China Travel Stories

Mar 1, 2025 • 5 min read

China is packed with dichotomy: ancient Buddhas sit alongside ultramodern, high-tech cities. These highlights will make your trip both restorative and exciting.

Nov 8, 2024 • 8 min read

Cloaked in legend and mystique, the Great Wall of China is often misunderstood. Here's everything you need to know about this remarkable structure.

Sep 20, 2024 • 5 min read

Stretching from Central Asia to the jungles of Vietnam, China is a land of endless travel opportunities. Here's what you need to know about getting a visa.

Mar 28, 2023 • 3 min read

Here’s all you need to know about getting a traveler visa to visit China now that “zero COVID” has come and gone.

Oct 29, 2021 • 11 min read

China is a giant and complex patchwork of cultures, languages and cuisines. As you might expect, there's a lot to see and do - here are the top experiences.

Oct 27, 2021 • 7 min read

Despite its vast size, traveling around China is convenient and efficient, thanks to its high-speed rail network and abundance of airports and local buses.

Oct 27, 2021 • 5 min read

Wuzhizhou Island, Hainan, Silver Beach and other beaches are places for multi-generational family fun. Read more about the best beaches in China.

Oct 24, 2021 • 4 min read

Sleek, state-of-the art bullet trains ferry passengers across China, providing a highlight reel of the nation's best sights along the way – soaring Himalayan…

Oct 22, 2021 • 6 min read

Immortalized in brushstrokes for millennia, China’s misty landscapes offer some of the best trekking in the world. Here's our pick of the top routes.

Sep 30, 2020 • 6 min read

Companies committed to the conservation of wildlife are utilizing AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a growing number of sustainable programs…

Sep 24, 2020 • 5 min read

The Amazon, Nile, and Yangzi are three of the world's longest rivers – and each provide amazing opportunities for river cruise adventures.

Sep 18, 2020 • 5 min read

Call it the Instagram effect: some sites are more impressive in person than they seem to be in pics, and others fail to live up to their billing.

Dec 19, 2019 • 5 min read

The famed International Ice and Snow Festival is reason enough to visit Harbin, but here are 9 facts to further pique your interest in the Chinese city.

Dec 19, 2019 • 1 min read

Each January and February, the city of Harbin is lit up like a child’s snow-dome and intricate ice sculptures hold firm in an ethereal winter wonderland.

Jul 7, 2019 • 8 min read

Our Trailblazers series sees Lonely Planet's guidebook writers reflect on past adventures, reminisce a little, and compare their experiences past and…

Jun 24, 2019 • 5 min read

Panda lovers – rejoice! Fans of the world's most adorable vulnerable bear species have a few new reasons to celebrate the animal; about 27,134 km² worth…

May 13, 2019 • 6 min read

In a hidden corner of southwest China, a mountainous province remains secreted away from the travel trail. Little-known Guizhou is sandwiched in between…

Mar 22, 2019 • 8 min read

The Silk Road is well-known as being one of the world’s earliest trade routes, allowing the exchange of goods between China and Europe, via Central Asia…

Feb 20, 2019 • 6 min read

Impervious to the day-in, day-out waft of incense, a thick flow of sharply suited city workers, selfie-stick-wielding shoppers and giddy bar-hoppers pass…

Feb 13, 2019 • 6 min read

The water towns of eastern China near Shanghai are renowned for their pretty whitewashed houses, arched stone bridges and bustling canal-side streets…

Jan 28, 2019 • 4 min read

The biggest city in northeast China was once – briefly – the capital of the Qing dynasty, before the all-conquering Manchu moved to Beijing in 1644…

Dec 10, 2018 • 7 min read

The hills around Hangzhou, China, are home to Longjing tea plantations where you can sip tea at small teahouses and then hike through the tea bushes.