China - 30 days in China itinerary

I am still trying to frantically plan a mastertrip over the period of at least 4 weeks. I thought about staying in one country, albeit hopping from place to place within that country (CHINA) every few days, which I am happy with.

I will be starting and ending in Beijing.

I was thinking of:

Beijing
Hangzhou
Mt Huangshan
Zhangjiajie
Shenzhen
Sanya
Guangzhou
Lijiang
Jiuzhaigou
Xi'an
Beijing

With pretty much air travel between all of these cities where possible.

Is the order of destinations making any sense? I have looked on a map and this seems the most logical way to go. I did Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei earlier this year, so no need to go back now.

Also, including airfares, do you think this itinery is acceptable for £5k?

I am still trying to frantically plan a mastertrip over the period of at least 4 weeks. I thought about staying in one country, albeit hopping from place to place within that country (CHINA) every few days, which I am happy with.

I will be starting and ending in Beijing.

I was thinking of:

Beijing
Hangzhou
Mt Huangshan
Zhangjiajie
Shenzhen
Sanya
Guangzhou
Lijiang
Jiuzhaigou
Xi'an
Beijing

With pretty much air travel between all of these cities where possible.

Is the order of destinations making any sense? I have looked on a map and this seems the most logical way to go. I did Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei earlier this year, so no need to go back now.

Also, including airfares, do you think this itinery is acceptable for £5k?

Shenzhen? Since you mentioned you don't need to re-visit HK for now, why would you want to go here? Unless you are interested in visiting a Soviet aircraft carrier, a theme park with miniature models of famous world attractions or umpteen massage parlors, it's an oddball on your list. Of course, if you really like Hong Kong history and want to see where it was signed over to the British after the first opium war...

Shenzhen? Since you mentioned you don't need to re-visit HK for now, why would you want to go here? Unless you are interested in visiting a Soviet aircraft carrier, a theme park with miniature models of famous world attractions or umpteen massage parlors, it's an oddball on your list. Of course, if you really like Hong Kong history and want to see where it was signed over to the British after the first opium war...

Well as a big theme park fan, I wouldn't mind visiting Window of the World, or OCT East including Knight Valley. I won't be going back to HK until the expansion of Disneyland is complete next year.

The rest of the details on my list are simply to marvel about the natural and ancient splendours of China, from sacred mountains, to snow-capped peaks, to tropical beaches, to dusty museums.

I am still trying to frantically plan a mastertrip over the period of at least 4 weeks. I thought about staying in one country, albeit hopping from place to place within that country (CHINA) every few days, which I am happy with.

I will be starting and ending in Beijing.

I was thinking of:

Beijing
Hangzhou
Mt Huangshan
Zhangjiajie
Shenzhen
Sanya
Guangzhou
Lijiang
Jiuzhaigou
Xi'an
Beijing

With pretty much air travel between all of these cities where possible.

Is the order of destinations making any sense? I have looked on a map and this seems the most logical way to go. I did Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei earlier this year, so no need to go back now.

Also, including airfares, do you think this itinery is acceptable for £5k?

Everyone's different, but that's a lot of cities in ~30 days. Keep in mind that air travel in China is not terribly efficient, in the sense that you need to arrive early, and expect to arrive late. You could wipe out most of a day each time you go to the airport, and with 10 cities that means 1/3 of your time wiped for air travel. True, you probably can arrange to use part of that day upon arrival (or departure), but you can't count on it. Also, while you seem to have the cities lined up in a least-distance direction, you may find it is more difficult to find non-stop flights on those city pairs than if you you took a different route. All you can do is check flight schedules to try to minimize connecting flights (e.g., flights to/from Jiuzhaigou are Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an and Beijing, I believe, so ideally you'd go to/from one of those cities). That leaves you with 2 days/city, which is awfully tight when some of those places may require additional time to get to from the closest airport.

As for cost, it all depends on how you want to travel. Depending on airfares, you could be looking at £150-250/flight, although you can do better. That's 1/3 to 1/2 your budget. Do you want deluxe accommodations? Food should be less expensive, but don't forget admissions fees and such, which can add up. But certainly doable for that budget.

Personally, if it were me I would probably visit somewhat fewer cities/places and spend more time there. 30 days is a long time to go-go-go. Depending on your interests, I would tend to drop some of the southern cities, and save those for a separate trip (i.e., Shenzhen, Sanya, Guangzhou). If you stick with your order you could go from Zhangjiajie to Lijiang and spend a number of days in Yunnan, then Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou. That would give you at least 3 days per "stop" (although you might adjust--e.g., you might stay only two nights and one day in Jiuzhaigou, but more in Yunnan).

What time of year are you planning? That might make some difference in recommendations and order of destinations.

Other thoughts:
--For 30 days, it seems like a bit much, you'd be spending a lot of that time in airports or other intercity transport. There may be some connections that are better/more reliable by train. Again, when are you planning your visit?
--Shenzhen and Guangzhou I'd deprioritize. Given that there are some more important ways to spend time in/near some of the other places on your list. You can pick them up when you next go to HK Disneyland.
--Sanya I'd deprioritize. It's just simply no comparison to the SE Asian beaches. And besides being out of the way, it's relatively expensive to get to.
--Be very strong in your desire to visit Zhangjiajie--including it always adds a layer of hiccup and time-snarfing logistics as there are limited flights in/out to limited places, and other options in/out are ponderous.

--Are you a hiker, or just prefer quick looks around a scenic area without too much effort (be honest)? Depending on answer, might change the timing factors.

--Your itinerary is not well-fleshed out yet. For instance, nobody (with any sense) goes to Lijiang and out again without seeing something else of the wonderful surrounding area. It's just pointless to do so. That means allotting an appropriate number of days. When you start really doing a day-by-day and including logistics, you'll see how fast 30 days gets eaten up.

--If you must start/end in Beijing, making some sort of general circle like you propose usually makes sense. But I'm not convinced your order of visit is the optimum one.

--Cost: 5000 GBP?!? Jeez, I could do 30 days for this itinerary in half of that amount or less, flying everywhere, paying lots of high entry fees, and staying in very comfortable places. But without knowing your travel style particularly for accommodations, not easy to advise you on this. Accommodation cost will be the biggest single variable.

Well as a big theme park fan, I wouldn't mind visiting Window of the World, or OCT East including Knight Valley. I won't be going back to HK until the expansion of Disneyland is complete next year.

The rest of the details on my list are simply to marvel about the natural and ancient splendours of China, from sacred mountains, to snow-capped peaks, to tropical beaches, to dusty museums.

The general consensus seems to be, if you plan to head to HK for Disney's expansion, you might as well save Guangdong (the province where Shenzhen and Guangzhou are) 'til then. Might I suggest two theme/amusement parks for your list: Haven't been to this one, but it looks boss (http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/12/chinas-deserted-fake-disneyland.html) and it's closest to Beijing, so you can certainly pay it a visit (should visiting this type of attraction be a priority). And for your time in Guangdong, Dongguan, another city in between Shenzhen and Guangzhou, is home to one of the world's largest malls, the South China Mall and within it, an amusement park: http://buildingmybento.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/south-china-mall/. Also, heaps of urban mainland Chinese parks have a few rides within them, and are great if you need your fill of bumper cars. But maybe the last sentence could be saved for when you're already an old hat in China...

Another vote for cutting Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Sanya. 30 days is not too much to visit the rest on your list.

--Cost: 5000 GBP?!? Jeez, I could do 30 days for this itinerary in half of that amount or less, flying everywhere, paying lots of high entry fees, and staying in very comfortable places. But without knowing your travel style particularly for accommodations, not easy to advise you on this. Accommodation cost will be the biggest single variable.

By my math, we're looking at $1500-$2000 for air fares on his desired legs, and $4000 on hotels if he lives pretty large, though falls short of being excessive... less than 3800 GBP, all in. That having said, the current order of flights has not been optimized to minimize costs, and most of us get shave $1000 off that hotel budget without missing a lot. For example, in places like Lijiang, some of the smaller guest houses are a lot more engaging than their more upscale counterparts.

In any event, I would axe Huangshan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and probably Sanya in order spend more time in the west/southwest.

Two thumbs up on Huangshan mountains. I did it las t year and it was spectacular be prepared however to carry everything up the mountain. The hikes in the miuntains are spectacular. I'd say you need two days there minimum.