Pick your city.

China's largest city and global financial hub

Colonial heritage meets futuristic skyline. Best for first-time visitors to China.

Imperial capital, hutongs, and the Great Wall

Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and a day-trip to the Wall. The political and cultural heart.

China's global financial gateway — harbour skyline, Peak Tram, dim sum

Victoria Harbour skyline, Big Buddha on Lantau, Cantonese dim sum, and the only SAR with 90-day visa-free for most Western nationalities.

Cantonese capital of South China — dim sum, Pearl River, and Lingnan culture

China's oldest treaty port and the cradle of dim sum. Shamian's colonial bones meet skyscrapers across the Pearl River.

Pandas, hotpot, and the slow life

China's most laid-back megacity. Tea houses, mahjong parlors, and the world's most famous bears.

Mountain megacity on the Yangtze — cable cars, hotpot, and night skyline

Vertical city wedged into mountains where the Yangtze meets the Jialing. Hongya Cave, Ciqikou, and a cuisine that defines spicy.

China's youngest megacity — tech, makers, and a fishing-village-to-future story

From fishing village to global tech hub in 40 years. Huaqiangbei electronics market, Window of the World, and easy Hong Kong border crossings.

Ancient capital — Terracotta Army, City Wall, Muslim Quarter, Silk Road

Capital of 13 dynasties and Silk Road eastern terminus. Terracotta Warriors, 14 km Ming-era city walls, and the lamb-kebab Muslim Quarter night.

Heaven on earth — West Lake, Longjing tea, Lingyin Temple

UNESCO West Lake with the Tang-era causeways, Lingyin Buddhist Temple, Longjing tea villages, the Grand Canal northern terminus, and easy day trips to Wuzhen water town.

Avatar's floating mountains — UNESCO sandstone pillar landscape

The 3,000+ sandstone pillars that inspired Avatar's Hallelujah Mountain (Wulingyuan UNESCO site), plus the world's longest cableway + 999-step Heaven's Gate cave at Tianmen Mountain, plus the world-record glass bridge across Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon. Often paired with Fenghuang Ancient Town.

Karst peaks + Li River — the ¥20 banknote landscape

The 1,500-year-old karst landscape that defined Chinese ink-wash painting. Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, Yulong bamboo rafts past Moon Hill, ancient Longji rice terraces, and Zhang Yimou's Impression Liu Sanjie outdoor show.

Classical gardens + canal water streets — 25 min HSR from Shanghai

9 UNESCO Classical Gardens (the Humble Administrator's, Lingering, Master of Nets), the 1,000-year-old Pingjiang and Shantang canal streets, Tang-era Hanshan Temple, I.M. Pei's Suzhou Museum, and the Zhouzhuang + Tongli water town day-trips — all 25 min HSR from Shanghai.