Originally Posted by
40love
Thanks. China is so vast and it's a pity our booked flight is into Shanghai rather than Beijing (on account of our available flight options).
How would one generally choose to travel from Shanghai to Beijing, and more importantly, Beijing to Guandong?
At this rate, if we can't find someone to take us around Guandong then potentially we could skip it altogether and fly to HK instead (are flights expensive on routes between China and HKG booked 2-6 weeks out?)
I recommend trying to spend more time in fewer places instead of trying to superficially visit every spot in a big country in one trip. I know the 打卡 method is tempting but it's exhausting and you miss the details.
上海 - 北京 is a toss up between flying and train. I recommend the latter since the total travel time is roughly the same- remember PKX and PEK are not in the city centre. Beijing is more for historical and cultural reasons. I've been there twice, although the second time this past dec was also to show my dad around.
Personally I like the south better, but that is also my cultural background, since my family is from 台湾 and thus, we have southern chinese tastes and preferences (and the northern chinese accent......makes my head work overtime). Guangzhou 广州 you can explore on your own for about three days, no tour guide needed. The area is very modern in general, makes the rest of the world seem 10 years behind. There is also much culture and heritage, but you won't find the grand boulevards and grandeur of the north as that was not the southern Chinese style.
To fly between PKX/PEK and CAN takes 3 hours by plane, a ton of airlines service the route, but CZ has two hubs at PKX and CAN respectively, just FYI.
I visit China every year, sometimes the same city, and find something new, so don't rush.