Thorn Tree travel forum

1

I think you are not appreciating the size of China. Huangshan is a good day's bus ride from Shanghai or Hangzhou so I think you need to limit yourself to 2 locations - Beijing is worth 4 days & Huangshan 3 days + 2 days travel time. Most people say Guilin is not worth more than a day but Yangshuo is worth 3-4 days.

"If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." Margaret Thatcher

2

I will agree with kereru -- you really need more than 1-2 days in Beijing.

You could do it in that time but will not see / remember anything long term. The Great Wall visit needs 4-5 hours. You could get stuck in traffic on the way to or back from the Wall and really miss tons of time. Whether you go to the Badaling or Mutianyu section you will experience traffic jams -- I have driven myself there as well as with my driver and either way traffic could be an issue. One option is for you to leave very early in the morning. Negotiate with a taxi cab driver the night before and pay him/her for 2/3 of the day so you can have the cab to yourself. RMB400 should get you a trip to Mutianyu and back. This way you can avoid being at the Wall when everyone else is there :-)

Then Beijing has a lot more to offer than just the wall -- Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Beihai, Houhai, Jingshan parks.....you can check out my blog at Travel and Living in China for some more ideas.

ChinaTravel

3

I would also agree. Give Beijing a few days and then pick either Huangshan or Yangshou (near Guilin). My vote is for Yangshou. It's a 27 hour train ride to Guilin (and then about an hour bus to Yangshou), so consider flying-one, if not both ways. A good place to look for discount tickets is elong and you can pick up your ticket at their office in Beijing. From what I've heard on the forum it's tough to do it from abroad.

4

Beijing 4 days. Huangshan 2 days. Yangshuo 3 days.
Might be doable if you rush all the way, have unlimited energy, don't need to sleep, can teleport yourself at will... etc etc etc.
Cheers!

5

I realize only staying a day or 2 is almost an insult to Beijing, but I have heard it's not really worth the hassle as the main attractions are beautiful, but overrun, commercialized and extremely time consuming for what you see. City wise, I've been told Nanjing is pretty spectacular (not to mention cheap. I don't think I can miss Yangshou as I've seen lots of pics, and heard many great things of the area. Personally, I think the country side is more fascinating. Perhaps I should just confine my travels to Huangshan and then fly to Guilin?

Again, any suggestions or info will be much appreciated. Thanks for the info so far.

6

Wow, Beijing not worthwhile? Who have you been talking to?
Time consuming because they're big and cover a lot of area. Overrun because anything worth seeing has a lot of other people who want to see them as well. Commercialised I would say not really.
Cheers!