China itineraries, by how long you have
The first question is never “which cities” — it is how many days you have. These six plans answer that honestly: what fits, what does not, and where the extra days actually go.
5 days · one city
One city done properly: Beijing with the wall, or Shanghai with the water towns.
Read the plan →7 days
Two cities, one train ride. What fits — and what does not.
Read the plan →10 days
Three cities without rushing, in two different shapes.
Read the plan →12 days · four regions
Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin and Shanghai with two flights and one rail leg.
Read the plan →14 days
The first-timer’s sweet spot: four regions, one river, no wasted moves.
Read the plan →15 days · with slack
Four regions plus three flexible days — the unhurried version of the 14-day route.
Read the plan →The rule of thumb
Two cities per week is comfortable. Three is possible if the internal legs are high-speed rail and under four hours. Four cities in a week means you will remember the airports, not the places.
Or start from a fixed route
Our eight routes run from 5 to 16 days. If one of them is roughly the right length, we adapt it rather than build from zero — that is faster and cheaper for both sides.