China, Shanghai and Xian, flights/how many days.
 

Thinking of a short visit to China, Shanghai and Xian in particular. Which website do fodorites recommend I use for booking domestic flights within China?

I am thinking of spending four full days in Shanghai and two full days in Xian, will this be sufficient time to cover the basics? Jet lag isn't an issue as I plan on flying from Hong Kong. I know many people will suggest a visit to Beijing, have been there on a previous trip and only have 7 or 8 days (including flights) for this trip.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks.

I haven't been to Shanghai yet. I spent 4 days in Xi'an, and was glad I did, but think you can see the highlights in just 2 or 3 days. You might find some useful information in my very long, but searchable, trip report; just click on my name to find it. Enjoy!

Regarding booking flights within China, Ctrip is what I've used, recommended by those who live or work in China.

Ctrip.com
English.ctrip.com

There are three large online travel agents: ctrip.com (largest one), elong.net and travelzen.com. This last one does not charge an extra 3% for foreign credit cards.
You are staying a bit long in Shanghai itself which usually takes 2 days max. But from there you can visit surrounding cities such as Suzhou or some water town like Tongli.

i flew from HK last fall to xian and then to shanghai on china eastern... the flts were fine and on time.. the seats from Hk to x were very narrow.. i booked them on expedia... price was excellent.. i flew from S to bangkok afterwards on CE too.

you might want one more night in X. you can always use extra time in S...it is fab.

a highlight for us was a visit to a watertown..

the soldiers are quite far from X..

I disagree on 2 days max for Shanghai - depends on the type of traveler you are. If you want to just see museums, scenic spots, fine - 2 days - but if you enjoy wandering neighborhoods and just enjoying a great lively city, spend some more time in Shanghai.

I have found good deals on Chinese airlines through both Kayak and Vayama. Also it's not in English, but if you speak Chinese or can have a Chinese speaker help, qunar.com has good fares for internal flights, often cheaper than ctrip.

We had 10 days in Shanghai on our visit this past November and could have stayed a few more. If your are a US citizen the cost of the Visa will be over $200.00 per person making a short trip more expensive. Have fun!

Aloha!

I'd be interested to know what someone can do for 10 days in Shanghai. Do you still have your itinerary? Thanks.

3 nights at the Le Meridien with a fab location at the top of the pedestrian street, 2 nights in the Grand Hyatt on Pundong with a fabulous view of the Bund and 5 nights with friends at the Marriott Yu Gardens ensconced in their club level suites.

We shopped, ate, went sight seeing, had a Fodors GTG dinner with 8 other fodorites at a posh Shanghai venue, shopped even more and ate even more. We even got to fit in a leisurely day-trip to a near by water town hiring a private driver and van and basically had a blast. This was only our second trip to China so it was all new to us though I guess to you China vets its just old hash.....you know.....been there, done that. Thanks for asking!

Aloha!

Actually been to Shanghai at least 10 times but could not do 10 days of tourism. But of course, as in most large cities you can do a lot of restaurants and shopping. No shortage of malls. My point was, in Beijing you can do 10 days of tourist attractions and cultural experience but in Shanghai you can only do 2 days of such things (plus side trips to water towns). I would not recommend 10 days in Beijing though, 5 is enough for most people as they only want to see the highlights.

Many thanks for the replies and helpful information.

I'm always a bit put off by these questions about "how many days" for a given location as the things that make a place worthwhile are so utterly different for different people. A guidebook may be a better resource than someone's opinion that a place is only worth 2 or 5 days. I like to find places where I can hang out and you can't begin to do that in 2 days or even 5 days in most cases. If what you want to do is just hit the known tourist sights then, of course, you could blow through a place in 2 days. But for an individual I think it may be much more useful to gather intelligence from a number of sources rather than rely on a stranger's word

We can only answer these questions with a "typical" itinerary that the "average" tourist will do. If one can't figure out by himself how many days should be spent in a place, then that is the only answer one can give on a forum.

Yes, JPDeM, very true. And given that everyone is different it seems an exercise in futility.

"The basics" depend on each person's personal tastes. I have traveled to China six times, but I have lots of friends and usually travel on the train. For flights within China, I use www.9588.com; look for the English tab. I have booked flights with Kayak once or twice and that also worked fine.
I think you might want another day in Xi'An. I spent two nights there and got around by taxi and a public tour bus and I did manage to see everything. I like Shanghai and 3-4 days is sufficient, but not if you have the money for shopping and expensive restaurants. I would take the recommendation of others and take in a water town too. The high speed trains from the Shanghai Hongqiao station makes it possible to get to those towns very quickly.
If you are looking for other cities in China, may I recommend Nanjing? It has a rich history with lots to see.