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China guides

Country-level guides: when to go, where to go first, visas and transit, and how the high-speed network fits together.

Day trip · 4 min read Longji Rice Terraces as a Day Trip: From Guilin Yes, From Yangshuo No Two and a half hours each way from Guilin, four from Yangshuo, and the terraces are a sunrise subject. Fares, the seasonal ticket, which…
Decision · 4 min read Is Zhangjiajie Worth Visiting? The Honest Cost of Saying Yes It is the most expensive destination in China on entry fees and one of the most awkward to reach. It is also unlike anywhere…
Food · 4 min read What to Eat in Zhangjiajie: Tujia Food, and How It Differs from Sichuan Hunan is spicier than Sichuan and it burns differently — chilli heat with no numbing. What Tujia cooking actually is, the four dishes worth…
Day trips · 4 min read Day Trips from Zhangjiajie: One That Works, One That Does Not Furong Ancient Town is thirty minutes away by high-speed train and makes a genuine day out. Fenghuang is sold as a day trip everywhere…
Things to do · 6 min read Things to Do in Zhangjiajie: What Each One Costs, and Which Are Worth It Nine things, priced from the official 2026 fee schedule. Which are inside the park ticket, which are separate, and which two are sold hard…
Connection · 5 min read Zhangjiajie to Guilin: Why the Direct Train Is Not the Fastest Way There is no flight between these two, whatever the itinerary you were sold says. There is one direct train a couple of times a…
Connection · 6 min read Chengdu to Xi’an by Train: Times, Fares and the Qinling Crossing Before December 2017 this journey took sixteen hours. It now takes about three, through 127 km of tunnel under the Qinling. Times, fares by…
Itinerary · 8 min read Chengdu Itinerary: 4 Days, With a Slow Day The fourth day in Chengdu is not a fourth round of sights. It is the day the city is actually for — plus the…
Country guide · 4 min read China Travel Tips: The Twelve That Actually Change Your Trip Not a list of forty. Twelve things about how China works — bookings, payments, passports, stations — that decide whether the trip is smooth…
Route plan · 6 min read Two Weeks in China: Three Routes That Work Fourteen days holds four bases, not eight. Three routes — classic, landscape and western — with the rail legs that make each one work…
Country guide · 4 min read Is China Safe for Tourists? Street crime is not the thing to worry about in China. The real risks are practical: traffic, scams aimed at foreigners, and a digital…
Country guide · 4 min read Best Time to Visit China, Month by Month China spans tropical islands and Siberian winters, so "the best month" depends entirely on where you are going. What does apply everywhere is the…