CHINA

On this page Photos, travel diary and special information, amazing China.

Travel information and recommendations for China

Why go? China is a huge country with numerous cities and natural wonders to visit. If gigantic monuments, magic mountains, unique panoramas and 500-meter skyscrapers are not enough to convince you starting, also consider the exotic customs, the low cost of living and the general social security, which make the journey a pure fun. Among the few defects I quote pollution in large cities and the difficulty communicating in English outside the main tourist centers. In fact, the latter could be an advantage in some restaurants: sometimes it is better not to know what is eating, without counting the pleasure of surprise.

When to go? The best time to travel depends a lot on the travel itinerary and activities you want to do. In summer you can generally count on the sun, but Beijing and Shanghai are sultry and in Hong Kong is the typhoon season. Given the winter frost, spring and early autumn are advisable.
How to move? Internal flights are cheap and efficient, very affordable taxis. It is practically impossible to rent a car, but consider the car option with driver, which can also guide you.
To rent a car here at the best prices for your travel itinerary I absolutely recommend by Search And book this link .
How much does it cost? The flight to China can cost 800 euros, the internal flights between 50 and 100 each. For the rest, you can travel with a limited budget, because the cost of living is very low. Clearly, even in China there are luxuries that cost a fortune.
Keep in mind that in what it costs I take into account the whole journey ... from the middle for the airport departure to the drink passing through meals and souvenirs.
For an idea on hotel prices in China Click here to compare the hotels and find the most convenient accommodation.

Where to go? A travel itinerary in China must include Beijing and the Chinese Wall, the modern Shanghai, the historic Xian, the spectacular nature and the peasant life of Guilin and Yangshuo.

Other destinations? with a longer travel itinerary I recommend adding the futuristic Tropical Island of Hong Kong; The Tibet and the Himalayas, for which descriptions are not needed; The nature and pandas of Sichuan; The Xinjiang, which, along the street of the silk, combines incredible history and landscapes at the foot of the 8000 meters of Karakorum ... are different regions of China with different attractions, all in their own way extremely fascinating.

Travel diary in China

with the excuse of a work trip, in 2008 I organized a holiday in China with my girlfriend. It was the year of the Beijing Olympics, but we were not invited. At the time, the organization was not simple, but we eventually managed to travel independently as we wanted.
We arrived at Beijing , first stage of our travel itinerary, on the morning of 20 July . It welcomed us an ultra-modern airport, at the outside there were thousands and thousands of taxis. We took one by chance, we showed the taxi driver the address of our Bamboo Garden Hotel, printed specifically in Chinese Ideograms, and we found ourselves immersed in the chaotic Pekingese traffic. The hotel was not bad at all, with bamboo rods and red lanterns. We left the luggage and headed downtown by using the subway. The heat and jet lag made us fall from sleep, but we still started the holiday with a visit to the city.

We started from the Temple Lama, a fascinating Buddhist complex , impressive for decorations and incense scent. Also the vast temple of confucius left us satisfied.

We then remained affected by the Hutongs , the traditional center consisting of strict alleys, cabins and old houses of a floor. The rest of the city, on the other hand, consisted of modern buildings with which the regime had replaced the hutongs, as well as from busy roads impossible to cross. We concluded our city itinerary to the tower of the drum and to that of the bells, less fascinating in the rest, but with a certain view of the city.
At the hotel we asked for information and advice and organized a trip to the Great Wall .
We started in the morning quite early aboard a bus. During the journey, a guide explained us interesting uses and Chinese costumes.
Along the route we visited the Changling Tombs , which we reached walking along the Via Sacra (a great avenue Surrounded by impressive statues of animals and strange beasts).

We also stopped in a factory of jade, green, shiny, remarkable and expensive objects.
We arrived at the Wall in the area of Mutyaniu , less touristy than the most famous Badaling which is included in each travel itinerary. Far from the city confusion, through a spa garden of wooden houses that lived by souvenirs

a chair lift took us to the Chinese wall, on whose stairs we started walking admiring that small part of the 8850 kilometers of the world's longest wall. At Mutyaniu the wall saliva on tree-lined mountains, in a continuous charming salts and descend that he wanted to travel to the discovery.

To get off the Great Wall of Mutyaniu you could resume the chairlift or a much more fun long and tortuous slide in metal ... Obviously, we opted for the latter!
Upon return from the tour we stopped In the center of Beijing, admiring markets and smog and having dinner in a typical restaurant that knew about vacation.

Our last day in Beijing was dedicated to some of the most beautiful parts of the city. We started with the enormous Tiananmen Square .

Then, the Forbidden City , the vast set of golden buildings that had been the emperor's residence, fundamental destinations in a travel itinerary in China.

We then visited the relaxing Temple of Heaven, where to cool off in the shadow of the surrounding trees. Finally we visited the beihai park , a beautiful city park with mirrors of water, rich in vegetation, green hills and panoramic pagodas.

The morning after our travel itinerary took us to Shanghai with a china Eastern Airlines plane. The heat was even more humid and overwhelming than in Beijing. Among the smog, the sun was shone. In a day and a half we visited the typical tourist places of the gigantic Shanghai.
The city is crossed by the wide Huangpu river along which you can enjoy stroll along the Bund, a wide road on which colonial buildings overlook. On the other side of the river there is the ultra-modern Shanghai, with phantasmagoric skyscrapers.

Here we argued on the Oriental Pearl Tower, from which we enjoyed the panorama that was extended to the outskirts of Shanghai.
Back on the bund of the Bund, then walked in the old Shanghai, with beautiful features, very well maintained, alleys and canals . Finally we came to the peculiar Yuyuan gardens, with mirrors, corners, restricted spaces, strange shapes ... a typically Chinese way to understand the gardens.

In the evening I round for Nanjing Road, the most commercial, dense shops, restaurants and bars and crossed continuously by thousands of people. Observing the palaces and skyscrapers that came on the road we arrived at the animated Piazza del Popolo. Then, from the Bund, we admired a remarkable skyline on the skyscrapers on the other side of the Huangpu river.

I slept in a 4-star hotel (one double for 40 euros or something). The day and a little more that we dedicated to Shanghai was largely sufficient for our intentions, and we flew so towards Guilin , in southern China, to continue the holiday in a more natural environment.
All ' My girlfriend airport and I were greeted by driving and the driver we had contacted via the internet. They would have scared us for three days at a price of 300 euros each, an honest figure considering the nights at the hotel, car, tickets for attractions, meals, etc.
The panettoni di rio de janeiro .

Our visit would be started from the mountains. By car first and walk then we arrived at the characteristic village of Longji , made of wooden houses and mulatthere and positioned on the slope of a hill rich in cultivated fields and terraces. At dinner a panoramic restaurant served us of tasty rice cooked in a bamboo cane, then vegetables and tofu.

The next morning, accompanied by the guide that gave us information about the Chinese bucolic life, we had for the mountains behind Longji, between the spectacular rice fields on the terrace of Longsheng and the bamboo forests. It was one of the best days of our travel itinerary in China.

In the afternoon we left the mountains and returned to Guilin, on the river there. We admired a cliff in the shape of an elephant proboscis, so we visited the Reed Flute Cave , a limestone cave with stalactites and stalagmites made even more spectacular by artistic artificial light games.

In the evening we were accompanied at the hotel, so we wander around the city. It was a pleasure to walk around Guilin, where we noticed the two pagodas of the sun and the moon, whose illuminations (respectively of yellow and white) reflected on the water.

On 27 July it was the highest point of the journey in southern China and perhaps all the holiday. The cruise on the river there, in fact, allowed us to admire one of the most beautiful and particular landscapes of the earth, a destination required for each itinerary in China.

On the banks and the mountains the domain was of nature, with a rich vegetation and some water buffalo, while on the river sailing boats that occasionally arrived "at the recreation" of our boat to sell various souvenirs and chincaglie.

We arrived at Yangshuo extremely satisfied. For the evening the guide proposed us to witness a theatrical show of music and games of light, really exciting: the "stage" of the theater, in fact, was a natural water mirror of the diameter of several hundred meters Enclosed between magnificent green mountains. On the lake, thanks to boats and walkways, costumed actors moved.
The next day we wandered by bicycle for the Yangshuo countryside, among the cultivated fields and the usual impressive mountains, Admiring peasant life.

In the afternoon we were rebelled to the airport and we continued our journey towards Xian, where we stopped five days for work. Xian, the ancient Chinese capital , does not deserve a very long visit, and we would perhaps prefer to extend our itinerary by going to Tibet or Sichuan, but we couldn't complain. We visited the center of Xian with its characteristic market. We also explored a typically Chinese amusement park with shows for the locals.

The main tourist destination for a trip to Xian is the Terracotta army: hundreds of statues of soldiers in natural size or almost, each other than the other! An immense job! Too bad they are enclosed under a little fascinating warehouse (necessary to preserve them). From a historical-cultural point of view it is an unmissable show.

The visit to the walls of Xian was the last goal of our travel itinerary. Really impressive walls, large tens of meters, but the most incredible thing was that that day we could admire a total of a total of the sun from their top.
In the late afternoon the sun began to be covered by the Moon, observable phenomenon (without blinding) only with a darkened glass in front of the eyes. At one point, the cover of sunlight by the moon became such that it was also visible to the naked eye, like a shadow on the ball of light. In a few seconds, the darkness descended, the temperature calò, the sun became a dark circle with a very thin yellow wreath. Amazing!

Shortly thereafter, the sun answered on the other side of the moon. And so he finished our vacation ... a highly recommended travel itinerary, to be added Tibet and Sichuan to complete the beauties of China - and actually, there would be much more!
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