The Three-Week Grand Tour
三周大环线
North to south and east to west: imperial capitals, sandstone pillars, panda country, karst rivers and the Cantonese coast.
Photo: chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · resized
- Length
- 21 days
- Pace
- Full
- Best season
- April–May, September–October
- Budget
- ¥14,000–19,000 per person
Three weeks is enough to see genuinely different Chinas rather than variations on one. This route runs the length of the country by rail with a single internal flight, alternating cities with landscape so you never do two museum days back to back. It is a full pace — expect to move every two or three nights — but nothing on it is rushed to the point of pointlessness.
Day by day
→Day by day
-
Day 1–4
Beijing
Forbidden City, Great Wall at Mutianyu, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, hutongs.
-
Day 5
Pingyao
Overnight inside the Ming walls. China's first bank, and the wall circuit at dusk.
-
Day 6–8
Xi'an
Terracotta Army, city wall by bicycle, Shaanxi History Museum, Muslim Quarter.
-
Day 9–11
Zhangjiajie
Fly or take the long train south. Yuanjiajie's Avatar pillars, Tianzi Mountain, Golden Whip Stream, and Tianmen Mountain.
-
Day 12
Fenghuang
The stilt-house town on the Tuo River. Dawn mist, then the lights at night.
-
Day 13–15
Chengdu
Pandas at opening, teahouses, hotpot, and a day at Leshan or Dujiangyan.
-
Day 16–18
Yangshuo
Li River cruise, Yulong valley cycling, Xingping sunset, Longji terraces if you add a night.
-
Day 19–20
Guangzhou
Yum cha, the Chen Clan Academy, Shamian Island, and the Canton Tower at night.
-
Day 21
Hong Kong
50 minutes by rail. The Peak, the Star Ferry, and fly home from HKG.
Swaps and variations
- Swap Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang for Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou if you prefer cities to landscape
- Add Jiuzhaigou after Chengdu in October, at the cost of three days
- Finish in Shanghai rather than Hong Kong if your flights suit it better
11On this route
The stops, in detail
UNESCO
The Forbidden City 紫禁城
980 buildings, 8,700 rooms, 24 emperors and five centuries in which almost no outsider was allowed through the gate.
UNESCO
The Great Wall 长城
Not one wall but twenty thousand kilometres of them — and the section you choose decides your entire day.
UNESCO
Pingyao Ancient City 平遥古城
A complete walled Ming county town that missed the twentieth century — and invented Chinese banking.
UNESCO
The Terracotta Army 兵马俑
Eight thousand life-size soldiers, every face different, found by farmers digging a well in 1974.
Xi'an Old City 西安古城
Cycle the most complete city wall in China, then eat your way through a Muslim quarter that has been here for 1,300 years.
UNESCO
Zhangjiajie 张家界
Three thousand quartz-sandstone pillars rising out of the cloud — the mountains Avatar borrowed and never gave back.
Fenghuang Ancient Town 凤凰古城
Stilt houses on wooden legs over the Tuo River, lit red at night, in a Miao and Tujia town the writer Shen Congwen made famous.
Chengdu & the Panda Base 成都
Pandas at breakfast, mahjong in a teahouse by ten, and the most numbing food in China by dinner.
Li River & Yangshuo 漓江与阳朔
The scenery on the back of the ¥20 note: limestone towers, bamboo, water buffalo and a river that bends between them for 83 kilometres.
Guangzhou 广州
Canton: two thousand years of foreign trade, the birthplace of dim sum, and the best eating city in China.
Hong Kong 香港
The densest skyline on earth pressed against jungle mountains, with 40% of the territory protected as country park.