We are 2 couples who are planning a trip to China in May 2014. We want to get off the beaten track but don't know whether our itinerary makes sense or is possible. So, we'd love some help from travellers who know China, which we do not. Here is what we have so far: arrive in Beijing on or around May 7th, depart Shanghai 15 days later.

Beijing (3-4 days)
Dunhuang to see the Buddhist sites/caves (2 days)
Travel to Guilin but bypass to stay in Yangshuo for a few days
Lijiang -- bypass to stay at the Linden Centre (Xizhou) for 3 days
Shanghai (1-2 days)

We are really looking forward to hearing comments. Thanks, Sue

Okay, but expect significant travel times as there are no non-stop flights between some of the places you want to go. Also, don't kid yourself and think you're off the beaten track. All except Xizhou are popular places with plenty of tourists.

i personally would want a couple more days in shanghai...

"off the beaten track" in china---are you kidding..

It depends on what you want to see and do, but I thought Beijing worth more like 5 or 6 full days for a first visit.

I would love to see Dunhuang, but thought it too far to fit into my itinerary. I visited the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang and the Yungang caves outside Datong instead, and I was awed by both. I don't mean to suggest that these 3 sites are interchangeable; I'm sure they are not! I'm just trying to note some options that might more easily fit into a short trip.

You might find some helpful information in my trip report - just click on my name to find it. I did get off the "beaten track" a bit (depending on you define "beaten" !), but not to the places you are considering.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies about "off the beaten track". Yes, I certainly realize that that is going to be an overstatement with a billion people in China + additional tourism. Perhaps what I should have said was that we have made a decision not to do Xi'an or go on a Yangtze river cruise, which are on standard 2 week itineraries.

We've looked at flights and understand that there will be a good deal of internal travel time, too. We think that's ok, but are really trying to understand whether this itinerary looks do-able or overly ambitious. Also, additional or alternative suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks very much for your input, kja,we'll look at those alternatives. My husband is Buddhist and we've had a photo that was taken from the caves in Dunhuang in the early '80s for many years. I think he's kind of got a dream to see them. Plus it looks like a very cool place!

Any other thoughts would be really appreciated.
Sue

To rhkkmk: we were wondering whether more time in Shanghai would be a good idea. Thanks for the tip.
Sue

To kja: we were also wondering about the amount of time in Beijing. 5-6 days seems a long time, but a lot of our reading DOES seem to say that it's worth it. If you have a chance, please tell me about what is there that we should do.
Thanks
Sue
(Also, my computer keeps autocorrecting your online name -- apologies).

So, do you really want to get off the beaten track or not? The places you list were all firmly on the tourist trail when I visited them nine or more years ago, and that was before the Chinese themselves started traveling in large numbers. It is possible to get off the beaten track, but not by taking airplanes and visiting well-known cities (taking a bus out into the countryside from a less major city can work). But if this is your first trip you will find more than enough to see and experience in more mainstream places.

I have seen both Dunhuang and Yungang, and while I definitely prefer Dunhuang, Yungang is perfectly fine, and visiting Datong will get you a little way off the beaten track. In fact, I would suggest Datong rather than Guiling/Yangshuo.

I much prefer Beijing to Shanghai, but it depends on your interests. If you are a big fan of modern architecture you should certainly see Shanghai, and it has one excellent museum. Otherwise it tends to be the shoppers who prefer it, there are many more worthwhile sights in Beijing. However, Hangzhou and Suzhou are nearby and worth seeing.

I might put Xi'an back. Not so much for the warriors, although there is no reason to skip them, but Xi'an was the start of the Silk Road and there is plenty to see in the town itself including the Great Mosque and the Muslim quarter (although it was getting a bit Hanified when I last saw it in 2004) (for more on Xi'an see http://wilhelmswords.com/asia2001/index.html ) I also found it interesting to wander round the back streets, although that was in 2004 and they may have been demolished by now. You can take the night train there from Beijing, which will give you exposure to Chinese people not associated with the tourist trade.

Thanks for the feedback, thursdaysd. Much appreciated and lots to think about. Luckily, we've got some time to refine.

Sue, we are independent travelers planning our own two week trip for China this May.

After looking at a number of choices we are doing just Beijing, Linden Centre and Shanghai. We were going to fit in two days elsewhere before or after Linden Centre but decided the travel times between places took too much. We decided instead to do "off the beaten path" within Beijing and Shanghai too. For example we found a day trip with a religious scholar in Beijing showing different religions and related sites. And we planned more time at Linden Centre to allow for a more leisurely pace.

It if helps as an example of the travel times, we are leaving Beijing on a Friday 640 am flight arrives in Dali near there are 130 pm( it's "direct" but it stops in Kunming and is the most efficient route we found after consulting with the folks at Linden). And then when we leave on the next Wednesday we will have a car and driver or take the bus for a mid afternoon afternoon flight from Kunming to Shanghai to arrive about 6 pm (after consulting with Linden we concluded that there isn't any efficient way to fly from Dali to Shanghai like there is to get there from Beijing).

I am not trying to discourage you from a faster paced intinerary. We just know from our experience that sometimes you find your way "off the beaten path" only after you have been in one place enough time to know what the path even is.

So our trip is arrive late on Day 1, spend 5 full days in Beijing, leave on Day 7 for Linden, four full days in Linden, leave on Day 12 for Shanghai, spend 2 full days in Shanghai and depart Shanghai late afternoon Day 15.

Have fun planning!

Thanks, Laurie Ann. That's fantastic information. I'm glad the Linden Center was so helpful in planning the arrival/departures. I think we'll probably have a day less in each of Beijing and the Linden Center. My husband is very interested in Dunhuang, so we're adding that on, even though it is a long distance to travel.

We also have a couple of extra days because 15 days does not include our arrival or departure dates. That would bring it up to 17 or 18. We have 15 full travel days in China. I certainly take your point though, that less is often more. Thanks for the reminder. Sue

Laurie Ann -- forgot to mention that I'd love to hear back from your about your experience at the Linden Center once you're home, if you wouldn't mind. It sounds like such an interesting place.

laurie_ann: did you make it to the Linden Center this past May. We are getting thick into the planning of our trip for next May (2014) and wondering how your experience was there?

As it turns out we did not go to China after all. . . work commitments etc. But of all the trip we missed I am most disappointed we did not get to go to Linden Centre. It sounds like a wonderful and unique place.

Oh, too bad, Laurie Ann. Assuming we get there, I'll let you know about it.