pinniped

My three-pack would be Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok.

Or perhaps Travel Package in HK and BKK, and mainland China is shorter paid stays. A little Beijing, a little Shanghai, plus whatever else interests you.

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur would also be on my list of options to consider. Not sure if KUL is worthy of an entire week: I'd have to do more research on that one.

jinglish

With the caveat that my itineraries are a bit busy, I just visited Singapore last month, and I felt like I saw most of the important things in just two days. I have a hard time imagining what I'd do with an entire week there except eat. There is plenty of good (and cheap) food.

I heartily recommend Hong Kong, though, after visiting on the same trip. But Tokyo is still my favorite city in Asia, and you can certainly spend an entire week there and leave wanting more.

pinniped

I have to admit, the weeklong nature of the stay is the only drawback for me on the TP's. I wish the 5-night version was readily available to all. (It exists for MVCI owners, apparently.)

Thunderroad

Have you ever been to Asia before? If so, where? That could help people help you. Anyway...

Keep the climate in mind! For much (though not all, and not most of China except Hong Kong) of East and SE Asia, your Toronto winters (which is when you might want to travel anyway) are the best time to visit. Our northern hemisphere summers and falls can be really hot/muggy/rainy in those regions. Our winter is far from temperate in much of SE Asia, but still is more pleasant.

Google "monthly weather" to find sites that tell you average temperatures and precipitation at various times of year.

Also, if this is a factor, be aware that some Asian cities are not great places for walking, simply in terms of crowds, heat, etc. Parts of Hong Kong are good for walking and even hiking, especially some of the islands. Though I like Singapore and Bangkok, the heat in both of them (even during our winter) and the pollution and crowds in the latter weight against in being a great strolling city.

In terms of places, I'd definitely recommend Hong Kong for the harbor, the ferries for getting around, the views and the variety of things you can do there.

Beyond that, if you like beaches, I'd strongly suggest heading to one in Thailand. Interesting culture, great value for your hotel and food money, great food, etc. And while doing so, stop off in Bangkok...though perhaps for a shorter stretch than Hong Kong.

That would make for a nice, relatively compact trip.

Another option, though, would be Japan, both for Tokyo and, even more, Kyoto. Fascinating, unique culture.

I believe there are good Starwoods and Marriotts in all these places.

Hope it all works out!

ReallyNotFrequentFlyer

Thank you guys. I have gold status with Marriott and SPG. My plan is to go to Tokyo...train to Kyoto and back to Tokyo, then Beijing and last Bangkok.

Is all this in 3 weeks too much? I can probably stretch it a bit to maybe 25 days.

Thunderroad

No, I don't think that's too much for three weeks, but a longer trip is always better. Taking travel days into account and losing a day when you fly from Toronto to Tokyo, it works out to about four nights per place versus five if the trip is 25 days. Each of these places could be worth five days. Plus, if for any of them you'll be staying at Starwood properties on points (assuming award availability), the fifth night is free anyway.

And it sounds like a basically good plan, but...

1. When are you going? Even if it's cold in Tokyo and Kyoto, they should be fine (especially for someone from Toronto!). But Beijing air quality can be palpably, unhealthily bad in the winter. (and perhaps some other times of year). It's something to look into.
2. If you are going to China, I'd suggest Shanghai over Beijing. Air not quite as bad (though, again, beware the winter there), plus a more interesting city, more walkable and more day-trips.
3. Osaka is closer to Kyoto than Tokyo is, so you might look at flying out of there instead of Tokyo.
4. For a day trip from Kyoto, the city of Nara is worth checking out.
5. I see from the Starwood site that it's opened up a Luxury Collection hotel in Kyoto since we were there several years ago, so you might want to stay there. But, for what it's worth, the Westin there is fine (though not luxurious) and was walking distance from the Philosopher's Path, our favorite part of Kyoto.

Explorer789

One week per place is very reasonable pace.

I would suggest trying to book ANA to PEK with a stopover in Tokyo. I'm a little fuzzy on how stopover rules work with Aeroplan, so may want to verify with them first or if someone else here can confirm.

Otherwise AC might be the only other direct options to Tokyo. OZ and BR will all have a stop in their respective countries. Obviously, TG is not an option here since you would be going all the way to BKK and then coming back north. You may also want to check YVR and ORD if you are struggling with availability.

Since you have a ton of SPG points, you have a lot of flexibility in finding inter-Asia J awards to get from PEK to BKK for something like 25-50k miles. In addition to TG, OZ, and BR, I would check CX and SG as well.

While coming back from BKK, you have a lot of flexibility here. Can go east or west depending on the airline. Just keep in mind that certain airlines have fuel surcharges when booking through Aeroplan.

darthbimmer

Your list of cities is actually the one I would suggest for a first-time visitor to Asia. Others have suggested swapping Beijing for Shanghai or a city outside China.... I like Beijing because of the history there. The Forbidden City, Winter Palace, etc.

With 25 days for the whole trip you'll have plenty of time in each location without feeling rushed at all. In fact you may start yearning for "What's next?" in some places.
Consider mixing in a few days, like a long weekend, in Hong Kong.

moondog

I like your plan, but I'd continue on the train to Hiroshima and Fukuoka and fly to Beijing from there.

RustyC

Generally speaking there's the hang-the-moon approach and the stretch-it approach.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool stretcher, having spent about 3 million lifetime miles but only once on higher than Y (a MNL-ATL on NW in J because it was summer, seats were scarce and Y wasn't available). I used UA miles to go around the south Pacific for a first time on NZ, and CO to see a lot of Micronesia.

OTOH, probably more people than not here are of the hang-the-moon type where the ideal is J or F with a S.O. and then a 5* place also on points or miles. Very individualized.

ReallyNotFrequentFlyer

Planning to go September/October. I think that's the best time to hit all three places no?

pinniped

I've been to Japan and China in that timeframe - no weather issues at all. In fact, a couple of my trips have settled on autumn in part because it wasn't too hard to get J/F award seats.

If you go with a bounce-around itin (moving every 3-4 days), then the Travel Packages are probably out. If you did decide to settle somewhere for 1 week, I'd recommend Shanghai since there's so much to do in the city plus any number of daytrips to take. In fact, one of our "daytrips" was 36 hours in Beijing in the middle of our Shanghai stay - the 2nd hotel room in Beijing was some off-brand thing for 100 bucks a night walking distance to the Forbidden City.

moondog

While I prefer Shanghai to Beijing from a comfort standpoint, Beijing blows it (including the usual day trip suspects) out of the water for touristy stuff IMO.