All China destinations
China's provincial capitals, municipalities and top tourist cities, each with sights, routes and local know-how.
All cities
Capital - NorthBeijing
The imperial capital: the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and hutong life beside a fast, modern metropolis.
3-4 days Explore
East Coast - Yangtze DeltaShanghai
China's dazzling financial hub - the Bund skyline, French Concession cafes and world-class food.
3-4 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiXi'an
Home of the Terracotta Army and an ancient walled city with a legendary Muslim Quarter food scene.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanChengdu
Pandas, teahouses and the spiciest hotpot in China - the laid-back capital of Sichuan.
3 days Explore
South - GuangxiGuilin and Yangshuo
Storybook karst peaks along the Li River - base in Yangshuo for cycling and bamboo rafting.
3 days Explore
Central - HunanZhangjiajie
The towering sandstone pillars that inspired 'Avatar', plus glass skywalks on Tianmen Mountain.
3 days Explore
East - ZhejiangHangzhou
West Lake serenity, tea villages and the elegant heart of classical Chinese landscape.
2-3 days Explore
South - GuangdongGuangzhou
The Cantonese food capital - dim sum, dawn markets and a buzzing Pearl River waterfront.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - MunicipalityChongqing
A surreal, mountainous megacity of stacked highways, glowing skylines and fiery hotpot.
2-3 days Explore
East - JiangsuSuzhou
Classical gardens, silk canals and the 'Venice of the East' - an easy hop from Shanghai.
2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanLijiang
A UNESCO Naxi old town beneath snow peaks - cobbled lanes, canals and the gateway to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
3 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangHarbin
Russian-influenced boulevards and the world-famous winter Ice and Snow Festival.
2-3 days Explore
North - MunicipalityTianjin
A treaty-port city of European architecture along the Hai River, famous street food, and a 30-minute bullet train from Beijing. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiShijiazhuang
Hebei's capital and gateway to Zhengding's ancient temples and the dramatic Cangyan Mountain hanging temple. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
North - ShanxiTaiyuan
Shanxi's capital, base for the Jinci Temple gardens and the vinegar-and-noodle heartland of northern China. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days ExploreHohhot
The Inner Mongolian capital where Tibetan-Buddhist temples meet the vast grasslands and Mongolian barbecue. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningShenyang
Liaoning's capital and the Qing dynasty's first imperial city, with its own palace and imperial tombs. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - JilinChangchun
Jilin's capital, China's film and auto city, and a launchpad for Changbai Mountain and its crater lake. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuNanjing
A former imperial capital with Ming-era walls, tree-lined boulevards, and moving wartime memorials beside the Qinhuai River. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2-3 days ExploreHefei
Anhui's capital and the springboard for Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and the ancient Huizhou villages. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1 day Explore
Southeast - FujianFuzhou
Fujian's leafy capital of banyan trees and the beautifully restored Three Lanes and Seven Alleys quarter. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiNanchang
Jiangxi's capital, birthplace of the 1927 uprising, and gateway to Lushan and the porcelain town of Jingdezhen. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1 day Explore
East - ShandongJinan
Shandong's 'City of Springs', dotted with natural springs and lakes, and gateway to Confucius's Qufu and sacred Mount Tai. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HenanZhengzhou
Henan's capital and China's rail crossroads, the base for the Shaolin Temple and Song dynasty Kaifeng. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HenanJiyuan
A northwestern Henan city where Daoist mountain chapters, Yellow River canyon views, macaque valleys and grounded local food combine into one of the province's most underrated short escapes. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2-3 days Explore
Central - HubeiWuhan
A vast Yangtze River metropolis of three towns, cherry blossoms, and one of China's great street-food breakfast scenes. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
Central - HunanChangsha
Hunan's fiery-food capital, home of the riverside Orange Isle and a launchpad for Zhangjiajie. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiNanning
Guangxi's green, subtropical capital and a gateway to the Detian waterfalls and the Vietnam border. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
South - HainanHaikou
Hainan's laid-back capital of arcaded old streets and coconut palms, the northern gateway to China's tropical island. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouGuiyang
Guizhou's cool mountain capital and the base for Huangguoshu Waterfall and dramatic minority villages. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanKunming
Yunnan's mild 'Spring City', a relaxed base for the Stone Forest and the gateway to Dali and Lijiang. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
Southwest - TibetLhasa
Tibet's sacred high-altitude capital, crowned by the Potala Palace and the pilgrim-thronged Jokhang Temple. Foreign visitors need a Tibet permit arranged through a tour. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
3-4 days Explore
Northwest - GansuLanzhou
Gansu's Yellow River capital, home of China's most famous beef noodles and a gateway to the Silk Road. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1 day Explore
Northwest - QinghaiXining
Qinghai's cool plateau capital and the base for shimmering Qinghai Lake and the great Kumbum Monastery. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - NingxiaYinchuan
Ningxia's capital between desert and the Yellow River, guardian of the mysterious Western Xia imperial tombs. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangUrumqi
Xinjiang's frontier capital, a crossroads of Central Asian bazaars and the gateway to Heavenly Lake. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
South - HainanSanya
China's tropical beach capital at the southern tip of Hainan, with palm-fringed bays and coral islands. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
3-4 days Explore
East - ShandongQingdao
A breezy German-influenced port city of red roofs, beaches, and China's most famous beer. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianXiamen
A relaxed seaside city wrapped around the car-free colonial island of Gulangyu and its piano-filled lanes. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanDali
A mellow lakeside old town of the Bai people set between Erhai Lake and the Cangshan mountains. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2-3 days Explore
North - ShanxiDatong
An ancient border city guarding the sublime Yungang Grottoes and a cliffside Hanging Temple. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
North - ShanxiPingyao
A perfectly preserved Ming-Qing walled town, the cradle of China's early banking houses. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HenanLuoyang
One of China's ancient capitals, famed for the Longmen Grottoes, the first Buddhist temple, and spring peonies. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuDunhuang
A Silk Road oasis of Buddhist cave art, singing sand dunes, and a crescent desert spring. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanJiuzhaigou
A fairytale valley of turquoise terraced lakes, waterfalls, and snow peaks in northern Sichuan. Editorial planning reference only; independently verify current conditions before travel.
2-3 days Explore
East - AnhuiWuhu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuhu is a Yangtze-side city best known for its Fantawild theme parks and an easygoing riverfront old town.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiBengbu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bengbu sits on the Huai River and pairs lakeside parks with early Chinese history from the Shuangdun and Da Yu sites.
1 day Explore
East - AnhuiHuainan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huainan is a former coal city whose real draw is nearby Shou County, one of Anhui's best-preserved walled old towns.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiMa'anshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ma'anshan is tied to the poet Li Bai, who is said to have died reaching for the moon at its Caishiji cliffs over the Yangtze.
1 day Explore
East - AnhuiHuaibei
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huaibei is a quiet northern-Anhui city where Linhuan's old teahouses still serve the local 'bang bang' tea.
1 day Explore
East - AnhuiTongling
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tongling has mined copper for over three millennia and tells that story through bronzeware culture beside the Yangtze.
1 day ExploreAnqing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Anqing was Anhui's old provincial capital and the cradle of Huangmei opera, framed by the peaks of Tianzhu Mountain.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiHuangshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huangshan city is the gateway to China's most famous granite peaks and the whitewashed Huizhou villages around them.
2-3 days Explore
East - AnhuiChuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chuzhou is where Ouyang Xiu wrote his famous Zuiweng Pavilion essay, near the Ming founder's home town of Fengyang.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiFuyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Fuyang is a densely populated Huai-plain city with a classical West Lake once praised by Su Shi.
1 day Explore
East - AnhuiSuzhou (Anhui)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Suzhou in Anhui (not the Jiangsu water town) is famous for Dangshan county, one of China's great pear-growing districts.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiLu'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Lu'an backs onto the forested Dabie Mountains, a cool summer escape of reservoirs, tea slopes and old revolutionary bases.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiBozhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bozhou is the home town of the warlord Cao Cao and the physician Hua Tuo, and China's biggest traditional-medicine trading hub.
1-2 days Explore
East - AnhuiChizhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chizhou is the base for Mount Jiuhua, one of China's four holy Buddhist peaks, in green southern Anhui.
2 days Explore
East - AnhuiXuancheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xuancheng gave China its finest calligraphy paper and ink, in a landscape of Huizhou-style villages and poet-loved hills.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianPutian
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Putian is the birthplace of the sea-goddess Mazu, whose Meizhou Island temple draws pilgrims from across the Chinese world.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianSanming
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Sanming is inland Fujian's nature capital, built around the boat-accessed red-cliff canyons of Taining.
2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianQuanzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Quanzhou was medieval China's greatest seaport, a UNESCO-listed melting pot of Buddhist, Islamic and folk temples.
2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianZhangzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhangzhou is Hakka-tulou country, where clusters of vast circular earth houses sit among banana and tea terraces.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianNanping
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nanping is home to the Wuyi Mountains, source of prized rock oolong tea and a UNESCO natural-and-cultural site.
2-3 days Explore
Southeast - FujianLongyan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Longyan is the heart of Hakka Fujian, with the densest and most photogenic of the tulou roundhouse clusters.
2 days Explore
Southeast - FujianNingde
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ningde pairs the seaside granite of Taimu Mountain with Xiapu's tidal mudflats, one of China's top photography spots.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuJiayuguan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiayuguan guards the Ming Great Wall's far-western terminus, a lone desert fortress between snow peaks and Gobi.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuJinchang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jinchang is China's 'Nickel Capital', an industrial oasis town that turns to lavender fields in summer.
1 day Explore
Northwest - GansuBaiyin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baiyin's highlight is the wind-carved Yellow River Stone Forest, reached by sheepskin raft and donkey cart.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuTianshui
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tianshui holds the Maijishan Grottoes and the temple to Fuxi, making it one of the cradles of Chinese civilisation.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuWuwei
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuwei was the old Silk Road town of Liangzhou, where the bronze Galloping Horse (China's tourism emblem) was unearthed.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuZhangye
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhangye is famous for its rainbow-striped Danxia hills and China's largest indoor reclining Buddha.
2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuPingliang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Pingliang is dominated by Kongtong Mountain, one of Daoism's founding sacred peaks.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuJiuquan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiuquan is a Hexi Corridor oasis whose name ('Wine Spring') recalls a Han general sharing wine with his troops.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuQingyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qingyang sits on the Loess Plateau and is known for cave-temple carvings and its vivid folk sachet embroidery.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuDingxi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dingxi, on the arid Loess Plateau, is China's 'potato capital' and home to the ancient Majiayao painted pottery.
1 day Explore
Northwest - GansuLongnan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Longnan is Gansu's mild, green southern corner, a surprise of forested valleys where north China meets the subtropics.
2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuLinxia
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Linxia is a strongly Muslim Hui town, gateway to the cliffside Bingling cave temples on the Yellow River.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - GansuGannan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Gannan is an ethnically Tibetan plateau prefecture whose Labrang Monastery is one of the six great Gelug temples.
2-3 days Explore
South - GuangdongShenzhen
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shenzhen grew from a fishing village into a global tech metropolis, mixing theme parks, beaches and start-up energy.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongZhuhai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhuhai is the breezy, garden-like Pearl River Delta city facing Macau, with resort islands and a scenic seafront.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongShantou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shantou is a Chaoshan port city of old European-style arcades, island beaches and a distinctive Teochew food culture.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongFoshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Foshan is the home of southern kung fu and Cantonese opera, and still fires the centuries-old Nanfeng dragon kiln.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongShaoguan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shaoguan holds Danxia Mountain, the very landscape that gave the world's red-cliff 'Danxia' geology its name.
2 days Explore
South - GuangdongZhanjiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhanjiang is a southern peninsula seafood city built around a rare maar volcanic lake and long coastlines.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongZhaoqing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhaoqing pairs the limestone Seven Star Crags with Dinghu Mountain and a well-preserved Song-era walled town.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongJiangmen
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiangmen is the ancestral home of many overseas Chinese, dotted with the fortified Diaolou towers of returning emigrants.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongMaoming
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Maoming is a western-Guangdong coastal and oil city, famed for its beaches and vast lychee groves.
1 day Explore
South - GuangdongHuizhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huizhou blends a classical West Lake once beloved by Su Shi with the beaches of Daya Bay and Daoist Luofu Mountain.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongMeizhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Meizhou is the 'world capital of the Hakka', a hill city of tea estates, roundhouses and famous overseas natives.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongShanwei
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shanwei is a laid-back Hoklo fishing coast with long beaches and a lively Mazu temple culture.
1 day Explore
South - GuangdongHeyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Heyuan calls itself China's 'Dinosaur Egg Capital' and centres on the vast, clean Wanlv Lake reservoir.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongYangjiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yangjiang is a beach and kitchen-knife city whose Maritime Silk Road Museum displays the salvaged Song wreck Nanhai I.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongQingyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qingyuan is Guangdong's rafting and hot-spring playground, set along the scenic Bei River gorges.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongDongguan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dongguan, the Pearl River Delta's factory floor, keeps a proud history at Humen where the Opium War began.
1 day ExploreChaozhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chaozhou is the cultural heart of the Teochew people, with an ancient floating bridge and refined temple architecture.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangdongJieyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jieyang is a Chaoshan-region city known for its Confucian temple, jade trade and Teochew opera.
1 day Explore
South - GuangdongYunfu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yunfu is a quiet stone-carving city in western Guangdong, with karst caves and the riverside Longmu temple.
1 day Explore
South - GuangxiLiuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liuzhou wraps around a horseshoe bend of the Liu River and is the birthplace of China's beloved luosifen snail noodles.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiWuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuzhou, where three rivers meet near the Guangdong border, keeps colonnaded arcade streets and a Cantonese-tea culture.
1 day Explore
South - GuangxiBeihai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Beihai is a Beibu Gulf beach city with soft silver sands and the volcanic scenery of offshore Weizhou Island.
2 days Explore
South - GuangxiFangchenggang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Fangchenggang is China's border seaport with Vietnam, mixing beaches, mangroves and cross-border markets at Dongxing.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiQinzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qinzhou is a mangrove-lined gulf city where Chinese white dolphins still play in the waters of Sanniang Bay.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiGuigang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Guigang is a lotus-growing Xun River port with Buddhist cave temples cut into its riverside Nan Mountain.
1 day Explore
South - GuangxiYulin (Guangxi)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yulin in Guangxi is a southern medicinal-herb and folk-culture town near the Vietnamese-influenced southeast.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiBaise
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baise is a mountainous western frontier prefecture, remembered for Deng Xiaoping's 1929 uprising and its karst valleys.
1-2 days Explore
South - GuangxiHezhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hezhou's gem is Huangyao, a beautifully preserved Ming-Qing water town of banyan trees and stone lanes.
2 days Explore
South - GuangxiHechi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hechi is deep-karst Guangxi, home to record-breaking sinkholes and the famously long-lived villages of Bama.
2 days Explore
South - GuangxiLaibin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Laibin is a quiet central-Guangxi city of caves and rivers along the Hongshui watershed.
1 day Explore
South - GuangxiChongzuo
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chongzuo holds Asia's largest cross-border waterfall at Detian and the ancient Huashan cliff paintings.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouLiupanshui
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liupanshui markets itself as China's 'Cool Capital', a high plateau of canyons and rare southern skiing.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouZunyi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zunyi is a landmark of Communist history and, at Chishui, one of Guizhou's finest red-cliff waterfall landscapes.
2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouAnshun
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Anshun is the base for the thundering Huangguoshu Waterfall and the Ming-era 'Tunpu' garrison stone villages.
2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouBijie
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bijie spreads across high western Guizhou, from the vast azalea forest to the birdlife of Caohai Lake.
2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouTongren
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tongren is the gateway to Fanjing Mountain, whose mushroom-shaped summit temple floats above the clouds.
2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouQianxinan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qianxinan, around Xingyi, is a dramatic karst prefecture of narrow gorges and thousands of conical peaks.
2 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouQiandongnan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qiandongnan is the heartland of Miao and Dong minority culture, with China's largest hillside Miao village at Xijiang.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - GuizhouQiannan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qiannan combines the emerald pools of Libo's Small Seven-Arch karst with the world's largest radio telescope, FAST.
2 days Explore
South - HainanDanzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Danzhou on Hainan's west coast preserves the academy of exiled poet Su Dongpo and a distinctive tea-and-chess culture.
1-2 days Explore
South - HainanWuzhishan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuzhishan sits in Hainan's misty interior around the island's highest peak and its Li and Miao homelands.
2 days Explore
South - HainanQionghai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qionghai is famous for Boao, host of Asia's answer to Davos, set where three rivers meet the sea.
1-2 days Explore
South - HainanWenchang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wenchang launches China's heavy rockets and grows the coconuts behind Hainan's signature chicken dish.
1-2 days Explore
South - HainanWanning
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wanning is Hainan's surf capital, with world-class breaks at Riyue Bay and coffee estates at Xinglong.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiTangshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tangshan rebuilt itself after the 1976 earthquake and sits beside the grand Qing Eastern Tombs.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiQinhuangdao
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qinhuangdao is the beach resort where the Great Wall marches into the Bohai Sea at Shanhaiguan.
2 days Explore
North - HebeiHandan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Handan was a Warring-States capital and a birthplace of Taijiquan, rich in idioms born from its ancient past.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiXingtai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xingtai, one of north China's oldest cities, backs onto the red-rock canyons of the Taihang range.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiBaoding
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baoding was the Qing seat of Zhili province and today anchors the Xiong'an new-area plans west of Beijing.
1-2 days Explore
North - HebeiZhangjiakou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhangjiakou co-hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics and offers Beijing's nearest skiing and summer grasslands.
2 days Explore
North - HebeiChengde
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chengde was the Qing emperors' summer capital, with the largest imperial garden and Tibetan-style temples in China.
2 days Explore
North - HebeiCangzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Cangzhou is a Grand Canal city famed for martial arts, acrobatics at Wuqiao and a giant Song-dynasty iron lion.
1 day Explore
North - HebeiLangfang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Langfang sits between Beijing and Tianjin and has reinvented itself with large tourism-and-performance complexes.
1 day Explore
North - HebeiHengshui
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hengshui centres on a broad reserve lake that is a key stop on the East Asian bird-migration flyway.
1 day Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangQiqihar
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qiqihar is 'Crane City', gateway to Zhalong, one of the world's most important red-crowned crane wetlands.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangJixi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jixi is a far-eastern border coal city beside vast Xingkai Lake, shared with Russia.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangHegang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hegang is a forested border mining city on the road to the Russian Amur frontier.
1 day Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangShuangyashan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shuangyashan lies on the great Sanjiang wetland plain, a birding frontier in China's far northeast.
1 day Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangDaqing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Daqing is China's legendary oil city, its story told through the Daqing Oilfield and Iron Man museums.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangYichun (Heilongjiang)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yichun in Heilongjiang is a 'forest capital', a sea of red pine and larch along the Xiaoxing'anling.
2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangJiamusi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiamusi is where China greets its first sunrise each day, at the Amur-Ussuri confluence of Fuyuan.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangQitaihe
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qitaihe is a compact coal-and-ski city that has produced a remarkable line of Olympic speed skaters.
1 day Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangMudanjiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Mudanjiang offers Jingpo Lake's lava scenery in summer and the snow-buried rooftops of Xuexiang in winter.
2-3 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangHeihe
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Heihe faces a Russian city across the Amur and guards the volcanic wonderland of Wudalianchi.
2 days Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangSuihua
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Suihua is a black-soil farming prefecture on the Songnen Plain, famed for its premium northeastern rice.
1 day Explore
Northeast - HeilongjiangDaxing'anling
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Daxing'anling reaches China's northern tip at Mohe, the only place in the country to glimpse the aurora.
2-3 days Explore
Central - HenanPingdingshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Pingdingshan, a central-Henan coal city, is home to the towering Spring Temple Buddha at Lushan.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiHuangshi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huangshi is a Yangtze mining city whose Tonglushan pits reveal three thousand years of Chinese copper metallurgy.
1 day Explore
Central - HubeiShiyan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shiyan is the base for the Wudang Mountains, the spiritual home of Tai Chi and Taoist martial arts.
2 days Explore
Central - HubeiYichang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yichang guards the Three Gorges Dam and the mouth of the Yangtze gorges, birthplace of the poet Qu Yuan.
2 days Explore
Central - HubeiXiangyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xiangyang is a storied Han River fortress town, famous from the Three Kingdoms and its still-complete moat and wall.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiEzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ezhou is a small Yangtze city, once the Wu-kingdom capital, known for freshwater lakes and Wuchang fish.
1 day Explore
Central - HubeiJingmen
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jingmen holds a UNESCO-listed Ming imperial tomb and the ancient Qujialing farming culture of the Jianghan plain.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiXiaogan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xiaogan is named for filial piety and is the ancestral home of the Dong Yong legend, near Wuhan.
1 day Explore
Central - HubeiJingzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jingzhou is a Yangtze walled city at the heart of the ancient Chu kingdom and the Three Kingdoms tale of Guan Yu.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiHuanggang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huanggang inspired Su Dongpo's Red Cliff odes and produced the great herbalist Li Shizhen.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiXianning
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xianning is a hot-spring and bamboo city that claims the site of the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HubeiSuizhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Suizhou yielded the astonishing 2,400-year-old bronze bells of Marquis Yi and honours the mythic Emperor Yan.
1 day Explore
Central - HubeiEnshi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Enshi is a Tujia and Miao mountain prefecture of deep canyons, karst pinnacles and terraced tea slopes.
2-3 days Explore
Central - HubeiShennongjia
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shennongjia is a UNESCO forest wilderness of golden monkeys, alpine lakes and China's most famous 'wild man' folklore.
2-3 days Explore
Central - HunanZhuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhuzhou is a Xiang River railway city that honours the mythic farming ancestor Emperor Yan.
1 day Explore
Central - HunanXiangtan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xiangtan is best known for Shaoshan, the home village of Mao Zedong, and the painter Qi Baishi.
1 day ExploreHengyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hengyang sits below Mount Heng, the southern member of China's five sacred Taoist mountains.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanShaoyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shaoyang's highlight is Langshan, a UNESCO landscape of rounded red-rock towers and green valleys.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanYueyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yueyang is defined by its ancient tower and the vast Dongting Lake, immortalised in classical Chinese poetry.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanChangde
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Changde claims the setting of Tao Yuanming's utopian Peach Blossom Spring, on the Yuan River plain.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanYiyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yiyang is a quiet Zi River city of bamboo forests and lakes on the edge of the Dongting plain.
1 day Explore
Central - HunanChenzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chenzhou is famous for the ethereal morning mists rising off Dongjiang Lake in southern Hunan.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanYongzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yongzhou preserves the tomb-mountain of the sage-king Shun and the world's only female-specific script, Nvshu.
1-2 days Explore
Central - HunanHuaihua
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huaihua is a western Hunan crossroads whose Hongjiang preserves a complete Ming-Qing merchant town.
1-2 days ExploreLoudi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Loudi mixes vast limestone caverns with the ancestral home of the Qing statesman Zeng Guofan.
1-2 days ExploreXiangxi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xiangxi is the Tujia-and-Miao autonomous prefecture whose Fenghuang riverside old town is among China's most photographed.
2-3 days Explore
East - JiangsuWuxi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuxi is a genteel Lake Tai city of gardens, a giant bronze Buddha and spring cherry blossoms at Yuantouzhu.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuXuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xuzhou, home town of the Han founder Liu Bang, is a northern crossroads rich in Han-dynasty tombs and jade.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuChangzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Changzhou pairs a hugely popular dinosaur theme park with a soaring Buddhist pagoda and canal-era gardens.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuNantong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nantong stands where the Yangtze meets the sea, a pioneering early-modern industrial city founded by reformer Zhang Jian.
1 day Explore
East - JiangsuLianyungang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Lianyungang is a Yellow Sea port whose Huaguoshan inspired the Monkey King's mountain in Journey to the West.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuHuai'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huai'an is the birthplace of Premier Zhou Enlai and a historic Grand Canal administrative city.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuYancheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yancheng's Yellow Sea mudflats are a UNESCO World Heritage bird coast and a refuge for wild Milu deer.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuYangzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yangzhou is a classic canal city of refined gardens, morning tea houses and the willow-lined Slender West Lake.
2 days Explore
East - JiangsuZhenjiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhenjiang guards the Yangtze-Canal crossing, its three river hills steeped in legend and vinegar-making fame.
1-2 days Explore
East - JiangsuTaizhou (Jiangsu)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Taizhou in Jiangsu is a watery Lixiahe city, birthplace of opera master Mei Lanfang and a spring boat festival.
1 day Explore
East - JiangsuSuqian
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Suqian, on the old Yellow River course, is a lake-country city and the home town of the warrior Xiang Yu.
1 day Explore
Southeast - JiangxiJingdezhen
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jingdezhen is the world's porcelain capital, still throwing and firing pots as it has for a thousand years.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiPingxiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Pingxiang is a western-Jiangxi city famed for the rolling summit grasslands of Wugong Mountain.
1 day Explore
Southeast - JiangxiJiujiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiujiang is the Yangtze gateway to Lushan's misty peaks and the huge migratory-bird lake of Poyang.
2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiXinyu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xinyu is a small steel city whose Fairy Lake is tied to the ancient tale of a heavenly maiden and a mortal.
1 day Explore
Southeast - JiangxiYingtan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yingtan holds Longhu Mountain, the birthplace of Zhengyi Taoism and a landscape of red cliffs and cave tombs.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiGanzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ganzhou is southern Jiangxi's Hakka capital, keeping a rare complete Song city wall on the Gan River.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiJi'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ji'an is the base for the Jinggang Mountains, revered as the birthplace of the Chinese revolution.
2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiYichun (Jiangxi)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yichun in Jiangxi is a spa city set below Mingyue Mountain, marketing its rare selenium-rich hot springs.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiFuzhou (Jiangxi)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Fuzhou in Jiangxi is the home of the Ming dramatist Tang Xianzu and the well-preserved village of Liukeng.
1-2 days Explore
Southeast - JiangxiShangrao
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shangrao is eastern Jiangxi's scenic star, combining the spring canola villages of Wuyuan with Taoist Sanqing Mountain.
2-3 days Explore
Northeast - JilinJilin City
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jilin City is celebrated for its winter 'ice-rime' trees along the Songhua and the nearby Songhua Lake ski slopes.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - JilinSiping
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Siping is a Manchu-heritage border city best known for a fierce civil-war battle memorial.
1 day Explore
Northeast - JilinLiaoyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liaoyuan is a small hilly Jilin city ringed by forested parks at the source of the East Liao River.
1 day ExploreTonghua
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tonghua is a mountain wine-and-ginseng city near the North Korea border and the ancient Goguryeo heartland.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - JilinBaishan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baishan gives access to Changbai Mountain's quieter western face and the volcanic highland of Wangtian'e.
2 days Explore
Northeast - JilinSongyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Songyuan is famous for Chagan Lake, where fishermen still haul huge winter catches through the ice by horse.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - JilinBaicheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baicheng lies on the Songnen grassland edge, a birding frontier of cranes and vast reed wetlands.
1 day Explore
Northeast - JilinYanbian
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yanbian is China's Korean autonomous prefecture, gateway to Changbai's crater lake and a lively cross-border culture.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningDalian
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dalian is a breezy, hilly seaport of squares, beaches and a European-flavoured downtown on the Bohai coast.
2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningAnshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Anshan, China's old steel capital, sits beside the temple-dotted peaks of Qianshan and a world-record jade Buddha.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningFushun
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Fushun is where the Qing dynasty was founded, at Nurhaci's fortress town of Hetu Ala east of Shenyang.
1 day Explore
Northeast - LiaoningBenxi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Benxi is known for its Water Cave, where visitors glide by boat through kilometres of illuminated underground river.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningDandong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dandong is China's largest border city with North Korea, where a bombed bridge still points across the Yalu.
1-2 days ExploreJinzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jinzhou is a historic Bohai gateway where a natural sea causeway appears at low tide to Bijia Mountain's temples.
1 day Explore
Northeast - LiaoningYingkou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yingkou is a warm-spring and beach city at the mouth of the Liao River on the Bohai Sea.
1 day Explore
Northeast - LiaoningFuxin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Fuxin is a Mongol-heritage former coal city famed for agate carving and one of China's oldest jade-dragon relics.
1 day ExploreLiaoyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liaoyang is one of the northeast's oldest cities, marked by a towering thousand-year-old Liao-dynasty pagoda.
1 day Explore
Northeast - LiaoningPanjin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Panjin is defined by its Red Beach, where autumn seepweed turns the Liao River delta a vivid scarlet.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningTieling
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tieling is a northern Liaoning farming city, hometown of many of China's most famous comic performers.
1 day Explore
Northeast - LiaoningChaoyang (Liaoning)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chaoyang in Liaoning is a fossil treasure-house, where feathered dinosaurs and the earliest flowers were unearthed.
1-2 days Explore
Northeast - LiaoningHuludao
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huludao holds the well-preserved Ming walled town of Xingcheng and a stretch of Great Wall that runs into the sea.
1-2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaBaotou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baotou is Inner Mongolia's steel city, ringed by grasslands, the Yellow River and Tibetan-Buddhist monasteries.
1-2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaWuhai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuhai is a young desert city where the Yellow River pools into a lake among sand dunes and vineyards.
1 day Explore
North - Inner MongoliaChifeng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chifeng blends grassland, granite badlands and the Neolithic Hongshan culture that produced China's first jade dragons.
2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaTongliao
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tongliao sits on the Horqin sands and grasslands, a heartland of Mongol horse-and-herding culture.
1-2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaOrdos
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ordos pairs the shrine of Genghis Khan with singing sand dunes and the famously empty new district of Kangbashi.
2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaHulunbuir
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hulunbuir is China's greatest grassland, rolling to birch forests, reindeer herders and the Russian frontier.
2-3 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaBayannur
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bayannur straddles the Yellow River's Hetao irrigation plain below the ancient petroglyphs of the Yin Mountains.
1-2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaUlanqab
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ulanqab offers Beijing's nearest big grassland, dotted with dormant volcanoes and summer horse festivals.
1-2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaXilingol
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xilingol is classic Mongol steppe and the site of Kublai Khan's summer capital, Xanadu.
2 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaAlxa
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Alxa is a vast western desert of the world's tallest stationary dunes and Ejina's golden autumn poplar groves.
2-3 days Explore
North - Inner MongoliaHinggan (Xing'an)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hinggan (Xing'an) is a volcanic forest highland, its Arxan park ringed by crater lakes and mineral springs.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - NingxiaShizuishan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shizuishan is a northern Ningxia city best known for Sand Lake, a striking mix of desert dunes and birdlife.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - NingxiaWuzhong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wuzhong is a Hui-Muslim Yellow River city, guarding a mysterious triangular array of 108 white stupas.
1 day Explore
Northwest - NingxiaGuyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Guyuan sits in Ningxia's cooler south, home to the cliff Buddhas of Xumishan and the historic Liupan Mountain pass.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - NingxiaZhongwei
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhongwei is the base for Shapotou, a famous spot where towering sand dunes tumble to the green Yellow River.
2 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiHaidong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Haidong is Qinghai's populous east, a Tibetan, Hui and Salar mosaic around the mural-rich Qutan Temple.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiHaibei
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Haibei rings the northern shore of Qinghai Lake, where China secretly developed its first atomic bomb.
2 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiHuangnan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huangnan is the home of Regong Tibetan Buddhist art, its monasteries famed for thangka and butter sculpture.
2 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiHainan (Qinghai)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hainan prefecture (Qinghai) follows the southern lake shore and the Yellow River's first great reservoir at Longyangxia.
2 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiGolog (Guoluo)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Golog is a high, remote Tibetan plateau prefecture around the holy snow peaks near the Yellow River's source.
2-3 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiYushu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yushu is a devout Kham-Tibetan town on the roof of China, guarding the sources of Asia's greatest rivers.
2-3 days Explore
Northwest - QinghaiHaixi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Haixi is the vast Qaidam Basin, where mirror-like salt lakes and eerie Yardang badlands draw photographers.
2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiTongchuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tongchuan is a Loess-Plateau city revered as the home of the 'King of Medicine' and of Yaozhou celadon ware.
1 day Explore
Central - ShaanxiBaoji
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baoji holds the Famen Temple relic and the finest hoard of early Chinese bronzes, below towering Mount Taibai.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiXianyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xianyang was the Qin capital and is now a vast open-air museum of Han and Tang imperial tombs.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiWeinan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Weinan is the base for Mount Hua, China's most vertiginous sacred peak, and the shrine of historian Sima Qian.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiYan'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yan'an was the wartime Communist capital, a loess city of cave homes near the roaring Hukou Waterfall.
1-2 days ExploreHanzhong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hanzhong is a green basin south of the Qinling, tied to Zhuge Liang and the birthplace of the Han dynasty's name.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiYulin (Shaanxi)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yulin in Shaanxi guards the northern Great Wall frontier where the Loess Plateau meets the Mu Us desert.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiAnkang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ankang is a mild Han-River city in the Qinling-Bashan mountains, known for tea, selenium water and river scenery.
1-2 days Explore
Central - ShaanxiShangluo
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shangluo is a forested Qinling gateway of limestone canyons on the old road linking Shaanxi to the Central Plains.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongZibo
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zibo was the capital of the ancient Qi state and is now nationally famous for its sizzling Zibo barbecue.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongZaozhuang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zaozhuang rebuilt Taierzhuang, a canal town destroyed in a pivotal 1938 battle, into a glittering water city.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongDongying
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dongying is the oil city built where the Yellow River finally spills into the sea across a growing bird-rich delta.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongYantai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yantai is a wine-and-seafood coast famous for the mirage-haunted Penglai Pavilion and its island scenery.
2 days Explore
East - ShandongWeifang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Weifang is the world capital of kites and keeps the beautifully preserved old prefecture city of Qingzhou.
1-2 days ExploreJining
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jining is the home of Confucius, whose temple, family mansion and forest at Qufu are a World Heritage complex.
2 days Explore
East - ShandongTai'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tai'an exists to serve Mount Tai, the emperors' holiest mountain, climbed by a great stone stairway to the summit.
2 days Explore
East - ShandongWeihai
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Weihai is a clean, green Shandong-tip seaport whose Liugong Island recalls the ill-fated Qing Beiyang Fleet.
2 days Explore
East - ShandongRizhao
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Rizhao, whose name means 'sunshine', is a young Yellow Sea beach and port city south of Qingdao.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongLinyi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Linyi is a huge commerce city at the foot of Meng Mountain, home town of China's 'Sage of Calligraphy' Wang Xizhi.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongDezhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dezhou is a Grand Canal city famous for its aromatic braised chicken and the tomb of a 15th-century Sulu king.
1 day Explore
East - ShandongLiaocheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liaocheng is a 'water city' whose old town sits on an island ringed by the broad Dongchang Lake.
1-2 days Explore
East - ShandongBinzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Binzhou lies on the lower Yellow River and honours the military strategist Sun Tzu, said to hail from the area.
1 day Explore
East - ShandongHeze
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Heze is China's peony capital, exploding into colour each spring, and a land steeped in Water Margin legend.
1-2 days Explore
North - ShanxiYangquan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yangquan guards the Niangziguan pass, a Great Wall gate defended in legend by Princess Pingyang's women's army.
1 day Explore
North - ShanxiChangzhi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Changzhi sits high on the Shangdang plateau amid the Taihang canyons and China's densest cluster of ancient wooden halls.
1-2 days ExploreJincheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jincheng is known for Huangcheng Xiangfu, the fortified manor of a Qing prime minister, in the southern Taihang.
1-2 days Explore
North - ShanxiShuozhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shuozhou's treasure is the Yingxian Pagoda, a nine-century-old all-timber tower built without a single nail.
1-2 days ExploreJinzhong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jinzhong is the land of the Shanxi merchant princes, whose vast courtyard compounds inspired Raise the Red Lantern.
2 days ExploreYuncheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yuncheng honours the war-god Guan Yu at China's grandest Guandi temple, beside a pink-and-green mineral salt lake.
1-2 days ExploreXinzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xinzhou is the base for Mount Wutai, the holiest of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains, and Yanmen Pass.
2 days Explore
North - ShanxiLinfen
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Linfen claims the capital of the legendary sage-king Yao and shares the mighty Hukou Waterfall with Shaanxi.
1-2 days Explore
North - ShanxiLuliang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Luliang is a rugged loess range whose Qikou was once a bustling Yellow River trading port.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanZigong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zigong is China's 'dinosaur and salt capital', famous for a giant fossil site and a dazzling winter lantern show.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanPanzhihua
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Panzhihua is a warm, sunny steel city in Sichuan's far south where the Jinsha River carves through dry valleys.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanLuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Luzhou is a Yangtze wine city whose four-century-old distilling cellars still make one of China's classic baijius.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanDeyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Deyang holds Sanxingdui, whose astonishing bronze masks reveal a mysterious lost Bronze-Age civilisation.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanMianyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Mianyang, China's 'science city', is the boyhood home of the Tang poet Li Bai and a gateway to Qiang minority country.
1-2 days ExploreGuangyuan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Guangyuan guards the dramatic Jianmen Pass of the Shu Road and is the birthplace of empress Wu Zetian.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanSuining
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Suining is a central-Sichuan city revered as a pilgrimage centre for the bodhisattva Guanyin.
1 day Explore
Southwest - SichuanNeijiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Neijiang, the 'sweet city' of sugar cane, is the home town of the great modern painter Zhang Daqian.
1 day Explore
Southwest - SichuanLeshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Leshan is home to the colossal Tang-dynasty riverside Buddha and lies at the foot of sacred Mount Emei.
2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanNanchong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nanchong's jewel is Langzhong, one of China's four best-preserved ancient cities, on a bend of the Jialing River.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanMeishan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Meishan celebrates the Su family — Su Xun and his sons Su Shi and Su Zhe — three giants of Song literature.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanYibin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yibin, where the Min and Jinsha rivers form the Yangtze, is famed for its bamboo sea and Wuliangye liquor.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanGuang'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Guang'an is the home town of Deng Xiaoping, with a large memorial park at his birthplace village.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanDazhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dazhou is an eastern-Sichuan city of Ba-culture heritage below the deep gorges of the Bashan mountains.
1 day Explore
Southwest - SichuanYa'an
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ya'an is a rainy tea-and-panda city, home to a major panda reserve and the mountain where tea was first cultivated.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanBazhong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bazhong is a mountainous northeastern city of Tang Buddhist cliff sculpture and revolutionary base memorials.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanZiyang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ziyang is famed for the Anyue grottoes, one of China's greatest and least-known troves of cliff-carved Buddhas.
1 day Explore
Southwest - SichuanAba (Ngawa)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Aba (Ngawa) holds Sichuan's scenic crown jewels, Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong, amid Tibetan and Qiang highlands.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanGarze (Ganzi)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ganzi (Kham) is deep Tibetan Sichuan, from the sacred peaks of Yading to the horse-festival grasslands of Litang.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - SichuanLiangshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Liangshan is China's largest Yi autonomous prefecture, launching satellites at Xichang and celebrating the fiery Torch Festival.
2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanQujing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qujing, on eastern Yunnan's plateau, boasts the terraced Jiulong waterfalls and the source of the Pearl River.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanYuxi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Yuxi is a lake-country city on deep, blue Fuxian Lake and the home of anthem composer Nie Er.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanBaoshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Baoshan is western Yunnan's old Silk-Road town, gateway to Tengchong's volcanic springs and the Heshun heritage village.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanZhaotong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhaotong is a cool highland city in Yunnan's northeast, wintering ground of the rare black-necked crane.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanPu'er
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Pu'er gives its name to China's most famous fermented tea and holds the UNESCO-listed old tea forests of Jingmai.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanLincang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Lincang is a Pu'er-tea heartland on the Mekong, home to ancient tea trees and the thatched Wa village of Wengding.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanChuxiong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Chuxiong is a Yi prefecture of eroded earth-forest pillars and a rich dinosaur fossil valley at Lufeng.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanHonghe
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Honghe holds the breathtaking Yuanyang Hani rice terraces and the well-preserved old town of Jianshui.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanWenshan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wenshan is a Zhuang-and-Miao karst prefecture whose Puzhehei lakes and hidden Bamei valley feel like a lost paradise.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanXishuangbanna
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Xishuangbanna is tropical Dai country on the Mekong, land of rainforests, wild elephants and the water-splashing festival.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanDehong
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Dehong is a Dai-and-Jingpo tropical prefecture on the Myanmar frontier, rich in golden Buddhist stupas and jade trade.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanNujiang
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nujiang follows the wild Salween through one of China's deepest canyons, home to the Lisu, Nu and Dulong peoples.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - YunnanDiqing (Shangri-La)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Diqing (Shangri-La) is Yunnan's Tibetan highland, where a great monastery, alpine lakes and the holy peak of Meili meet.
2-3 days Explore
East - ZhejiangNingbo
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ningbo is an ancient trading port keeping the 450-year-old Tianyi Ge library and the Buddhist Xuedou Mountain nearby.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangWenzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Wenzhou, cradle of China's private entrepreneurs, sits below the peaks and waterfalls of the Yandang Mountains.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangJiaxing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jiaxing holds two of China's loveliest water towns, Wuzhen and Xitang, and the founding 'Red Boat' on South Lake.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangHuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Huzhou lies on Lake Tai's south shore, home to the elegant Nanxun canal town and the cool retreat of Moganshan.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangShaoxing
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shaoxing is a canal city of yellow rice-wine, black-awning boats and the home town of writer Lu Xun.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangJinhua
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Jinhua, land of the famous ham, is home to the vast Hengdian film studios and the Zhuge clan's eight-trigram village.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangQuzhou
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Quzhou keeps the Confucius family's southern temple and the soaring red-rock ridges of Jianglang Mountain.
1-2 days ExploreZhoushan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Zhoushan is an archipelago city whose Putuoshan is the island paradise of the bodhisattva Guanyin.
2-3 days Explore
East - ZhejiangTaizhou (Zhejiang)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Taizhou in Zhejiang holds Buddhist Tiantai Mountain and Linhai's dramatic Ming-era hilltop city wall.
1-2 days Explore
East - ZhejiangLishui
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Lishui is Zhejiang's green mountain interior, land of misty rice terraces, ancient villages and photogenic cliffs.
2 days ExploreShigatse
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shigatse is Tibet's second city, home to the vast Tashilhunpo Monastery and the road to Everest Base Camp.
2 days Explore
Southwest - TibetShannan (Lhoka)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Shannan (Lhoka) is the cradle of Tibetan civilisation, holding its first palace, first monastery and holy Yamdrok Lake.
2 days Explore
Southwest - TibetNyingchi
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nyingchi is 'Tibet's Jiangnan', a green, low valley of peach blossom, deep canyons and the sacred Namcha Barwa peak.
2-3 days Explore
Southwest - TibetQamdo (Chamdo)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Qamdo (Changdu) is eastern Kham Tibet, where three great rivers run in parallel gorges past glacier lakes.
2 days Explore
Southwest - TibetNagqu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Nagqu is the vast northern Changtang grassland, home to holy Lake Namtso and a famous summer horse festival.
1-2 days Explore
Southwest - TibetNgari
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ngari is far-western Tibet, the pilgrimage roof of the world around holy Mount Kailash and the lost Guge kingdom.
3-4 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangKaramay
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Karamay is China's pioneer oil city, ringed by the eerie wind-carved 'Ghost City' rock formations.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangTurpan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Turpan is a scorching Silk-Road oasis of ruined cities, grape trellises and the Journey-to-the-West Flaming Mountains.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangHami
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hami is the eastern gateway to Xinjiang, famed for its sweet melons and the tombs of its Muslim kings.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangChangji
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Changji is a Hui prefecture ringed by the Tian Shan, home to the alpine Heavenly Lake below Bogda Peak.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangBortala
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bortala is a Mongol prefecture on the Kazakh border, centred on the deep-blue alpine Sayram Lake.
2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangBayingolin
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Bayingol is China's largest prefecture, spanning Bosten Lake, the Tarim poplar forests and the Taklamakan's edge.
2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangAksu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Aksu is an ancient Silk-Road oasis whose red Tianshan canyons and Kizil Buddhist caves recall the Kucha kingdom.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangKizilsu
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Kizilsu is a Kyrgyz prefecture on the Pamir, where Karakul Lake mirrors the ice giant Muztagh Ata.
2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangKashgar
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Kashgar is the soul of the southern Silk Road, an ancient Uyghur city of mud-brick lanes, mosques and bazaars.
2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangHotan
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Hotan is the fabled jade and silk oasis on the southern Taklamakan rim, its rivers still panned for river jade.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangIli (Yining)
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Ili (Yining) is a lush Kazakh valley of world-class grasslands, apricot forests and Provence-like lavender fields.
2-3 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangTacheng
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Tacheng is a green multi-ethnic border prefecture on the Kazakh frontier, known for its parks and mild valley climate.
1-2 days Explore
Northwest - XinjiangAltay
Planning reference only — verify current local conditions, opening rules, transport, food, safety requirements and provider information before travel. Altay in the far north holds China's most beautiful lake, Kanas, amid Siberian forests and Tuvan and Kazakh villages.
2-3 days Explore