This 10-day China itinerary strings together three very different cities — Beijing, then Xi’an, then Shanghai — with just two train rides between them. No city is repeated: Beijing → Xi’an (~4.5h), then Xi’an → Shanghai (~6.5h). Want more cities? The 14-day version adds Chengdu and Guilin.
Keep one base per city. Don’t change hotels mid-city — the time you save is the time you’ll actually enjoy.
Land, set up Alipay and a maps app while the airport Wi-Fi works. Day 2: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and a hutong walk in the evening. Book Forbidden City tickets online ahead — they cap daily entries.
Go early to Mutianyu (less crowded than Badaling, restored but not Disney-fied). Cable car up, toboggan down. Back in town for a Peking duck dinner.
Summer Palace in the morning, then an afternoon high-speed train to Xi’an (about 4.5 hours). Book the train on 12306 or Trip.com a few days out.
Get there at opening. Three pits, a museum, and the bronze chariots. Hire the audio guide or a licensed on-site guide — the signs alone don’t tell you the story.
Rent a bike on top of the Ming-era wall (a full loop is ~14 km). Evening: Muslim Quarter for lamb skewers, biangbiang noodles, and street sweets. Then the train to Shanghai (~6.5h).
Recover from the train. Walk the Bund in the evening when the Pudong skyline lights up. Download a translation app with offline Chinese — place names in pinyin will fail you at taxi ranks.
Yu Garden and the surrounding bazaar in the morning; the French Concession lanes for coffee and architecture. If energy allows, a half-day to Zhujiajiao water town is an easy metro-plus-bus run.
One slow day for museums or a second water town, one final shopping run, then fly out of Shanghai Pudong (PVG) or Hongqiao (SHA). Leave the city 3 hours before an international flight.
You could fly, but the high-speed rail is the experience people remember — and the stations are in the city, not an hour out.
~4.5–5.5 hours, second-class seat around ¥515 (≈$72). Multiple departures daily. Book a few days ahead in peak season.
~6–7 hours, second-class around ¥700 (≈$99). An overnight sleeper train also runs if you’d rather save a hotel night.
Foreign cards work on Trip.com; the official 12306 app needs a Chinese payment setup. Either beats a reseller markup. Full rail guide →
| Mid-range hotels (per night) | ¥400–700 |
| Meals (per day) | ¥120–250 |
| Trains (the two legs) | ¥1,200–1,450 |
| Attractions & local transit | ¥800–1,200 |
| Total, ~10 days | ¥6,800–11,500 |
That’s about $960–$1,620 excluding international flights. Comfortable, not luxury.
Best: April–May and September–October. Mild, clear, and the wall and gardens look their best.
Avoid: Chinese Golden Week (early October) and Spring Festival — trains sell out and sites are shoulder-to-shoulder.
Winter: Cold but crowd-free and cheap, if you dress for it.
Four places to go next — pick the one you need right now.
Beijing (3) – Xi’an (2) – Shanghai (3) is the classic 10-day sweep, with a day buffer for a side trip or rest. It covers history, walls, and modern city life.
Definitely – Xi’an fits naturally between Beijing and Shanghai and is worth two nights for the Terracotta Army and city wall.
Enough for the golden triangle plus one deeper stop. You still won’t see the south or west, and that’s fine for a first trip.
Spend the most on your top interest, keep travel days minimal, and avoid one-night hops that burn half a day in transit.
High-speed rail for Beijing-Xi’an-Shanghai; flights only when distances are long. Book seats early for holiday periods.
Practical first-trip China guides — visas, VPN, eSIM, Alipay, trains, and city routes.