Two weeks is the sweet spot for a first trip to China: long enough to see the country’s greatest hits without rushing them, short enough that you won’t run out of energy or holiday allowance. This is the route we sketch out for first-time travellers again and again — five stops, all connected by fast trains and short domestic flights, and deliberately paced so no single day feels like a logistics exercise.
Before you commit to anything, read our First Time in China guide for the practical foundations (payments, connectivity, what to pack). This itinerary is the plan that sits on top of it.
One thing to sort first: the visa
A 14-day trip is longer than the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit allowance, and transit requires an onward ticket to a third country anyway — it isn’t designed for a two-week holiday. Check whether your nationality qualifies for China’s unilateral 30-day visa-free entry (around 50 countries as of 2026); if it does, this whole itinerary fits comfortably inside it. If not, apply for a tourist visa well before you book anything non-refundable. The full picture, including the transit traps people fall into: China Visa-Free Transit in 2026.
Days 1–4 · Beijing
Day 1 — Land and recover. Land, clear immigration, and get to your hotel by metro or pre-booked car — Beijing’s two airports are both a long way from the centre, so don’t schedule anything ambitious. Spend the late afternoon wandering the hutongs around Nanluoguxiang or Shichahai: narrow lanes, courtyard houses, street food. Sleep early; jet lag is real.
Day 2 — The Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex on earth, and it rewards a full morning. Book your entry days ahead — tickets are real-name reservations with daily caps and same-day slots are unreliable in any season. Afterward, cross to Jingshan Park for the classic rooftop-over-the-palaces viewpoint, then walk to Tiananmen Square in the late afternoon.
Day 3 — The Great Wall. Mutianyu is the section we recommend to first-timers: well-preserved, forested, far less crowded than Badaling, and it has the famous toboggan descent. Entry is about ¥45; the chairlift up plus toboggan down combo is around ¥140, and there’s a shuttle (¥15–20 round trip) from the parking area to the wall base. It’s roughly a 1.5–2 hour drive each way — start early. Full logistics in our Great Wall guide.
Day 4 — Temples and breathing room. The Temple of Heaven in the morning (watch the locals doing tai chi and playing cards under the cypresses), the Summer Palace in the afternoon, or the 798 Art District if imperial architecture has filled your quota. This is your flex day — China trips go wrong when every day is a marathon, and Beijing rewards slowing down.
Days 5–7 · Xi’an
Getting there: Beijing West to Xi’an North by high-speed train, about 4.5 hours, second class roughly ¥515–580. Book as soon as the 15-day booking window opens if you’re travelling on a weekend — morning departures sell out. Step-by-step booking: China High-Speed Rail Guide.
Day 5 — The city wall and the Muslim Quarter. Xi’an’s Ming-dynasty city wall is one of the few in China you can still walk — or better, cycle — in full: rent a bike at the South Gate and do the 14 km loop (2–3 hours at a dawdling pace). For dinner, the Muslim Quarter’s food street is the move: yangrou paomo (lamb soup with torn flatbread), roujiamo (the “Chinese hamburger”), and pomegranate juice squeezed in front of you.
Day 6 — The Terracotta Warriors. The single most impressive archaeological site in the country, and also the one with the strictest ticketing. You cannot just turn up — entry is a 100% real-name reservation system, bookable up to 7 days ahead, with your passport scanned at the gate. Standard adult entry is ¥120 in peak season (March–November). Arrive at opening, start at Pit 1, and don’t skip the Bronze Chariot Exhibition Hall. Half a day is enough; spend the afternoon at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and the Tang-dynasty-era streets around it.
Day 7 — Slow Xi’an. Options: the Shaanxi History Museum (free but reservation-only, book ahead), a dumpling banquet for lunch, or the Great Mosque tucked inside the Muslim Quarter. Take an evening train or rest — Chengdu comes next.
Days 8–9 · Chengdu
Getting there: Xi’an to Chengdu by high-speed train is about 4 hours — check schedules when you book, as frequencies vary by season.
Day 8 — Pandas and teahouses. The giant pandas are most active in the morning, so go early to the Chengdu Research Base. Afternoon: People’s Park teahouse culture — order a bowl of tea, watch the ear-cleaners and mahjong games, and let the city’s famous slowness work on you. For the evening food assault plan, read our Chengdu food guide before you land.
Day 9 — Sichuan beyond the city (optional). Either a day trip to the Leshan Giant Buddha (about 2 hours by train each way) or a second slow day in Chengdu: Jinli Ancient Street, the Wenshu Monastery area, and a proper hotpot dinner — order yuanyang (half-spicy, half-mild) if it’s your first time. Hotpot is a contact sport; pace yourself.
Days 10–11 · Yangshuo
Getting there: Fly Chengdu to Guilin — about two hours in the air, with several daily departures. From Guilin, the Li River cruise down to Yangshuo is the classic arrival: roughly 4–5 hours of karst peaks drifting past the deck, or take the direct bus (about 1.5 hours) if you’d rather maximise time on the ground.
Day 10 — The Li River. Whichever way you arrive, the afternoon belongs to Yangshuo’s countryside: rent a bicycle and ride the Ten-Mile Gallery road through rice paddies and karst towers, or take a bamboo raft on the Yulong River (the calmer, prettier tributary). The karst landscape here is the China of classical paintings.
Day 11 — Slow morning, move on. Sunrise over the karst from Xianggong Hill if you’re motivated (it’s a short climb and worth it), a lazy morning in West Street’s cafes, then fly or train to Shanghai in the afternoon. Guilin to Shanghai is under two hours by air; high-speed rail takes most of a day, so fly this leg.
Days 12–14 · Shanghai
Day 12 — Old Shanghai. Yu Garden and the surrounding old town in the morning (go early — it gets packed), the Bund waterfront in the late afternoon, and the skyline from across the river after dark. The Bund at night is one of those views that justifies the whole trip.
Day 13 — The concession and the towers. The former French Concession’s tree-lined streets for coffee and browsing, then up one of the Pudong supertalls (Shanghai Tower’s observation deck is the highest) for the daytime panorama. Evening: a Huangpu River cruise is touristy and genuinely lovely.
Day 14 — Flex and fly. Zhujiajiao water town is the easy half-day escape (about an hour by metro), or use the day for last-minute shopping, the Shanghai Museum (free, reservation required), and a long lunch. Most international flights leave in the evening — give yourself plenty of time; Pudong Airport is far from the centre.
What it costs (roughly)
Excluding international flights, budget per person per day:
| Style | Daily spend | 14-day total |
|---|---|---|
| Budget (hostels, street food, trains) | ~¥800 | ~¥11,000 (~$1,500) |
| Mid-range (3–4★ hotels, mixed dining) | ~¥1,500 | ~¥21,000 (~$3,000) |
| Comfortable (4–5★, private drivers some days) | ~¥2,500+ | ~¥35,000+ (~$5,000+) |
Domestic transport is the big fixed cost: expect roughly ¥2,000–3,000 per person for the trains and flights above if booked reasonably early. Sight entry fees are modest by Western standards — most major attractions run ¥40–120 — but they add up across two weeks. Prices shift with season and demand, so treat these as planning figures and confirm before you book.
Three mistakes to avoid
- Booking the big tickets too late. The Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors and the Shaanxi History Museum all run on reservation systems with caps. Put their booking dates in your calendar the moment your flights are confirmed — 7 days ahead for the Warriors, several days for the rest.
- Underestimating distances. China is enormous, and every “quick transfer” involves a huge station, security checks and a 30-minute buffer. Build slack into every travel day; the itinerary above already does.
- Trying to add a sixth stop. Every first-timer wants to squeeze in Zhangjiajie or Dunhuang. Don’t. Five stops in fourteen days is the pace where you actually enjoy the places instead of photographing them from a train window. Save the pillars for trip two — our Zhangjiajie guide will wait.
Making it yours
This route is the greatest-hits version, and greatest hits are popular for a reason — but the best version of this trip is the one tuned to your dates, your pace and the things you actually care about. Swap Yangshuo for Zhangjiajie’s stone forests, add a Huangshan sunrise, or slow the whole thing down with an extra day in Chengdu’s teahouses. If you’d rather have someone who does this every week shape the route around you, our 1:1 travel concierge builds the day-by-day plan, books the tricky tickets and stays on WhatsApp while you travel.
Want this itinerary tailored to your dates? Our Route Design ($180) turns it into a day-by-day plan.