China Travel Forum

This is my proposed itinerary for 29 days...

Beijing - Pingyao - Xian - Chengdu - Kunming - Lijiang - Kunming - Guilin - Yangshuo - Wuhan - Shanghai - Tai Shan - Beijing

does anyone think that this is impossible i.e. to much in too little time.

Id appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks in advance to all those on the China forum, everyone has been very helpful and super quick.

Hi Mathew,
Personally I think you will be a bit rushed (with lots of travel hours) but hard to know as you dont say how you propose travelling. I did similar -without Chengdu, Wuhan and Tai Shan but including Dali and Walking Tiger Leaping Gorge.... total 31 days and included about 5 flights to save time. I am guessing that you are merely transiting Kunming each time - given other site you pick not much of inteterest there (imho)with your limited time.

Under no circumstances should you leave out Pingyao even though it is a bit of pain in the ##$ to get into and out off. I also greatly enjoyed Tiger Leaping Gorge - not obviously on your plan unless you have allocated at least a week to Lijiang.

Happy to happy any other questions you may have.

Albert

Let's check the numbers:

Beijing 3
Pingyao 2
Xi'an 2
Chengdu 3
Kunming 2
Lijiang 3
Kunming 1
Guilin 2
Yangshuo 3
Wuhan 2
Shanghai 3
Tai Shan 2
Beijing 1

Yep, that's 29 days. It's going to be rather tight though. I would delete Wuhan, especially if you thought you might have time to include the 3 Gorges there.

Just came back from Yunnan;

thought Lijiang itself was quite fun for eating/drinking, but otherwise rather uninteresting due to extremely touristy.
2/3 days trekking in TLG however I thought was a highlight! If you want to do this, best count in 4 nights between the Kunming-Lijiang-Kunming flights, 2 at the Gorge and 2 in Lijiang.

D1:the Forbidden City, Beijing;
D2:Mutianyu or Badalin Great Wall, Beijing;
D3:Beihai Park, Temple of Heaven,Yonghe Lamasery, Beijing, night train N201 to Taiyuan, ShanXi Province;
D4:Taiyuan-Pingyao,visit some compound such as Qiao's compound, ancient street;
D5:Pingyao-Taiyuan, Taiyuan-Xian by night train L69;
D6:visit Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xian;
D7:visit Terra-cotta Warriors, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Xian;
D8:city sightseeing, Xian-Chengdu by air or by train K5 or 2119;
D9:visit Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, Wuhou Memorial Temple;
D10:Chengdu-Jiuzhaigou by bus, accommodate by Jiuzhaigou National Park;
D11:visit Jiuzhaigou National Park, you may get the next day free admission excluding three national long holidays ;
D12:morning bus to Huanglong, world natural heritage site, leave Huanglong late afternoon for Songpan or Chuanzhusi;
D13: morning bus to Chengdu, get off at Dujiangyan;
D14:visit Dujiangyan Irrigation Project, another world heritage, afternoon bus to Chengdu;
D15: Sanxingdui (Three-Star Piles) Museum one day tour;
D16: Chengdu-Kunming by train K113 or air;
D17: Stone Forest one day tour;
D18: Dianchi Lake, Kunming-Lijiang by air or bus;
D19: Dayan old town;
D20-24: Shangri-la,Meili Snow Mountain,Tiger Leaping Gorge, have to rent a minivan/taxi/suv sharing with others; the route could be shorten as Tiger Leaping Gorge one day tour including Stone Drum and the First Bend of the Yangtze River;
D25-27: Lugu Lake, renowned for its natural beauty and unique matriarchal society;
D28: Lijiang-Guilin by air via Kunming, Guilin-Yangshuo by bus;
D29: Yulong river rafting,Moon Hill,Big Banyan, and enjoy the show'Impression on Sanjie Liu' in the evening;
D30:Li River Scenery, between Xingping and Yangdi;
D31:Yangshuo-Guilin, city sightseeing, may include Elephant Trunk Hill;
D32:Guilin-Wuhan, Wuhan-Yichang; suppose you would like to visit Three Gorges Dam Project;
D33: Three Gorges Dam Project day tour;
D34:morning train K251 Yichang-Shanghai, next day arrival;
D35: visit Bund, Orient Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai;
D36: Zhouzhuang one day tour,night life at Xintiandi ;
D37: Yu Garden,some shopping,night train T106 for Tai Shan;
D38: visit Tai Shan, accommodate on the peak if sunrise forcasted;
D39: Tai Shan-Qu Fu,visit Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin)and Temple of Confucius (Kong Miao);
D40: Qu Fu-Tai Shan, Tai Shan-Beijing

As your time limited, you have to rearrange your schedule according to above proposed itinerary.
Hopefully it may help.

China is big, Australia is not that for, you might want to consider going this year, and next so you can see more without being rushed.

thanks for all the info guys.

Thanks for the info. on the forum.

Mt intinerary seems a bit rushed according to most. Maybe I should do Beijing - Pingyao - Xian - Leaping Toger Gorge - Guilin - Yangshou - Shanghai - Tai Shan - Beijing. I love the train.(great way to see the countryside)

What do you think? Basically I want to see a few famous sights and also do a couple of mountain treks.

any tips and suggestions would be great.

thanks,
Mat

when do you plan to visit china? it's rather important caz some places might not be suitable to visit during certain period.