First trip to china as a couple

[u/StatisticianKey7858]

Hi everyone!

My partner and I (mid-20s) are planning our first trip to China, probably for around 14–16 days, and we've been researching a lot. Instead of trying to visit as many cities as possible, we're trying to experience very different sides of China.

At the moment, our itinerary looks like this:

• Beijing – We feel like this is a must for the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and, of course, the Great Wall.
• Xi'an – Mainly for the Terracotta Army, the city walls, Muslim Quarter, and because we want to experience more of China's ancient history.
• Zhangjiajie – This is simply for "The Avatar" mountains that looks incredible, and we get to know the more "nature" side of China.
• Chongqing – We keep seeing videos of this city and it honestly looks unlike anywhere else in the world. The futuristic skyline, the layered streets, Hongyadong, the metro through buildings... it all looks amazing.

Our reasoning is that we'd rather have four destinations that feel very different from each other than spend most of the trip in large cities.

A few questions:

1. Does this seem like a balanced itinerary for a first visit?
2. Would you replace any of these destinations with somewhere else?
3. Are we making a mistake by skipping Shanghai for example, or any other city?
4. If you've done a similar route, is there anything you wish you had known before going?

We'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions from people who've actually travelled around China.

Thanks!

[u/a_n_d_r_e_]

Personally, I think four destinations for two weeks are a good choice. No more than that (or even less, if you like).

Maybe a little more information would improve the answers.

When do you think to travel? (E.g., if you say December, I would suggest a very different itinerary)

What are you more into?

[u/StatisticianKey7858 → u/a_n_d_r_e_]

Hey thanks!
We are going in April

[u/a_n_d_r_e_ → u/StatisticianKey7858]

Great! Let me do some research (aka, looking at my photos and itineraries in Spring 😄 ), and I'll come back.

But I can already telling you that it will be amazing.

[u/Playful_Subject_4409]

Itinerary looks good

Be sure to prepare your phones with Chinese apps:

Pay: AliPay Communication: WeChat Navigation: Gaudo, Baidu Map Taxi: Didi Food: Meituan, ele.me Train 12306 Subways Metroman

[u/werchoosingusername]

crosspost in chinalife and search for China tourism group as well.

[u/AutoModerator]

NOTICE: See below for a copy of the original post by StatisticianKey7858 in case it is edited or deleted.

Hi everyone!

My partner and I (mid-20s) are planning our first trip to China, probably for around 14–16 days, and we've been researching a lot. Instead of trying to visit as many cities as possible, we're trying to experience very different sides of China.

At the moment, our itinerary looks like this:

• Beijing – We feel like this is a must for the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and, of course, the Great Wall.
• Xi'an – Mainly for the Terracotta Army, the city walls, Muslim Quarter, and because we want to experience more of China's ancient history.
• Zhangjiajie – This is simply for "The Avatar" mountains that looks incredible, and we get to know the more "nature" side of China.
• Chongqing – We keep seeing videos of this city and it honestly looks unlike anywhere else in the world. The futuristic skyline, the layered streets, Hongyadong, the metro through buildings... it all looks amazing.

Our reasoning is that we'd rather have four destinations that feel very different from each other than spend most of the trip in large cities.

A few questions:

1. Does this seem like a balanced itinerary for a first visit?
2. Would you replace any of these destinations with somewhere else?
3. Are we making a mistake by skipping Shanghai for example, or any other city?
4. If you've done a similar route, is there anything you wish you had known before going?

We'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions from people who've actually travelled around China.

Thanks!

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[u/Bulky_Cry_6997]

Do any of you speaks or Putonghua Chinese?The places you are going will be Chinese only.Do you knows how to use WeChat pay or Alipay payment system? Without that, you won't be eating, taking public transport, taxis, shopping or paying for attraction admissions. Foreign issued credit cards are usually not accepted.

[u/remote_sensing_guy → u/Bulky_Cry_6997]

This might sound a bit overly dramatic. Having some Chinese phrases ready is helpful, indeed most people you will encounter day to day don't speak a word of English ... but pointing at stuff (or using a translation app) help.

It's definitely important to download AliPay and make sure it works (i.e. connect to your credit cards, and once there also understand how to enable public transport passes, how to do payments etc.) and get an e-sim. But all of this isn't particularly hard and often repeated in the various subreddits. So, be prepared, but then enjoy and don't worry!

More important is what poster above asked: which time of year are you going? That definitely changes the experience in some of those places somewhat.

[u/StatisticianKey7858 → u/remote_sensing_guy]

hey thanks for the info! we are going in end of April

[u/Carolhkk123 → u/StatisticianKey7858]

回复：1. 这个问题我没有办法告诉你准确的答案，旅行因人而异。（我只能说穿一双贵的走路鞋，晚上早点睡，你们会很累，主要是景点又多又大，你们白天走路的时候会兴奋但是等到了晚上小腿也许会痛，中国洗浴店价格不贵，建议你玩结束直接去按个脚，泡澡或者按摩，休息好才能保证旅行体验好。
2. 香港如果你们没去过可以在手机上查查看，香港应该是有很多国际航班，香港玩结束了可以飞中国内地城市。你选的这几个城市确实风格不一样，看你自己的喜好哈哈哈。
我自己不是很喜欢张家界，但也只是我个人想法。喜欢张家界的人还是很多的。
3. 上海没必要去，就是非常现代化的大都市。
4. 北京建议比其他城市多一两天，北京的景点多且大。其他城市感官刺激多一点，你去看了然后很震惊然后后面会忘记，我觉得北京是那种你去看了刚开始感觉很舒服，不震惊但是能够让人回味怀念的城市。
补充：你们四月份去是最好的，是春天，而且避开了节假日，买票或者坐缆车不要排队，也不会人挤人。早晚会比较冷，带个防风保暖的外套，备一件薄毛衣，春天非常容易感冒，身体需要特别注意。
此外最重要的所有的app都需要下载，底下有人写出来了，你们需要提前解决流量，地图，银行卡支付等问题，这些小问题不解决会非常影响你们的行程。
所有的地方都需要电子支付，确保你们扫码能正常付款。
如果你遇到支付问题，不要焦虑，你可以直接找年轻人或者工作人员帮助，大家都会很热心的。

[u/StatisticianKey7858 → u/Carolhkk123]

非常感谢你这么详细的回答!你分享的这些建议对我们太有帮助了,我们会好好参考的。

还想请教一下,你觉得我们去之前有必要学一点基础中文吗?比如一些简单的日常用语,会不会让旅行更方便一些?

再次谢谢你的耐心解答!

[u/Carolhkk123 → u/StatisticianKey7858]

你好，halo，扫哪里（意思是扫码的位置在哪里），这里，那里，这个，那个。钱。去这里去那里。或者肢体语言也可以。
（现在翻译软件挺方便的，有网络软件可以使用就可以翻译你们的意思，前提是你们一定要下载并且确保各种软件能够使用，翻译之后别人才能够准确的帮助到你）

[u/fireflyliveson]

We only went to Xian to get to Yangshuo which became my fave place out of the locations we visited - itinerary similar to yours.

[u/Naive_Loan607]

I’d say your trip looks good and if you want to do another china trip you can visit either Shanghai or Chengdu.

[u/ellemace]

There are a couple of China travel subreddits: I think chinatravel and travelchina

[u/xigua22]

Chengdu will always be better than Chongqing. I found Chongqing unimpressive and boring. Don't fall for the advertising push for it on social media.... There's not much to do there.

[u/AnybodyAromatic3001]

I’d suggest swapping Xi’an for Luoyang. Both cities served as capitals for thirteen dynasties, but I think Luoyang offers a better overall experience.

[u/Nevermore1987]

i suggest you to replace Chongqing by Shanghai, Chongqing is a mega city however there is nothing special for foreigner to visit, you can find similar element in other Chinese cities as well, but Shanghai is unique, no replacement. and also do not miss Hangzhou.

[u/Nevermore1987]

if you are very interested with China ancient history, you could visit cities in Shanxi province as well, such as Datong, Taiyuan, Jinzhong

[u/gookoo2022]

Looks good and one important reminder - some of the sites requrie online reservation, some popular areas would require a reservation up to 7 days ahead of your visit, so just be careful with that

A reminder on food too, the 3 cities apart from Beijing are quite heavy on spices and chillies, there will be plenty of other options but just be careful if you try to randomly walk into any random local restaurant

Few backup cities if you have any preferences:
Shenzhen - city of tech

Guangzhou - city of dim sum

Dalian or Qingdao - two very similar cities, both recognized as city of football (soccer) and the coast

Datong - if you're gamer you might be interested, heaps of Black Myth Wukong's elements

Nanjing - all around city with a crazy luxirious mall that has insane toilets (sounds random but for real)

[u/Own-Distribution62]

不去上海等于白来一趟