Big China Itinerary - Feedback
Replies: 6 - Last Post: Jun 24, 2012 3:47 PM Last Post By: vionaandjorge
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Big China Itinerary - Feedback
China itineraryIm planning to spend 8 weeks (July-Aug) in China. I know most of the regions/towns I wanna visit, but it's not set in stone (Im not worrying about too busy a schedule yet--I travel fast and can cut stuff out when needed). What Im wondering is what would be a sensible overland route to connect these regions without too much backtracking?
In broad strokes, heres what I wanna see: 1.) northwest Yunnan, 2.) western Sichuan, 3.) the Chingqing-Yichang cruise, 4.) Xi'an and Beijing, 5.) Shanghai and southern Anhui, 6.) Guilin, and 7.) Hong Kong. It'd be great to also see Dehang (Hunan), but it's not essential if it's gonna be way out of my way.
Ill be arriving from Vietnam via Hekou, and here's how I envisioned doing it. A lot of this is frequently-traveled routes, but other legs I dunno if/how they're possible:
*Hekou-Yuanyang-Kunming
*Dali-Lijiang-Shangri'La
*Shangri'La-Litang (via Xiangcheng)
*Litang-Ganzi-Chengdu
*Chongqing-Yichang (boat)
*Yichang-Xi'an (long train)
*Xi'an-Pingyai-Beijing
*Beijing-Shanghai
*Hangzhou-Houzhou-Wuyaun
*Wuyaun-Dehang (how??)
*Dehang-Guilin (via Jishou-Sanjiang)
*Guilin-Hangyao-Kaiping (how??)
*Kaiping-Hong Kong (via Guangzhou)
Any advice? Should I rearrange stuff at all? Add a stopover?
Thanks in advance.
1
It's an awful lot of ground to cover in 8 weeks and I think maybe too ambitious, but the route looks pretty good to me. Expect to encounter rainy conditions in most of these places, and particularly throughout Yunnan, Guangxi, and the SE Coastal provinces. Nothing you can do about that though, with July/August travel planned. You may want to establish points along the journey where you can check your time vs itinerary, and then scuttle things as needed. For instance, that Yangtze trip by the cruise boat takes 3-4 days, but you can get the essence of it in 2 days by bussing Chongqing to Wushan or Fengjie, then hydrofoil to Badong, do Shennong Stream side trip, overnight there, hydrofoil to Yichang next day. The connection from Wuyuan villages to Dehang is likely going to be via Nanchang and/or Changsha, it's a rather ponderous overland connection. Guilin to Kaiping you probably should just go to Guangzhou first, make Kaiping a side trip, or maybe Guangzhou - Kaiping - Zhuhai/Macau - Hong Kong one way.3
Well, I laid it out over 8 weeks, with adequate time for all places (by my standards) and it does fit. But it will be very tiring since so much moving is involved over all sorts of distances. My personal suggestion would be to let everything after Hangzhou be a "to be determined" based on time left and if/how interests have shifted. You'd be surprised at how, once you are on a long China trip, your priorities change a bit and you want/need to make adjustments in the original plan--sometimes significant adjustments. And that's why I also wouldn't do any bookings for the last part of the trip, until you get into the first month and see how things are going.4
Thanks #1, very helpful tips.jeje I'm with you on leaving the last bit flexible--seems the way too go.
Still wondering if I shouldn't try getting to Dehang from Chongqing while I'm over there for the river ride (rather than near the end). Maybe will see when I'm closer.
Not too worried about too many stops--some people spend a month in China some spend a year and others spend a week, we all travel at our own pace :)
Thanks
5
I'm traveling independently through Gansu Hexi corridor and Xinjiang right now, have only been on the road (ex-Beijing) for 9 days, and I'm pooped already! And still have at most of another month to go working my way back via Qinghai, SW Gansu and northern Sichuan. Don't underestimate how tiring it gets.6
Hi there,I am trying to plan a train route from Beijing to Hong Kong in a maximum of 17 days stopping to visit places along the way.
Would the following route be possible to book easily? And do you think I would have enough time to visit each place? Any feedback would be appreciated
Also, was thinking to start booking up the first train tickets in advance this week - anyone else booked in advance on perhaps http://www.chinatraintickets.net/ ?
Mon 9th Jul - Beijing - Arrival at midnight
Day 1 - Beijing - Tiananmen Square, Forbidden city, Alley Nanluogu, Jinshan Park
Day 2 - Beijing - Great wall, night train Datong
Day 3 - Datong - Wall of nine Dragon
Day 4 - Datong - Wooden pagoda, temple cologante, yungang grottoes, night train Pingyao
Day 5 - Pingyao - Ancient city day trip, overnight train to Xian
Day 6 - Xian - Big wild goose pagoda, mosque & muslim quarter, old city wall
Day 7 - Xian - Terracotta Warriers
Day 8 - Xian - Relax! Night train Wuhan
Day 9 - Wuhan - Minsheng bank, yellow crane tower, night markets, red passion club
Day 10 - Wuhan - York teahouse, floating restaurant, night train Guilin
Day 11 - Guilin - Seven stars park, Crystal Palace Dragon King, Night market
Day 12 - Guilin - Pearl cave, hill parks, pagodas, Wang Cheng, night train Guangzhou
Day 13 - Guangzhou - Parks, gardens, temples,
Day 14 - Guangzhou - Continue
Day 15 - Guangzhou/Hong Kong
Day 16 - Hong Kong
Day 17 - Hong Kong
Day 18 - Fly to Singapore
Day 19 - Singapore
Sun 29th Jul - Depart Singapore 9.20pm back home
Thank you in advance,
Viona
