I'm trying to put together a 3 week itinerary but am finding it really hard to decide where to go. We will be flying into Beijing on the 11th of October & will be flying out of Shanghai on the 1st of November.
We will stay 4-5 nights in Beijing then will go on to X'ian & stay for another 2/3 nights where should we go from here?
It won't be a problem if we have to fly or use overnight trains between places.
Thanks

What are your interests? Have you looked at tour itineraries and guide books to see what is usually recommended? If it were me, with that kind of time, I'd consider taking the train up to Lhasa and spending some time in Tibet, but it wouldn't be my first trip.

For a first trip I'd spend enough time around Shanghai, since you'll be there anyway, to visit Hangzhou and Suzhou and maybe another water town. And I'd spend the rest in the west or southwest - Chengdu for pandas and Emei Shan, then train to Kunming and on to Tiger Leaping Gorge and Xishuangbanna. Lots of people will say Guilin, but I'll take the real mountains over over-touristed Guilin any day.

Thursday gives great advice to look at the various tour itineraries. That will give you an idea of not only the favorite spots, but about efficient routings as well.

I thought the challenge of planning my own China itinerary was that aside from Beijing and the Great Wall, I really wasn't too familiar with China. Not like Italy, for example, where most every first timer KNOWS they need to see Rome, Florence and Venice. For China, I watched all the videos that my library had to offer, including the really great GlobeTrekker series. I searched websites including Flickr, pbase, and also Youtube for photos and video clips so I could see the different places through the eyes of tourists like myself and get a feel that you can't completely get from the written word.

Also, to echo Thursday again, it all depends on your interests. Wildlife, hiking, history, relaxing, shopping, etc. There's a ton of great advice on this forum, but you know you best

Thanks so much for your replies. I've got both the lonely planet & Eyewitness guides & I've been surfing the various forums for ages but still can't get my head around a 3 week itinerary. Frommers have a 3 week one but strangely enough it doesn't include either Beijing or Shanghai. Trip reports are nearly all 2 weeks.
With regards to our interests we really like to see the best of whats to see in any place which could be museums, scenery, art, temples, churches, etc. The only thing I don't want to do is go on that 3or 4 day Yangtze cruise as there are too many negative comments, although we may do the shorter 6 hour Guilin to Yangshuo.

How does this look?

Beijing - 4 nights
X'ian - 2 nights
Chengdu - 2 nights
Lijang - 2 nights
Dali - 3 nights
Yangshuo - 2 nights
Hangzhou - 2 nights
Nanjing - 1 night
Shanghai - 3 nights

Should I leave out Lijang & Dali & go straight to Yangshuo & make our way slowly to Shanghai from there or is'nt it worth it.
We intend to visit Tibet & Hong kong on another seperate trip.

We're also flying into Beijing on Oct.11th(direct from Newark)& have the following planned:
11-15: Beijing
15-17: Xian
17-20: Guilin/Yangshuo
20-25:Kunming/Dali/Lijiang
25-28hanghai/Suzhou

We are 3 couples who planned the itinerary, presented it to China Connection Tours for a quote for some hotels/all domestic flights/most guides & came to an agreement with the company re cost & promise of no unwanted shopping stops.We ended up booking the hotels we wanted in Beijing (Park Plaza Wangfujing - great senior's rate),Yangshuo (Li River Retreat) & Lijiang(Minimal Lounge Boutique Hotel- just opened in Old City) independently.We also found our own guide in Yangshuo.

IMHO you are going to spend way too much time moving from one place to another.

I would suggest staying more nights at fewer places to give yourself more time to enjoy the places you see and less time relocating.

cjbryant, what should we leave out? & where should we spend longer?
We're not reserving anything other than our flights to & from China so we can be flexible when we're there.

Clark:


If I can be any help with your dilemma, may I suggest the following itin which we followed with ease and joy last spring.

Beijing (including all of the major sites including the GW at Mutuanyu)
5 nights (Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wangfujing)

Xian, the warriors, etc.
2 nights (Hyatt Regency near east wall, taxi to terra cotta soldiers, she waited two hours and drove us back to hotel, also took us to airport in the a.m. She charged $40, and $16 to the airport)

Guilin, including Li River Cruise, a day and night in Yangshuo and an trip with guide to the terraced rice fields, three hours west of Guilin.
3 nights (Sheraton in Guilin, saw the famous nightshow and had dinner in Yangshuo)

Shanghai
3 nights (Ramada Plaza on Nanjing Lu ...I had seen Hangzhou and Suzhou many years before).

we then went on to Japan for another 14 days. Delightful trip throughout.

Whatever you choose, you will enjoy an exciting, fascinating trip to China! Have fun.

Stu T.