A Local's 15-Day China Itinerary for First-Time Visitors

This route comes from a Chinese local on r/travelchina who ended up planning the same trip every time foreign friends visited — so they posted it once for everyone. Four cities in 15 days: Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Shanghai. It hits the classic first-timer sights with one domestic flight and one high-speed train, and the poster pegs the whole trip at around $2,000 per person, hotels and food included. It's a fast pace — treat it as a skeleton you can slow down, not a checklist you must finish.

The Route at a Glance

Days	Base	Main stops
1–4	Beijing	Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs, Great Wall at Badaling
Day 4 evening	Train to Xi'an	High-speed train, Beijing West ~16:23 → Xi'an ~21:30 (about 5 hours)
5–7	Xi'an	Terracotta Warriors, Huaqing Palace, City Wall, Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
Day 8	Mt. Huashan → Chongqing	Mountain day trip, evening flight landing 23:00
9–11	Chongqing	Dazu Rock Carvings, Liziba monorail station, Jiefangbei, Chaotianmen
12–15	Shanghai	Shanghai Museum, Yuyuan Garden, The Bund, Lujiazui, Wukang Road

Days 1–4: Beijing

• Day 1: Tian'anmen Square in the morning, then the Forbidden City (Palace Museum) — allow at least half a day — and the Summer Palace in the afternoon.
• Day 2: Temple of Heaven in the morning (go early to watch locals doing tai chi and ballroom dancing), then the Shichahai lake district and the Nanluoguxiang hutong alley.
• Day 3: Day trip north of the city: the Ming Tombs in the morning and the Great Wall at Badaling in the afternoon.
• Day 4: A light morning (the poster chose Olympic Forest Park), then the ~16:23 high-speed train from Beijing West Railway Station, arriving in Xi'an around 21:30.

Book the Beijing–Xi'an train as soon as your dates are fixed — the local warns that afternoon departures on this corridor are the first to sell out.

View Guide → is the official 12306 app; it accepts foreign passports and foreign bank cards.

Days 5–8: Xi'an and Mt. Huashan

• Day 5: The Terracotta Warriors museum in the morning, then nearby Huaqing Palace — both sit east of the city and are usually combined in one day.
• Day 6: Daming Palace National Heritage Park in the morning, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the afternoon, and the Datang Everbright City pedestrian street after dark.
• Day 7: The Xi'an City Wall in the morning (rent a bike and ride the loop on top), then the Forest of Stone Steles Museum.
• Day 8: Day trip to Mt. Huashan, one of China's five sacred mountains, then straight to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport for an evening flight to Chongqing, landing around 23:00.

Days 9–11: Chongqing

• Day 9: Full-day trip to the Dazu Rock Carvings at Bao Dingshan — UNESCO-listed Buddhist cliff carvings outside the city — then back downtown for the evening around Jiefangbei (People's Liberation Monument).
• Day 10: Liziba station, where a monorail line passes straight through a residential building; the Kuixing Building, famous for its "street level on both sides" plaza; and Chaotianmen Square at night, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet.
• Day 11: A slower final day — the poster picked Tieshanping Forest Park — before flying on to Shanghai (the plan arrives at Shanghai Pudong).

Days 12–15: Shanghai

• Day 12: Shanghai Museum at People's Square in the morning, Yuyuan Garden in the afternoon, and the Bund toward sunset.
• Day 13: Across the river in Lujiazui: the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the riverside Central Green; the poster also fits in the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum.
• Day 14: Wukang Road and the former French Concession streets — the city's best walking neighborhood — with cafés around Anfu Road.
• Day 15: Departure day; the plan books an evening flight out of Shanghai Pudong International Airport around 20:00, leaving the morning free.

Booking Checklist

1. 1. Book open-jaw international flights

   Fly into Beijing and out of Shanghai so you never backtrack. This is what makes a one-way route like this work.

2. 2. Book hotels near metro stations

   The local's mid-range picks, all near a metro: Hilton Garden Inn Beijing Asian Games Village, Hampton by Hilton Xi'an South Gate City Wall, Hyatt Regency Chongqing Jiefangbei, and Kangbo Hotel Shanghai Jing'an Temple.

3. 3. Book the Beijing–Xi'an train on 12306

   Do this as soon as your dates are fixed; tickets go on sale about 15 days ahead and afternoon departures sell out first. Your passport is your ticket — no paper needed.

4. 4. Reserve Forbidden City tickets 7 days out

   Tickets release at 20:00 Beijing time, 7 days before the visit date, and go within minutes. Book through the official channel the moment your date opens.

5. 5. Buy remaining attraction tickets

   Terracotta Warriors, Huaqing Palace, Mt. Huashan, Dazu Rock Carvings, and Yuyuan Garden can be booked in English on Trip.com, often up to the day before.

For step 5,

View Guide → (Trip.com) sells official attraction tickets with an English interface and foreign card payment — useful when an official site only has a Chinese mini-program.

Practical Tips

• Budget: The local estimates roughly $2,000 per person for the whole trip, including mid-range hotels, intercity transport, food, and tickets. Meals on the posted route ran about ¥10–200 per person — from ¥10 noodle bowls to ~¥200 roast-duck dinners.
• Payments: Almost everything on this route, down to ¥10 noodle shops, is paid by QR code. Set up
  
  Alipay

  Payment · Intermediate
  View Guide → with your foreign card before you fly.
• Pacing: This is a fast itinerary. If you have extra days, add them to Beijing or Shanghai — both cities can absorb two more days easily.
• Timing: The posted plan runs July 10–24. Spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are more comfortable for Huashan and the Great Wall; avoid the National Day holiday week in early October, when trains and top sights sell out far in advance.
• What to book first: Trains and the Forbidden City, in that order. Everything else on this route can be booked a few days ahead.