China Travel Guide
China is less a country than a continent — 4,000 years of continuous civilisation spread across deserts, river deltas, karst mountains and megacities, with a cuisine that changes completely every few hundred kilometres.
The scale is the first thing to reckon with. China spans five geographic time zones while officially keeping one, holds more than 100 cities of over a million people, and contains 56 recognised ethnic groups. No single trip covers it — the art is in choosing well.
Travel has become dramatically easier. The high-speed rail network is the largest on earth and has turned journeys that once took days into a matter of hours, while the hotel industry at the upper end now rivals anywhere in Asia.
Explore our China Tour Packages to see how we build a coherent route through it.
Where to Go in China
A first visit usually threads Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai — the "Golden Triangle" — then adds one wildcard: a panda base, a karst landscape, or a river cruise. Two weeks covers it well.
Beijing & the North
Beijing is the political and cultural capital and the natural starting point. The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the world, nearly 1,000 buildings behind vermilion walls. Tiananmen Square sits directly south; the Temple of Heaven is the finest Ming religious architecture in the country; the Summer Palace offers a lake, a long painted corridor and a marble boat.
And then the Great Wall:
- Badaling — the restored, most crowded section
- Mutianyu — balances access and atmosphere
- Jinshanling and Simatai — wilder, partly unrestored walking that most travellers actually want
Beijing's hutong alleyways, best explored on foot or by pedicab, hold the older courtyard city that the towers have not yet replaced.
The Ancient Capital
Xi'an is where most itineraries find their historical centre of gravity. Eastern terminus of the Silk Road and capital across 13 dynasties, it's home to the Terracotta Army — some 8,000 individually modelled warriors buried to guard China's first emperor, and among the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries ever made.
The city retains its complete Ming-era walls, cyclable in a 14-kilometre circuit, along with the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and a Muslim Quarter whose night market is one of the great eating streets in Asia.
Shanghai & the Yangtze Delta
Shanghai is the counterweight to Beijing — commercial, cosmopolitan and relentlessly modern. The Bund presents a curve of 1920s European banking houses facing the science-fiction skyline of Pudong across the river; behind it sit the plane-tree avenues and Art Deco villas of the French Concession, and the classical Yuyuan Garden in the old city.
Nearby, Zhujiajiao is the most accessible of the classic canal towns: stone bridges, whitewashed houses and boat traffic on narrow waterways. Suzhou is famous for its UNESCO-listed classical gardens and silk, and Hangzhou for West Lake — the most celebrated landscape in Chinese art and poetry, ringed by tea plantations producing Longjing green tea.
Sichuan & the Southwest
Chengdu is the most relaxed of China's major cities — teahouses, parks and mahjong tables — and the base for visiting the giant panda breeding centres, best in the early morning at feeding time. It's also the gateway to the Sichuan mountains, the giant Buddha at Leshan, and the road toward Tibet and Lhasa, which requires a permit and additional planning.
Further south, Guilin and Yangshuo deliver the karst landscape that appears on the 20-yuan note — limestone towers along the Li River, best seen by bamboo raft or bicycle. Yunnan province offers the old towns of Lijiang and Dali, rice terraces at Yuanyang, and the greatest ethnic diversity in the country.
The Yangtze & the Wild Interior
A Yangtze cruise through the Three Gorges, typically running between Chongqing and Yichang over three or four nights, remains one of the classic China journeys. Further inland, Zhangjiajie in Hunan provides the towering sandstone pillars that inspired the floating mountains of Avatar, and Huangshan (the Yellow Mountains) offers the granite peaks and wind-shaped pines of a thousand ink paintings.
The Tropical South
Haikou on Hainan Island is China's beach destination — palm-lined, subtropical, with volcanic parks inland and a colonial arcade district downtown, alongside the resort strip at Sanya. It's a genuine change of pace at the end of a culturally dense itinerary.
Best Time to Visit China
- Spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are the best windows nearly everywhere — mild, drier and clear — though the first week of October should be avoided entirely (Golden Week).
- Summer (June–August) is hot and humid across the east and centre, with genuinely punishing heat in the "furnace cities" of the Yangtze, but it's the only sensible time for Tibet, Xinjiang and the far northwest.
- Winter (November–March) is bitterly cold in the north — Beijing sits well below freezing — and mild in the south. It brings the fewest crowds, the sharpest prices, a clear-skied Great Wall, and Harbin's ice festival.
- Two periods to plan around, not during: Chinese New Year (late January/February) and Golden Week (first week of October) — both see transport and hotels book out entirely.
How Many Days Do You Need in China?
Seven days covers the Golden Triangle (Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai) at speed, all connected by high-speed rail. Ten days allows the same route at a sensible pace, with a day trip to Suzhou or Hangzhou. Two weeks adds Chengdu for the pandas and Guilin/Yangshuo for the karst — the itinerary that shows the range of the country rather than just its monuments. Three weeks or more suits a second visit.
Sample Itineraries
- One week: Beijing (3 nights, including the Great Wall) → Xi'an (2 nights, Terracotta Army) → Shanghai (2 nights). All connected by high-speed rail.
- Ten days: The same route at a sensible pace, with a day at Suzhou or Hangzhou from Shanghai and time for Beijing's hutongs and the Summer Palace.
- Two weeks: Beijing → Xi'an → Chengdu (pandas) → Guilin and Yangshuo (karst) → Shanghai to finish.
- Three weeks+: Add a Yangtze cruise through the Three Gorges, Yunnan's old towns and rice terraces, Zhangjiajie, Huangshan, the Silk Road at Dunhuang, or Tibet (requires a permit and its own planning).
Getting Around China
High-speed rail is the default between cities and should be booked ahead:
- Beijing → Xi'an: ~4.5 hours
- Beijing → Shanghai: Under 5 hours
Tickets require passport registration, popular routes sell out well in advance, and stations are enormous — allow time. Domestic flights cover the longer hauls but are more prone to delay.
City metros are excellent, cheap and signed in English in the major cities. China is effectively cashless and runs on mobile payment apps, which now accept foreign cards — arranging these before arrival makes daily life far easier. English is not widely spoken outside hotels, and a guide adds real value.
Where to Stay in China
Chinese hotels at the four- and five-star level are modern, enormous, and often excellent value, with international luxury groups well represented in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an. Standards drop away quickly in smaller cities, so this is a country where booking quality matters.
The characterful options:
- Courtyard hotels in a Beijing hutong — the old city rather than beside a ring road
- Boutique villa conversions in Shanghai's French Concession
- Old-town guesthouses in Yunnan's Lijiang and Dali — atmospheric and cheap
- Riverside lodges beneath the karst in Yangshuo
- Yangtze cruise cabins — cover three or four nights of the itinerary in one booking
What to Eat in China
Chinese food in China bears little resemblance to its export version, and varies enormously by region.
- Sichuan — the boldest cooking: mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, kung pao chicken, and the numbing tingle of the Sichuan peppercorn, often in a bubbling hotpot
- Cantonese — delicate and steam-led; gave the world dim sum and roast meats
- The North — runs on wheat rather than rice: hand-pulled la mian noodles, jiaozi dumplings, and Peking duck carved tableside
- Shanghai — xiaolongbao soup dumplings and a sweeter red-braised style
- Xi'an — roujiamo (often called China's oldest sandwich) and cold liangpi noodles
Tea is a subject in itself — Longjing in Hangzhou, pu-erh in Yunnan.
Festivals and Top Experiences
Major festivals:
- Chinese New Year (late January/February) — the largest annual human migration on the planet; spectacular, but transport and hotels book out entirely and many businesses close for a week
- Lantern Festival — closes the new year period 15 days later, with illuminated displays and sweet rice balls
- Qingming (April) — the tomb-sweeping festival
- Dragon Boat Festival (June) — races and sticky rice dumplings
- Mid-Autumn Festival (September/October) — mooncakes and lantern displays
- Golden Week (first week of October) — domestic tourism peaks; every major site is overwhelmed
- Harbin Ice and Snow Festival (January) — a genuine spectacle in its own right
Top experiences:
- Standing in Pit One before the Terracotta Army
- Walking an unrestored stretch of the Great Wall at Jinshanling
- Watching giant pandas at feeding time in Chengdu, early morning
- A bamboo raft down the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo
- Riding a high-speed train at 350 km/h between provinces
- A morning in a Chengdu teahouse
- Cycling the Xi'an city walls at dusk — a full 14-kilometre circuit
Shopping in China
China rewards knowing what you want. Tea is the safest and best buy — Longjing in Hangzhou, pu-erh in Yunnan, oolong in Fujian — ideally from a proper tea house where you'll be invited to taste first. Silk in Suzhou and Hangzhou is genuine and excellent, as is porcelain from Jingdezhen and cloisonné from Beijing.
Beijing's Panjiayuan antique market is the great browsing experience, though almost everything is a reproduction and should be bought as such. Shanghai's Tianzifang and Yuyuan bazaar handle gifts, and the fabric market will make a tailored suit or coat in a few days. Bargaining is expected at markets and can be robust — start very low. Note that genuine antiques over a century old cannot legally be exported.
Essential Travel Information
- Visa: Australian passport holders generally require a visa arranged in advance, though transit exemptions apply in some cities and rules change frequently — we confirm requirements for every booking. Tibet requires an additional permit and must be travelled with an organised group.
- Currency: Chinese yuan. Carry your passport — needed for train tickets, hotel check-in and many attractions.
- Connectivity: Many familiar apps and websites are inaccessible on domestic networks. Arrange an international roaming plan or a travel eSIM that routes offshore before you arrive. Download offline maps and a translation app in advance.
- Payments: Mobile payment apps now accept foreign cards and are effectively mandatory — cash is accepted but increasingly awkward, and cards alone won't get you far.
- Water: Tap water should not be drunk; hot water is available everywhere and drinking it is the local habit.
- Etiquette: Tipping is not customary. Queueing conventions differ from Australian norms — this is not rudeness, and patience goes a long way.
- Health: No vaccinations required for standard tourist itineraries, though hepatitis A and typhoid are worth discussing with a travel doctor. Medical care is good in major cities (international clinics in Beijing and Shanghai) but thins considerably in rural areas. Comprehensive insurance including evacuation is advisable for remote areas — Tibet especially, where altitude sickness is a genuine consideration above 3,500 metres.
Ready to plan your trip?
Explore our China Tour Packages, or speak to an Instatrip China consultant about a tailor-made itinerary.
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