We are planning a 17-day independent trip to Hong Kong and China. Do you have any recommendations on places, retaurants and hotels. We are looking for high-end places. Thanks!

What cities in China do you plan on visiting?

Here's our report staying at fairly high end places:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34682619

An itinerary would be helpful, but IMO you will be quite spoiled for choice for luxury hotels. For a start, in cities you are interested in try Four Seasons, Peninsula, Shangri-La, Mandarin-Oriental and Ritz-Carlton. Those are now in most major cities and some secondary ones, and in some cites there is more than one. Something like the new Grand Hyatt in Beijing is very good hotel and the location is excellent, so I would not just consider luxury class hotels. Bayan Tree has hotels in locations like Lijiang, so keep those in mind too. Another extremely helpful guide for good restaurants is the Luxe Guides series, which IMO are absolutely spot on for their reccos on restaurants and most of their shopping reccos as well. Because it is so short (about 4 pages), they can update it 4 times a year so it is very current. They do not contain any sightseeing, history or maps, so don't look at these as real guides, they are for restaurants and shopping primarily (and they list about 2 hotels per guide), although they do give some off-the-beaten-path suggestions and some very touristy things to avoid. It only costs like US$8. (Go to http://www.luxecityguides.com/) It is tiny and folds almost into your pocket. If you can't get it where you live, you can buy it here when you arrive. In Hong Kong, you can find them at Dymocks or Bookazine, two local bookstores here (go to http://www.dymocks.com.au
www.bookazine.com.hk for locations), I see them at hotel shops in many Asian cities now as well.

Luxury Travel - that's what I like to hear (my site http://www.bombasticlife.com) focuses on luxury travel. I was in Hong Kong earlier this month. I stayed at the Peninsula Hotel and it was GORGEOUS. One night we had dinner at Aqua (great view, good food) and Nobu (the best sushi in town). We dined a few other places but nothing I would recommend. I have some additional info on my site if you're interested. Have a great trip. Can I ask what airline you're flying?

Consider Red Capital Ranch by the unrestored Wall.

If you want more details, email me at

cbickley @ idirect . com [take out the spaces].

CanadaKate

Guilin is a beautiful city and you must visit it.

I staryed at the Banyan Tree resort in Lijiang earlier this year and found it to be a mostly wonderful place.

Each guest has their own villa -- mine was a standalone building with a lovely garden and private pool. The villa was beautifully furnished with contemporary Chinese fittings: a large bedroom with high ceiling; a living room/den with desk, tv, and day bed; and a huge bathroom/storage area with closets, walk-in shower, bath, and double sinks.

All of the villas have fantastic views of the Snow Dragon mountain. The resort has a spa, restaurants, and gym, and it's about a 5-minute taxi ride from the Old Town.