China in April
 

We're planning to travel to China in April. I'd appreciate any comments on
our proposed itinerary and hotel choices:

Beijing - 3 days - Grand Hyatt

X'ian - 2 days - Hyatt Chongqing

Huangshan - 2 days - Golf hotel and Xi Hai

Guilin - 2 days - Sheraton Guilin

Hangzhou - 2 days - Shangri-la

Shanghai - 3 days (day trip to Suzhou) - Four Seasons

Those are pretty good hotel choices on the whole, though I'm not a big fan of the 4 Seasons. FYI, at least the 4 of those properties at which I've stayed/booked (Beijing, Hangzhou, Xian, and Shanghai) have been known to cough up pretty nice discounts when pressed. Weather shouldn't be a problem.

Try posting in the "Asia" forum; you might get more action.

PS - If I were you, I'd trim Xian and Hangzhou down to one day each (and maybe even reduce Shanghai to 2 days) in order to spend more time in Beijing.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited Feb 19, 2004).]

I agree with Moondog's advice about trimming itinerary to spend more time in Beijing, but that is strictly a personal bias. I never tire of Beijing.

Xian's clay army is stupendous but the city can be gridlocked and a bit of an eyesore; you can see the terra-cotta army on a day trip, if time gets short.

Guilin has also become very touristy, though the karst scenery is awesome; i'd catch an early morning boat down the Li River, rather than lingering in Guilin.

Shanghai is the most Westernized city and sheer numbers of people can be overpowering, but it used to have wonderful - and genuine - antiques, if you are interested in that.

Weather: I've seen snow in Beijing end of March, start of April, but later in the month should be quite nice and warmer, of course, in the south.

Thanks for the replies.

We may take the advice and add a day to Beijing in order to do more temple/palace visiting. We're doing all the usual tourist things (but emphasizing older art, architecture, museums, etc. with no shopping, factories, etc). Huangshan is the exception - it's not on the usual itinerary, but we've been studying paintings of the Yellow Mountains and wanted to see them.