China - Beijing to ??? Xian or Chengdu?? 1 week

I am headed to BJ then??? I will be traveling solo in October for 7 days. I don't see myself back to China in the future. I would like to take a 2-3 day side trip to either Xian or Chengdu. I have seen pictures and read Flyertalk, Frommers, etc but still having a difficult time with this itinerary choice. Please advise on which destination you would go and why if you only have 1 choice.

Thanks in advance!

I am headed to BJ then??? I will be traveling solo in October for 7 days. I don't see myself back to China in the future. I would like to take a 2-3 day side trip to either Xian or Chengdu. I have seen pictures and read Flyertalk, Frommers, etc but still having a difficult time with this itinerary choice. Please advise on which destination you would go and why if you only have 1 choice.

Thanks in advance!

I vote for Xi'an because IMO Chengdu is best included in longer trips that include nearby (and not so near) areas, though Chengdu itself isn't a bad city.

Chengdu, for the pandas of course. But you won't go wrong either way.

We did both within a three day span last October and were glad we did, but there are the obvious downsides of spending more time in transit.

Easy choice. Xi'an.
Due to the heavy concentration of worthwhile sights and experiences that can be reasonably efficiently packed into 2 full days. Chengdu is more of a regional area thing to hit all the highlights. Pandas are great, but not worth displacing the stuff at Xi'an. And you can move more efficiently between BJ-Xi'an, such as overnight sleeper train which saves time in an efficient way.

Thank you for your insight. Would you recommend overnight train between BJ and Xian? I was only looking at flights but now trains are an good option? Are there any "local" travel sites that I can purchase intrachina flights OR should I just use Orbitz or Kayak--US based sites.

Thank you for your insight. Would you recommend overnight train between BJ and Xian? I was only looking at flights but now trains are an good option? Are there any "local" travel sites that I can purchase intrachina flights OR should I just use Orbitz or Kayak--US based sites.

No don't use your usual sites. Please spend a few minutes reading the Intercity Travel (Air and Train posts) at the beginning of our Master Transportation Thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/1217964-china-master-transportation-thread.html). It will tell you most of what you need to know along with useful context. China domestic travel is not structured like US domestic travel. The sites we recommend are part of that information.

Train vs Plane is a matter of personal preference, budget, timing, and ticket availability esp for train sleepers. Many prefer the overnight train as a cost effective and productive use of time, also avoids the delay potential at PEK airport. But if you are very tall or require absolute privacy, maybe plane is better.

Please check out the M. T. thread and then come back with any specific questions.

Thank you for your insight. Would you recommend overnight train between BJ and Xian? I was only looking at flights but now trains are an good option? Are there any "local" travel sites that I can purchase intrachina flights OR should I just use Orbitz or Kayak--US based sites.

I like the train on that route, but I wouldn't invest an ounce of energy trying to get a ticket before you arrive because your 7 day lead time is probably more than good enough, and it's almost always possible to buy tickets (though as I write this, I'm reminded of the one time I had to fork over y5,000 for two F tickets on this route in order to arrive close to on time for a meeting).

OP, when in October are you traveling (exact dates). That is a generally very heavy month for domestic and foreign tourists, and the first week of October which is a big national holiday, is insane for transportation especially train tickets. Even later in the month, I'm not sure you'll find any sleeper available if you wait until you arrive. You may well be better off just booking a plane ticket online.

I did the BJ-Xi'an route on the Z53 overnight express train (not high speed rail though) in soft sleeper. One of the 4 berths in my compartment was empty, and my carriage appeared to be only about 2/3 full. But this was in mid-June which was a relatively light period. Z's are great trains on this route, best available since there is no high-speed rail direct routing available yet.

Easy choice. Xi'an.
Due to the heavy concentration of worthwhile sights and experiences that can be reasonably efficiently packed into 2 full days. Chengdu is more of a regional area thing to hit all the highlights. Pandas are great, but not worth displacing the stuff at Xi'an. And you can move more efficiently between BJ-Xi'an, such as overnight sleeper train which saves time in an efficient way.

Although far less well traveled in China than jiejie, I agree with this. There is more to see in Xi'an itself, most notably of course the warriors. The pandas in Chengdu are great as well, but you can see pandas in plenty of zoos--it's not quite as impressive of course, because at best there are 2 or 3, instead of dozens, but still. I don't see how the traveling shows of 8-10 warriors, even if they come to a city near you, can compare to the masses of them in Pit 1. Plus, after the warriors there are a couple of days (at least) of things to see in Xi'an. For Chengdu you have to start getting out of the city on day or overnight trips.

I will be arriving PEK Oct 6 and leaving Oct 12 from PEK. I am scheduled to arrive at PEK 3:30p Terminal 3. What is the earliest time I could catch a connecting flight to Xian? I would like to grab a light meal and shower before connecting to Xian. I assume that the F lounge has the facilities to do so. I will take your advice and book the RT flight prior to leaving stateside.

I will be arriving PEK Oct 6 and leaving Oct 12 from PEK. I am scheduled to arrive at PEK 3:30p Terminal 3. What is the earliest time I could catch a connecting flight to Xian? I would like to grab a light meal and shower before connecting to Xian. I assume that the F lounge has the facilities to do so. I will take your advice and book the RT flight prior to leaving stateside.

530p; if you're inbound flight is severely late departing, you can cancel/rebook before you take off. KRR has much nicer food than the F lounge, imo.

I will be arriving PEK Oct 6 and leaving Oct 12 from PEK. I am scheduled to arrive at PEK 3:30p Terminal 3. What is the earliest time I could catch a connecting flight to Xian? I would like to grab a light meal and shower before connecting to Xian. I assume that the F lounge has the facilities to do so. I will take your advice and book the RT flight prior to leaving stateside.

Ooh, really bad time to try to arrange train tickets. This is a job for the plane, and book those tickets in advance. I concur with moondog that 5:30 pm is the earliest IF departing from Terminal 3 also (i.e. Air China). But I'd feel better with 6:00 pm for that or even 6:30 pm. Remember that you will have to clear immigration and Customs in PEK before you can move forth to domestic check in and the F lounge. And flights can be an awfully long time getting into position at a jetway OR (shudder) a remote bus gate.

If you book on a flight leaving from Terminal 2 (China Eastern, China Southern) or Terminal 1 (Hainan domestic), then you need to add at least another 30 minutes to that, to allow for taking the shuttle bus (free) from T3.

Thank you to the Jiejie and moondog for all your travel advice. You guys are awesome and right on.

Here are some thoughts from my trip.

Stayed 1st night at Langham BJ airport. The facilities were nice but it was a ghost town at the hotel and the surroundings. Ending up meeting a friend in Chaoyang for drinks and taking a cab back to PEK. Since I was jetlagged decided to go 2.5 hours early to the airport for my flight on Sunday to XIY. The AirChina lines were over 1 hour long to check in....Barely made the flight to XIY. I caught the last day of the Golden week of travel. Note to self: Never travel the first week of October in China.

Arrived in XIY and took the airport bus #5 to Bell Tower for 26Y. Xian's pollution is heavy and the city is not that picturesque. The old walls are impressive, but since the air was so bad didn't have any desire to bike around the top. Walked 15 mins to my hotel, Sofitel. Even though I am a SPG guy, I decided that the location was better for walking. Upon check in, was upgraded to an executive suite, which was an unexpected added bonus. The rooms were slightly dated with a characteristic smell from the bathroom.(??) Otherwise, comfortable and clean. Walked to Muslim Quarter for street food dinner which was excellent. I paid 10Y for a huge bowl of noodles and vegetables. YUMMY :)

Woke up early and took a cab from Sofitel to the train station. Bus 305/6 leaves at 7am. There was a line of about 20 people waiting for the first bus. The bus pulls into the lot and stops short of the designed stop. There is a mad rush of now 50+ people, pushing and shoving for the 1st bus. Chaos ensures. Pushed myself onboard. 7Y and 1 hours later, after 4-5 stops arrived at the Terracota warriors. Followed a group of local people for a 15 minute walk up to the "entrance". Once there found out, they were workers, and had to walk back down 15 minutes to the entrance to purchase my ticket.

Was the one of the 1st ones in around 8:30am. Others have recommended seeing the smaller pits first before the BIG pit. I couldn't contain myself especially since I wanted to take photos without anyone else in them. Which is very rare in CHINA. The warriors were amazing yet I felt a bit underwhelmed by the experience. Its probably just me though...

1 hour later, I hopped on the bus back to Xian. I was the only 1 one board for the 1 hour ride. Spent the rest of the time exploring the Big Goose Pagoda, Museum and back to the Muslim Quarter for dinner. By this time, the smog and jetlag was starting to wear me down. Headed back to the sofitel for a nightcap in the executive lounge.

Next morning the hotel quoted 140Y for the airport transfer. I woke around 5 am and walked out to the street and caught a cab to the airport. 80Y and 30 mins later I was at the airport for my early morning flight to BJ.

Upon arrival in PEK, I stood in a fast moving taxi line. When I told the cab, Sheraton Dongcheng. He grumbled and was very unhappy. This hotel is on the 3rd ring and the total ride was about 80Y. The facilities and staff at the hotel are excellent. The location is not that great for a tourist. Everywhere is about a 1 hour cab ride and the subways are about 15mins away. I was upgraded rightaway to the executive floor. The first room given had a strong new construction smell. I am wondering if it is some kind of adhesive or something. I cannot place the smell. I moved to another room which was fine. I chose this hotel because the C/P was very reasonable, yet I probably would not stay again because the location is too remote from tourist areas in BJ.

The skies in BJ were amazingly clear with very little pollution. Spent the 1st day walking from Temple of Heaven to Tienamien Square. The traffic was very tough. My first impressions of BJ are that it is very clean, and a nice place to live as far as large Asian cities go.

Book car with driver with hotel for 800y for a day trip to Mutianyu and Summer Palace. Left hotel after large BF buffet at the Sheraton. The quality was quite good. Late model black Chinese sedan with the driver who spoke almost no english. Yet he was a good driver and sped to the Mutianyu in about 1 hour. Arrived about 8:30a and took the ski lift up to the top. The weather was a bit crisp and exceedingly clear. There was only about 10 people on the whole wall. What a surprise??? In a country of a billion people, I basically have this segment of wall to myself. The wall here is AMAZING and took probably several hundred pictures.

After about 2 hours of walking, took the sled ride down. That was really exhilarating even as the staff kept yelling in Chinese at me to slow down... If I could do it again, I would go faster. It is really safe even at high speeds.

Back in car around 11:30 for a 45min ride to the Summer Palace. Once there, I felt the crush of people again. There were many tour groups and school groups that were everywhere. I quickly walked up to the various temples and buildings and then decided around 3pm to head back to the hotel.

Got to Tienamen Square at 7.30a to go to the Mao mausoleum. There were already several thousand people in line. There was 1 line for the masses and another line for tour groups. Both lines moved smoothly and in about 45mins we were in the darkened room where Mao laid in state. It was abit eerie but the local people seemed to revere Mao.

Then went to the state museum across the street which opened at 9am. There was a slick propaganda route which traced the rise of the current communist state of China. Interesting but not much of the explanations were in English.

Forbidden palace was next. Hordes of tourists. The scale of the palace defies imagination. This place is enormous. By this point, somewhat temple and palaced out. Walked from the south entrance to the north exit in about 1 hour.

Hailed a taxi for lunch at Din Tai Fung in Dongcheng. The weather had completely changed by now and the smog and pollution were terrible on this day. After an excellent lunch went to Sanitilin road and Yashow market to try my hand at bargaining for toys for my kids.

Still recovering from Peking duck at Da Dong and a few cocktails the night before, I was slow to awaken for my mid-day flight to SFO. I went downstairs for BF and there was several large tour groups waiting to get into the BF buffet. Got packed and decided to eat at the First class lounge at PEK.

After a quick taxi ride, which costed 100y, 20y more than when I arrived, I arrived at PEK in about 35mins. Check in, immigation was fairly quick and trouble free. Arrived at China Air First lounge. There was lunch service that started at 11am. A variety of chinese dishes, "sushi" bar, "italian" food and snacks and drinks. The pasta was inedible, the sauce being heavy and without taste. The sushi was wrapped in plastic looked stale and dangerous. Decided to wait until on board my flight.

1 hour later, snugged in the United F "suite" for my flight home. The FA's were indifferent as usual and give the attitude of "don't bother me unless there is an emergency". Somehow, for those of us that fly United for a living, we've become accustomed to that level of service. I always look around a bit embarassed for those flyers who actually have to pay full price for their F seat.

10.5 hours later, still hungry, I arrive back to the USA.

Thanks for the trip summary! Heading to China in a few weeks... you have stirred up some old memories :)