We are planning to go to China for about 10-14 days. We hope to spend 5 days in Beijing then would like something completely different. I was thinking Yunan or someplace not as crowded and smog ridden like Beijing. Do you have any ideas?

10-14days,you also cao go to Yunnan,Chengdu,Xian,all of them not like Beijing

5 days for beijing
2 days for xian
1 day for Chengdu, may for your interest in panda
7 days for Yunnan province

I suggest you do a search on this board - for one thing, rkkwan posted a wonderful trip report about Yunnan that may help you make up your mind.

thank you all so much for you input. I've been reading about Yunnan. It sounds interesting and diverse. I will read the trip report thanks.

My trip to Yunnan was of a different nature than a regular leisure trip. Didn't go to Dali or Lijiang either. So, I'm not sure if it is really that relevant. Also, it's very very long.

But if one's interested, here it is:

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=34900413

I strongly disagree that 5 days is too much for Beijing - we had 7 and could easily have used a couple more. But if you need to cut back to make room for other destinations you can still have a good time in three.

I like the idea of going several places within Yunnan but was wondering if it would be too much considering the time change, long travel to Beijing and various kinds of transportation recommended. Could you suggest 2 places to go after Beijing? This way it might not be so rushed. thanks

Lhasa.then to Shanghai,if you spend 3days in Xian, so you have to spend one week in another city,like Shanghai or Yunnan or Guangxi,its a long time.so you can visit Shanghai 5days,Shanghai 4days

How about Guilin for 2 days?

I have to look at the map but what is the best way to get to either, Guilin or Kunming then Dali? thanks for your help

There are non-stop flights Beijing to Kunming and Guilin.

There isn't that much to see inside Kunming, though you can go to the Stone Forest and/or Jiuxiang about 2 hours east.

There are overnight trains and frequent flights between Kunming and Dali. Kunming is the aviation hub of all of Yunnan, so if you want to go between Dali and Guilin, you'll most likely have to connect in Kunming.