Going to be in Shanghai for a few days and want to plan another city (cities?) for a total of two weeks. Looking to have frequent flyer miles cover the cost of flying, so I guess that means stay in the country. Should it be Hong Kong or Beijing? Or maybe a few days in Tokyo and the environs? Never been to these cities, so............

I would consider your FF miles flight options, HK, Beijing and Tokyo are all worth seeing. Not sure which alliance your miles are with, Tokyo can be done as a stopover enroute to Shanghai. HK or Beijing would probably work best as an open jaw ticket in conjunction with Shanghai. Which airline alliance are your miles with?

If it's your first time to China, then go to Beijing - plenty to see there. Relatively cheap flights or trains between the two cities; so award tickets not even that important.

Agree, go to Beijing, preferably by train. But don't miss Hangzhou ad Suzhou while in the Shanghai area. Both are worth at least one night, better two.

My miles are with AA. As a first time to this part of the world, probably Shanghai and Beijing for two weeks? Is it best to buy in-country flights in China or can it be done here? Is this the hi-speed train route and is that worth the time??? Cost differential train to plane?

Does anyone know of a beautiful garden city near Shanghai---possibly a flight needed....starts with "C"????

See http://seat61.com/China.htm#Beijing%20-%20Shanghai - I'd take the night train - you don't lose any sightseeing time, you save the cost of a hotel, and you get a Chinese experience. If you do a search you should turn up some trip reports from people who've done it.

If you have two weeks total you could add Xi'an. I don't think Shanghai is worth more than a couple of days, unless you're a serious shopper or fan of modern architecture.

get yourself a good guidebook and i think you will find many of the answers you seek....

you might want a split ticket....into one city out of another as i don't think AA has a flt from usa to china with a stop in any of these other cities.... but they may offer a stop over in tokyo en route to some places in china???

FF tickets often require arrangements being made as long as 331 days in advance...