Hong Kong to Shanghai, recommendations please!

We will be travelling from Hong Kong to Shanghai in November, travelling over two weeks. We want to stay two nights in a few places along the way, so can anyone recommend some interesting or unusual places to stay -- or visit -- along the way? Thanks in advance.

What are your interests? Do you speak any Chinese? English is not widely spoken, but you can get by OK in many tourist places (and certainly HK and Shanghai), while in other places it will be more difficult, but still possible - would that be OK?

Some places you can google and decide if you like.
Macau
Kaiping
Guangzhou
Yangshuo (a little of the direct path, and November is not the best time, but might be what you want)
Fujian tulou
Xiamen Gulangyu island
Huangshan
Xidi and Hongcun
Suzhou
Hangzhou
Xitang / Tongli

Thanks for your reply, drumbrake! We like historical and unusual places, and I'm a photographer, so anywhere that's photogenic is fine by me! No, we don't speak Chinese, but that shouldn't be a problem, as we've travelled around many countries where English isn't spoken, or spoken very little. Sometimes this can be a good sign, as there will not be many tourists! I will google all the places you've listed, except Macau, as I've been there before. We'll probably settle on just five places, so of the ones you've listed, which five would you recommend, apart from Macau, obviously?

Domestic tourism is huge in China, so don't expect there to be few tourists.

All these places are good, but between HK and Shanghai, maybe this route (mainly by high speed train):
Hong Kong - Shenzhen North - high speed train to Zhangzhou, then Nanjing (Fujian) to:
(1) Tulous - you won't be able to photo anything like this anywhere else; one night (but you will spend half a day or so getting here). This is the main place where language might be an issue.
(2) Xiamen and Gulangyu island (another night), and not far from the first place - same high speed train route; more interesting photo opportunities
(3) Huangshan, Xidi and Hongcun (another high speed train from Xiamen to Huangshan) - the mountain is pretty scenic, and does attract a lot of people, but it is a big mountain so the crowds can be left behind to some extent. Perhaps worth a night near the summit in an over-priced hotel. Near the base of the mountain are the two 'villages' of Xidi and Hongcun. Both are quite touristy, but nice places to visit and stay a night (or two). Lots of photo opportunities.
(4) On to Suzhou - see some of the gardens; combine with a water town (Xitang or Tongli or there are others; stay a night in one) - depending which place you go, you might need to change the order of places you go.

Finally Shanghai. That would be my route.

Thank you for that drumbrake, that sounds a great itinerary! We'll be working on it over the next few weeks so will be great fun planning it!

I'm not wild about Shanghai, but I regard the stroll around West Lake and its gardens in Hangzhou as one of the great classical Chinese experiences. Try not to miss it.

The tulou are intriguing certainly, but spread out and somewhat awkward and time-consuming to reach. You might substitute the hills-and-water of Wuyi Shan.

Is this your first time to mainland China?
It's strange to choose HK to Shanghai as your first trip

Elaborate on "anywhere that's photogenic"
Markets in small provincial towns are photogenic
Pollution in China is photogenic
Hong Kong has enough diversity of photogenic areas that one could spend an entire 2 weeks there.

I'm not sure i'd hit Xiamen/Gulangyu. It's incredibly popular with Chinese tourists, because a bunch of famous chiense musicians were born there, and because it has a little bit of European architecture. But if you've been to any european/american small town you've seen more and better.

I don't find much that is photogenic in Hong Kong (except Victoria Harbour) so I would get out of that place licketty-split.

My first China visit included both Hangzhou and Suzhou. On reflection, there is a lot of overlap and I would caution that only one is necessary for your itinerary. There is much to photograph in either of these locations so I recommend that your time spent on researching them is a good investment. I was taken by the Humble Administrators Garden.

I have been to Hong Kong twice and Beijing twice, and once Macau and Dandong, so it won't be a completely new experience, although I realise we will have some problems, particularly with language and signage. But I look on that as a challenge, not a deterrent! Almost anything can can be photogenic, but I love photographing people, so there will be no shortage of opportunities there. I also love architecture, and to a lesser extent landscapes, so we will probably conentrate more on cities, but if there are any easy accessiblie interesting landscapes on the route we might consider them. Thank you all for your contributions and advice, we will work on them over the next few weeks and work out an itinerary. The reasons we have decided on this trip are 1: the new direct flight between Dublin and Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific; and 2: Shanghai has been on my to-do list for a long time; and 3: Price! €555 return, flying into Hong Kong and out of Shanghai. It was too good to pass!

love architecture

When you first see the larger high speed train stations, you cannot but be impressed - 21st century cathedrals for transporting people - and they provide a great opportunity for taking a certain style of photo. And while the stations do all follow the same basic design, there are some such as Nanjing (Fujian) which are designed to represent a local feature - in this case a tulou.

While offhand I can't name any train stations worth a detour, if you're serious about modern architecture you will want to see the new(ish) Shenzhen Airport, which is easy to reach by Metro. The check-in hall is an extraordinary space.

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Great! Thank for all that info guys, really appreciate it!

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