I was hoping to wait until I make into the city before booking rooms, but I'm wondering if the holiday will make it very difficult to do that. I plan on being in Xi'an by the 29th of Sept, and then move on to Chengdu on the 5th of October. I've been looking at places online already, just curious if i should book now or take my chances?

Certainly in Beijing occupancy rates during the national holidays are low. In general it is city dwellers who can afford leisure travel more than those in the countryside (although the latter are far more numerous), so cities, unless they are resort destinations, tend to be easier to get around during this period.

One way of getting a rough idea would be to try booking on-line at a few hotels in Xi'an and seeing if rooms are available, either directly if looking at foreign-run hotels, or via a Chinese booking agent like Ctrip for Chinese-run ones. The only problem with this method is the Chinese tendency not to book until the last minute anyway, if at all.

great info, thanks for the help

As I plan my trip to China for fall 2011, I see the National Day holiday starts Oct.1. If I was to be leaving China that day, either from Beijing or Shanghai, will I have trouble getting to the airports or getting a flight out to the US? Will hotels be booked up the night before, Sept. 30? My preferred travel time to be in China would be the last 2 weeks of Sept.,around Sept. 16-Oct.1 if I can get the FF award seats. My second choice of dates would be Oct. 8-23. Should I wait until after National Day is completely over?

> If I was to be leaving China that day, either from Beijing or Shanghai, will I have trouble getting to the airports

No. But the airport might be very busy.

> or getting a flight out to the US?

Not if you've already used points to purchase it.

> Will hotels be booked up the night before, Sept. 30?

No.

The holiday now runs over a little (with those who have discretionary holiday bolting it on to the week) and the second half of Oct is big conference/exhibition season. The weather is better in Sept (in the north). Stick with the dates you have.

So how was the National Day week this year in Beijing and Shanghai? How crowded were local buses, trains, hotels, and the airports? I know the expo was going on in Shanghai so this year might have been skewed from a typical year.

How warm was Beijing this year in September? If I want to go to China Sept. 8-24 or so the award seats will be loaded into the computers in a few days for me to try and get. If year to year weather trends for Beijing are it is still in the 80's-90's in September I'll go in Oct. It seems all around the world fall temps are much warmer than historical averages. As I get older I'm having a harder time coping with heat.

I suggest going in Oct. since there will not be heat to cope with.

I've been reading on another website that October is trade fair month. Even though I don't plan to go to Guangzhou, will all the flights around the southern half of China be full and hard to get? I imagine the non stops from the US to China to Beijing and Shanghai would be full too with people connecting on to CAN.

I have decided to do my China trip in October 2011 instead of September. I'm getting ready to book my award flights. I am looking at arriving to China into Beijing at the end of the National Day holiday week.

For hotel availability in Beijing, should I plan to arrive on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday if I have a choice of available flightdays? If I arrived in Beijing on Friday, would tourists sites still be packed with Chinese visitors on Saturday and Sunday? When do the Chinese start returning home from their national Day holiday travels? Once I obtain my flights I cannot change them according to the airline rules so I need to choose the start day of my China trip carefully.
Xie xie.