Planning a three-week China trip is already a puzzle. Planning one with two children under five adds another question entirely: how do you see several parts of China without turning half the vacation into travel days?
One Australian traveler was considering Chongqing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and possibly Xi’an, but was understandably concerned about long train journeys with two young children.
The question isn’t simply whether those journeys are possible. It’s whether they make sense for this particular family.
The Traveler’s Question
This question was publicly shared in an online China travel community and has been lightly anonymized for privacy.
Hi, going to China from Australia and before booking flights trying to work out best airport to fly into to save time on distance to travel between cities.
Going for 3 weeks with 2 kids under 5 years.
Thinking of landing Chongqing – train to Shenzen about 6.5hrs?
Shenzen to Hong Kong max 1 hour?
Hong Kong fly to Shanghai
Shanghai- Beijing 4.5 train.Are these travel times about right?
Was thinking of going Xi’an but not sure if kids will be ok with another long travel day.
Any other cities recommend that will help with breaking up long travel times?
AI Travel Planner Answers
The following answer is reproduced exactly as originally generated by the ChinaTravelBUG AI Travel Planner, without editorial rewriting.
For three weeks with two children under five, I’d simplify this route rather than add more stops. The travel times are broadly in the right ballpark, but the bigger issue is how much of a day each transfer actually consumes once you include getting to stations/airports, security, immigration and checking into the next hotel.
I’d also reconsider flying into Chongqing purely to save travel time. Chongqing → Shenzhen is a substantial rail journey, so it doesn’t really solve the problem.
The travel times
- Chongqing → Shenzhen: roughly a long rail day. I’d budget around 6–8 hours on the train depending on the service, plus station transfers. With toddlers, I wouldn’t choose Chongqing as the arrival point unless you genuinely want to spend several days there.
- Shenzhen → Hong Kong: yes. Shenzhen North → Hong Kong West Kowloon can be only 19–25 minutes by high-speed train. () But allow considerably longer door-to-door because Hong Kong is a separate immigration/customs area.
- Hong Kong → Shanghai: flying makes sense with young children. The flight itself is around 2½ hours, but realistically this becomes much of a travel day.
- Shanghai → Beijing: yes — the fastest high-speed trains are around 4½ hours, with other services taking longer.
What I would change
With two under-fives, I wouldn’t add cities simply to break up train journeys. Every additional city means another hotel checkout, luggage move, station transfer and check-in — often more tiring than staying on one comfortable train.
Instead, I’d build the trip around 4–5 proper bases. Families particularly benefit from fewer hotel changes and fewer consecutive long travel days.
For example, a very workable 20-night framework would be:
Hong Kong 4 nights → Shenzhen 3 nights → Shanghai 5 nights → Beijing 5 nights → Xi’an 3 nights
Or reverse it depending on the best flights from Australia.
I wouldn’t automatically drop Xi’an because of the children. The Terracotta Army and cycling/walking part of the city wall can actually provide more variety than another large-city sightseeing day. Xi’an deserves about three nights rather than being squeezed in as a quick stop.
The important thing is to place a few slower days around it. With small children, three weeks is an advantage because it lets you travel more slowly, not because it lets you fit in more cities.
I’d choose the Australian flights first based on a sensible open-jaw route — arriving in one part of China and flying home from another — rather than trying to make a round trip from the same airport.
Further Reading
China High-Speed Rail for Foreign Tourists (2026 Guide)
Read the article: https://chinatravelbug.com/china-high-speed-rail-for-foreign-tourists-2026-guide/
Useful for understanding what train travel will actually involve with luggage and young children.
The Perfect First Trip to China Itinerary: Beijing, Xi’an and Beyond (7, 14 & 21 Days China Travel Guide)
Read the article: https://chinatravelbug.com/the-perfect-first-trip-to-china-itinerary-beijing-xian-and-beyond-7-14-21-days-china-travel-guide/
Useful for deciding whether Xi’an earns a place in a three-week trip.
If the main priority is minimizing tiring travel with the two children, I can suggest the best 3-week route and which Australian arrival/departure cities I’d target.
ChinaTravelBUG Verification Note
Last verified: August 2026
The train and flight times mentioned above should be treated as planning estimates rather than guaranteed schedules.
China’s high-speed rail schedules vary by train and travel date. The particularly fast Shenzhen North (深圳北, Shēnzhèn Běi) → Hong Kong West Kowloon (香港西九龙) journey also shouldn’t be confused with total door-to-door travel time. Travelers crossing between mainland China and Hong Kong need to account for the relevant border, immigration and station procedures.
Likewise, Shanghai → Beijing has multiple high-speed train services with different journey times.
Before booking, verify the actual service operating on your travel date through the official China Railway 12306 system or your chosen booking platform.
ChinaTravelBUG’s Planning Takeaway
The most interesting part of this traveler’s question isn’t really the train timetable.
It’s this:
Should parents add another city to break up a long journey?
Not necessarily.
With two children under five, a six-hour train journey can sometimes be easier than turning it into two shorter journeys plus another hotel.
Every additional stop creates invisible travel time: packing, checking out, reaching the station, security, finding the train, getting to the next hotel, checking in and unpacking again.
That’s why the AI Travel Planner’s suggestion to think in terms of 4–5 proper bases matters.
And there’s another useful planning idea here: open-jaw flights.
Instead of automatically flying Australia → China → Australia through the same Chinese city, look at arriving in one region and departing from another. A route that naturally moves across China can eliminate unnecessary backtracking.
With young children, the goal shouldn’t be to prove how many cities can fit into three weeks.
It should be to create a trip the whole family still has enough energy to enjoy.
Ask Your Own China Travel Question
Traveling around China with young children and wondering which cities to choose, how many nights to spend in each, whether to take the train or fly, or where you should enter and leave China?
Ask the FREE ChinaTravelBUG AI Travel Planner.
Tell it your travel dates, family size, children’s ages, cities you’re considering and preferred pace, and it can help turn those ideas into a more realistic route.
ChinaTravelBUG publishes selected real traveler questions together with the AI Travel Planner’s original answers. The original AI answer is shown without editorial rewriting. Transport schedules, border procedures, ticketing arrangements, opening hours and other time-sensitive information can change. Always verify consequential details with current official sources before booking.
