CN
China
Great Wall mornings, Shanghai nights
Great Wall mornings, Shanghai nights
The Forbidden City (1.8 million objects, 980 buildings, 500 years of imperial history) and the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall (least restored, most dramatic). The Temple of Heaven at dawn with practising tai chi and musicians.
The Art Deco Bund above the Huangpu River, across from the Pudong financial district skyline – two centuries of architectural ambition facing each other. Yu Garden’s classical Chinese garden within the old city. The French Concession’s plane-tree boulevards.
8,000 life-size terracotta warriors, horses and chariots buried with the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 210 BC. The largest archaeological find of the 20th century.
The Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo: 83km of karst limestone peaks reflected in the still river, fishing cormorants and bamboo rafts. The landscape that Chinese landscape painting has depicted for 1,000 years.
The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base outside Chengdu: giant pandas at close range in enclosures that replicate their natural habitat. Chengdu itself has the best Sichuan cuisine in the world and a legendary teahouse culture.
The sandstone pillar formations that inspired the floating mountains in Avatar: 3,000 sandstone columns rising from subtropical forest. The glass bridge across the canyon (430m long, 300m high) is the world’s longest glass bridge.
The Naxi culture’s UNESCO-listed old town of Lijiang, the snow-capped Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5,596m) and Tiger Leaping Gorge – one of the world’s deepest canyons, 16km long, 3,900m walls.
Granite peaks above a sea of cloud, ancient pines growing from cracks in the rock and stone staircases built by hand into the mountain. The definitive Chinese mountain landscape painting subject.
A whole duck roasted in a sealed oven until the skin shatters, sliced tableside and eaten in thin pancakes with hoisin sauce, cucumber and spring onion. Quanjude restaurant has been serving it in Beijing since 1864.
A boiling broth of Sichuan peppercorn, dried chilli and beef tallow into which raw ingredients (tripe, fish balls, tofu, vegetables) are dipped. The numbing-spicy (mala) flavour is unlike anything in Chinese food outside Sichuan.
The Cantonese tradition of small dishes in bamboo steamers: har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai, cheung fun, lo mai gai and char siu bao. Eaten at breakfast or brunch.
Delicate wheat parcels containing both minced pork and hot soup, steamed in bamboo baskets. The soup is the point; bite a small hole, drink the soup, then eat the rest.
Hand-pulled beef noodle soup from Lanzhou: the noodle-puller stretches the dough from a single piece into hundreds of identical strands in seconds. Served with clear broth and chilli oil.
Chinese white spirit distilled from sorghum. Moutai is the prestige brand (served at every Chinese state dinner). Erguotou is the working man’s version. Both are 40-60% alcohol.
China’s 2,000-year tea tradition: Longjing (Dragon Well green tea) from Hangzhou, pu-erh (aged fermented tea) from Yunnan, oolong from Fujian. The gongfu cha ceremony is the most meditative way to drink.
Jianbing (crepe with egg and chilli), tang hulu (candied hawthorn on a stick), cong you bing (scallion pancake) and malatang noodle soup: the street food that feeds 1.4 billion people.
China’s main international gateways are Beijing Capital (PEK), Beijing Daxing (PKX), Shanghai Pudong (PVG) and Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA). A visa is required for most Western nationalities — apply at your nearest Chinese embassy before travel. For trip planning, see the China National Tourist Office.
💡 Finnair’s Helsinki–Beijing polar routing is the fastest from Europe (9h) and often the most competitively priced.
💡 The US State Department requires US citizens to hold a valid visa before arrival. Apply at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center (CVASC).
💡 UK citizens need a Chinese visa. A 10-year multiple-entry visa is available. Process through the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre (CVASC) in London or Manchester.
💡 Book on 12306.cn (Chinese only) or through Trip.com (English available). Passport required for ticket purchase. Book popular routes at least 2–3 days ahead.
April, May, September and October are the best months for most of China. Summer (June–August) is hot, humid and extremely crowded. Spring Festival (late Jan/early Feb) brings enormous domestic travel but the celebrations are worth seeing.
China offers extraordinary value at the budget and mid-range levels. High-speed trains are cheap and fast. Food from street stalls and local restaurants costs almost nothing. International hotels are expensive; local ones are excellent value.
A bowl of lanzhou beef noodles costs ¥12–18 (<$3). A local restaurant meal with beer is rarely more than ¥50–80 per person.
High-speed trains (G-class) between major cities: Beijing–Shanghai 2nd class is around ¥553 (~$77). Faster and more central than flying.
The Aman at Summer Palace in Beijing and the Bvlgari in Shanghai are among Asia’s finest hotels — both start around ¥4,000–6,000 per night.
Beijing for the Great Wall and imperial history, Xi’an for the terracotta warriors, Shanghai for the present. Seven days barely scratches the surface — but it gives you the essential shape of the country.
Book Forbidden City tickets online at least 2 days ahead — daily visitor cap. Tiananmen Square is largest when empty (early morning). The hutong neighbourhoods around Nanluoguxiang are the best place to be at dusk.
💡 The Palace Museum (Forbidden City) requires advance ticket booking at dpm.org.cn. Don’t turn up without one.
Take a taxi or tour to Mutianyu (90 min from Beijing) — better preserved and less crowded than Badaling. The toboggan descent is optional but excellent. Back to Beijing for Peking duck at Da Dong.
💡 Mutianyu’s restored section is 2.2km long. If you want a wilder experience, Jiankou is unrestored and requires hiking boots — spectacular but not for the unprepared.
The Temple of Heaven complex in the morning — the Circular Mound Altar is geometrically perfect. Yonghe Lama Temple in the afternoon — still actively used by Tibetan Buddhist monks.
💡 The Summer Palace (30 min by subway) is a full half-day: a lake, a hill, marble pavilions. Go in the morning before tour groups arrive.
High-speed train Beijing–Xi’an (5h) or fly (2h). The Terracotta Army (30 min outside Xi’an) is larger than photographs convey — over 8,000 figures, most still unexcavated. Book in advance.
💡 Pit 1 (the largest) is the most impressive. Pit 2 has the mounted cavalry and archers. Buy tickets at the site entrance — no advance online booking currently.
Rent a bike at dawn and cycle the full 14km of the city wall. The Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie) for breakfast — lamb flatbread, pomegranate juice. The Bell and Drum Towers at the centre of the old city.
💡 The Xi’an city wall is the best-preserved in China — 600 years old and intact for its full circumference.
High-speed train Xi’an–Shanghai (7h) or fly (2h30). The Bund at night — the 1930s banking façades facing the LED sci-fi skyline of Pudong across the Huangpu River.
💡 The Maglev from Pudong Airport to the city (8 minutes, 430 km/h) is worth taking just for the experience.
The French Concession for a morning: tree-lined streets, plane trees, coffee shops in colonial villas. Xintiandi for lunch. Afternoon flight home from PVG or Hongqiao.
💡 The free observation deck on the roof of the K11 shopping centre in the Bund area gives a great Pudong skyline view without the queue of the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western social media are blocked in China. Install a VPN app before crossing the border.
Chinese apps dominate: WeChat for messaging and payments, Alipay for transactions. Most places in China now accept no cash.
Download Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) offline before travel.
Being invited to share food, have photos taken together or receive unsolicited guidance happens frequently.
Shanghai to Beijing: 4h30m; Beijing to Xi’an: 4h30m. Faster and more comfortable than flying.
China Unicom and China Mobile sell SIMs at arrivals with good data plans.
The Forbidden City and Terracotta Army require timed-entry tickets. Book through official sites.
Ni hao, xie xie and zai jian will produce genuine delight from most Chinese people.
China’s dominant ride-hailing app — essential for getting around any Chinese city; set up and verify before arriving.
FreeChina’s all-in-one app for messaging, payments (WeChat Pay) and booking — a digital wallet essential for daily life.
FreeBook train tickets (high-speed CRH and overnight), domestic flights and hotels across China in English.
FreeChina’s dominant food delivery and restaurant booking app — also useful for hotel reservations and local services.
FreeBook tours, theme park tickets, Great Wall day trips and skip-the-line entries in English.
FreeA VPN is essential in China to access Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western apps — set it up before entering.
PaidChina’s six most extraordinary cities — from the imperial grandeur of Beijing to the karst landscapes of Guilin, each a world apart.
China sits within easy reach of several other destinations — each with a completely different character.
