China Adventure Travel Itinerary Ideas
Day 1 to 4 - Beijing
First stop, Beijing! It's definitely one of my favourite cities and a brilliant way to start your China trip. You'll find it easy to spend 3 nights in the city as there are many great attractions to keep you occupied. Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City and The Summer Palace should all be on the hit list. Save a day to see the Great Wall of China as the best site at Jinshanling is a good 3 hour drive outside of the city. The Olympic Stadium is also a fun stop off on your last day. Donghuamen Night Market is a great place to spend the evening munching down on typical and strange Chinese cuisine. The pearl market and shopping centres near Wangfujing Dajie can be a nice detour to pick up some excellent gifts.
Day 4 to 7 - Lanzhou - Xiahe - Songpan
Next, you can head out of the city for a more rural China travel experience. Catch a flight to Lanzhou and meet your driver at the airport for your 3 day jeep trek through the Tibetan Plateau. When you travel through the western provinces of China you will see truly spectacular landscapes along the way. Traditional yak herders and nomadic villages will be dotted in the distance of the rolling hills. Just past Lanzhou is the city of Xiahe and for me is was defiantly one of the highlights from my China travel in the western provinces. Xiahe is famous for the Labrang Monastery which lies nearby. Visiting the Monastery was amazing, smelling the incense, hearing the monks chanting and seeing the Buddhist traditions all around you was a true Tibetan travel experience.
Day 7 to 11 - Songpan - Ice Mountain - Chengdu Horseback Trek
After leaving Xiahe, this China travel itinerary will take you by jeep to Songpan. Songpan is a typically Chinese town set amongst rolling green hills and mountains ranges. The next morning you'll set off on horseback for The Ice Mountain - a really authentic China travel experience. Along the way you'll experience breath-taking scenery with the colossal Ice Mountain dominating the horizon. Once the evening comes to an end your guides will have camp set up in no time topping off an all round wilderness experience.
Day 11 to 12 - Chengdu
Next on your China itinerary, I would suggest a quick overnight stop in Chengdu to rest up after your horseback trek and to enjoy some of China's best restaurants. A must on the Chengdu list is to experience a traditional Sichuan hotpot meal - a culinary China adventure. It's a delicious mix of fresh seafood and vegetables that you cook yourself in aromatic soup on the middle of the table. Try the process using your chop sticks and I'm sure you won't forget the meal for a while! Chengdu also has a great park called the "People's Park" which is a brilliant place to see the world go by. Many people congregate here to enjoy the spring evenings and wonder past the shore of the lake.
Day 12 to 15 - Lijiang
Lijiang city is situated in the Himalayan foothills at an altitude of 2400m above sea level. It's extremely picturesque with winding canals and red lanterns hanging from the roof tops, all with the backdrop of the snow-capped Himalayan Mountains in the distance. It's become a firm favourite with travellers to China and it's easy to see why. Here you will get the chance to visit the lovely Black Dragon Pool Park, explore the ancient streets and experience the Naxi community and their age old traditions.
Day 15 to 16 - Tiger Leaping Gorge Trek
Next, your China itinerary will depart from Lijiang and head in to the mountainous regions that surround the city. The Tiger Leaping Gorge trek is one of China's most famous hikes at an altitude of over 2500m. Your day will be spent winding up and down the step riven with amazing scenery along the way. It's defiantly the perfect place to try and get that photograph to say "look what I did!" Rice fields with working oxen, dramatic rock faces and local Chinese villages are a sample of what your trek may have to offer. After the hiking trail I'd recommend a steaming cut of Jasmine tea to finish off this Chinese travel experience perfectly.
Day 16 to 17 - Back to Lijiang
One last night in Lijiang where you can rest your feet after a hard two days trekking and take in all your China travel experiences so far.
Day 17 to 19 - Dali
Next your China travel plan will take you to Dali on the Erhai Lake. There's still a very Tibetan feel to the town. Modern Dali and Historical Dali are around 20 minutes apart from each other and are both very different. Historical Dali is extremely beautiful and inhabited by the Bai and Yi minorities who live in the Yunnan provinces. Take a visit to the Three Pagodas Temple set with the Himalayan Mountains in the background.
Day 19 to 22 - Yangshuo
Yangshuo is another China travel highlight for many with a memorable visit to see the Karst Mountains. Yangshuo showcases some of China's most stunning landscapes with lush green fields all framed by the limestone formations. Imagine a lazy afternoon blissfully sailing down the Yulong River as the Karst Mountains drift past. It's definitely a great way to enjoy China's countryside. When I visited Yangshuo during my China trip I really enjoyed the bike ride along the river as you get to see the mountains from a different point of view. The villages look amazing as you ride past with the giant formations towering over them.
Day 22 to 24 - Ping'an
Following Yangshuo and the Karst Mountains you will continue on to Ping'an and the Zhuang village's. Here you will visit the rural villages inhabited by the Zhuang minority. October is a great time to visit Ping'an as this is the time the villagers harvest the rice fields, so it's a great opportunity to see how rural Chinese life in full swing. Ping'an is home to the world's largest rice fields called the Dragon's Bone. During this part of your China travel itinerary, you'll have a chance to take a guided tour around the fields and see some of the world's best rice terraces.
Day 24 to 26 - Shanghai
You'll finish your China trip with a visit to the dynamic city of Shanghai, an exhilarating, ever-morphing metropolis. While there are no dusty imperial palaces here, tucked between the shopping malls and the modern architecture you can discover the old Shanghai, where temples nestle down alleys, along with street markets and classical Chinese gardens.
This is my idea of the ultimate China travel adventure, taking you from mountains to rivers and cities to rice terraces. It's a trip that you're bound to remember for life.
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