cc1

we are planning a trip to China for 3 weeks (we are in our 30's) and would appreciate any help with our itinerary and "must-sees". we do like to explore and hike although I am terribly afraid of heights We were thinking of flying into Shanghai, going to Beijing, Xian and then to Guilin/Yangshou and departing home from Hong Kong. Our plan was to do side trips, be they day trips or overnights from the city centres that we have chosen. we don't plan on spending much time in Hong Kong rather just a departure city since we plan on ending our making our way south to Yangshou. Are we totally off the mark in our route or have we missed anything?! Thanks.

Cicerone

It would be helpful to know the time of year of your trip. If you want to walk/hike, I really would suggest you put Hong Kong on your list for a longer stay, as IMO some the better hiking options are here: trails in good condition, well-marked in English, which do not require guides, and most importantly can quickly and easily be reached on your own by public transportation for day trips. (If you go to my profile you will see a photo of one of my favourite walks.) These are things that cannot always be said of the walking/hiking in the PRC, at least in my experience.

You might also want to include Tiger Leaping Gorge in the Lijiang area if you are interested in hiking/walking. But time of year would be an issue in that and some other places, IMO, i.e. you would not want to walk that in the winter. Hong Kong gets a lot of fog in the spring (like now), so I would not plan a walking holiday for Feb or March that includes Hong Kong.

Otherwise, your itin seems to include all the biggies, but without a more detailed itin it is hard to comment specifically. I know Chengdu seems to be quite popular on this board and wonder if you have considered that. Silk Road areas like Dunhuang and Hotan might be of interest as well (but pretty hot in summer, so time of year might be an issue). Three weeks is a nice amount of time and you should be able to include a good bit.

cc1

Thanks for your input. We will be going in July. We had thought of Chengdu on our original list but had heard good things about Shanghai.I do feel though that we are, like you said, doing just the "biggies" and missing some off the beaten path treasures. Our original Itin.was to fly into beijing, and do the highlights including a hike on great wall, xian, chengdu, hike emei shan, go into the yunnan province, then to guilin/yangshou and return home from hong kong. It's like booking a trip to the US or Canada and trying to see it all! We are adventurous. Your input has been helpful - may reconsider our itin.

Cicerone

Yes, I agree the PRC is a big place and you can’t see it all in one trip, and it’s good you recognize this. July is good weather generaly, although hot in some places of course, see weatherbase.com and other websites for averages. Hong Kong will have some rain, but the upside is that on the clear days the visibility will be very good. If you have any flexibility in your timing, the falls months are really nicest weather in the places on your list, IMO, like mid to late October (although I would avoid the the first week in October which is a big holiday time in the PRC, National Day is October 1). I did not realize you had originally thought of Chengdu over Shanghai, I think I probably would pick Shanghai. Although I am not a big fan of Shanghai, as it is a huge, huge, polluted city, it is sort of the “modern” face of China (I used to call it the Jetson city because of the crazy architecture of the buildings, but you can find that in many cities in China now). There are also still some of the colonial bits left that are interesting as well, and it certainly has some good restaurants and nightlife. But I don’t think I would miss it in favour of Chengdu unless you were going to go into the Sichuan countryside, which I guess was your plan if you were going to climb Mt Emei. But I think you could get in some good things in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces in terms of walking and biking in the countryside there. Don’t know if you have looked at the Lonely Planet books and website, they often have good suggestions for active things like that. Also, although I am not suggesting you take a tour, and you don’t need one of course, if you look at the <i>itineraries</i> of walking tours of outfits like Soebeck Moutain Tours or ATG Oxford Tours, you might get some ideas for places you might want to include on your own trip. (I have used Soebek for things like day rafting trips in Bali, and have walked with Oxford in Europe.) Another company I am researching for walking trip in the US myself next summer is called Backroads, I found them through the US board where they were recommended; they have some trips in Asia too.

cc1

Thanks so much for the input! we unfortunately do not have flexibity with regards to travel dates. we booked our flight into Beijing and out of Hong Kong. This way we have time to decide whether or not we do Chendu and the Yunnan province or skip it and add Shanghai and do side trips from there. Your advice has been extremely helpful Cicerone. AsiaExpert, I guess we were misinformed about Hong Kong as we may add a few days there - we'd heard it was just a large urban centre but reading this forum and other sites has proven us wrong! I must say this is one of the most difficult trips we've booked from a "what to see" perspective. China is packed with places to explore!

Shanghainese

Altho it might be a rushed and crammed itinerary, I believe you can still do Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Yunan province or Guilin/Yangshuo and HongKong in 3 weeks not counting flight time.

absolutechinatours

Your itinerary is reasonable. You can absolutely cover the places in 3 weeks. The mustdos are the Great Wall(you can hike from Jinshanling to Simatai), the Forbidden City, the terra cotta warriors, the Muslim Street(a lot of local cuisines), cycling around the countryside of Yangshuo, take a bamboo raft tour on Li River from Xingping to Yangshuo, etc.

Judysfinds

You can do this itinerary in 3 weeks, my son & I did your itinerary plus Chengdu and Lijiang (but we were on the move a lot). Didn't care for Shanghai or Hong Kong as they are "big cities" and our focus was more the culture, ethnic minorities and food. Loved Yangshuo and Lijiang! The Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian are not to be missed and was a very emotional experience for me. The Great Wall will leave you breathless and overcome by this overwhelming feeling that I can not describe, you just have to experience. China is a marvelous country to explore.