Tentative China itinerary
 

Well I have to start somewhere, if you don't mind I would like some pro's and con's of the following itinerary for june/july next year. tear it to bits !
Beijing 3 nights,Xian 2 nights, Chengdu 2 nights, Lhasa 3 nights, Kunming 3 nights, Guilin 2 nights, Hong Kong 3 nights. Also recommendations on how to get between places.

Get ready the hot weather in these places during june/july. In general, your itinerary is OK. But I think staying in KunMing for 3 nights is a little bit too much (1 or at most 2 is enough)as the best in YunNan not in KunMing, but in LiJiang and DaLi. Same thing with ChengDu as the best in SiChuan is in JiuZhaiGou, Huang Long and DuJiangYan. You should staying in BeiJing for one more night (side trip to ChengDe). You should visit YangShuo when you visit Guilin. Flying is your best option to and from Lhasa (no train, going by bus is a big hassle), other places you can go by train. But I think flying is a better option as it's safer and more comfortable. It saves time, too.

nyone else comment about exchanging Lijiang for Kunming and Huang Long for Chengdu ? All in agreement with an extra day in Beijing ? Don't you love holidays by committee ;)

You need more time in Beijing, and I think you're going to too many cities and too much long-distance travelling. You'll be very exhausted half-way through the trip.

Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou are very far from Chengdu by car. Unless you're flying there too. Still you'll need WAY more than just a night in Chengdu and one night in Huanglong/Jiuzhaigou. People usually spend 7-8 days just for Chengdu/Huanglong/Jiuzhaigou. Not 2-3 days.

You have 15 nights total, and you want to visit Lhasa (which means you probably need to fly through Chengu anyways), I'd suggest you skip either Xian, Guilin or Kunming for this trip. And if you want to go to Huanglong/Jiuzhaigou, then probably skip two of the above places.

In general, I'd avoid staying at a place for less than 3 nights, or else you'll be going to the airport every other day. The train routes between Xian and Chengdu and between Chengdu and Kunming are pretty scenic, so you may want to try those instead of flying.

Thank you, you are all a great help.

OK, some fine tuning: Beijing 4 nights flight to Xian 2 nights train to Chengdu 3 nights, flight to Lhasa 3 nights flight to Guilin 3 nights then onto Hong Kong for three nights. Whats the best way to get to Hong Kong from Guilin fly, train or bus ?

This itinerary looks better as you can spend more in each city. I think you should consider night train from Xian to Chengdu. I think there is no nonstop flight between Lhasa and Guilin. You have to change plane in Chengdu.
Fly nonstop is your best option. But, it's expensive. You may think of flying to Shenzhen/Guangzhou first, then go to Hong Kong by train/boat/bus. Last time (2001), I flied from Guilin to Shenzhen first and then train to Hong Kong. It works OK for me.

If you have lots of luggage, then I'd suggest flying direct from Guilin to Hong Kong. The border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong is crowded and messy, and even if you take a "direct" bus from the Shenzhen airport to Hong Kong, you'll still need to get off the bus with all luggage to go through immigration/customs, and then frantically look for your bus.

Hi

My wife and I went to China in March last year and we visited Beijing, Xi'an and Hong Kong in 14 days. I think that you could do with more time in Beijing because there is a lot to see and do there. We took the train from Beijing and Xi'an and that worked out pretty good. And we took a flight from Xi'an to Shenzen near Hong Kong. I have posted a long trip report with more details and lots of pictures on my personal homepage www.gardkarlsen.com :-) Maybe you can find some useful information there.

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Another question... which time of the year ? I now have a window open for three weeks around easter as well as june july. Any thoughts ?

It's going to be hot in June/July. You may see a bit of rain in some parts of China during Easter, but I think that's still preferable to the heat.