Hubby booked flights in July to Shanghai (3 days) and Beijing (4 days) with a stop for a day and a half in Hong Kong. I can move days around a bit and give more days in one or the other if that's better. Love that he did this but now I have to pull together all the other details. HELP.

I like having a hotel booked so time is not spent finding one when there but after that I'm pretty flexible. Also, I think we arrive late at night. We are traveling with 2 grown kids (yeah, grown up family vacation) so fine with apartment, suite or 2 hotel rooms. Don't know how much to spend but would like to feel safe, clean and be conveniently located.

Any suggestions?
Thanks so much.
Sammie

My wife and I did a similar trip in January and stayed at the Conrad in HK, Grand Hyatt in Beijing and Meridien in Shanghai. I can wholeheartedly recommend the Conrad and Grand Hyatt. The Meridien has a great location and is very new...but it has some quirks, ie three elevator changes to get to your room and lack of a separate bathroom (the sink is in the main sleeping area, toilet is enclosed with a glass partition, as is the shower). I suggest you see reviews of these hotels nd others on Trip Advisor.

In Hong Kong I can recommend you L'Hotel at Causeway Bay. The Metro station is just accross the road and very convinient. Rooms and the bathrooms were clean. Extremely good location if you plan to use the metro. Macdonalds a few meters away also has a good Thai restaurant (sorry cannot remember the name).

It sounds as though this trip was sprung on you and you have not yet had the chance to think about what you want to do in each of these cities. Just a couple of comments as you start to rough out your ideas.

Is this a first trip to China? A get-acquainted trip or something more focused? Will you be jet-lagged? That influences your pace. You also may have extremely hot weather so that too will influence how much and fast you can move around.

Beijing and Shanghai are staggeringly big and you do not have much time in either, so you may want to choose your hotels in a way that supports your top priority anticipated activities. It sounds as though the needs and interests of grown children need to be considered.

Knowing your budget and what you hope to do would help. There is lots and lots and lots of choice but it is difficult to say what is "better" or even "centrally located" without knowing more about your hopes and plans.

Shanghai will be in the middle of Expo 2010 (May 1- October 31). They expect 70 million visitors during the six month period but I have no idea of the actual (vs. predicted) impact on lodgings at your price point and sightseeing on your dates. Just something to be sure that you are aware of as you plan.

In Hong Kong, I love what I understand to be one of Cicerone's decision rules for selecting hotels: if you can get a harbor-view room, by all means stay on Kowloon, but otherwise stay on the island. A harbor-view family suite at the Salisbury YMCA would be ideal and affordable for your family if you could book that. Rooms on lower floors have views blocked by the massive Cultural Center across the street.

Forgive me but I have to ask this. Are you sure you want to go to all three cities in such a short time period? You are going to be spending an awful of of time moving around.

I agree with Marya, this sounds like a whirlwind trip. Perhaps have a family meeting and decide which 2 cities you'd like to focus on.

Thanks for the information – I really appreciate the time you all give to respond. Yes, sprung on me, but that’s okay. I know it sounds like a lot in a short period of time (true) but the Hong Kong part is due to the airline. We are traveling on airlines miles so we are somewhat limited.

I don’t know my budget because I don’t know what is reasonable to expect to pay. My travel style of hotel is Best Western, Hyatt, Red Lion, Hampton Inn, etc. when in the US and not the high end resort type of place. I look for safe and clean and located so that I don’t spend all my time commuting to what there is to see. What do I want to see – I have no clue (sorry to sound so vague) and to be honest I’m putting the tour guide task to others.

Marya – Yes, first trip to China but I’ve been to Thailand, Indonesia and many years ago Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, etc. It is a get acquainted trip for China and my guess is we will probably to hit the basics in each (I don’t know yet what those are). Definitely will take kids into consideration but we are a very compatible crowd and honestly, if they want to plan the itinerary all the better and we don’t have all do the same thing all the time.

Am I sounding nuts to just feel like I need to get the hotel reservations nailed down and let the rest fall into place? I know we need Visas, but that’s for after tax season.

Thanks everyone – this site is FAB and has been a wealth of knowledge for previous trips. I just have to get my act together for this one!