Where to Go in China: 12 Destinations for a First Trip

Twelve destinations cover almost every first or second trip to China. For most visitors the shortlist is Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an: three cities, 7–10 days, one high-speed rail corridor. Beijing and Shanghai have their own guides in this section; the other ten make sense once you know how many days you have and which month you are traveling.

Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Sources: Palace Museum ticketing, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, National Immigration Administration, China Railway 12306

Which destinations are worth a first trip to China?

Ranked by what a first trip actually needs: enough to justify the travel time, a clear reason to be there, and logistics a foreign visitor can manage without a tour. Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an lead because they sit on one high-speed corridor and cover the imperial, modern and archaeological versions of the country between them.

Day counts and months are editorial judgement built on the seasonal data in our month-by-month guide, not a visitor survey.

#	Destination	Days needed	Best months	Who it suits	Why skip it
1	Beijing	3–4	Apr–May, Sep–Oct	First-timers; imperial sights and the Great Wall	You want a low-reservation trip — Beijing is the most booking-heavy city here
2	Shanghai	2–3	Mar–May, Sep–Nov	First-timers; modern city, food, the easiest arrival	You came for old China — the historic core is small
3	Xi’an	2	Mar–May, Sep–Oct	Terracotta Warriors, city wall, Muslim Quarter food	You have under a week — the rail leg costs 4h30–6h
4	Chengdu	2–3	Mar–Jun, Sep–Nov	Pandas, teahouses, Sichuan food, a slower pace	Pandas and food are not why you are coming
5	Guilin and Yangshuo	2–3	Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct	Karst scenery, cycling, river trips	You travel in July–August, the hottest and busiest month
6	Zhangjiajie	2–3	Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov	Cliff scenery and serious hiking	Cable-car queues would ruin it for you
7	Yunnan: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang	5–7	Mar–May, Sep–Nov	Slow travel, mountain towns, food	You have only seven days in the country
8	Huangshan	1–2	Apr–May, Sep–Oct (editorial)	Granite peaks, sunrise, stairs	Steps and crowds are a problem
9	Suzhou	1	Mar–May, Sep–Nov	Classical gardens, a day trip from Shanghai	You have already seen classical gardens elsewhere
10	Hangzhou	1–2	Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov	West Lake, tea hills, a day trip from Shanghai	You are in China for 1–7 October
11	Pingyao	1–2	Apr–May, Sep–Oct (editorial)	A walled Ming and Qing town	You are not already travelling through Shanxi
12	Chongqing	1–2	Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov	Night skyline, hotpot, a city built on hills	You travel in July–August

Read the table as a shortlist, not a schedule. Ranks 1–3 are the trip to book if this is your first visit and you have 7–10 days. Ranks 4–7 are the additions that reward a longer second trip. Ranks 8–12 are one- or two-night stops that only work when they already sit on your route, which is why Pingyao and Huangshan come with a routing condition attached.

Two practical constraints shape the list more than taste does. The first is the booking layer: the sights that justify Beijing and Xi’an use real-name reservations released days ahead, so a destination you cannot book is not really available on your dates. The second is cost, which varies more between cities than between hotel classes — check the China travel budget guide before you commit to a five-city plan.

What is the best first-trip route in China?

The route that works for almost every first visit is Beijing, then Xi’an, then Shanghai. Beijing carries the headline sights and the Great Wall, Xi’an the archaeology, Shanghai the easiest ending: good food, an international airport and the shortest transfer to a flight home. Nine days is comfortable; seven is tight but doable.

Give Beijing three nights, Xi’an two and Shanghai two or three. The 7-day itinerary packs exactly that, and the Beijing–Xi’an–Shanghai route guide covers the 9- and 10-day versions with the train sequence.

The legs are the point. Beijing to Xi’an runs about 4h30–6h by G-train, Xi’an to Shanghai about 6h, and Beijing to Shanghai about 4h30; check 12306 for current times before you book hotels. That makes Xi’an the natural middle: going Beijing–Shanghai first and doubling back adds a full day of travel. The train guide explains how to book with a passport.

The Palace Museum requires every visitor to hold a real-name reservation made in advance, one ticket per identity document per visiting day. Peak-season admission is CNY 60 for 1 April–31 October, and off-peak admission is CNY 40. — summarised from the Palace Museum ticketing notice, ticket.dpm.org.cn, accessed 29 October 2026.

The reverse order works too, and ending in the south is slightly cheaper on internal transport. The only real cost is that your international flight home leaves from Beijing rather than Shanghai, so check both before you commit to an open-jaw ticket.

Which destinations should you add on a second trip?

Once the Beijing–Xi’an–Shanghai triangle is done, the second trip is about choosing one region rather than adding more cities. Chengdu and Yunnan are the strongest additions for food and pace, Guilin and Zhangjiajie for landscape, and Suzhou and Hangzhou for anything that can be bolted onto a Shanghai stop.

Addition	Extra days	Why it earns them
Chengdu	2–3	Pandas, teahouses, Sichuan food, a slower daily rhythm
Guilin and Yangshuo	2–3	Li River karst and cycling between villages
Zhangjiajie	2–3	Sandstone pillars, cable cars and long hiking days
Yunnan	5–7	Kunming, Dali and Lijiang; altitude and distance need time
Huangshan	1–2	One night on the mountain for sunrise
Suzhou and Hangzhou	1–2 each	Both work as day trips or overnights from Shanghai
Pingyao	1–2	An overnight in a walled town on a Shanxi routing

Tibet is deliberately not in this table. It needs a permit arranged through an operator and current rules change, so confirm the position with an official source before you plan any Tibetan leg. The same caution applies to any destination that requires a guide: check, then book.

How many cities can you fit into how many days?

The working rule is one city per three days, with every transfer between cities costing half a day door to door. That makes two cities comfortable in five days, three in seven to nine, four in ten to twelve, and five or six only on a two-week trip with at least one internal flight.

Days	Cities	What it looks like
5	2	Beijing plus Shanghai, or Beijing plus Xi’an, with one transfer
7	3	Beijing 3, Xi’an 2, Shanghai 2 — the classic route
10	4	Add Chengdu or Guilin and Yangshuo
14	5–6	Add Yunnan or Zhangjiajie and keep two nights per stop

Use trains for the Beijing–Xi’an–Shanghai corridor and fly only when a rail leg passes roughly five hours, which is why Yunnan and Guilin usually start with a flight. Never book a same-day international connection behind a domestic train: leave a night in the departure city, because a cancelled service can cost you the flight. The itineraries hub maps each option to a day count.

How was this ranking built?

Three tests, applied in order: does the destination justify the days it costs, can a foreign visitor do it without a tour, and does it hold up in the months most people travel? The ranking is editorial judgement, not a survey, and it moves with the season: a city that ranks fifth in April can be twelfth in August.

The months come from the seasonal data in our best-time-to-visit guide, which lists regional best months, the four domestic holiday peaks and the 2026 dates to avoid. Ticket and reservation rules, where stated, come from the official booking channel rather than from resale sites. Where a fact is not in our verified source file, the page points to the official site instead of guessing.

When should you go, and does the season change the list?

April to May and September to October are the reliable windows for most of the country, and this ranking assumes them. Avoid 1–7 October and the 2026 Chinese New Year week of 15–23 February: transport and hotels fill first, and the headline reservation slots sell out. July and August are hot in the big cities and crowded with domestic family travel.

Season changes the order more than the shortlist. Guilin and Yunnan are at their best in spring and autumn, and the mountain destinations are the ones to check before booking, because winter conditions can affect access and paths — confirm on the official site. Shanghai’s early summer is the one stretch inside the best-months window that you may want to dodge. If your dates are fixed by school holidays, pick the region rather than the city: the month-by-month guide is the page to read next.

FAQ

How many days do you need for a first trip to China?

Seven to ten days is the usable range: three nights in Beijing, two in Xi’an and two to three in Shanghai, joined by high-speed trains. Fewer than seven days and one city has to go; more than ten and you can add a fourth destination without spending the whole trip in transit.

Is five days enough for China?

Five days covers two cities, not three. Beijing plus Shanghai by high-speed train is the standard choice, with one transfer day. You will see the headline sights and nothing else, so treat it as a first taste rather than a full trip and skip the Great Wall day if you want to keep the pace human.

Should you visit Beijing or Shanghai first?

Beijing first is slightly better on a multi-city trip: it is the more demanding city for bookings and the Great Wall needs a full day early in the trip. Shanghai works better as an ending, because it is easier to navigate and closer to a comfortable flight home from Pudong or Hongqiao.

Do you need a tour to visit these destinations?

No. Every destination here can be done independently with a passport, a payment app and advance reservations. What catches independent travellers is the booking layer, not the language: the headline sights use real-name slots released days ahead, so read the official channel for each sight before you leave home.