Paxton

My wife and I will be doing a tour around Bejing, and then will have 8 days to make it to Hong Kong to catch a plane home. We have never traveled in China before, and I'd welcome any itinerary suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Michael

I'd suggest spending a couple of days in Shanghai, a couple in Xi'an (Terrecota Warriors, Bell Tower, etc.), 2 days in Guilin for the Li River cruise/shopping in Yangshuo, and then relaxing, seeing the harbor, Peak, etc. in Hong Kong before your long flight home.

Paxton

Michael,<BR><BR>Thanks for your response. Would you suggest traveling by train, plane, or automobile?

Les

Paxton,<BR>I'd suggest the following modifications to the schedule Michael recommended:<BR>3 days in Shanghai, 2 days in Xian, 0 (zero)days in Guilin (fly in early, take the Li river cruise, return via car to Guilin, and fly out to HK the same day); the rest of the time in HK.<BR>You will miss nothing if you skip Guilin and Yangshuo - the countryside is the attraction, and you'll see plenty of that on the cruise down the Li.<BR>Shanghai and Hong Komg are amazing (but totally different) cities, and worth the extra time.<BR>Shopping plays no part in any trip I take, but if that's your bag (pun intended), then HK is far better for that than Yangshuo.

steven

Guilin and Yangshou were the highlight of our visit. Do spend a day in Guilin - reed flute caves, cormorant fisherman, local authentic restaurants and more. In Yangshou after your cruise take a motorcycle side car tour into the countryside and see how people really live and lived thousands of years ago in small basic villages aith rice paddies and water buffalo. Our guide Fannie Mo (MO is pronounced MAW)with the Guilin office of CTS a major chinese agency was fantastic. [email protected] is her e-mail.She is sweet, personable, knowledgeable, speaks 4 languages, and took us to places not in the tourist books.

Andrea

I think you're getting some pretty good advice!<BR><BR>You can take the night train from BJ to Shanghai, which is nice because it will save you one hotel night and get you across country while you sleep. I'd fly everywhere else, though. (You may want to check flight times from BJ to Xian vs. SH to Xian - it's closer to BJ, but if it's not by more than an hour flight time, I'd still take the train to SH & then fly to Xian).<BR><BR>I also second the recommendation to spend one day in Yangshuo. The earlier poster is absolutely right that the scenery is the attraction, and it's best seen as the later poster mentioned on a tour through the countryside. You can do this by bike, by motorbike, or by a golf-cart/tuk-tuk sort of thing. It's a very different experience from seeing the countryside by traveling through it - on the road, we passed by an old farmer leading his water buffalo by a rope, and another tuk-tuk vehicle like ours with literally 30 pigs in the back. That countryside tour is one of my all time favorite travel experiences.

Paxton

Thanks to everyone for thier responses. I am now in the process of trying to lay out a semi-sane itenerary in terms of travel vs. sight seeing time.

louise

Absolutely do not skip Xian(terra cotta warriors). It was the highlight of our trip to China.