Browsing Category: Hotels, Food & Everyday Travel

Choosing a hotel in Chengdu (成都, Chéngdū) can be surprisingly difficult. Open a hotel-booking app and dozens of properties can look almost identical: similar prices, similar rooms, similar ratings—and all claiming to be “central.” So instead of asking which hotel is best, there may be a better question: Which part of central Chengdu should you actually stay in? One traveler wanted to be near Tianfu Square (天府广场, Tiānfǔ Guǎngchǎng) and People’s Park (人民公园, Rénmín Gōngyuán), with easy access...

Choosing a hotel in Beijing (北京, Běijīng) can be surprisingly confusing for a first-time visitor. The city is enormous. Attractions are spread out. And when you look at the map, it can seem as though no hotel is really close to everything. One traveler had a refreshingly simple requirement: somewhere cheap, cheerful and clean, with a window and convenient transport. They weren’t interested in hotel facilities because they planned to spend their days exploring Beijing. There...

A short stay in Beijing (北京, Běijīng) forces travelers to make some difficult choices. If you have one day for the Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng) and only one full day left for central Beijing, should you try to squeeze in the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven? And if you’re visiting Mutianyu (慕田峪, Mùtiányù) in early November, will you still catch Beijing’s famous autumn colors? A traveler planning exactly this kind of short November visit recently...

A 24-hour layover in Beijing (北京, Běijīng) sounds like plenty of time—until you realize how enormous Beijing is. Should a first-time traveler use those precious hours to travel out to the Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng)? Or would it be smarter to stay in central Beijing and see several famous attractions? A traveler facing exactly this decision for a November transit recently asked whether the Great Wall was really worth sacrificing much of the day for....

A short stay in Beijing (北京, Běijīng) forces travelers to make some difficult choices. If you have one day for the Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng) and only one full day left for central Beijing, should you try to squeeze in the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven? And if you’re visiting Mutianyu (慕田峪, Mùtiányù) in early November, will you still catch Beijing’s famous autumn colors? A traveler planning exactly this kind of short November visit recently...

Zhangjiajie (张家界, Zhāngjiājiè) is one of China’s most spectacular landscapes—but planning a first visit isn’t quite as simple as choosing a hotel and buying an entrance ticket. The attractions travelers collectively call “Zhangjiajie” are spread across different areas. That raises several practical questions: How many days do you actually need? Should you stay in Wulingyuan or Zhangjiajie city? And can you experience those famous sandstone peaks without spending the entire trip following crowds? One...

Shanghai’s Huangpu River (黄浦江, Huángpǔ Jiāng) produces one of China’s great urban views: the historic Bund on one side and the skyscrapers of Pudong (浦东, Pǔdōng) on the other. But can a traveler actually wake up to that view without paying luxury-hotel prices? One traveler was looking for something very specific: a clean Shanghai hotel, a beautiful river view, and a budget below US$100 per night. The Traveler’s Question This question was publicly shared in an online...

A traveler visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi’an wanted to rent Hanfu (汉服, Hànfú), hire a photographer for two or three hours, and find the best locations without spending the whole day walking around in costume. The Traveler’s Question Hi. We would like to hire Hanyu costume and also photographer if it’s not cost too much for 2–3 hours. Where are the 2 best places to take photo shots with less walking...

Planning a first trip to China often starts with a list of places you really want to see. The harder part comes next: how do you connect them into an itinerary that actually makes sense? One traveler wanted to visit the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Huangshan and Zhangjiajie, but wasn’t sure where to start, which order to travel in, where to finish, or how many days the trip would require. We put the question...

The first trip to China is often relatively easy to shape. Beijing. Shanghai. Xi’an. Chengdu. Perhaps Chongqing, Yunnan or Zhangjiajie. But what happens when you’ve already visited many of China’s best-known destinations—and you want your next trip to feel completely different? That’s the situation one repeat traveler faced while planning another China journey for October. They had already visited Beijing (北京, Běijīng), Shanghai (上海, Shànghǎi), Chengdu (成都, Chéngdū), Chongqing (重庆, Chóngqìng), Lijiang (丽江, Lìjiāng),...