where to go in china for Dec?
 

I'll be in Hong Kong this late december for 2 weeks, and was looking for a side trip into China for about 4-5 days. I've been to Beijing and Shanghai before.

Was thinking about Xian or Guilin...But would it be too cold in December?

Xi'an will be cold, polluted, and miserable--I'd skip it. Late December in Guilin/Yangshuo area is very pleasant during the day (jacket/light fleece weather), but quite cool at night. Since the hotels mostly have no central heating, just room heat pump units that aren't very good at putting out heat, expect it to be a bit chilly in your room at night. It will be frosty in upland places such as Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. Not too many tourist hordes, which is a good thing. You could also try Lijiang area of Yunnan, which will be cold and crisp though not bitter: stay in a New Lijiang hotel rather than the old town and you'll be able to come in to decent central heating.

I am going to Xi"an for one night on Dec. 29th to see the Terracotta Warriors, certainly you would not discourage me from doing this...

Xian is fine in the winter, rather be there in winter than summer if you ask me.

Harbin Ice Festival

Check, it often has a limited opening at that time.

I've never been there but what about Hainan Island?

The island is a great place to play golf in December, & the beach is clean in some bays, like Yalong bay. Old Sanya is abet trashy

There are many seasonal direct flights, however the airports are small on the island.

You can search this forum under 'Sanya' , there are varied comments from the china Ambassadors about Hainan & Sanya... Its not a value place, & there is no casino there, (yet) Do avoid it during chinese new year, & the week before & after that chaotic travel holiday.

- Golf, ok. Beach and sea action, no. Way too cold. For that, fly to Borneo, AK flies from SZX to BKI.
There are hot springs around Guangzhou-Huizhou and nice resort hotels, as well.


- Harbin ice festival is not open in December, HKG to HRB is a 8+ hour flight connection.

UO flies HKG-HRB, no? (Not that I'm advocating this option.)

Hunh? I spent 10 days in Xi'an in the winter. It was cold, but not terribly so. Polluted? We weren't there to go swimming. It most definitely was not, however, miserable. We had a wonderful time.

Then, your visit timing was lucky and atypical. Good for you, but you can't guarantee the OP will receive the same luck. Xi'an's AIR pollution can be fairly bad in the winter--I have no idea why you are talking about swimming. To Poster #3: if you are already scheduled on an itinerary with a day in Xi'an, of course don't change it--you go if it's your only chance. But I wasn't originally answering you, and your situation is not the OP's--he is trying to make a decision on location.

I stand by my suggestion to the OP, given a choice in late December between Xi'an and the Guilin/Yangshuo area, plus coming from HK, I'd definitely recommend staying south for this trip. Or the Dali/Lijiang area.

IMO, Harbin Ice Festival has just about priced itself out of the "worth going to see" category, unless you already happen to be in close proximity during Festival time. From HKG, the expense of getting up there and back just for the Festival doesn't pencil. However, normally it doesn't open until around January 5, so it's a moot point for a late December trip.

I didn't know that, makes it a 4.5 hour flight then...

Depends on your guanxi.

The earliest to see the sculptures is Dec-20-22, at night. They might still be building some.
Snow festival acress the road might be open also. It is so cold there your bones feel like
they are frozen. You can pay and get in then, its not really restricted to just govt. people.

I spent 3 days there this past Jan and HIGHLY recommend it, but be ready to bear for some cold temps. It was fantastic, and plenty of other options in Harbin as well. Some of the friendliest people in China here.

If there is enough requests, I can put together a review of this place too...

Here's a video I did of Harbin and the ice festival a couple of years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3bmxc9vHcE