China Travel Guide - Choosing Your Family-Friendly Itinerary

Ok , this is a tough one. China is such a great land, so where should you go? What is there to do with the kids? Plan your family-friendly itinerary to include a Pedicab trip through the Beijing alleyways, a Toboggan ride down the Great Wall, biking through the countryside among gumdrop mountains... planning a trip to China with the kids will take a little more planning, but in the end, it's all worth it!

Don't try to cram too many places in a short period of time. After all, you wouldn't try to see the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Yosemite, New York City, Disneyworld, the Florida Keys and the Everglades all in two weeks...

Yes, China is BIG, and there is so much to see and experience. This is one of the world's ancient civilizations and is so full of history and culture. When all that history and culture becomes "too much" for the kids, take a boat ride, fly kites, watch a kung fu show!

Our first China Family Adventure in July 2007 brought us to:

Beijing Beijing, the capital of the Republic and home to many of China's most famous historical sites, including the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

Xian Xian's claim to fame is the Army of Terracotta Warriors, a most intriguing archaeological discovery.

Yangtze River Cruise and Three Gorges The Yangtze River offers charming mountain scenery at the Three Gorges and the largest hydroelectric project at the Three Gorges Dam

Shanghai Shanghai is the nation's business and financial center. A place where East meets West, old meets new... One of the world's most vibrant cities.

We had plenty to do in our two weeks. The children were happy and entertained throughout with the different activities we had planned. Grandma and grandpa were thrilled to be back in their homeland and to see the amazing changes happening right now. As for me and the rest of us, it was a journey of re-discovering, each trip is like being there for the first time...



When planning our itinerary, I also considered the following places which also offer a lot of family-friendly activities and which will be part of our next China Family Adventure! (one day coming soon...) If you will be spending a longer time, I encourage you to include them in your plans!

Chengdu In Chengdu you will see Pandas as close to their natural habitat as you can get, a great treat for the kids to come face to face with one of these wonderful creatures. However, due to the widespread damage to Sichuan Province as a result of the Wenchuan Earthquake, some areas, specially in Chengdu, are understandably still currently closed to visitors. That includes the many Panda Preserves in the area. Click here for more on the China Earthquake, latest updates and how you can help.

Guilin/Yangshuo Guilin and Yangshuo is where you find those picture-perfect magical limestone peaks... You feel as if you were in the middle of a classical Chinese painting... Children will enjoy a bike ride through the countryside, or cruising the rivers on bamboo rafts... it's a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.

Leshan Leshan boasts some beautiful countryside as well as the world's largest Buddha, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This area was affected by the Earthquake earlier in May this year, see Chengdu above, so check out what the current situation is before you get out here.

Hong Kong Hong Kong is a complex modern metropolis where glass and steel skyscrapers bond with the ancient culture giving this city such an exotic flavor... Kids will enjoy the Star Ferry, getting up Victoria Peak, and the many parks... Click here for more on Hong Kong travel tips including things to do, shopping tips, food, etc from Anna, a native Chinese residing in Hong Kong, and her day trip to Disneyland Hong Kong.

Use this link to the China Map for a quick reference when planning your itinerary!

We recommend: China Guide Books we used to plan our trip The China (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE) has excellent pictures is very practical and organized into seven regional sections. It is great to take along for reference as it gives you a nice concise overview of the attractions, shows you photographs, illustrations, maps, etc. The book has an enormous amount of great color photographs, this alone can help you decide on your choice of destinations if you are in the planning stage. This book, however, does not provide the logistic details you might need if you are traveling on your own. For that, you might want to get the Lonely Planet Guide Book. See below.

The Lonely Planet China Guide picks up where the Eyewitness Guide lets off. This guide tells you how to get to the attractions, names of places are written also in Chinese, so if you are traveling on your own, you can just point at the name in the book. Use this book with caution. China changes fast, even with the latest edition, you might find that some of the information might be outdated. This is specially true of the restaurant and hotel recommendations, but in general it is still the best guide book for independent travelers to China. Also be aware that this book is in the "banned list" in China, something to do with the way Taiwan is presented as its own land instead of part of China. Books have been confiscated at checkpoints, so you might want to put a different cover on the paperback just in case your luggage gets searched. Needless to say, you need to get your copy before you enter China as you will not be able to buy it there.

If you are concentrating in a specific part of China, both of the above publications have individual books for Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau, China's Southwest, and Tibet.

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