China Travel Guide

Colossal, dizzying and fiercely, endlessly foreign, China is a destination not easily compared to anywhere else on the planet. Home to approximately one fifth of the human race, China variously dazzles, befuddles, frustrates and thrills. The key visitor attractions are renowned around the globe – think the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors 

– but on the ground it’s the sheer scale and off-kilter energy of the place that leave the most lasting impression.

The rampant economic drive of the last decade means many of China’s cities are as shaped by modernity as anywhere you care to mention, but it’s also somewhere underpinned by dearly held traditions and an almost unfathomable amount of diversity. China's landscapes unfurl dramatically across the map, its customs are as fascinating as they are numerous, and its sights, sounds and infinite oddities altogether amount to one of the world’s truly great travel experiences

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Top destinations

Beijing Travel Guide

,Beijing is one of those wonderful cities that manages to combine the historic with the modern, and pull off both with aplomb. The billions of dollars worth of renovations that resulted from being awarded the 2008 Olympics Games have transformed what some felt was dowdy backwater of a city into a modern metropolis any country would be proud of. Beijing is now blessed with top-quality hotels and restaurants, a world-class subway system - set to become the world's biggest by 2015 - and some of the most eye-catching and modern architecture on the planet. Yet beyond the modernity, this ancient city can still offer an incredible number of historic attractions, including its remarkable network of hutong alleyways, which provide a unique village-within-a-city atmosphere of slow-paced living and timeless charms. Beijing is also the country's most convenient launch pad for trips to China's most famous sight of all; the Great Wall.,

Shanghai Travel Guide

Shanghai is the future all other Chinese cities aspire to reach. Forget creaking temples and dusty old palaces (there are plenty of them elsewhere); Shanghai is where people come to see modern China at its glimmering best. This fast-paced city of towering skyscrapers is, in fact, not without its own significant history. Its glory days of the 1930s helped build Shanghai's reputation as a City of Sin. But to pause for too long at the city's past would be missing the point: Shanghai is all about the future face of the world's future super power, and coming here is to witness what makes the business end of China tick. Perhaps best visited at the end of your trip to China, Shanghai offers history-tired tourists the chance to dine at glitzy restaurants, wine at funky cocktail bars and shop inside dazzling malls before resting up in the country's most impressive hotels.,

Hangzhou Travel Guide

Overlooked by tea plantations and forested hills, and sat beside the gorgeous West Lake, Hangzhou is one of China's most cherished cities. Wealthy and increasingly modern, Hangzhou offers a pleasant stay, but it's the classical beauty of West Lake, Hangzhou's draw-card attraction, which pulls in the punters like almost nowhere else in China.

Almost the definition of a classical Chinese landscape, West Lake - created from a river lagoon in the 8th century - has inspired generations of writers, painters and poets and it continues to mesmerise. Hazy hills rise above the willow-lined banks, forming crinkled silhouettes punctuated by solitary pagodas, while tiny boats float lazily by. You’ll need a couple of days to fully savour what’s on view but the inclination is to take root - like one of the lilting West Lake willows - and stay put.

Hangzhou is also a famous tea-growing centre and tours can be made to nearby Longjing Village, which bestowed the name for the city's most famous export: Longjing tea. The surrounding hills also house China's only tea museum.

For centuries a cultural melting pot, Hangzhou offers museums, galleries and theatres showcasing everything from silk making to calligraphy. But modern influences also abound; chic cafes skirt the lakeshore, foreign brands fill many of the shopping centres and western-style bars serve drinks long into the night.,,,,,,