We are a couple from India, aged 50ish, wishing to travel to China in May 2009. We dislike taking tours, and would rather travel on our own. This would be our first trip to China. We plan on taking flights for all internal travel in China.

We plan on starting our trip on Friday, May 8th. Would the May 1 holiday rush be over by then ? If not, we could postpone by a week. Here is the tentative itinerary, on which we seek your suggestions.

Day 1: Arrive at Shanghai in early afternoon
Day 2: Shanghai
Day 3: Shanghai
Day 4: Shanghai
Day 5: Fly from Shanghai to Xian
Day 6: Xian
Day 7: Xian
Day 8: Fly from Xian to Beijing
Day 9: Beijing
Day 10: Beijing
Day 11: Beijing
Day 12: Fly from Beijing to Guilin
Day 13: Guilin - Yangshao - Guilin
Day 14: Fly from Guilin to Hong Kong
Day 15: Hong Kong
Day 16: Hong Kong
Day 17: Evening flight back to India

Please let us know if we should add any more destinations, and if the time budgeted at each place is appropriate.

Thanks in advance.

Travel patterns are changing with the re-organisation of national holidays and the introduction of limited discretionary holiday. Traditionally the leisure travel season begins at the beginning of May, and while the sense that at least half the country was on the move during the first week of May has gone away, there are still many people who add discretionary days to the now shorter national holiday. Delaying one week would do no harm.

As for the remainder, personally I'd knock a day off Shanghai, and wouldn't bother with Guilin or Yangshuo at all, but choose another more genuinely Chinese rural destination. Indeed, I wouldn't bother with Shanghai if I were also visiting Beijing and Hong Kong, but perhaps travel Beijing--Xi'an--rural destinations in the southwest--Hong Kong. Much depends on your interest in culture, historic sites, scenery, 'real' China, etc.

Peter N-H

I just got back from 2 weeks in China. I think you have way too many places to visit in 14 days unless of course you like being on the go all the time and not seeing a city in much depth.

I would do less time in Shanghai or as Peter says, don't do Shanghai at all. Spend more time in Beijing.

Traveling on your own is a great idea, I did that also, but if I were to do it again I would hire a guide for at least part of my time in each city for a day or 2.

I would also purchase internal airline tickets before you go unless you are staying at higher end hotels.

Hi,
Maybe start in Beijing first. As you have Shanghai as you first stop it seems you are doubling back a bit.
As everyone else has said you could take a day out of Shanghai. Also Xian as well. Just a thought but to cut down you really only need 1 night ( 2 at the most ) in Xian.
If you delete a day in Shanghai & Xian you would have time to visit Hangshou which is short train ride from Shanghai & really worth seeing.
Your Guilin - Yangshuo sounds a bit rushed to give it justice.
Perhaps when you arrive in Guilin head straight for Yangshuo and spend the 2 nights there and then head to the Guilin airport for your flight to Hong Kong.
So:
Day 1: Arrive Beijing
Days 2 - 4: Beijing
Day 5: Morning fly Xian
Day 6: Spend day at warriors & parts of Xian. Catch night train to Shanghai
Day 7: Morning arrive Shanghai
Day 8 & 9: Shanghai
Day 10: Morning train to Hangzhou.
Day 11: Afternoon -Fly Hangzhou to Guilin & head straight to Yangshuo.
Day 12: Yangshuo
Day 13: Yangshuo to Guilin airport & head to Hong Kong
Day 14 - 17: This leaves you either days to spend in Hong Kong or you could add another day to any of the above cities.
Hope this helps,
Annie

Thanks for your inputs. Some questions:
1. Peter N H : Can you suggest some suitable destinations in the southwest ? Please bear in mind that we are vegetarians, and are apprehensive about straying away from the "touristy" cities, if finding veg food is going to be a big issue.
2. Lollylo25 : The planned trip is for 17 days (not 14). And although it is a bit rushed, I guess we are accustomed to this pace. I doubt if we will get another opportunity to visit China. Your suggestion of hiring local guides for some days is a good one, and one that we shall certainly take up.
3.Annieandh: You have a valid point about starting from Beijing and working our way down. Unfortunately, direct flights from India are only for Shanghai or Hong Kong, and the total fare cost works out much cheaper doing the circuit we have planned, rather than starting from Beijing. However, we could easily cut off a day each from Shanghai and Xian. Where should we add it to ? Is Hangzhou doable as a day trip from Shanghai ? Should we add a day to Guilin/Yangshuo ? Or to Hongkong or Beijing ? We would like to limit the number of "base stations" to 5, as otherwise it becomes too much of shifting around with luggage.

I found a full day in Shanghai sufficient. The same with Xian.

There are a number of China Travel Bureaus about. They speak English and are very helpful.

Buy a Lonely Planet guide.

Hi,
It is best not to do Hangzhou as a day trip from Shanghai. It is doable but there is so much to see your visit would be a bit rushed. If you are looking at day trips from Shanghai best stick to Suzhou, Tongli or Xitang.
And I know what you mean about limiting your overnight stays to only a few cities. It is tempting to include more but you will then find your self spending lots of wasted time in airports & train stations. So that is a wise move.
In the Southwest is the Sichuan region with cities such as Chengdu, the Yunnan region & Guizhou / Guangxi which has minority villages. I believe you will have no trouble in Chengdu finding Vegetarian food but don't know about the other areas, sorry.
Annie

Cyberia, I have bought a Lonely Planet guidebook for China. However, I have found that the best suggestions comes from Fodorites.

Annieandh, I did go through the Hangzhou section in the guidebook, and it sounds great. I know it justifies more than a day trip, but I guess we will cover it as a day trip, to avoid too much moving around. Then we don't need to remove a day from Shanghai, as a day will go in the Hangzhou trip.

We still have to accomodate the one day that we are knocking off from Xian. Should we add it to Guilin/Yangshuo ? Or should we scrap Guilin in favor of Chengdu ?

I guess it depends what you like seeing. We are going to both places in April. You could probably look on some of the trip reports & ask the people who have done both.
Chengdu has the Pandas & tibetan neighborhoods & Yangshuo the scenery.
It's hard to make a decision when there is so much to see.
You could always spend more time in Beijing as there is so much to see. We love Beijing & could easily spend a whole holiday there!

Thanks annie for your comments. I will read some trip reports and make up my mind, as you suggested. Meanwhile, more suggestions are welcome.

Have just spent close to a month in China as a solo traveler, am in my 60's

Shanghai is an edgy city. I would only give it two days, then I live in NYC. Go to Souzhou and spend a few days there explore the gardens and perhaps make day trips to the water towns e.g. Tongli. Also explore Hangshuo

Unfortunately I only had 1 day in Xian and feel that it deserves more, I could have stayed there for 2-3 day.

Beijing 5 - 6 days easily

If you want to go to Guilin and Yangshou You need at least 4 days. I am sorry that I missed Guilin and went straight to Yangshou. What I have since heard is that there is much to see in Guilin.

I have posted my trip report Nywoman in China mentioning several of the places you want to visit.

Hi Nywoman,
Thanks for posting your trip report as it was very helpful. Sounds like you had a wonderful journey
We are going straight to Yangshuo too but do you think it is worth at least one night in Guilin?
I have read they have a wonderful night scene / food / market near the South city gate & wonder if it is worth staying to experience that.
Annie.

INDIANCOUPLE:

I agree with Annie regarding the order. I think it will cut down on your travel time.

We did 2 weeks in China and booked with a local Chinese company and had a guide and driver in every destination. We loved China and did an itinerary not far different from what Annie suggests but in the reverse order. It was just the 2 of us and we enjoyed the interation with the guides who were all young, mostly single, and spoke good English.

Here's my web page about this trip. Maybe it will help you in your planning.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/china/china.htm

Thanks everyone for your comments. Here is a revised itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive at Shanghai in early afternoon
Day 2: Shanghai
Day 3: Day trip to Hangzhou
Day 4: Day trip to Tongli
Day 5: Fly from Shanghai to Xian
Day 6: Xian
Day 7: Fly from Xian to Beijing
Day 8: Beijing
Day 9: Beijing
Day 10: Beijing
Day 11: Fly from Beijing to Guilin
Day 12: Guilin/Yangshuo
Day 13: Guilin/Yangshuo
Day 14: Fly from Guilin to Hong Kong
Day 15: Hong Kong
Day 16: Hong Kong
Day 17: Evening flight back to India

Does this itinerary make more sense ? Also, we had some more specific questions :
1. Should one stay in Guilin or Yangshuo ? How far are the terraced rice fields from Yangshuo ?
2. Where should one contact to get local guides in China - we do not want their assistance in booking hotels, just to accompany us on some of the days for sightseeing ?

The itinerary makes sense, and in any case it's not much different from the original itinerary.

The area with the rice fields near Gulilin is called Longsheng and are about a 3 hour drive from Guilin. You will be there at the best time of the year (April-May).

We enjoyed staying in the city of Guilin. It's a big city with lots of facilities and a nice pedestrian shopping area. Yangshou is the favorite of backpackers and is a little town with great scenery.

You can book guides at almost every hotel, although they may be more expensive when booked thru the hotel.

If you can tell me where you want to book guides, I have the names and contact info for a few which I can send you.

sssteve, thanks for your response. I guess we will require guides in almost all of the cities in our itinerary (though not for every day). Plan to use a guide at Shanghai for the day trips to Hangzhou and Tongli, a guide at Xian for one day, a guide at Beijing for 2 days, and at Guilin for a day. We are not looking for guides with private cars. Plan to use taxis or public transport. Just looking for English speaking guides to assist us on some days. How much do such guides cost typically ?

Would really appreciate your sending us contact info for such guides.

I will send you some information as soon as I can find it.

In the meantime, you can get in touch with the company I used - "China Connection". They can arrange as little or as much as you want and wherever you want. All the guides they arranged for us were just fine.

Here's their URL:
http://www.china-tour.cn/

I have been to the three places you mentioned. I think it will be better for you to visit in this itinerary:
Shanghai-Beijing-Xian-Guilin-Hong-Kong.
Good luck!

Your best bet is to start contacting a variety of guides now and tell them what you want to do.
Approx depending on which city & what you are doing about RMB100-200 per day for an unofficial guide to show you around. You will need to pay their entrance fees etc.

Could anyone recommend names and contact details of some unofficial private guides in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Guilin ? Would highly appreciate it.