Travel Shanghai, Beijing, Huangshan, Chengdu!

Thenarrator on 22/10/2017 - 23:17

Calling out to those whos been to shanghai, beijing, huangshan, chengdu in china! Looking for advice on things to do, how many days to stay and general tips and tricks on money, accomodation, food, scenery!

Im exploring china for total of 10 days excluding to and from travel during xmas/new years (its gona be freezing I heard). I'm planning to go shanghai for 2 days, then do 3 days at huangshan (yellow mountain), 2 days at chengdu and 3 days at beijing.

Im thinking of reducing shanghai to 1 day 1 night and putting the day in either chengdu or beijing because I dont think theres much to do in Shanghai. I was told its just a regular big city like any other big cities around the world, nothing special.

Due to flight constraints, theres practically only 1 flight a day from shanghai to yellow mountain which arrives in the arvo, I would need to stay there minimum 2 nights- 1 night on arrival and 1 night after the hike.

Then fly to chengdu and stay around 1.5-2 days mainly for the purposes of food. Wanting to try the spicy sichuan food for a while. Not sure what else? Not to sure about panda's or animals…

Then remaining 3 day (which isnt a lot) at beijing. Wanting to visit great wall- not sure how it'll goes during winter, tiamen square, and trying deep fried scorpions. Not sure whether I should shorten shanghai and put it in beijing. Seems more to do at beijing.

I'll be going with missus and mainly into food (big one), breathtaking scenery, old towns, culture, shopping. Not big fan of temples, animals/zoos or non exciting gardens :). Tight schedule I know but only book to-shanghai and from-beijing tickets atm.

Travel

Comments

  • fossilfuel on 23/10/2017 - 00:05

    3 days at huangshan (yellow mountain)

    3 days seems like a lot of time. We went up early in the morning, stayed for a night and then went back to town by lunch time. Saw quite a lot and had a lot done too.

    My advice to you. Bring water. LOTS OF BOTTLED WATER. The hike is easy but tedious. I went about 8 years ago, the water wasn't the best up the top and the electric kettle didn't boil the water. Ended up consuming a bug and shitting myself for a good 2 weeks.

    go shanghai for 2 days

    Lots to explore. I'd wish I spent more time in Shanghai. There's the Shanghai science and technology museum (which was closed when we wanted to go but its massive), the shanghai tower, check out the Bund (lots of historical western buildings). A lot of history if you're into it.

    Wanting to visit great wall- not sure how it'll goes during winter

    Might be relatively foggy. Great wall will take 1 day to do. Tiamen square, forbidden city and mausoleum together another day.

    You can shorten huangshan to a max of 2 days. It becomes the same after you've seen it for a day. That'll give you an extra day to explore either Beijing or Shanghai. There's a lot of history and culture to discover.

    Enjoy your trip, you'll love it! :D

    If you haven't booked your trip yet and you want to cut down on travel time, I'd recommend starting at Hangzhou then going Huangshan, Anqing, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai. No need for flights, just bus trips. Beautiful cities and lots of culture and history explore.

    • Thenarrator on 23/10/2017 - 13:46

      Cool, thanks for tips. With yellow mountain, the train arrives in the afternoon (plane also arrives in afternoon) and i presume you wont be able to do any hiking at that time coz hike time is at least 4-5hrs? so im thinkin theres no choice other than to just chill at the town for that day. Then next morning hike 1 day, will be tired and would wana stay for the night after the hike.. then flight departs in mid arvo the next day so will spend morning in yellow mountain town… wish i can shorten it but dont see how?

      • fossilfuel on 23/10/2017 - 13:53

        I think you're trying to cram places that are too far away in too little time. Half your holiday will be spent on transport rather than experiencing food and culture. To get the most out of your trip, I recommend exploring a few cities/towns/parks close in proximity rather than trying to get a little taste of everything. Travel between cities should be at most 2-3 hours by bus or train. Honestly, 1-2 days per city is nowhere near enough. In each city, there's a lot of places to explore and by the time you need to leave, you'd wish you'd spent a little more time there.

        • Thenarrator on 23/10/2017 - 19:00

          Did u stay at the mountain top for sunrise? if so, how do people manage to carry their bulky luggages to mountain top hotels for over night stay? ..

  • Thrawn on 23/10/2017 - 00:49

    Pandas at Chengdu is excellent. Go there early in morning before the pandas go to sleep.
    Hotpot great also.. though the quality varies somewhat from restaurant to restaurant. We went to a popular one that had long queues, fantastic.

    Shanghai I would definitely do more than 1 day. Its the most modern side of China. There's really nice areas that are historically western. Plus it's not really that cold over winter.

    Chengdu is not cold either (more like Melbourne winter). Beijing is very cold. Most of the attractions are outside and huge. So you're exposed all day pretty much. The Great Wall has a massive wind chill factor as well.. on the plus side it's actually relatively quiet for once.

  • toniyellow on 23/10/2017 - 01:57

    I had a short time in beijing, and went on the dinner version of this food tour untourfoodtours.com

    Stops at I think 5 restaurants, and 2 street food stalls. If you speak Mandarin you could likely cover all the stops at your own pace for less money, but as I don't it was really perfect, helped me try a huge variety of food without the hassle of trying to find the places and order it. There was no scorpions, but there was donkey meat. They went into the history of why donkey meat is eaten in Beijing, which made it feel better than just eating weird things for shock value. Highly recommend it.

  • dogboy on 23/10/2017 - 09:52
    +1

    Chengdu is my favourite place in China that I have visited. I recommend spending a day checking out the Leshan Buddha from there. It is an impressive place and a great experience. I would also try spend more time in Shanghai as it is also very good. Lots of nightlife and different districts to check out. Beijing is an absolute hole - would only stay there to see the Summer Palace, Tianinman Square, Forbidden Palace and hike the wall (try get access to old section rather than new for a better adventure). I think Xian is probably the worst city in China that I have been to.

    • Thenarrator on 23/10/2017 - 13:48

      lol, i was contemplating xian.. what made you say its the worse one?

      • dogboy on 23/10/2017 - 14:42

        The terracotta warriors is full of pushy, rude eurotrash travelers and not very exciting unless you are into your history. The city itself was just all construction when I was there last. It was also filthy and littered with trash. You can cycle around the top of the old city walls which was ok but other than that it is like a mini version of Beijing without the sites.

        • Eeples on 28/10/2017 - 21:51

          Yeah, Xian isn’t a great city imo.

          But for me the Teracotta warriors were well worth it. (And the Muslim markets).

          So was the 30min speed train to huangshan mountain (mt Hua)…. aka the plank walk.

          Best thing you can do the mountain the hard way…or easy… eg. Easy: take the cable car up….traverse all 4 peaks…then catch the other cable car down.

  • branners on 23/10/2017 - 16:21

    Take a ride on the Maglev train from the Shanghai airport. It's not expensive and something you will always remember…

  • Thenarrator on 23/10/2017 - 18:35

    Does the citi bank debit card work in china? how to get cash out at a reasonable xchange rate?

  • FattyHope on 24/10/2017 - 10:06

    Grab onto your phones and laptops some asian dude is going to grab your iphone with a pair of chopsticks lol

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