How To Plan A China Trip from Beijing - Top Recommendation for 2025/2026

Xian, Pingyao and Luoyang - these three destinations preserve the most authentic culture of China. Xian is the greatest ancient capital of China. It has the world famous Terracotta Warriors. Pingyao Ancient City is the best-preserved ancient city in China. It used to be a financial center for ancient China, and has been called as "The Wall Street of the East". Luoyang not only has the magnificent Longmen Grottoes, but also locates very close to Shaolin Temple, the originated place of Chinese Kung Fu. The most inspiring thing is that there are high speed railways connecting Beijing with Xian, Pingyao and Luoyang. After Beijing tour, you can take a high speed train to Pingyao first where you can stay around 2 days. Then take another high speed bullet train to Xian. In Xian, you will stay around 2 days, then take another bullet train to Luoyang to visit Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple.

If you visit China for the first time, and have one week to spend in China, Shanghai is the best place to go after Beijing. It won't let you down no matter you are looking for a fashionable mega experience, a family holiday to Disney Resort, a gourmet tour, contrast of Western culture and Eastern culture, an interesting discover of China's water town, or just planning to spend several days hanging around during a business trip. There are nearly 50 high speed trains, 60 flights departing from Beijing to Shanghai every day.

If time allows, make a stop at Xian during your Beijing Shanghai tour as Beijing + Xian + Shanghai is the famous China Golden Triangle destination, which is very popular among first timers.

Visiting the Panda, even volunteering in a panda base near Chengdu is once in a life time experience on most travellers's bucket list. Chengdu is located in southwest of China, only about 3 hours flight or 8 hours high speed bullet trains from Beijing. But we advise you to make a stop in Xian instead of leaving for Chengdu directly from Beijing so that you have a chance to discover the world famous Terracotta Warriors and enjoy some tasty local snacks.

Yangtze River Cruise might be the most leisure and comfortable way to explore China, strongly recommended for families, seniors and those wanting holidays. There are several well-reputed cruise companies operating both downstream cruise and upstream cruise, including American-run Victoria Cruises, luxurious Century Cruises, cost-efficient domestic President Cruises and Gold Cruise. Most ship provided are 5-star, with cozy cabins with balconies, sun decks, swimming pools, bars, western buffet, drink, etc. The Yangtze River section between Chongqing and Yichang is the most suitable for a cruise. It provides not only good accessibility for big ships, but also many wonderful things to do and see, such as the magnificent Three Gorges, world's biggest water project – Three Gorges Dam, Shibaozhai Pagoda (one of World 8 Strange Constructions), etc. We advise you take the downstream cruise from Chongqing to Yichang, which is more valuable.

Visiting destinations like Beijing and Xian only let you discover the most highlighting part of China's culture, you haven't unlocked another door of China – the door to China's unique nature. After the cultural experience, we strongly advise you to extend your trip to Guilin and Zhangjiajie. They may not be the two most beautiful places in China, but definitely two of 10 most beautiful places in China. We are recommending Zhangjiajie and Guilin because they are bests of their types, more importantly there can be connected with Beijing by efficient flights. He we advise you follow the classic itinerary: Beijing / Xian / Guilin / Zhangjiajie / Shanghai.

Beijing is one of the major gateways to Tibet. It has a daily train and several direct flights to Lhasa, the biggest city in Tibet, but to be frank that it is not very easy to get to Tibet as the holy land is more than 3600km (2236mi) away from Beijing. The fastest flight needs about nearly 5 hours to get to Lhasa, while the train even takes about 40 hours to arrive at Lhasa. But all your time and effort will be worthy when you standing in front of the grandiose Potala Palace in Lhasa, or walking up to Rongbuk Monastery on Mount Everest. Generally speaking, a Tibet tour needs about 4~15 days, depending on your time and budget. If you are looking for a short stay in Tibet to experience its unique, you can spend 4~5 days exploring Lhasa and Namtso. If you have more time, take the classic route to Mount Everest, which can be done in 8 days with Lhasa.

It seems that the Silk Road is starting to revive as China, Middle Asia and Europe are promoting and developing the "One Belt One Road". If you like, you can even travel from Beijing along the ancient Silk Road through Middle Asia to get to Europe from Beijing. Here we only focus on the section of Silk Road in China which is also the most important and legendary section of Silk Road in the world. There are so many places to see – Xian, the starting point of Silk Road; Zhangye, where the Danxia Rainbow Mountains locate; Jiayuguan, the western end of Great Wall; Dunhuang, the brightest star on the Silk Road; Kashigar, ancient bazaar of more than 2000 years old… Today, you can even take a high speed bullet train to travel along the Silk Road!

Looking for diversity of both China's culture and nature? Huangshan and Hangzhou should be on the top of the list. Quite different from Beijing, Hangzhou embodies the unique charm of southern China cities – prosperous, elegant, artistic and romantic. Marco Polo described Hangzhou as "the heavenly city" in his travel journal. The city is famous for West Lake, stylish food, tea culture and watertowns of Wuzhen and Xitang. While Huangshan, also known as the Yellow Mountain, is widely believed as the most beautiful mountains in China. It is only about 1.5 hours high speed train ride from Hangzhou. The mountain has Five Wonders: odd-shaped pines, spectacular rocky peaks, sea of clouds, hot spring and winter snow. Usually, one need about 3~4 days to have Huangshan tour.