Our detailed itinerary of 21 days in China: Complete guide
Yes, organizing a trip to China can be overwhelming. A huge country, little information, different applications, a lot of places to visit… It is true that lately, more and more people are traveling to China as it is opening up more and more, but it is still complicated. That is why, after a lot of research, we bring you our 21 days in China, with hits and misses and our opinion and details of the itinerary.
Consider that we did China as part of a 7-month trip, so the departure in Chongqing is because we found cheap flights to Bangkok.
Also, in the initial plan, the idea was to stay one month, adding the Yunnan area for 1 week. This area is the one that connects with Vietnam from the north, so it was a great opportunity to be able to pass to the neighbouring country and continue our route. But finally, we wanted to travel to Thailand, so we took a plane from Chengdu.
The structure of the route is going to be as usual when we do posts of this kind, pointing out the things we were able to do, but we won’t go into detail on each one, as you have or will have dedicated posts for that.
That said, off to discover China!
Things to bear in mind in 21 days in China
As we have said, China is huge. You will be able to visit a small part of the country in this time, but enough to feel it intensely.
The journeys are very long, so be aware that you will lose a few days travelling. Use alternatives such as travelling at night to save time. Anyway, it has one of the most incredible railway networks in the world, it reaches everywhere.
For Spanish people, you can stay 15 days in China for free without a visa (until 31 December 2025). On a trip longer than this, if you don’t want to pay the visa, you can leave to Hong Kong and re-enter, it is automatically renewed for another 15 days. For those of you who want to spend 21 days in China or more and do not want to leave for HK, you will have to apply for a visa, ask your foreign ministry how to do this.
🌏 You might also be interested in…
Check out our other posts about China, which will help complement the information in this article:
Day 1 of 21 days in China: Beijing
If you want to know more about our days in Beijing on this 21 days in China, visit our posts Complete Guide to Beijing, 4 Days in Beijing and Complete Guide to Visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing.
And we have finally arrived in China! And we did it in the capital of the country, the huge Beijing. We were going to enjoy 4 days in this wonderful city that has so much to offer. Beijing is our favourite city in China of these 21 days in China. We don’t know if it is because it was the point of arrival, but we found it amazing. It is a mixture of tradition, modernity, big city, areas that look like villages, good food, good atmosphere?
Our first day was very light, due to the beating we were taking from the trip and the fact that we arrived in Beijing at 6 in the morning and the hotel wouldn’t let us check in until 12.
On this first day, because of the proximity to the hotel, we went to the Beijing Silk Market in the morning. To be honest, we wouldn’t recommend it as a top thing to do, it is simply a shopping centre with several floors and shops selling clothes and imitations.
After resting in the hotel and taking a nap, we wanted to go to the Olympic Zone, to see the grand avenue and the big buildings that were created for this event in 2008. There, you can see iconic buildings such as the Bird’s Nest or the Water Cube.
After this, and making use of the wonderful metro, we went to the city centre, in the area of Wangfujing, one of the oldest commercial areas of Beijing that nowadays has all the big shops and shops and is a very lively and busy area at all hours, perfect for eating and enjoying a walk.
Where to stay?
In Beijing we think we got the accommodation right. We were on a low budget, so we looked for something good, nice, cheap and centrally located. It was not an easy task but we got the Zhong An Hotel (€), a small but fully equipped hotel, with a very good restaurant (we recommend the Peking Duck) and a good breakfast. It is next to the Beijing Railway Station underground.
Where to eat?
We dined at a hotpot in the Wangfujing area, inside a shopping mall. We recommend you try hotpots in China, it is one of the best things you can do. We tried to go to the famous Siji Minfu duck place, but there was a 3 hour queue….
Day 2 of 21 days in China: Great Wall from Beijing
If you want to know more about our days in Beijing on this 21 days in China, visit our posts Complete Guide to Beijing, 4 Days in Beijing and Complete Guide to Visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing.
On this second day of 21 days in China, came one of the moments that we had engraved in our travel must-dos, visiting the Great Wall of China. Beijing is a perfect place to visit it, as you have several options for all tastes to do so. In the post we have left you all the information on how to do it.
A visit to the Great Wall of China requires practically the whole day, so we left the hotel at approximately 6am to return at 6pm. We decided to visit the Mutianyu section, one of the best, and it was amazing. We did it with this GetYourGuide tour, they take you there and back and manage everything for you, leaving you 5 hours free on the Wall.
In Mutianyu you have two routes, the east or the west. We went to the west, a bit more physically demanding, but great for those who want to see the views from above and admire it in all its splendour.
It was an unforgettable day, the Great Wall of China is very worthwhile, one of our highlights of the 21 days in China.
Where to eat?
We ate at the Chinese Wall itself, in the shopping area. For dinner, we opted to try the restaurant in our hotel, as they had Peking duck and we thought it was spectacular. It is called Zhong An Restaurant.
Day 3: Summer Palace, Lamas Temple and Hutongs (Beijing)
If you want to know more about our days in Beijing on this 21 days in China, visit our posts Complete Guide to Beijing, 4 Days in Beijing and Complete Guide to Visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing.
On the third day, we had to start with the intense sightseeing of the top places in Beijing, and that’s what we did. It was an exhausting day, we did a lot of walking and sightseeing, but it was a blast.
First we started the day with the huge Summer Palace, a place that can take you a morning to visit, as it is a bit far from the centre and it is huge. We recommend getting lost to see it, strolling around the gardens and looking out over the large Kunming Lake.
Top sites of the Summer Palace:
- Kunming Lake (a real folly)
- Longevity Hill and Fragrant Buddha Temple
- Jade Wave Pavilion and Marble Bench
- Seventeen Arches Bridge.
After this visit, we take the metro and go to see another top area of the city. We start by seeing the Temple of the Lamas, the most religious and sacred temple in the city, receiving thousands of visitors every year. It is a temple that can be visited quickly, and it is very cool to see the ritual of the 3 incenses.
After that, there are several of the most interesting hutongs in the city, and we wanted to walk and eat in them. We loved strolling through the hutongs, surely the highlight of these days in Beijing. We were able to see:
- Nanluoguxiang: A street with low grey houses, super nice.
- Gulou E Avenue: we ate super top street food for 4 per head. Our favourite.
- Guozijian Street or Fangjia Hutong: They are parallel and are the ones you will take from the Temple of the Lamas to go to the Drum Tower.
As you walk along it, you’ll have the Drum Tower Square and the Bell nearby, so it’s a good idea to get up close and see them. You can buy tickets directly at the entrance to see them from the inside.
To finish off the day, we went to Jingshan Park to see the best viewpoint of the Forbidden City at night, as it was already dark. Once you have seen it, we can tell you that it should be more worthwhile during the day, to admire the grandeur of the Forbidden City.
We think that after all this, you’ll be exhausted, so have dinner and go to sleep!
Where to eat?
For lunch, we grabbed several snacks in the hutongs of Nanluoguxiang. We tried chicken skewers, crispy fried bread stuffed with meat called Jianbing Guozi and even Spanish churros (they have a shop there).
For dinner we went back to our hotel, very top notch.
Day 4: Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Temple of Heaven
If you want to know more about our days in Beijing on this 21 days in China, visit our posts Complete Guide to Beijing, 4 Days in Beijing and Complete Guide to Visiting the Great Wall of China from Beijing.
Last day in the city and fourth day of the 21 days in China and we were going to visit probably the 3 most iconic things in Beijing, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven.
We started the day very early, at the meeting point of the Forbidden City tour (we opted for this one with tickets and guide from GetYourGuide, which was great). The Forbidden City is huge, it can take you many hours to walk around, but if you are quick, you should be able to finish in 2 hours. We liked it a lot but in the end it’s all a bit similar, so we decided to cut down on time to fit it into other activities during the day.
We then headed for Tiananmen Square. We were delighted when we arrived and saw the long queue to get in, we easily queued for an hour. But hey, it was worth the wait, as we got to see one of the most iconic and largest squares in the world, Tiananmen Square. Here, we would tell you to visit the square first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds and then enter the Forbidden City directly from there, in case you got a ticket without a tour.
We left from the back of the square to walk towards the Temple of Heaven. But, on the way, there was a stop for lunch on the famous Qianmen Street, full of food stalls and shops. Nearby there are famous hutongs to visit, but we didn’t have time.
Once across the street, we walked a few more minutes to the Temple of Heaven Park. This building is beautiful and has a special aura about it, we liked it very much. However, we went there around sunset and it was horrible how crowded the place was, the place where we noticed it the most.
Having done this, we have to close our 4th day of 21 days in China because we were exhausted 🙂
Where to eat?
Once again, we opted to eat at a street market and this time we did so on Qianmen Street, again the Jianbing Guozi.
For dinner, we opted for fast food.
Day 5: Trip Shanghai, 21 days in China
If you want to know more about our days in Shanghai on this 21-day tour of China, visit our posts What to do in Shanghai.
As I mentioned above, on a 21 days in China where you want to travel by train, you are going to have to spend days travelling. This was an example, although it was relatively short, only 4 hours, as our destination was the other big city of the Asian giant, Shanghai.
Shanghai was a real surprise for us, as we were not expecting much and we really liked it! We were able to enjoy 2 and a half days in the city and see almost all of its must-sees.
On this day, we arrived in the city at lunchtime. We were staying 1 minute away from Nanjing Road, so we headed out to walk along it. Nanjing Road is the main commercial artery of the city and one of the longest shopping streets in the world. That’s why you’ll find hundreds of malls and shops to buy everything. It’s true that it’s not the cheapest or most authentic, but it’s pretty good and you can find a variety of food. We opted to try the Xianglonbaos, one of the things you must do in the city as it is its star dish. It is a dumpling filled with soup and meat or fish, delicious.
After this, we went to our room to rest. When it got dark, we went to see Nanjing Road at night, as it is very different because of all the illumination it has. This street leads to the most famous place in the city, The Bund.
The Bund is the famous observation deck overlooking the skyscrapers in the Pudong area. It is always full of people wanting to take a picture, and no wonder. We recommend you go during the day and at night, it also changes a lot.
After taking some nice pictures, we decided that this 5th day of 21 days in China was finished.
Where to stay?
Dayin Hotel is a hotel located very close to Nanjing Road and has a hostel style but with private rooms. The rooms are small but super well equipped, so quality / price is one of the best we found. It has a small gym and breakfast.
Where to eat?
The first day we wanted to try the star dish, the Xianlongbaos, dumplings filled with soup. We tried them in a shopping centre on Nanjing Road. It was called Sue Hsiao Liu.
For dinner, we went to the famous Yang’s Fried Dumplings, a place to try typical dishes and very cheap.
Day 6: Complete day tour in Shanghai, 21 days in China
If you want to know more about our days in Shanghai on this 21 days in China, visit our posts What to do in Shanghai.
Today we are going to discover Shanghai!
It is a perfect city for a couple of days, with plenty to do, try and visit. We start by walking down Nanjing Road again and end up at The Bund to see it during the day. As we said, it changes a lot and is much less crowded, so it’s a great option.
After that, we walked along the viewpoint in front of the river until we reached the Yuyuan Market, a street market with classic Chinese buildings, which contrast greatly with the big skyscrapers of the city. It’s a good place to buy souvenirs or try some food, although it’s very touristy.
Right next door is the Yuyuan Garden, a haven of peace in the middle of this busy city. It is a traditional Chinese construction, centred on bridges, trees and pavilions. It was built in 1559 and you can buy your ticket there.
After the visit (about 1 hour), we headed to another very interesting area, the French Concession. This place, administered by France for quite a few years, has two quite interesting areas to see, each different from the other:
- Xintiandi
- Tianzifang
We recommend visiting both of them, strolling around and admiring the curious constructions, although we liked Tianzifang more, as we see it as more authentic. We took the opportunity to eat there at a local stall and try some Chinese tea.
Next, we changed registers completely and went to Pudong, the financial district and richest area of Beijing. This area is where all the skyscrapers and big buildings like the Shanghai Tower (the third tallest in the world) and the Pearl Tower, symbol of the city, are located. Again, it’s cool to stroll around the streets looking up.
From there, we took the public ferry, which is very cheap, and crossed to The Bund at night. It’s a good way to see the view from the water at a very low cost (maximum €1 per person).
There, we ended our day, returning through Nanjing to get some dinner and rest on this busy 6th day of 21 days in China.
Where to eat?
We ate at a top local place in the Tianzifen area. In this area it’s best to wander around and find a local stall that makes cheap food.
Day 7: Zhujiajiao and Shanghái Tower
If you want to know more about our days in Shanghai on this 21 days in China, visit our posts What to do in Shanghai.
First week of the 21 days in China completed. We headed to one of the star activities in Shanghai, visiting the villages on the water. On the outskirts of Shanghai, there are several villages that are built on canals and with very cool classic buildings. You have several options, many of them accessible in 1 hour by public transport. You can find more details of all of them in the other post above.
We chose the most famous one, Zhujiajiao. Our opinion of this place is that it is nice, it is beautiful, but we think that, like almost everything in China, it is very sales-oriented. We mean that in a beautiful and charming place, it is difficult to see a McDonalds in the typical photo of the place. The village is a bit like that, long shopping streets where they sell almost everything. The idea would be to wander through it and you’ll find very cool spots and super cool photos, but we didn’t love it.
After going to Zhujiajiao, we went back to the centre of Shanghai, specifically to People’s Square, the most important square in the city and home to the Shanghai Museum, the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Museum of Urbanism. It’s nice to stroll around and see some greenery in the middle of the city.
Tras comer, descansar y hacer un poco de deporte, nos dirigimos a la actividad estrella del día, subir a la tercera torre más alta del mundo, la Shanghái Tower. Lo recomendamos muchísimo, nunca hemos tenido la sensación de vértigo e impresión que sientes al estar arriba. Además, subes en el ascensor más rápido del mundo, una pasada. Hicimos la actividad con nuestro partner de actividades favorito, GetYourGuide. Encontrarás los tickets aquí.
Y hecho esto, nos retiramos para movernos al día siguiente a un nuevo destino, Huangshan.
Where to eat?
We ate at a restaurant next to our hotel to try the other classic dish of the city, crab. We don’t have the name because it doesn’t appear on Google, but we recommend you try some crab, you’ll see it everywhere.
For dinner, we went for fast food.
Day 8: Huangshan trip and Hongcun, 21 days in China
We moved to another area of China, about 3 hours by train from Shanghai. This time, we decided to visit a place not so typical for foreign tourists, the Yellow Mountain, Huangshan.
Huangshan is a sacred place for the Chinese and super important. That’s why they flock here almost every day to trek the mountain and admire the incredible views. We wanted to visit this area in two and a half days, dedicating one to Huangshan and another to one of the famous villages, Hongcun and Xidi.
After arriving at the hotel and checking in around lunchtime, we quickly arranged transport for the afternoon to take us to Hongcun.
Arriving in Hongcun, we thought it would be a tourist trap, as we thought it was a village to visit and where people lived and had a ticket office to enter. But once inside, we think it was worth paying for, as it was probably the most authentic village of our 21 days in China. It is very top stroll through its streets quietly, admiring the classical buildings and spaces that this site leaves. It was also a very important educational centre for the region, so it still has classrooms that are still in use and that you can visit. We enjoyed spending 3-4 hours of the afternoon walking around, taking pictures and observing how the Chinese live their culture, doing a thousand different things, from dressing up in their traditional costumes to painting the landscapes.
Once we were back, we prepared for the next day’s climb up the mountain.
Where to stay?
The hotel in Huangshan was probably the best of all our 21 days in China. It was called Yunshan Villa and it has all the services you need. The owner is a crack, he prepares everything for you in minutes so you don’t have any complications and speaks perfect English. Besides, they cook very well and you can eat there quite cheaply.
Where to eat?
We had lunch and dinner at our hotel.
Day 9: Huangshan (fail)
I told you we were going up the mountain, didn’t I? Surprise! As soon as we woke up, there was a downpour and fog. We spoke to the man at the hotel and he told us that it wasn’t worth it and that as we were leaving the next day in the afternoon, it was better to do it early in the morning (6 am) as the sun was shining and we would get more out of it.
Since the day trekking we were going to do was cut short and it was raining, we decided to do a bit of sport. In the afternoon, we were recommended to do an activity to see some waterfalls and a river near the hotel, which was one of the tourist attractions in the area. It was called Emerald Valley. It is not very worthwhile, expensive for what it is, so I would not recommend it.
We can say little more about this 9th day of 21 days in China, which we spent resting and protecting ourselves from the heavy rain that fell.
Where to eat?
We had lunch and dinner at our hotel.
Day 10: Huangshan mountain and transfer
Now we were up and there was a bright sun in the sky. We had to hurry as they open at 6 o’clock and we had to be at the station by 1 o’clock, so there was no time to waste.
We arrived at 6am, thinking we would be the only crazy people at the entrance at that time. How wrong we were. We had never seen a queue like that at the time it was, unbelievable. Learning: Never take anything for granted in China.
Huanghsan has many routes to do and 4 entrances to access the park. Also, to get to the top, you can choose to take the cable car, which is a bit expensive, or walk up (1 hour and a bit of time). We think that since you pay the entrance fee and, if you want, the cable car, we would do one of the long routes, eating on the mountain and enjoying the whole day. As we didn’t have that option, we did a route of about 2-3 hours that goes through the main points between two cable cars. We really loved the mountain. You can’t get lost, you just follow the signs (in English and Chinese) to your destination.
One point to highlight is that everything that is touristy in China is perfectly adapted and converted for maximum comfort. Don’t expect a typical mountain trek, it’s more like a walk along footbridges, stairs and viewpoints, their concept of a mountain. Still, the views are breathtaking and the place is worth it.
After our trek, we got off and headed to the train station to catch our next train, this time a 15-hour night train that would take us from Huangshan to Guilin. The night train experience in China is very interesting. They are trains with 3 beds per berth, not very spacious. The truth is that at the time we were a bit overwhelmed, but the experience was not so bad, we slept well and the people were very kind to us, even giving us food.
Where to stay?
Night train
Where to eat?
We had lunch at the station and dinner on the train, nothing special.
Day 11: Xingping, 21 days in China
And after our 13 hours, we arrived early in the morning in Guilin, one of the most famous areas of China, for its karst mountains, which, it must be said, is one of the most impressive landscapes we have seen.
To visit the area, we wanted to dedicate 3 days, 2 to the town of Xingping and one to Yangshuo. Guilin we wanted to discard as it is more of a city and all the excursions seemed expensive for what they were. A matter of taste…
We arrived in Xingping and settled in our hotel, which we liked very much. We had lunch and set out to walk around the town to see it. It is a small town, oriented to tourism and fishing, and living next to the Li River. We recommend walking through the old quarter (3-4 streets of characteristic buildings and stores) and stroll along the banks of the Li River watching the karst mountains in the background. If you leave the village and cross the river to the opposite side, you can find the famous spot of the 20 yuan bill, very famous among the Chinese. The truth is that it is an incredible view.
Once we had visited this and seen the riverbank, we went back to the hotel because we wanted to get our shoes on to go see the famous viewpoint of the village, the Laozhen viewpoint. We were told it was a bit tricky and, yes, it is. It’s a fairly steep 30 minute climb, with a bit of stair climbing that leads to a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the entire landscape of the area. It’s a blast, but you need a bit of fitness to get up there.
After this experience, which we quite enjoyed, we went to have dinner and to rest in the 11th day of 21 days in China.
Where to stay?
In Xingping, we stayed in a hotel that was very nice, run by a super nice family who helped us with everything. They don’t speak English, but they explain everything by Wechat so you don’t have any problems and they help you organise your days and routes around there. The hotel is very new and the rooms are very comfortable. The name was Yangshuo Menyuan.
Where to eat?
The town of Xingping is full of eating areas. Seafood and rice dishes inside a bamboo (which we found very tasty) are very typical. We tried one of the thousands of restaurants along the main street and had these two dishes. Again, very difficult to find Chinese restaurants on Google Maps.
We had dinner at the hotel, which was very tasty.
Day 12: Trekking in Xingping
One of the things we like the most when we travel is walking and trekking. And it was not going to be less in this 21 days in China. We asked at our hotel if there were any in the area and he gave us the instructions. Before leaving he told us “you are going to be alone, we Chinese don’t like to walk”. And boy was he right.
We went to visit a fishing village that lives in front of the Li river and that you can reach by boat from the port of Xingping, or by crossing the mountains. It is about a 2 hour trek, between karst mountains, which we thought was a blast. And yes, we were the only ones doing it. It is true that it was low season, but anyway, we saw a lot of Chinese tourists in the village.
After two hours we arrived at the village and walked around, super relaxed. Everyone was very nice to us, they did not believe that two foreigners had come there walking.
The “problem” came on the way back, as the hotel manager told us that, a priori, if the locals crossed you to the other side of the river, you could walk back in another cool trekking. But of course, you had to find someone to do it and there was no one at the port. We didn’t know what to do, since we didn’t feel like walking for two hours in the same place, so we asked the only lady we saw. She told us that in 3 hours a public boat was leaving for Xingping, so we had to wait.
At halftime, that lady and her husband took care of us. First they took us to see a house/museum where Clinton had been in the 90’s, and they have it full of pictures of the visit. And then we ate fruit at their house and waited for the time.
Once we finished one of the most authentic experiences of the 21 days in China we got on the boat and went back to the village to rest.
Where to eat?
We had lunch at the house of the lords of the fishing village and dinner in the village at one of its many restaurants.
Day 13: Yangshuo
This visit was improvised, as our initial idea was to go to Guilin. After researching what we could do in each place, we decided to go to Yangshuo, as it allowed us to do a more sporty activity at a good price. We saw that Guilin was mostly day tours and cost quite a lot of money and we preferred to save there.
Yangshuo is a city/town of contrasts. In the morning it seems small, quiet and rural, but in the evening it is totally transformed. We rented bicycles from our hotel and decided to do a route through the surrounding countryside and it was a super cool day. Here is the route below.
The idea is that you go slowly, stopping at places near the river to have a drink or take pictures and admire the rural life of the area and the postcard view of the mountains, which is unique in the world.
After 4-5 hours of walking and eating near the river in Yangshuo, we wanted to rest and go for a walk in the evening. And what a surprise! When we went out onto West Street, the most famous street of the place, the city had changed. It was all lights, party and karaoke bars, music, promoters offering you things… we found it very curious (although we left quickly…). Not our mood in these 21 days in China 🙂
Where to stay?
We stayed in a hostel run by a girl who loved cats and spoke perfect English. She made us a very tasty breakfast and prepared everything for the day’s visit to Yangshuo. The name is EMOJI Yimuji Su.
Where to eat?
We ate at a restaurant recommended by the girl who was very good. We don’t have the name because it doesn’t appear on Google but it’s right here.
For dinner, we opted for a western food place called Demo, which is here (it doesn’t appear on Google Maps either). There you can try some very tasty tacos, chips and burgers in front of the river with live music.
Day 14 of 21 días in China: Hong Kong
And yes, after 14 of 21 days in China, we were getting dangerously close to the 15th day, the limit for Spanish citizens to stay in China without paying a visa (until December 2025, for the moment). That’s why we used the trick of going to HK to renew it for 15 more days. The initial idea was that, as Hong Kong didn’t call our attention too much. But the truth is that it seemed to us a very interesting city to spend a couple of days.
This day was more of a travel day. We arrived in Hong Kong around 6 pm and only went out for dinner. We had dinner in a curious restaurant, one of the cheapest Michelin star restaurants in the world, the Tim Wo Han. It was about 35 for the two of us and, to be honest, it was very tasty.
Where to stay?
Hotel Hart. Located in the heart of Kowloon, it is a very reasonably priced hotel (rare in HK), in a perfect location and very new. We liked it very much for the price we paid.
Where to eat?
We ate at the train and we had dinner at Tim Wo Han, the cheapest Michelin star restaurant in the world. We ordered 5 different dishes and it cost us 36€ between us. We highly recommend it. The best restaurant of our 21 days in China.
Day 15: Hong Kong, 21 days in China
This was a full day, as we wanted to see as much of the city as possible in one day. We started the morning with a run in front of the sea, to see how the city dawns. Surprisingly, and in contrast to China, there were quite a few sporty people running around.
After that, we had booked a tour that we found very interesting, about the hidden side of Hong Kong. And, you may ask, what is this face? Well, it turns out that HK is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and they have a huge problem with housing. To the point that people are living in subhuman conditions in houses of 10 square meters a family or cage houses, where in a house of 10 square meters cages are created and 6 strangers live. The tour was based on this problem and to give us data on the state and price of the apartments, visit a 10 m2 apartment and meet an organization that helps locals to improve their quality of life. Highly recommended. We did it with Get Your Guide and really, do it if you can.
Afterwards, we went for lunch and more sightseeing. We went to the other side of the sea, to the island, and we wanted to see the famous Monster Building, which represents this problematic that I tell you, a huge building with hundreds of houses that has a very appropriate name. From there, we went to Pier 7, from the Star Ferry boat, to take the public ferry and go to the other side. It is a good idea as you see the views of the city from another perspective.
The ferry leaves you in the Avenue of Stars area, an LA Hall of Fame style with the hands of Chinese artists, actors, writers. It is there, where you can see the true contrast of the city, since all that is facing the sea, are large buildings, opulence and wealth. I recommend walking along the promenade at sunset, if you have a good day it is brutal.
To finish the day, we went to visit the two most famous markets in Kowloon. The first one is the Ladies Market, perfect for souvenir shopping, it is a street full of stores for it. The second one the Temple Street Market, good to eat or buy souvenirs as well.
With this, this exhausting day came to an end.
Where to eat?
We ate a typical sandwich at a street stall by a market. We had dinner at Coco Ichibanya, a curry place that is quite tasty, although we did not find it cheap.
Day 16: Fenghuang
After leaving Hong Kong and spending a few hours on our beloved Chinese train, we arrived at one of the most beautiful places of our 21 days in China, the city of the Phoenix, Fenghuang.
This place is a town that seems to have stopped in time, as it maintains the traditional Chinese architecture, with bridges, black-roofed houses and narrow streets that could well be from several centuries ago. In truth, we would say that it is a town to simply get lost in and walk around, both during the day and at night.
On this first day we saw it already at dusk, just before the lighting of the lights, which takes place between 6 and 7 in the evening. It’s a very touristy place, so take a long walk around the town at night, just marvelling at the colours, lights on the bridge, music shows on the river, live music in the bars, street restaurants, souvenirs… a real hustle and bustle that the Chinese love.
Where to stay?
We stayed in Yifangyan, a very cool little hotel with super comfortable and spacious rooms, located just two blocks from the Fenghuang River. It is perfect if you want to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city center, often overwhelming.
Where to eat?
In Fenghuang most of the food is local and regional. It was not our favorite place to eat. This day we ate on the street, at various stalls we saw.
Day 17: Fenghuang, 21 days in China
We wanted to get up very early, as we wanted to see the village during the day. So at around 7am we headed for the river, thinking we would be alone. But no, quite a few other people had thought the same. The reality is that we were able to take some cool pictures without crowds, but there were already people there. There is a very famous spot, the one in the photo below, which has a lot of photographers ready to take pictures of you and pass them on to you. The photo costs 1 euro, so we paid for it (you can see how cool it is above).
After the photo session and drone videos (you can fly them and they make very cool videos), we went for a walk around the village and had breakfast.
There is not much else to do in the village, the reality is that it is for one day, as seeing the centre during the day and at night is enough to get an idea of what it is like.
However, I would recommend going, we loved it and we would include it in our 21 days in China.
Where to eat?
We had lunch and dinner at the same place, which we went to because they had western food and we felt like it. I leave you the exact location as it does not appear on maps.
Day 18 of 21 días in China: Zhangjiaje, the Avatar Mountains
We were really looking forward to this place! We had seen it in a thousand photos, but we were very intrigued. So on this 18th day of 21 days in China, there we went.
We wanted to spend 3 days in the area, two visiting the park with two different routes and the third visiting the other great attraction of the area, the Tianmen Mountain.
After arriving early (it is 1 hour from Fenghuang), the train left us in Zhangjiajie city and we had to take a bus to Wulingyuan, where the entrance to the park is (about 30 minutes by bus). We had lunch around 12 o’clock, and we asked for a route to do in the park in the afternoon. They told us that there was one we could do in 3 hours and we went there.
The entrance ticket to Zhangjiajie Park gives you access for 3 consecutive days, so we could use it for the next one. You can easily get it at the ticket office there and you access with your passport.
It is not an access to the typical mountain we are used to, but it is more a park prepared for tourism, with few real hiking places, but rather everything prepared so that the connections are easy between places, by bus and cable car. Once in the areas, you have to walk little from viewpoint to viewpoint.
They closed at 6 o’clock, so you had to hurry. Inside the park, you have a pretty good bus system that takes you to the cable cars that take you up to the main viewpoints. The cable cars have to be paid for separately, so in the end, the park is quite expensive…
We left to take the route that would take us to the Huangshi Village viewpoint. You walk for an hour from where the bus drops you off through the forest on a nice walk and get to the cable car. Once at the top, it’s a 1-2 hour circular route, through viewpoints to the Avatar Mountains. The height and views are breathtaking and quite impressive.
Then, after doing the route in 1 hour, we went back down and returned to the village. If you leave from the south exit, there is a bus that takes you back to Wulingyuan in 30 minutes, just ask when you leave the park.
We had dinner at a local market right in front of our hotel, which was very good and we highly recommend it.
Where to stay?
We were very lucky with the accommodations on this trip. This one was also a success and the owner was super nice and helped us organize everything. His name is Wally House, and the best thing is that it is next to the entrance to the Zhangjiajie park and has a night market with delicious food right in front of it, so it is perfect.
¿Dónde comer?
The night market is located in this exact street. We recommend you to have dinner there, you can even eat western food if you feel like it.
El mercado nocturno está situado en esta calle exacta. Os recomendamos cenar allí, podréis incluso comer comida occidental si os apetece.
Día 19 de 21 días en China: Zhangjiajie
And then came the full day in Zhangjiajie. On this day we wanted to do the two most touristic areas of the park that we were missing, and we headed there.
First the Tianzi Mountain, where you take the bus from the entrance and go up by cable car. You arrive at another small viewpoint area, where in 30 minutes you can see the main ones.
From this point, you take a bus to the other two areas, Yangjiajie and Yuanjiajie. For us, this is the best, because apart from the spectacular viewpoints to the mountains, it has the stone bridge and a super nice red wishing area where people tie strips with wishes and there are thousands of them.
Once you get to the end of the path, you can either walk down or take the cable car down. If you have time, walk down. The reason is that you will meet almost no one, you will be able to see viewpoints almost alone and it is a nice walk through nature. Now, it’s not short, it’s about an hour downhill and then 30 more to the exit (you come out on the path we did the day before).
Where to eat?
We ate inside the park (there are a thousand food stalls) a fried rice. And we had dinner again at the night market.
Day 20: Tianmen Mountain
The last day in the Zhangjiajie area, we dedicated it to another place very visited by Chinese and foreign tourists, the Tianmen Mountain. This place is located in the same city of Zhangjiajie, from where you can take one of the longest cable cars in the world or a bus, depending on the route you choose. You have three routes A, B or C.
We chose route B, which took you by bus up the mountain, then took a short cable car, and then climbed the 999 stairs to the famous hole in the mountain. Then, you have to climb 7 very long escalators to get to the top of the mountain, from where there are two circular routes of 1 hour each, which you can combine in the same day.
We did both routes and loved it. The views are spectacular and the glass walkways are amazing (be careful if you have vertigo). It is well worth spending a morning on the mountain, we found it very beautiful even though it was a very bad rainy day.
After this, we rushed to the station to catch the train to our last stop of the trip, Chongqing.
We arrived in the city at night and had one of the great fortunes of the trip, meeting a Chinese girl called Jolin who spoke English on the train and who was travelling alone and whom we invited to visit the city of Chongqing with us.
Where to stay?
K W High Altitude Hotel.Correct, they give you free snacks and fruit all day long in the restaurant and, to be honest, the room was very nice.
Where to eat?
We ate right next to the cable car stop going up to Tianmen, which has several places to eat, including a McDonalds for those who don’t want Chinese food.
We had dinner on the way to Chongqing.
Day 21 of 21 días in China: Chongqing
And so began the last day of our 21 days in China with our guide Jolin! She prepared a very intense 1-day route for us as Chongqing is a huge city (the largest in population in China) and we only had one day to see it.
These are the things we saw in the city:
- Chongqing Liberation Monument and its Jiefangbei Square.
- Datang Square, the famous square located on a square 22.
- Liziba Station, the underground stop where you will see the underground going inside a building where people live.
- Chongqing Museum of Art, a super modern building.
- Eat Chongqing noodle soup, one of Chongqing’s culinary specialties.
- Yangtze River Cable Car.
- Hongya Cave, the 11-storey building with traditional architecture and full of shops that is spectacularly illuminated at night.
- Eat a hotpot, their traditional dish, which is native to this place. It has been eaten for over 11 years and is VERY spicy.
- Strolling along the river at night to see the views of the illuminated skyline – they don’t call it the New York of the East for nothing!
It was a super full day, full of stimulation, gastronomy and discovering a special and spectacular city. And to end our trip in the best way possible, with the help of a person from the country.
Where to eat?
We ate at a very top noodle place that we don’t have the name, but try the Chongqing noodles, they are one of their great dishes.
The hotpot we went to we recommend it 100% as it is very traditional and authentic. It is called Beibuyuan Old HotPot. One of the best places where we ate in these 21 days in China.
Map of 21 días in China
Here you can see a map of some of the places mantioned above of our 21 days in China.
So much for our complete 21 days in China. This is an amazing country, but it is quite complicated to travel around it. So, ask us here or on social media if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to help you.
