Routes & itineraries for trips around China

Here are some of the ready-made routs and itineraries that have been used and proved themselves in real life. Any of these routes can be used as a base for your trip .

You yourself or we together can work on it and make all the necessary changes, according to desired difficulty, time you have on your hands and legs and number of people that are willing to join. Sights can be added or taken out of the plan, days can be added.. whatever the connection, time and weather allow.

These routs cover most of China’s provinces and sights, but don’t include Tibet, trip to which requires an organised group, guide, car and permits.

If one of these options below suits you completely or partly and you would like our help in organizing the connections, book accommodation, train tickets and draw maps, characters and notes that will help you along your journey — we’ll be glad to. You can email me (Yuli) on yfreaky@gmail com or leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

1. Golden Ring Route

(15 days)

Physically it’s the easiest route of all: more cities and less mountains, but still you’ll be able to see some amazing scenery.

Beijing — Great Wall — Hangzhou — Shanghai — Guilin —Yangshuo (rafts, bikes, hikes) — Xian (terracotta worriors) — Beijing

  
  
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2. Thousand Buddhas, thousand mountains and a few panda bears

( 14 days)

A very picturesque and diverse route. Fewer large cities, more natural and historic small towns. Mountains of an average difficulty + quite a few long train journays  (for the pandas) and a flight back.

Beijing — Longmen Grottoes — Shaolin Monastery — Zhangjiajie National Park — Fenghuang Old Town — Chengdu — Beijing

  
  

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3. Along the East Coast

(14 days)

This route has minimum connections, so you won’t spend too much time in the transport, which is rare and precious option. You’ll have plenty of modern cities and architecture, couple of traditional old Chinese towns with souvenirs, parks and canals and quite a bit of nature.

The only really hard element here is Mount Huang. Not only you’ll have to climb the stairs up and down for several hours, even between the cable car stations, but the overnight options include a dorm style accommodation. If you feel it’s too much for you — it can be either done partly, without staying over or easily changed to another destination nearby as there are plenty of beautiful things to see in the province.

Beijing — Shanghai  — Suzhou  — Mount Huang Shan — Emerald Valley, Bamboo forest & Historical Towns  — Beijing.

  
  

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4. Kongfu Trip

( 3,5 weeks)

This route is for people that are in great shape. A lot of moving, LOTS of mountains and national parks. Beautiful but not easy.

Beijing > Great Wall > Xian > Mount Hua Shan > Luoyang (Longmen Grottoes) > Shaolin Monastery > Mount Wudang > Zhangjiajie National Park > Fenghuang old town > Hangzhou > Shanghai > Beijing

   

 

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5. Cross China

(~ 3 weeks)

Hong Kong > Guilin > Yangshuo > Znangjianjie > Fenghuang > Wudangshan > Luoyang > Mont Hua Shan > Beijing

  

   

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6. Fujian Tea Trip

(14 days)

Hong Kong > Guangzhou > Xiamen > Tulou > Anxi > Xiping > Wuyi Shan > Fuzhou > Fuding > Taimushan National park > Xiamen > Guangzho >Hong Kong

 

  

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8. South China — Yunnan & Sichuan provinces.

(3 weeks +)

Chengdu > Lijiang > Shangri La > Dali > Xishuanbanna Rice Terraces > Jiuzhaigou National Park > Chengdu

  
  

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9. In Nomads Footsteps

(3 weeks)

Historical Tibet is much bigger that today’s TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region) that was made to a separate province by the Chinese. While TAR becomes more and more civilized and touristic and requires for you to be a part of an organized group, other parts of historical Tibet — in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces — remain relatively untouched and authentic.

Beijing > Chengdu > Songpan > Langmusi > Xiahe (Repkong) > Tongren (Labrang) > Xining > Qinghai Lake (Kukonor) > Beijing 

   

  

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10. Lost World — the Tibetan Plateau

(around three weeks)

Out of all th Tibetan provinces outside TAR I think that Sichuan is the most spectacular, and most hard to travel in. The roads are harsh, the shower absent, the accommodation basic and the buses rare.

This journey is for brave ones 8) I’m afraid it’s impossible to plan much ahead here. The only thing that is sure: these are the most amazing view you will ever see.

  
  

If you wish to go to TAR, visit our friends website, they organize the whole thing.