Unless you have a couple of years up your sleeve and inexhaustible funds, you are only going to be able to see a small part of China on any one trip. It’s good idea to have a loose itinerary to follow. The following suggestions assume you have at least four weeks to play with in China.

Beijing to Tibet via Xi an
This route is favorite among travelers, particularly those arriving overland from Europe by train and heading for Nepal and India via Tibet. The great thing about this route is that it gives you the best of China’s historical sights and at he same time gives you a opportunity to travel out into China’s remote and sparsely populated western regions.

Beijing, Xi an and Lhasa are the main highlights, but en route to Xi an, why not visit the Yungang grottoes, the charming Pingyao? Xining is also worth a day or more, mainly for the nearby lamasery of Ta er Si.

From Lhasa, it is possible to travel on to Nepal via the Tibetan people towns of Gyantse, Shigatse and Sakya, and cross the border at Zhangmu – some travelers make a detour to the Everest base camp. The journey from Lhasa to Kathmandu is a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Beijing to Chengdum the South-West & Hong Kong
There are many variations on this route, depending on how much time you have and how much you enjoy traveling on Chinese trains, planes or coaches.

From Chengdu there are many options: east to Chongqing and down Chang Jiang to Wuhan or even Shanghai, or south-east to Guizhou and Guilin anf then Hong Kong and Macau. Alternatively, head of Kunming via Lijiang and Dali abd explore Yunnan, arguably the most exotic of China’s provinces – rich in culture and some of the best scenery in all China.

Hong Kong to Kunming visa Guilin
This has lone been China’s most favoured backpacker trail. The standard routine is a brief stay in Guangzhou (one or two nights), followed by a ferry to Wuzhou, and from there a direct bus to Yangshuo. Many travelers are seduced into spending much longer than they planned in Yangshuo.

Onward travel to Kunming can be undertaken by train or by plane. From Kunming there is a wide range of choices – south to the regional areas of Xishuangbanna, west to Dehong or north-west to Dali and Lijiang (all have airports). Other possibilities include flights from Kunming to Chiang Mai or Bangkok in Thailand, or taking a train to Hanoi in Vietnam.

Chang Jiang Routes
Cruises on Chang Jiang have long been touted as on of China’s premier attractions. In reality they get mixed reports.

The most sublime reaches of Chang Jiang lie around the Three Gorges between Chongqing and Wuhan; you may want to see them before they are submerged for good! The section east of here, between Wuhan and Shanghai, is of little interest.

Gansu – Sichuan Route
This scenic route is along the eastern edge of the Tibetan mountains and is usually done in several stages, syopping at Xiahe, Hezuo, Langmusi, Zoige and Songpan – a trip taking at least four days. For travel in this area you will need People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) insurance.

On a highland plateau two hours further south of Gansu is Zoige in Sichuan, from where it’s possible to make a side trip to the national park of Jiuzhaigou. Road conditions worsen noticeably once you cross the border from Gansu into Sichuan, and from Langmusi it’s a bumpy four hours to Zoige.

From Zoige it’s a full day’s journey by bus south to Chengdu, although many opt to break up the hourney with a stay in Songpan.

North – East Route
Visit the former Russian port and dynamic metropolis of Dalian, then head north to what used to be Manchuria and the cities of Shenyang. Changchun and Haerbin. It’s a region that combines Canadian-style prairies, rust belt heavy industry, leftover traces of Japanese colonialism and undeniable Russian influences. Apart from the cities, you can commune with nature in Changbai Shan and Zhalong nature reserves or gaze into alien North Korea from Danddong. Winter in the north-east sparkles with ice festivals and -22F weather, but summers can be fierce. You could keep heading north to the grasslands of Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and on to Siberia or Europe along the Trans-Siberian Railway.