r/chinaexplorer

I’ve been thinking about this after reading a lot of China itineraries here.

For a first trip, I often see something like:

Beijing → Xi’an → Chengdu → Shanghai → maybe Guilin or Zhangjiajie

And honestly, I understand why.

If you’ve flown halfway around the world and you may not return to China for years, it makes sense to want variety.

At the same time, China is so large that changing regions can completely change the experience.

A week in Gansu, for example, can move from Buddhist cave art in Dunhuang to desert landscapes, Great Wall frontier history, colorful mountains in Zhangye, and completely different local food and culture along the way.

But that also means giving up somewhere else.

So I’m curious how people here think about this.

If you had 14 days for your first China trip, would you rather:

A. See 4–5 major destinations and get a broad overview

or

B. See 2–3 places and spend more time in each region

I don’t think either answer is wrong.

For some travelers, a first trip is about discovering which parts of China they want to return to.

For others, constantly packing and changing hotels makes the trip less enjoyable.

Personally, I think the hardest part of planning China is not deciding what to add.

It’s deciding what you’re willing to leave out.

What would you choose?

I and 2 friends are visiting China throughout the month of December, we will be staying over Christmas and one of my friends is hoping to stay in a nice chill place that hopefully has things like snow and nice scenery (basically a break from the bigger cities) and those kinds of things.

The problem is that we will be in North by then (not as far as Manchuria but mostly around Beijing), and I know that it is quite dry so not heaps of snow and I'm not sure if I will be able to find something that fits his image. If there is any places you recommend or even if you recommend taking a detour to somewhere as long as it's worth it, any recommendations are appreciated.