: biangbiang noodles, lamb paomo, the Muslim Quarter. Add a day in Shunde (the 'food capital of China', 40 min from Guangzhou) for the ultimate gastronomic pilgrimage.
Book hotels with breakfast included and skip it — save the appetite for the streets.
History & heritage: the 5,000-year thread
Beijing (Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven), Xi'an (Terracotta Army — China's first emperor), Luoyang (Longmen Grottoes), Datong (Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple), Nanjing (Ming walls, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum), Qufu (Confucius' hometown). Pair it with the site's own Dynasty Timeline page and history becomes a story, not a list.
Autumn (Sep-Oct) is the golden season for these northern routes — clear skies, mild air.
Nature & west: the postcard route
Zhangjiajie (Avatar mountains, glass bridges), Jiuzhaigou (turquoise lakes), Yunnan (Shangri-La, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yuanyang rice terraces), Xinjiang (Kanas Lake, desert highways). These are longer-haul legs — budget extra days for altitude and travel time, and book domestic flights ahead.
For epic landscapes with moderate effort, Yunnan is the sweet spot; for raw adventure, Xinjiang delivers.
Pacing secrets
The 3-2-1 rule
Three sights a day max, two meals you planned, one hour of wandering without a map. The biggest mistake first-timers make is over-scheduling — China's sights are big and far apart; a relaxed half-day at one great place beats a rushed day at three.
Plan one 'free morning' per week to sleep in, do laundry, or chase whatever the locals point you to.
Book the non-negotiables early
Three things sell out: the Forbidden City (7 days ahead, passport booking), bullet trains on holiday weekends (3-5 days ahead), and top-tier hotels in peak season. Everything else — metros, food, most sights — is walk-in.
Set phone reminders for the 7-day windows: Forbidden City at midnight Beijing time opens exactly 7 days out and vanishes within hours.
Day trips that reward the effort
From Beijing: Mutianyu Great Wall, Chengde's mountain resort. From Shanghai: Suzhou gardens, water towns (Zhujiajiao is closest, Wuzhen is best-preserved). From Hangzhou: the bamboo forest and tea villages. From Guilin: the Longji rice terraces. From Chengdu: Leshan's giant Buddha.
All are doable as day trips by rail or organised minivan; the Places section details each.
