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So I'm planning a trip to China this December. It's a gigantic place with a lot of history and I find myself a bit paralysed with indecision as to where I should go, I've drawn up about five or six different plans in multiple different parts of the country and can't choose between them.
I'm not sure how many people on this forum have actually visited China at all (there's at least one I guess), but anybody here have any recommendations to share? Any parts of the country in particular stand out to you?
For winter I'd focus on the south. Beijing is going to be pretty cold and miserable and most of the sites that you'd want to see are outdoors and cold why do that when you can go to the South and see equally cool stuff in walking around weather. If I were you I'd go to Kaifeng, Chongqing and Guizhou province or maybe Guanxi depending. That gives you historical places. modern cyberpunk China and beautiful nature. I'd add Xian to your trip as a maybe depending on how bad you want to see the terracotta warriors.
Kaifeng has a lot of history that wasn't destroyed. It was the capital of the Song dynasty and there are lots of remaining pagodas and relics. I spent a week there with a rented ebike just going from site to site and didn't run out. It's a smaller city so easy to get around it was important historically not so much now. Xian has less little sites then Kaifeng but the city wall and terracotta army are wonders of the world and Xian also has better museums.
For a modern city in China I highly recommend Chongqing. Chongqing is having a moment now as a cyberpunk wonderland but that hasn't translated into more tourism it's an off the map megacity with few foreigners and very unique geography. I'd choose it over Shanghai anyday and I actually don't think Shanghai is a very good place for a tourist to go it's got lots of Western amenities but in terms of tourism going to excellent albeit pricy Western restaurants should be pretty far down the list. I just don't see what going there as a tourist gets you over the other big cities.
Guizhou and/or Guangxi get you nature and rural China you can visit picturesque mountain villages and picturesque mountains. It's evergreen so while the skies may be grey in winter the mountains will still be green and lush. Anyway that's what I'd do in your situation it gives you all parts of China while avoiding the worst of the cold. Before you go be sure to get a VPN for your phone and computer and connect your bank card to Alipay. Nobody here uses cash these days and although vendors are legally required to take it many can't make change and no one here uses it so trying to get around with cash is a a huge pain. Take the train when possible China highspeed rail is amazing, Wherever you decide to go i'm happy to answer any questions about those places I've lived in China for the better part of a decade and have been the places most tourists would go. Feel free to comment or PM me also happy to answer cultural questions but most of the dos and don'ts are fairly obvious.
Thanks for the detailed advice. At the moment I have six different possible plans featuring separate parts of China, all of which are still open to very heavy revision:
Beijing - Datong - Pingyao - Linfen - Xi'an;
Xi'an - Tianshui - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang (so basically travelling the length of the Hexi Corridor);
Suzhou - Tongli - Hangzhou - Hongcun - Wuyuan (as a jumping off base for Sanqingshan);
Chongqing - Chengdu - Leshan - Langzhong - Guangyuan - Xi'an;
Xiamen - Quanzhou - Tulou - Chaozhou - Kaiping - Macau; and
Kunming - Dali - Shaxi - Lijiang - Shangri-La.
I'm interested primarily in history + some natural sights (preferably without too many tourists!). Feel free to comment on some of these destinations if you've visited. But I realise that's a lot of items, way too much to individually work through, so I'll only ask questions about the destinations you've specifically mentioned.
Chongqing is definitely a place I'm highly interested in, not just because of the outright strangeness of the city itself but also the Dazu rock carvings outside of it. There are five main locations (Baodingshan, Beishan, Nanshan, Shimenshan and Shizhuanshan) and there's also yet another lesser known complex of rock carvings called the Anyue grottoes relatively close by. I've been wondering if the site is interesting enough to justify spending a night in Dazu just so I can explore all the grottoes at a leisurely pace, or if a day trip from Chongqing to see the main two sites of Baodingshan and Beishan would be a better use of my time. From Chongqing it is about 1.5 hours each way, which is making me wonder just how rushed a day trip would be just using public transport.
With regards to Chongqing itself, what are the main places you would recommend? I know of the famous Hongyadong and Kuixing Building, as well as Shibati, Xiahaoli and the Shancheng footpath. There's some historical/cultural sites such as the Huguang Guild Hall, Luohan Temple and Laojun Cave, which I will certainly visit if I go to Chongqing (Erfo Temple in Hechuan seems to be an easy day trip out too). I also hear about lots of old bomb shelters built during the city's short stint as a wartime capital, which have been converted into public spaces and libraries and restaurants and galleries. Is there anything else I've missed?
Kaifeng is an unexpected recommendation because I haven't heard anybody else speaking about it as a destination in spite of its historical importance (perhaps on the Chinese internet they are). What would you say are the best things to visit in that city? I broadly know about Daxiangguo Temple, Yanqing Taoist Temple, Shanshangan Assembly Hall, Kaibao Si Pagoda, Po Pagoda, Dongda Mosque and so on but they don't seem like enough to fill out an entire week. Would be interested to hear about your itinerary when you were there.
Guizhou's mountain villages are interesting and I've been looking at them for a while but haven't been able to fully narrow down what I want to see. Happy to hear your personal recommendations for the province. Something I keep hearing about a number of these villages (I hear it a lot about the Xijiang Miao Village) is that they're overly Disneylandified and set up for tourists? If possible I'd like to avoid that. Langde, Nanhua and Basha Miao Villages as well as Zhaoxing Dong and Dali Dong Village are some of the ones I'm interested in, I'm wondering if staying in one of those villages for a night is worth it. Fanjingshan is another big destination I am interested in.
Finally, how far north would you say I could go in December before the cold starts to get intolerable? Shanxi province has a lot of ancient Tang and Liao architecture and that makes it very attractive to me, but it's also very far north in China. Just trying to see how much my scope is limited by the climate.
Hope this isn’t too much, feel free to respond to as much or as little as you want.
Haha it's not to much I'm impressed with your research.
Sounds like you've got a pretty good idea of the sites in Chongqing only places I would add are Ciqikou (磁器口) a tourist street in Chongqing. Touristy but for Chinese tourist and if you've never been to China before it's definitely worth it to take on the spectacle and Liziba station which is a station inside an apartment block it's very cool and cyberpunk. For Dazu i'd do a day trip but it really depends on what you want you could definitely make a day of it. In my opinion Chongqing is better for vibes than for sites to see, so be sure to leave some time for urban exploring. That's where Chongqing really shines in my opinion the nuts geography and cool alleys and architecture are it's high points I could also give you a tour of my university and/or arrange a dinner with some Chinese university students. No pressure and I know some people would find this dreadfully dull but others might be really interested. I'd have to vet you a little first to make sure you aren't an axe murderer or a missionary or something but if your interested DM me.
You hit on two great places in Guizhou Zhaoxing Dong village and Fanjingshan are both great places and if you can work one of them in I highly recommend either. Let start with Zhaoxing, So Zhaoxing is easy to get to because it's on the highspeed train line. The station is Congjiang (从江）which is right next to it. it's a four hour train ride from Chongqing. Zhaoxing itself is an overbuilt tourist trap, however the villages around it aren't so you can stay in Zhaoxing there are a half a dozen much less touristic villages around the valley that you can hike to in an hour or two or hire a car to go up and see them they are a little rebuilt and they do make some money off of tourists but they lack the Disneyland feel . Alternatively Congjiang town itself is an interesting little town with essentially zero tourism and a lot of traditional Dong architecture. Congjiang has one main street with modern concrete buildings but other than that it's all traditional wooden Dong buildings and several Drum towers. It's completely off the tourist trail and a pretty cool hidden gem. I definitely think staying the night is worth it if you can arrive in the morning and leave in the evening.
Fanjingshan is one of the coolest places I've ever been. A lot of pilgrimage places and cool stuff doesn't live up to the hype Fanjingshan does it looks unreal like something out of a Fantasy novel it's super cool. The downside is it's a little tricky to get to. The ways to get there are a 8/9 hour bus ride from Chongqing or taking the high speed rail to Zunyi (two hours) and then hire a care 2/3 hours or take the bus 3/4 hours to where you are going. You could also go via Tongren but probably wouldn't have a reason to. The town adjacent to Fanjingshan sucks it's all hotels and tourist restaurants like one big base camp. However there is a town nearish Fanjingshan Sinan (思南县)that I personally like and I feel ins interesting but it is just a town and way off the tourist trail. It's pressed between the river and the mountains so it has a very narrow interesting architecture and a cool vibe with the river on one side and the mountains on the other. It also has an old section with some wooden buildings an ancestor hall and a hill with a little pagoda you can hike to. I don't want to oversell it to much it's just a random town but it's a fun little town to explore in a day and give you a sense of rural Chinese life. I wouldn't go just for this but it will give you something to do in the afternoon after Fanjingshan. Zunyi is also good for a day or two of red tourism . Not sure if you are interested in that.
As for Kaifeng yeah if I was doing your trip I wouldn't spend a week there. But When I went I kept extending my trip because I loved it so much but part of that was just vibes and noodling around on a ebike so I wasn't getting to sites in any efficient manner you got most of the big ones the Iron pagoda is probably the most must see. Theres also a Maoist village commune nearish Kaifeng thats doable on a long day trip, interesting because they use the old communist system and have no private commerce and also a giant portrait of Stalin. Even Kaifeng is pushing it a bit weather wise and that's the issue with traveling in China in the winter generally Shanghai and south of it is ok. North of that it just gets snowy and miserable. Yes you can bundle up but Chinese cities kind of suck in the snow and you miss out on all the cool streetlife which makes China so fun. Shanxi is awesome but it's going to suck in the winter and there's a whole half of the country not covered in snow. If you have an hour or two of downtime in Shanxi your going to sit in the warm hotel or wander empty streets but in the southern half you can find all sorts of cool stuff going on outdoors. That's why I said maybe add Xian, Xian maybe to cold or not but you can go see famouse places there and do outside stuff else where and Xian maybe fine idk I don't have a good sense of their winter weather.
Chongqing - Chengdu - Leshan - Langzhong - Guangyuan - Xi'an; This is the one I like the best because you start with a little variety. Hitting Chongqing, Xian and Sichuan. But you have four cities in Sichuan here you should definitely take one or two off and add some variety like one of the Guizhou places above and maybe or maybe not Kaifeng.
Beijing - Datong - Pingyao - Linfen - Xi'an; A great itinerary but not for winter
Xi'an - Tianshui - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang (so basically travelling the length of the Hexi Corridor); Probably the most interesting of your itineraries, I love the China silk road stuff and farwests China but if you were going to do it i'd definitely take off one of the a Gansu cities and add a Uighur city like Turpan and maybe sub in Linxia for another. Definitely save this for if you ever come back in the summer.
Suzhou - Tongli - Hangzhou - Hongcun - Wuyuan (as a jumping off base for Sanqingshan); Not a bad trip good weather wise good mix of history and nature a little limited to the Shanghai area you might sub one of these for Xian. Suzhou is amazing.
Xiamen - Quanzhou - Tulou - Chaozhou - Kaiping - Macau; Pretty decent weather wise and trip wise.
Kunming - Dali - Shaxi - Lijiang - Shangri-La. This will have stunning natural beauty but understand that this is basically a list of some of the top tourist destinations in China, now there's a reason for that but all of these places get the majority of their income for tourism. It's like going to Hawaii or the Caribbean very very hard to get out of the tourism bubble. I'm not saying don't do it just be aware.
Just a note on planning I'm not sure if your looking at the Highspeed train lines but some of these clusters make me suspect you might not be so if your not definitely include them in your plan. Often it's quicker to go to a town the next province over on the train than taking the bus to the adjacent town. You could easily do something Like Xian-Chongqing-Congjiang-Yangshou-Kaiping. Because all those have train connections you don't need to cluster them. Trip.com has the Chinese trains if you get the app you can see where has connections and what time by plugging them. A detailed map of the Chinese rail lines can help but it's hard to find up to date ones because they are always adding new lines and stations.
Anyway once you do decide on an itinerary feel free to ask me specific advice
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