China Travel Forum

[Joanna]

Hello All,
My original plan of having a family vacation with my two teens has changed. They have decided not to come to China with my husband and Me so now it will be just the two of us. I have pretty much decided to go to Beijing-Shanghai-Xian-Beijing in that order. I will have at least two weeks and might be able to stay 2.5 weeks if I really want to. I am planning on 6 nights in Beijing. How would you suggest to divide the rest of the time in the cities I have mentioned? Is 2 nights really enough to see and explore Xian? On travel days (overnight train) will we get into town with enough time to do anything or will it be too late in the afternoon to see anything worthwhile? You thoughts will be most welcomed.
Thanks,Joanna.

[Kinglake tona]

You should go from Beijing to Xian then to Shanghai and back as the train to Xian from BJ is an overnight train, arrives at around 7 am so you have the whole day (that is if you can sleep on the train). 2-3 days in Xian is about right. Xian to Shanghai is a long haul is go by train (20 hours), I would go by air as your train cost (if first class cabin) is almost 50% of flight but you lost a whole day on the train. Plus again depends how well you sleep on the train, if not you will be tired getting into Shanghai.
6 days in Beijing is actually too much (at least I think, I am sure many diagree), traffic there is a zoo so after 3 days you will be ready to get out of town. Spend more time in Shanghai and surrounding area, there are lots to see in Hungzhou and Suzhou. Shanghai itself has lots to offer subway is very easy to get around town, they just openned up two new lines and you can get from one side of the city to the other in less than 30 minutes.
I am sure you will get a lot more help from others on the details off this site.

[Kroll sahsaa]

China is so varied, rich in history and culture, wherever you are, you're sure to feel as if you are left wanting more. I say go for as much if it's a one time thing, you have the flexibility and make the most of each city!!!
6 nights in Beijing is good - I wish we would've taken at least this much time.
We spent 1 night and 2 days in Xi`an. We felt as if we had left so much unexplored. 2 full days, full nights in Xian would've been better. It is a long ride to the Terracotta soldiers and you certainly want to devote time to them once there. We did Beijing - Xian - Guilin - Hong Kong.And a quick tour in xinjiang autonomy region , its really beauti4 place that i ve ever been .
Guilin/Yangshuo is another nice couple of days for the beautiful scenery and tranquil float down the Li River.
Once in Yangshuo (we actually preferred this to Guilin, it was nice to explore the markets.

[Joanna]

I have never been to xinjiang , but i wil try , actually this site wrote many stuff about xinjiang , thats really a good advice, thank u all!!

[Aynur]

You are right , Xinjiang is worth to visit . Xinjiang is a place you must visit in your life otherwise you will regret for missing it .

Actually it is not easy to visit all that highlights and best cities in limited time since China is so big . I think it is bright idea to visit Xinjiang , from Xian to Urumqi - the provencial capital of Xinjiang is around 3 hours by air .

There are some pictures about Xinjiang plz visit :

http://www.muztagh.com/china-pictures/kashgar.htm
http://www.muztagh.com/china-pictures/urumqi.htm

[kamal]

I don't agree with Kroll sahsaa , it is too much sataying 6 nights in Beijing . 4 nights is enough to stay in Beijing , one day Great Wall tour two days for Forbidden City , Summer Palace tiananmen Square Temple of Heaven and one more day for walking around Beijing Hutongs .

You can visit more places for example Dunhuang (it is around 2 hours by air from Xian ) , Turpan is 10 hours by train form Dunhuang (overnight train) .

As Beijing is capital of China hotels are so expensive why don't you try to visit more places with same amount of money .