The Days Ahead

Kowloon Walled City Park, dim sum, Manakamana, Crystal Jade XLB. Out on the 19th: 20-minute train to Shenzhen, lunch there, afternoon flight onward.

Sat 10/17 to Mon 10/19. The 19th belongs to the border. The Zhangjiajie flight out of Shenzhen is fixed at 16:40, MTR opens clearance 90 minutes before the cross-boundary train, and Line 11 takes 36 more from Futian to the airport. Lunch in Futian still fits. A Hong Kong morning does not.

Two nights under the sandstone pillars. Wulingyuan / Hallelujah Mountain, the Bailong Elevator, Tianmen Mountain and its skywalk, the Grand Canyon glass bridge.

Replaces Changsha, which was only ever a base for day-tripping here. Two nights but one park day: you land 18:40 on the 19th and fly out 11:05 on the 21st, so Wulingyuan is Tuesday the 20th or it is nothing - and the gate is 27 km from the city before the shuttle inside it.

One night. The Terracotta Army is the half-day round trip; otherwise the city wall, the Muslim Quarter and the Bell Tower are all walkable.

Replaces Luoyang. One night only, and now a measured one: you land 12:30 on the 21st and G2456 leaves Xi'an North at 15:15 on the 22nd. That is one afternoon and one morning, and the morning ends at a ticket barrier. The Terracotta Army is a half-day round trip 40 km east, so it is that or the walls, not both.

Old walled city itself = the highlight, and two nights means you get it after the day-trippers go. Optional Yuncheng salt lakes on the way in.

Up from one night to two. The walled city itself is the whole point; two nights means you see it after the day-trippers leave.

Forbidden City, Great Wall + slide, 798, Hutongs, Hanging Temple + Yungang Grottoes via Datong (overnight), Tianjin Binhai Library day trip, Tianzi Hotel photo stop.

Sat 10/24 to Mon 10/26. The train lands at Qinghe at 14:27 and the Yantai flight leaves Capital at 10:05 on the 26th - an afternoon, one whole day, and an airport morning. Plan Sunday the 25th as if it were the only Beijing day, because it is.

Coast / Penglai / Fushan Tunnels. One night, flying in and out.

One night on the Bohai coast, but more day than that sounds: in town by early afternoon on the 26th, and not out to the airport until mid-afternoon on the 27th. Flying beats the old 9-11h rail slog, and you pay for it twice - 43 km to the airport, no metro, so book vans both ways.

Three nights now. West Lake, Anji Bamboo, Tianducheng (Mini Paris), Longjing tea villages. Suzhou is an optional day trip, 1h20 each way.

Three nights, two days. The 27th is only a bed - the Shanghai flight lands 19:20 and the Hangzhou train comes after it - so the stop is the 28th and 29th plus a loose morning on the 30th. Suzhou is an optional day trip at 1h20 each way, not the 45 minutes doing the rounds, and it costs one of the two.

Bund + Sightseeing Tunnel + Ultraviolet (book NOW), Quarry Hotel, Propaganda Poster Centre, Mossy City as an add-on if time.

Fri 10/30 to Sun 11/1. Everyone flies home from here.