Looking for help sorting out my first trip to China
Hello everybody! I've come out with a plan for my first trip to China. I'm kindly looking for some help because I am pretty sure that is too packed.
This is a 16-night trip in late August / early September. Note that the last night technically ends with a post-midnight departure, so the final day is essentially a travel day.
I feel the itinerary is getting tight, and I'm worried that having two domestic flights adds more stress than it seems on paper, once you factor in door-to-door time. I also realize in hindsight that it would have made more sense to fly into Shenzhen or Hong Kong and end the trip in Beijing – but it's too late to change that now.
I added Guilin and Longji mainly for the rice terraces, which I was keen to see. I originally considered Longjing tea fields but dropped them after reading that the season wouldn't be ideal. I also added Guiling to add another landscape/nature stop on top of Zhangjiajie.
I'm open to dropping either Guilin or Hong Kong and saving one of them for a future trip, if that would make the overall flow smoother. Any thoughts or suggestions are very welcome – thank you!
| Day | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thu | Arrive Beijing | Landing at 2:45 AM local time |
| Fri | Beijing | |
| Sat | Beijing | |
| Sun | Beijing | |
| Mon | Beijing → Xi'an | 4h 30m by train |
| Tue | Xi'an | |
| Wed | Xi'an → Zhangjiajie | 1h 30m by flight |
| Thu | Zhangjiajie | |
| Fri | Zhangjiajie | |
| Sat | Zhangjiajie → Fenghuang | 1h by train |
| Sun | Fenghuang → Guilin | 6h by train |
| Mon | Guilin | Day trip to Longji Rice Terraces |
| Tue | Guilin → Hong Kong | 3h 30m by train |
| Wed | Hong Kong | |
| Thu | Hong Kong → Shanghai | 2h 30m by flight |
| Fri | Shanghai | |
| Sat | Shanghai | |
| Sun | Fly home from Shanghai | Departure at 00:40 AM |