China for 2 weeks. Need advice.

Hi,

Me and my girlfriend had already bought the tickets to Beijing and we'll get our visas for both China and Hong Kong in a week or so. The trip is planned on 17th October - 1st November. We'll have only two weeks but want to see as much as we can as there won't be another chance to visit China in the nearest future.
As for now our three must see cities are Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. All of them are realy far from each other, so the question is what would be the cheapest and fastest way to travel between them?
Of course big cities are not the only things we are interested in. We would aslo like to see small villages, climb some mountains... etc.
We are asking someone experinced or, perhaps, native to suggest the best route to get the most out of our trip. We'll need to start from Beijing and get back to it on the 31st of october to fly home then.
Thanks a lot for reading my post.

Alex

The distances are huge. You'll want to spend about 3 days in each city - I would pick 2 of the 3 you've mentioned. That leaves you with just over a week to spare, which is enough to explore a small part of one province. I've only been to Yunnan, but can thoroughly recommend it. Other popular options are the Guilin/Yangshuo, and Sichuan areas.

Travelling by bus is the cheapest but slowest option, followed by train, then plane. Given the distances you'll have to cover in a relatively short space of time, you may have to consider taking a flight or two.

magykal1's advice is good. China is such a fascinating country with so much to see, and I would suggest train too between cities, unless you have the funds for air tickets. I always prefer to do a one day city tour in a new city - that way you have a travel guide to explain the importance of places and things, and you will get to see more than if you hoof it alone. Usually it is very cost effective too.

You can hire your own tour guide in most big cities, but that can be expensive. If you want your "own" tour guide in these cities, Google for tour guides.

Do your research find out what are the important places to see. e.g. probably in Beijing you might want to see The Great Wall, and the Olympic venues etc.

Explore the day tours on offer, or the two and three day tours too. I like to do 2 -3 tours a week, and then be independent.

Enjoy your stay.

yes, it will spend a long time at the way if you don't fly.It will take you about 24 hours from Beijing to HK by train.
but you could travel along the train.Such as you could be from Beijing to Shaihai and you could travel at Jinan and Nanjing on the way,and you could be from Shanghai to Guangzhou by train, and travel in Hangzhou or Changsha. At last you could go to HK by bus from Guangzhou and you could travel in Shenzhen if you wish.the whole journey will take you tow weeks or more. but It's only at the east of China. If you want to travel in the west, It will take you more time.if you want to know more about it.you could ask me for more by MSN. Enjoy your travel.

The 3rd week of OCTOBER, guanzhou might have a travel fair, which makes accomodations very expensive.

They also have holidays during this period (OCT 1 and the week)... Its probably national day and hotel rates do soar.

Guilin, china's most picturesque city is a must!
or directly to Yangshuo county.

You might want to learn some Chinese before you go, almost everywhere they speak Mandarin but only in a few places do people speak any English at all.

[ Edit: Sorry, no promos please. ]

You would need 3 days in Beijing to see the sights.
Shanghai you would need 4 days. Well worth taking a day trip to Tongli in Jiangsu Province whilst in Shanghai.
Hong Kong you would need 2 days here. Be aware that Hong Kong is quite expensive and you will need $250 per day just to survive.
Doing Tours will take the stress out of getting lost and the language barrier, but will be more expensive than doing it yourself.
You can get an Overnight sleeper train from Beijing to Shanghai for about Y500. It takes 12 hours. And you save money on accommodation!
Shanghai to Hong Kong you will probably be best to fly.
It will cost about $1200 to fly from HK back to Beijing.
If you want to climb a mountain come to Tai'an and climb Tai Shan. It is the most revered of China's 5 sacred Taoist peaks. You need to allow yourself 8 hours for a round trip.
You could go from Beijing to Taishan by Train. It is 6 hours and will cost about Y80.
You could then take the overnight train from Taishan to Shanghai. It's an 8 hour journey and the sleeper will cost about Y250.