My Wife and I have finally made our itinerary for our trip this April 2009. Now we just need the blessings and approval of our fellow Fodorites, here goes:

Day 1 - 3: Beijing
Day 4: Beijing/Xian NOTE: we are travelling on train overnight to Xian so we really have a full day here in Beijing still.
Day 5: Xian NOTE: We are here only to see the Terracota Warriors.
Day 6: Xian/Chengdu NOTE: We plan to fly from Xian to Chengdu, but have considered overnight train, what do you guys think?
Day 7: Chengdu
Day 8: Chengdu/Guilin travel to Yangghou or Lijiang
Here is where we are a bit torn:
Yangghou or Lijiang? there seems to be some debate, both sound great! this is hard. We definately want to go to the rice terraces 100%
Day 9: Yangghou or Lijiang
Day 10: Yangghou or Lijiang/Macau
Day 11: Macau/Hong Kong
Day 12 - 14: Hong Kong
Day 15: Hong Kong/Tokyo

I will save my Japan itinerary for another posting.
Main questions and concerns:

Too much in such a short time?
Too much time in Beijing? We felt that since the olympics just happened there is more to see. We originally just had 3 days in Beijing.
Train or Plane?
To book before or use an Agent there? I realize it may be cheaper, but time is $$$ too! Thanks for any help you guys. You always seem to come through.

- 3 days in Beijing, IMO, is not enough. Must see: great walls, Ming's tomb, Forbidden City, just to say a few ... and they are not near each other.

- I prefer to take the plane. Trains are too much a hassle, unless you are a train buff. As you said, time is $$$

- Do you mean Yangzhou? It's a nice town. Don't take the tour boat (big boat for mostly foreigners) from Guilin to Yangzhou. It's a long trip and you'll have to get up early (at least for me). We took a bus to Yangzhou, from there, we hired a boat along the Li river (if I remember the name correctly). It's a serene, beautiful boat ride

- I have not been to Lijiang, so I can't tell you how it's like.

- The terracotta warriors were impressive, but I don't care for Xian very much. (Food, people, landscape . . .)

I prefer to buy customized tours in China.

The night train doesn't waste the OP time because they won't need to spend time during the day to fly.

The track from Xian to Chengdu is one of the world's more amazing mountain railroad. But on a night train, you won't see much.

He means Yangshuo just south of Guilin. Not Yangzhou.

The overall itinerary is kind of rushed, but quite doable.

Sorry yes I meant Yangzhou, I cut and pasted a typo. THanks for your response. We were not planning on staying in Xian long. In fact we are thinking of checking out the Terracota Warriors and then flying out that day. What do you guys think?

Name of that place is Yangshuo. Yangzhou is a different town in eastern China.

Wow I am a real moron, thanks rkkwan I meant Yangshuo, we were thinking of Yangzhou at one point thats where the confusion came from. Good thing for Fodors!

rkkwan how about flying out of Xian immediately after the Terracoat Warriors to save a day? Is there anything else in Xian worth seeing?

Xian is the ancient capital during two of China's most powerful dynasties, so there are of course tonnes to see. Question is whether those things interest you and whether your time is better spent elsewhere.

> Yangghou or Lijiang?

Could I suggest neither? Both are made-for-tourists experiences with lots of pizza restaurants and pestering guides and oceans of tour groups. Both are so adapted for the pleasure of visitors that they now have little or nothing to do with their rural origins.

So you might want to consider visiting a more genuine rural area. The Wind and Rain Bridges beyond Kaili might be a halfway house--the area sees quite a few visitors but isn't (yet) quite as over-developed. Or how about the Watchtowers of Kaiping, which also has easy bus connections to Macau. The misfortune of being World Heritage listed will ruin this area before long, but for now you've got decent accommodation in Kaiping town, with easy access to large areas of pretty rice paddies with startling, century-old pseudo-European watchtowers springing out of them, as well as some well-preserved traditional villages, all easily reached by taxi or bus. A little Googling will tell you more.

> To book before or use an Agent there? I realize it may be cheaper, but time is $$$ too!

Only you can decide. But agents selling rail tickets overseas charge as much as 70% surchage, and if you're particularly unwise you may pay as much as four times the local price booking through Expedia or similar. China-based on-line agents such as Ctrip and eLong offer fares near to those available over the counter but only near to the time of flight, and there's a lot of bait-and-switch goes on, as well as difficulties with using foreign credit cards that involves faxing copies of front and back, data page of passport, etc.

Even if you don't care to search for the very lowest price, local agents and even the on-line sites once you're in China can book for you for less, and you can always get one agent to book everything you want, alhough the cheapest prices are always available at the point of origin of the flight.

Peter N-H

The train to Xian is fine for overnight. Just find a place near the train station to check your luggage while you go to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. I did not check my luggage at the train station. I will find the name of the hostel around the corner that I used while there for the day if you are interested - just email me. They charged me for half a day which was fine, because it also gave me a chance to take a shower before I left and relax. I bought my ticket to Kunming (same train to Chengdu) immediately when I arrived that morning, because I wanted to leave Xian that night.

I enjoyed the train to Kunming(37 hours. We arrived in Chengdu first, about 3:00pm the next day. The sights from the train are beautiful and worth the time.

That is a great suggestion Jemappell thank you, hostel for luggage check in sounds good.

Thanks PH. I am definately going to check out Kaiping.

Did a 3 week China trip Oct 07. I loved both Yangshou and Lijiang. Yangshou, to me, had character, being a backpackers paradise which I'm not. Did not find hotels all that great but did take a fun cooking class. I loved the mountains and ethnic minorities influence in Lijiang, and also loved The Banyan Tree Resort which is ultra luxury. Old Town Lijiang very interesting and great ethnic restaurants, one of my favorite places of the trip.

I've taken the Xi'an-Chengdu night train, no problem, although you do miss some of the scenery while it's dark. I'm sorry you're short-changing both Xi'an and Chengdu - there are several interesting sights in both towns. I agree with Peter about the tourist overkill in Lijiang - even though they're mostly Chinese tour groups it's still a drag. The scenery around is wonderful, but you really need to get out of town to appreciate it.