Hi all,

I've got a trip to the central/west of China coming up in a few months and am just starting to put together a sketch of what I'd like to do - and was curious to get any views - I've been to China a couple of times before but always the coastal corridors (plus Xian) so I'm pondering my options for this trip. I'm travelling with my wife, have just under 3 weeks (18 nights) and fly into/out of Chengdu.

Travel style: Typically 4/5* business hotels (Marriott, Hilton, SPG), best class of domestic travel (in China that will be G class VIP/business, of course now with this trip I'm expecting less high speed train routes so a preference of a domestic F flight vs an overnight sleeper train).

Thoughts as planning:

• Skip Lhasa against more time elsewhere
• Day hikes only, nothing overnight - using cablecars to speed things up
• Generally on this trip want to see highlights only
• If the "best site ever" is a 6 hour bus ride away I'll tend to skip it unless on the route to my next stop
• Trains I will typically get one leaving between 6-8am
• This post from jiejie gave me a fair few ideas but I'm targeting a different area at the moment

The following cities were chosen based on guidebooks and I'd see the top sights around

1. Chengdu (2 nights)
2. High Speed Train to Chongquin (1 night)
3. Three Gorges Cruise (3 nights) to Yichang (1 night)
4. High Speed Train to Wuhan (1 night)
5. High Speed Train to Changsa (1 night)
6. Normal train to Wulingyuan (1 night)
7. Normal train Huaihua to Guilin (3 nights)
8. Flight Guilin to Kunming (2 nights)
9. Flight Kunming to Chengdu (1 night)

One of my key things to ponder is whether to reverse the trip so that we have the "relaxing/dull" cruise at the end. Any other cities you'd add/replace? Should I reduce the time around Hunan to give more time in Sichuan?

Many thanks for any thoughts

I happen to like Changsha, but do not care for Wuhan at all.

You do need more time in Sichuan but it can be split on the front and back end since your entry/exit is CTU. If you're set on the cruise, do it in the direction you currently have, downriver. I wouldn't bother with Wuhan or Changsha. Just get a standard train from Yichang to Zhangjiajie--you can save yourself a day by taking the late night (1 am) train out from Yichang following your arrival into port, without spending the night in a Yichang hotel. You'll need two full days and nights for Wulingyuan or 1 each for Wulingyuan + Tianmen mountain. Since you're going overland from ZJJ towards Huaihua anyway, might as well get an early start leaving ZJJ and stop in Fenghuang for part of the afternoon before continuing on to Huaihua for the night. That Huaihua-Guilin train is daytime and leaves early. Put any leftover time after that to Chengdu area at the end.

I think including Kunming on this trip is rather gratuitous since it's not worth going to see on its own if you aren't doing anything else in Yunnan. Suggest you fly from Guilin to Chengdu and put those 2 saved nights to better use by spreading around the balance of your itinerary.

There is nothing in Kunming to see really, basically a big city with warm temperature all year round, hence nicknamed Spring City. Better to spend those two days in Lijiang or its nearby Shuanglang (much less touristy). There are many flight between CTU and LJG.

"...Kunming ... with warm temperature all year round, hence nicknamed Spring City..."
Yeah, that's an urban legend.

For Wuhan, I could see either doing more time there as a smaller city that's less touristed and has stuff to see or totally skipping it. One day seems pointless. If you do decide to visit, there's an archaeology museum with very famous bells, the university campus and lake, a museum of modern Chinese art, the "Bund" (including historic buildings, kite flying, and group dancing/exercise routines), some temples, the yellow swallow (?) tower, and a bunch of historic places for the communist party, including the area near the opera house. The town is divided into three areas, with their own "downtowns" and transportation. Traffic can be tough, especially between the three towns and across the river, but taxis and other stuff is noticeably cheaper then Shanghai. Don't miss the historic train station buildings.

So, to close this out here was my final itinerary with a few thoughts:
2 nights Chengdu | HS train to Chongqing
1 night Chongqing
3 nights Yangtze river cruise ship | HS train from Yichang -Wuhan
Got the 14:40 G train here, we made it with lots of time spare - there were only 3 a day but it wasn't a problem to connect from the ferry which docked just after 1pm. Got a bus from the ferry terminal to the train station (50RMB per person) as the taxis wanted 200RMB for a short trip and we had time spare, bus took about 20 minutes
2 nights Wuhan | HS train from Wuhan-Changsha, Changsa - Zhangjiajie flight
We actually really enjoyed Wuhan, it had a nice museum, pleasant lake to walk around and felt a bit more real. We should however have got an earlier train to Changsha. We got one that arrived at about 3pm, for a flight at 7pm, with the intention of eating dinner in town. However traffic was really bad (over 30mins from the HS train station to the main street) so we actually went into town and then immediately got on the bus to the airport rather than miss our flight. Would suggest either eating near the train station, or arriving into town earlier. I think that the flight rather than train/plane was a good idea
2 nights Zhangjiajie | Train Zhangjiajie to Jishou, then bus to Fenghuang
Bus is now quicker than the guidebooks said and very easy trip
1 night Fenghuang | Bus to Huaihua[/B]
Buses are easier in Fenghuang now as they have all been centralised in a single bus station, taxis in town refuse to use the meter but its only 10RMB/$1.5 for a trip
1 night in Huaihua (before the train) | Train Huaihua to Sanjiangxiang, taxi to Dazhai
The car was 550RMB and pre arranged, which was a good idea as the Sanjiang railway station doesn't have much around it, or that many transport options
1 night Dazhai Terrace| Bus to Guilin
1 night Guilin | river cruise to Yangshuo
1 night Yangshuo | Taxi to airport from Yangshuo, flight Guilin - Yangshuo
2 nights Chengdu

Overall really enjoyed the trip, will return to Chengdu again in 2 years we think, to head north and maybe see Tibet (if BA keeps the direct flight from London)