China

A vacation in China has become easier for American travelers than it has been in a long time: since late 2023, many visitors on short stays have been able to enter visa-free, and high-speed trains connect the major cities in just a few hours. A trip to China takes you from the Great Wall to the skyscrapers of Shanghai, and on to teahouses in Chengdu and the karst peaks along the Li River.

Regions from Highlands to Coast

China is about the size of Europe, and the differences between its regions are just as great. The east, with the river deltas of the Yangtze and the Pearl River, is flat, densely populated, and the economic center of the country. In the north lies the plain around Beijing, which is dry and cold in winter, and beyond it stretch the steppes of Inner Mongolia. The west rises to the Tibetan Plateau, with passes over 5,000 meters (16,400 feet), and to the deserts of Xinjiang, which the Silk Road once crossed. In the south, rice terraces, bamboo forests, and the bizarre limestone peaks around Guilin and Yangshuo shape the landscape; in Yunnan, numerous ethnic minorities live in mountain villages between tea plantations and snow-capped peaks. Finally, the island of Hainan is China's tropical beach destination, with palm-fringed shores near Sanya.

Beijing, Shanghai, and the Big Metropolises

Beijing combines the imperial past with the present. The Forbidden City, with its roughly 900 buildings, was the seat of the emperors for almost 500 years, and the Temple of Heaven is full of older people early in the morning practicing tai chi, playing cards, or singing. In the hutongs, the old alley neighborhoods around Houhai Lake, families still live in courtyard houses, and you can bike between tea rooms and small bars. Shanghai is the stage of modern China: colonial-era buildings from the 1920s line the Bund, while across the river in Pudong the Shanghai Tower rises more than 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet) into the sky. The former French Concession, with its plane-tree-lined avenues and shikumen houses, is nicer for strolling. Guangzhou in the south is considered the capital of Cantonese cuisine, Shenzhen has grown in just a few decades from a fishing village into a tech metropolis of more than 17 million people, and Hong Kong is easy to reach from both cities. Chengdu in Sichuan is more laid-back than its size suggests; people sit for hours in the teahouses of People's Park, and on the edge of town a research station raises giant pandas.

Sights in China: Wall, Army, Canals

The Great Wall is among the best-known sights in China. Badaling is very crowded; the sections at Mutianyu, Jinshanling, or Simatai, where the wall runs along steep mountain ridges, are less busy and more scenic. In Xi'an, the eastern end of the Silk Road, more than 7,000 terracotta warriors guard the tomb of the first emperor, you can bike around the fully preserved city wall, and in the Muslim Quarter the evening air smells of lamb skewers. Hangzhou lies on West Lake, whose causeways, pagodas, and lotus fields have inspired poets for centuries, and Longjing tea grows in the hills behind it. Suzhou is famous for its classical gardens, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and for its canals lined with old houses with white walls and black tiles. Nanjing, the capital of China several times over, has one of the longest surviving city walls and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Xiamen, on the coast of Fujian, draws visitors with the car-free island of Gulangyu and, in the hinterland, the round earthen fortresses of the Hakka, known as tulou. Natural wonders such as the sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie and the limestone pools of Jiuzhaigou round out the picture.

Culture, History, and Daily Life

Chinese civilization reaches back more than three thousand years, and you encounter it constantly in everyday life: in the teachings of Confucius, whose birthplace, Qufu, you can visit; in Buddhist grottoes such as Longmen near Luoyang; in the calligraphy on temples and restaurants. The most important holiday is the Spring Festival, celebrating the Chinese New Year in January or February, when hundreds of millions of people travel to be with their families and trains and flights are fully booked; it is just as crowded during National Day week in early October. In the evening, groups of older women dance to music from loudspeakers on public squares in almost every city. English is rarely spoken outside the big hotels, so a translation app helps enormously. For daily life, the payment apps Alipay and WeChat Pay are essential, and they can now be linked to foreign credit cards. Many Western services such as Google, WhatsApp, or Instagram are blocked, so without preparation you'll be left without maps or a search engine.

Eating and Drinking in China

There is no such thing as one Chinese cuisine; there are dozens. In Sichuan and Chongqing, cooks use chili and numbing Sichuan pepper, as in mapo tofu or hot pot, where you dip meat and vegetables into the broth yourself. Cantonese cuisine in Guangzhou emphasizes freshness and delicate textures; in the morning, families go for yum cha and order dim sum such as shrimp dumplings and steamed pork buns. Beijing is known for its duck, whose crispy skin is eaten in thin pancakes with scallions and plum sauce. In Shanghai you'll find xiaolongbao, dumplings with hot broth inside, and in Xi'an hand-pulled noodles and flatbread with braised meat. Tea is drunk everywhere, from green Longjing to smoky oolong from Fujian to aged pu-erh from Yunnan. Baijiu, a strong millet spirit used for toasts, often appears on the table with the meal.

Getting There and Getting Around China

Nonstop flights from Frankfurt and Munich to Beijing and Shanghai take about ten to eleven hours, and Chinese airlines connect other cities such as Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen with Germany. For U.S. travelers, entry requirements for tourist stays can change; since the visa-free rules for various countries are time-limited pilot programs, check the current entry requirements before you travel. Within the country, the high-speed rail network, at more than 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles), is the largest in the world. Beijing and Shanghai are only a little over four hours apart, and from Shanghai to Hangzhou or Suzhou takes less than an hour. You book tickets online or at train stations with your passport, and early on holidays. Domestic flights make sense for long distances such as to Yunnan, Tibet, or Xinjiang. Foreigners can only drive a rental car with a Chinese driver's license; instead, you use the subways, which are modern and inexpensive in the big cities, along with ride-hailing apps.

Best Time to Visit China

The best times to visit China are April and May and September and October, though you should avoid the holiday weeks in early May and early October. In Beijing, spring and fall are sunny, with temperatures of 64 to 77°F (18 to 25°C); summer gets hot, with temperatures above 86°F (30°C), and in winter the thermometer often drops below 23°F (minus 5°C). Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing experience the plum rain season in June and July, followed by weeks of sticky heat at 95°F (35°C). The south around Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Xiamen is most pleasant from October to December; in summer, typhoons threaten there. Yunnan, with Kunming, the City of Eternal Spring, can be visited year-round, May to October is best for Tibet, and Hainan is most popular in winter, with temperatures around 77°F (25°C).

China Destinations for Your First Trip

The classic first route connects Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai, plus Hangzhou or Suzhou. If you have more time, you can add other destinations in China: Guilin and Yangshuo with a bamboo raft ride on the Li River, Chengdu with a side trip to the Leshan Giant Buddha, or Yunnan with the old towns of Lijiang and Dali, backed by the peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Trips like these make it clear how different a country can feel when the same time applies everywhere.