We'll be visiting China for the 1st time & spending 13 of our 17 nights mostly in cities. We'll have 4 nights to spend in 1 of these places? Which would you suggest? We want to take it easy, bike ride & see some nice scenery.

Yangshuo is a great place to ride bicycles in the country. There are numerous bike paths. We live in China and just love the area. In fact we will be back there during the May holiday. The scenery is spectacular. We also love to stay at Ping'an a village at the top of the rice patties on the mountain side. Every season they change, for example this time of year they are full of water. There are hundreds of bikes to rent in Yangshuo.

Keldar,
would you recommend a specific hotel/lodge? We heard great things about Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. We will be there in mid-Oct '07.

Leshan is not a four night destination - more one day. But basing in Chengdu would and day tripping would give you more options. Emei Shan in the same area is more of a four night place. But I'd vote for Lijiang - despite being overrun with Chinese tourists, its stunning.

I vote for Lijiang since it is my favorite spot with tons to do and see. If you go, click on my name and read the trip report section of Lijiang so you can figure out how to get to the locals market.

I second keldas's comments about YangShuo, but I would be bored with 4 nights there.

I don't know anything about Leshan.

I have been to all 3 and more and would vote for Lijiang. It is my favourite spot in China, quite magical at night. Such a beautiful town with lots of culture (tribal etc) and history.

lijiang
pros - fresh mountain air, relaxing, easy, no-nonsense, few hassles, a welcome break from polluted chinese cities with hassles, safe. beautiful scenery. 'no haggle' policy in many stores (when you tire of haggling for everything in other cities). many lovely, small hotels right in old town.

cons - a bit disney-ish, exactly what do they do with all the puppies when they are not so puppy cute any more? 'real people' kept out of the old town to keep it safe and hassle free for tourists. old town is nearly entirely tourist.

yangshou
pros - beautiful scenery, easier to access real chinese neighbourhoods, markets, etc

cons - backpacker orientated (although quite well restricted to west street). snowed under when cruise boats dock in town. stale, very humid air.

additionally (not a pro or a con necessarily) lijiang seemed to have few western tourists (when i was there at least) but many chinese tourists). yangshou had many more westerners.

in both cities, you can wander out of the tourist areas to find more real chinese stuff. however, old town lijiang, despite being almost entirely for tourists is beautiful.

i found food to be very good in both cities.

Dear Where to

We always use the Regency Yangshuo Holiday Hotel or the Paradessa . They are opposite each other at the top of foreigner street in the heart of Yangshuo.

This Apple's Travel site in Xiamen , She has some of the best Hotel prices in China and can be booked online from anywhere in the world. The good thing is you pay the hotel direct when you arrive.

http://www.appletravel.cn/

walkingaround:
Lijiang and Yangshou are in two totally different areas (Provinces), is it not? And where is Leshan, the exercise here is trying to choose which city is best to visit?
Thanks.

samuell, thanks for your critique of my post. i've never been to leshan so i gave information on the two cities out of the three that i have visited. do you come here to help or just to criticise those who do?

Dear walkingaround,
i am sorry if i came across at a critique, and i am not, i am learning a lot from all these posting, just confused with different places, no pun intended.

Lijiang is in Yunnan Province in SW China on a plateau northwest of Kunming. A historic city inhabited by the Nazi people (no, not those Nazis). The town was devastated by an earthquake in 1996, and was entirely rebuilt like it was. However, because it's well-loved and well-visited by foreign tourists, and because much of it is new, it is indeed "Disney-ish" as described by walkinaround.

Yangshuo is in Guangxi Province in Southern China. Close to Guilin. You go there mostly for its natural beauty, which many people say is the best in all of China.

Leshan is a city in Sichuan Province. A couple of hours drive SW of Chengdu. Like thursdaysd says, you go there to see the Big Buddha on the way to Emei Mountain. It's not a 4-day destination on its own.

Basically, i agree with what thursdaysd and walkinaround have already said here.

I think it's "naxi" which sounds a lot better than nazi!

Lijiang and Yangshuo are two destinations I always recommend to travellers. It's better not to have to choose, though Lijiang will be much cooler if you are planning to travel in the summer.

Ah thanks! Haha... You can tell I'm not a native Putonghua speaker and my pingyin was pretty poor.

I love Lijiang for the town and the scenery. Yangshuo also has beautiful scenery (the town itself is uninteresting), but it is less rugged than Lijiang, and at a lower elevation, thereby making it more conducive to taking it easy, biking, and seeing some nice scenery. So if those are your criteria, go for Yangshuo.
For the record, in my opinion, both areas should not be missed, even if it takes more than one trip to see them.

thank you all for taking the time in educating me. Esp, rkkwan
i am planning a China trip this Nov.
learning as much here as some books that i am reading.
appreciated.