Itinerary advice

Hi

I%26#39;m planning on going to China for 2 weeks with a friend. We would like to go to Beijing, Xian and after that are looking for advice on an itinerary. Reading the rest of the postings here I appreciate that 2 weeks is not very long so wonder if anyone could give any thoughts as to how we should split the time and where else we should go? I think we%26#39;d prefer not to join a tour company unless the advice is that we really ought to.

I%26#39;m also considering staying on for a few days after she has left - does anyone have any views on safety for a single female in China?

Thanks

Itinerary advice

You can spend 4-5v days in Beijing and 1-2 in Xi%26#39;an, leaving you with another week.

You can spend a few days visiting places between Beijing and Xi%26#39;an--Datong, Luoyang and Pingyao.

Or you could spend a week visiting Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and one of the so-called water towns.

Or you could fly to the south and visit Guilin and Yangshuo.

There are lots of options--it depends on your interests, budget, and the time of year you will be visiting.

Travel for a single female is as safe or safe than in most other countries.

Itinerary advice

By mentioning only Beijing and Xian, I presume you are interested in ancient artifacts.

There is YunKang (DaTung) and LungMen (LoYang) Caves with Buddhist carving/paintings, west and southwest of Beijing, with PingYiu in between. Allow a week for this group.

After Xian, you can retrace the ancient Silk Route all the way to Kazakstan, through MouKao Caves, Tien Shan, Urumchi etc., or, take the new train to Tibet, through the salt flats (Tsaidam Basin) of China, and over the Tungula Pass at 16000 ft. This is not a very fast train because the track is laid on permafrost.

What are your sightseeing interests and preferences like? What%26#39;s your budget like? Where are your points of entry and exit? I presume you%26#39;re on your 1st trip to China and have no knowledge of Chinese, please correct me if otherwise. It%26#39;s difficult to give any really useful recommendations without knowing more about you and your friend%26#39;s preferences and etc.

You should generally be fine re safety as a single female in China. If you have any queries or worries about anything, you might like to email me directly at ellyse99@yahoo.com to discuss, please put ';TripAdvisor Preciousholidays'; in the subject line so that I don%26#39;t junk your email by mistake, thanks. I%26#39;m in my 20s, in my final year of study in Shanghai, and have also travelled extensively in mainland China. My 1st 2 years of travel were mostly done on my own.

Ellyse

Thanks for your response. Trying to answer your questions, we are looking to fly into Beijing and out of Shanghai and will now have about 17 days in China. We fully appreciate that we won%26#39;t be able to see everything but would like to see as much as possible inthat time without feeling rushed. Ideally we%26#39;d like to doa little bit of everything - some time in cities, some time a bit more rural, and we%26#39;d like to see some of the ';big'; sites that I guess are generally frequented by tourists. We need to do a lot more research but at the moment our plans include about 4 days in Beijing, 2 days in Xian, day in Pingyao and then a few days in the area around Shanghai (not too worried about spending more than a day in Shanghai itself). That still leaves us some time i fyou have any recommendations. Budget is not a huge issue for us - we%26#39;re not looking to spend a fortune but shouldn%26#39;t be restricted by money.

Thanks

Emma

If you have 17 days and would like to ';some time in cities, some time a bit more rural';, you can choose Guilin/yangshuo for your rural china preference. Although a lot of people, including me, would like to choose Yunnan, but your time is too limited.

You could:

Beijing - 4 days

Pingyao - 1 days

Xian - 2 days

Guilin/yangshuo - 4 days

Shanghai - 1-2 days

Suzhou - 2 days

Hangzhou - 1 days

Maybe plus one water town, such as tongli/zhouzhuang for 1 day.

';I%26#39;m also considering staying on for a few days after she has left - does anyone have any views on safety for a single female in China?';

China is a safe country, dont worry too much about this issue.

Cheers

I would probably recommend Hangzhou and perhaps Xitang or Tongli for the remaining time you have.