Originally Posted by
SeamasterLux
Our goal is to be swept off our feet by the landscapes, the rich history and if possible to have nice hotel experiences and not to be all the time packing / unpacking.
What I would love to know from experienced China travelers:
- Do the cities cover a good ground for a first trip? (Xi'an was voted out by the wife)
- Any strong opinions on the type of internal travel?
- Guides needed everywhere to be able to make the most of the trip? I was thinking to take some in Beijing and Guilin.
Many thanks!
If you’re not attached to Hangzhou and/or big cities, perhaps consider Huangshan and Hongcun in Anhui before the Shanghai part of the trip.
If you could add a stay in Gansu and/or NW Sichuan, you’d see a total different type of landscape as well. For destinations with luxury accommodations: there’s an SLH property in Dunhuang and a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Jiuzhaigou, for example.
Everywhere is reachable by train internally, in combination with buses/taxi to/from train stations. It’s also cool to see how the landscape changes, so it’s worth it to do at least one cross-country train trip.
Not that guides are necessary, but it could be an efficient way to combine multiple site visits in Beijing if you’re trying to see a lot in a day or two. Although information is readily available these days to do a self-guided visit, so it depends on what you like when you travel.