Review my 2 week Itinerary (Sept 17 - Oct 2)
 

My gf and I (non-Chinese speaking) will be in China from 9/17 - 10/2. I have done a lot of research and created the following the itinerary but would like to know if any or all of it is not feasible! Thanks!

9/17: Beijing - Arrive from flight at 4pm (staying at friend's house)
9/18: Beijing - Great Wall
9/19: Beijing - Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square
9/20: Beijing - Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc.; Night train to Xi'an at 9pm
9/21: Xi'an - Night train arrives ~8am; Terracota Army
9/22: Xi'an - Hua Shan
9/23: Xi'an - Bike City Wall, Muslim Quarter, etc.; 7pm flight to Guilin (Hotel in Guilin)
9/24: Longshen - Travel to Longshen for rice terraces
9/25: Yangshuo - Li River Cruise to Yangshuo and explore
9/26: Yangshuo - Explore Yangshuo
9/27: Yangshuo/Guilin - Bus to Guilin; 5:35pm Okay Airways flight to Zhangjiajie
9/28: Zhangjiajie - Wulingyuan Ntl Park
9/29: Zhangjiajie - Wulingyuan Ntl Park
9/30: Zhangjiajie - Tianmen Mtn; Night flight to Beijing
10/1: Beijing - Free day
10/2: Beijing - 8:30am flight back home

The main problem I see is that October 1st is National Day. Very bad time to be traveling in China, as much of the population will also be traveling.

@thursdaysd
Unfortunately, there's no way to move those end dates forwards or backwards. Do you have any recommendations to make sure I'm prepared? For example, will the airport in Zhangjiajie on 9/30 be crazy packed with people leaving? Or should I be more worried about arriving on Beijing on 9/30 as well as departing on 10/2 back to the U.S.?

Thanks for the help

Well, the airports might be less mobbed than the train stations. I take it you already have the tickets? My only suggestion is to arrive early and be prepared for crazy crowds.

I have my flights from the US to Beijing and from Beijing to the US already for those dates, which is why I can't alter those end dates. I haven't booked anything else yet but was planning to purchase a flight from Zhangjiajie. This morning flights were around $125 USD for one way tickets.

On that date, there will be more people flying into ZJJ than flying out of it. But that price is a good deal.

Of your planned destinations, I've only been to Beijing and Xi'an; for these cities, I think you have a good plan!

One possible and very minor tweak, based on my experience with over night trains -- which is that I like them, but am not always fully rested the next day: Consider switching your activities for 9/23 and 9/21, to be sure that you are fully alert for your time with the Terracotta Warriors. Just a thought!

And FWIW, I'm not sure I could have fit both the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven into one day -- but you've got a "spare day" in Beijing, and so should be able to manage both, whether on the same day or not -- except, of course, that it is that dreaded 1 Oct....

Make sure your GF has the names of your hotels in Chinese characters, so if you get separated, she can show the name to someone and find her way there.

Enjoy!

Kja has a good point. Your hotel will have cards with the name and address of the hotel in both English and in Chinese. Sometimes the card even has a small map on it. You should each carry one with you all the time. If you get lost or separated, you can use a taxi to get you back or ask walking directions form someone. It also makes it easy to choose to do different things one afternoon , knowing you will both find your way back to the hotel.

(@ Kathie -- thanks!)

I assume in the plan above that the OP is only listing some attractions as the days are generally not busy enough and many key attractions are missing.

@CanadaChinaTraveller
Yeah I didn't list out all the attractions for each day because I was trying to keep the itinerary simple for everyone to read. I was more curious if I was spending enough time in each location and allotting enough time for transport between locations, etc.

@kja
Great tip about the hotel names. And yeah I made a mistake about the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven. I won't be doing them on the same day.