Seven vacation days for china? Too short?

[thebulldog]

A friend is teaching in Beijing until July giving us a free place to stay and built in local resource. He is encouraging us to visit.
I will have seven vacation days total by end of May. If we want to use Memorial Day in the mix that gives us two travel days, and a rest day before going back to work ...so six days on the ground.

Is that enough to do beijing and xian without killing ourselves? I want to see a few different areas of the great wall too.

i be typing from me phone. typos and grammer dont count.

[dana2006]

It's doable but tight. You only need one day in Xian. One day for the Great Wall. We went to Mutianyu in a hired car and it was an easy half day trip. Some of our friends went on the hike at Simatai and that would take a whole day (it was challenging for even the athletic ones), but their pictures were breathtaking.

Beijing is very spread out and traffic is horrible. You'll need to budget extra time for inter-city travel. Group your visits by neighborhood to save on travel time. Besides all the well-known places like the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven, I also loved exploring areas like Nanluogu Xiang, a street just south of the Drum Tower with hutongs, tea and coffee shops, and boutique stores. My favorite restaurant is Dali Courtyard. It's located to the east of the Drum Tower and north of Nanluogu Xiang. It's an old couryard converted into a restaurant, with no menu (chef makes 7 courses based on whatever fresh ingredients he has that day).

[katfco]

Yes, it is doable, but with jetlag it'll be a whirlwind tour. If you want to do Xi'an too, consider travel. Flying there will reduce your travel time but increase your cost. Consider an overnight train, if available. DH and I did Xi'an in a day and it was fine.

As for the Great Wall, I highly recommend Simatai. DH and I went there, and yes, it does take a whole day, but it's worth it. We're not hikers at all, but we were still able to go up. Don't plan to do much climbing the next day and take snacks and water with you.

The Summer Palace is also worth a visit, although it's a little farther out. We took public transportation there and it took a good portion of the day.

I can't remember how long DH and I were in Beijing, but I think it was only a week or so, and when we left we felt like we'd seen a lot.

[frlcb]

I've done 9 days, including flying, from the east coast to New Zealand. I was tired and it was long but I am glad I did it. Go for it!

[thebulldog]

I am leaning toward going. I known there is no way to see everything but that's true of any trip. I think the likelihood of us going for a two adventure is small bc of time and money so this seems like a good opporunity.


i be typing from me phone. typos and grammer dont count.

[GilliC]

When people visited us in Beijing, I typically had a 5-day timetable to cover most of the city (including a day at the Wall).

I would actually say 3 days is my ideal for Xian, because I really liked having a day to hike part of the sacred mountain Hua-shan. However, both my trips to Xian were two days, and I enjoyed them both. I agree about taking the overnight train, because it puts you there in the morning and gives you a full starting day on the ground. We never had a problem dropping our luggage at the hotel and were actually able to check in early both times. We'd typically spend the first day visiting the terra cotta soldiers and other sights on the outskirts and then a day in Xian itself before the trip to the airport for an evening flight back.

While it's a bit short, I think you could easily see a lot of the highlights of Beijing in 4 days and take 2 days for Xian.

[Deleted]

I think it will be tight time wise, but doable. Xi'an can definitely be done in a day IMO. We did a morning flight, and had a car booked that picked us up and drove us to the warriors and then to another place before dropping us off at our hotel. The next day we walked around the Muslim quarter a little and did the drum tower and saw the Bell tower. Then we spent a lot of time walking on the wall. We all wished we would have skipped the second place the first day and just gone to the Muslim quarter and then taken a late flight out. The best parts of Xi'an the terra cotta warriors and the Muslim quarter. The city wall is interesting, but nothing compared to the great wall.

We had a great experience at Mutianyu that took about a half day. We got there pretty much as soon as it opened (I think about 7:30am) and took the cable car up and then climbed to the left (West, I think). We got to the highest point that most people go and kept going and within about 10 minutes or so we were on unrestored wall, which was what I was really interested in seeing. It was tough hiking (very steep and lots of loose gravel/rocks) but it was extremely impressive. Haven't been to Simatai, as we didn't feel like we had time (4 nights there). On the way back to the city we stopped at a fish/salmon farm where we got to pick/catch our own fish and then eat it. It was crazy busy, but kind of fun - and you'll need someone who speaks some Mandarin or you'll be absolutely lost.

We also did the Forbidden City, the garden across the road from it, Summer Palace, and walked around near the Bird's Nest. I wasn't super impressed with the Summer Palace and probably wouldn't drag anyone back there again. We really liked the Shichahai Hutong/Lakes area and ate most of our meals there.

[Brit]

Jan 3, 2014 18:33:02 GMT -5 @mx said:

I'm a big believer in traveling when you can, where you can. Friends in a city is a huge plus for me.

I wouldn't be opposed to doing just a 5 day trip to Beijing and flying back to the US, but I'm also pretty accustomed to long haul travel in coach and jet lagged functioning.

All of this. I have taken a lot of trips with travel time nearly equaling sight seeing time and ridiculous jet lag, but I have never regretted doing so. A trip with a tight schedule like that isn't for everyone, but I say take the opportunity, you don't know if or when there will be another.

[GilliC]

Jan 4, 2014 10:18:39 GMT -5 @juliash said:

I think it will be tight time wise, but doable. Xi'an can definitely be done in a day IMO. We did a morning flight, and had a car booked that picked us up and drove us to the warriors and then to another place before dropping us off at our hotel. The next day we walked around the Muslim quarter a little and did the drum tower and saw the Bell tower. Then we spent a lot of time walking on the wall. We all wished we would have skipped the second place the first day and just gone to the Muslim quarter and then taken a late flight out. The best parts of Xi'an the terra cotta warriors and the Muslim quarter. The city wall is interesting, but nothing compared to the great wall.

We had a great experience at Mutianyu that took about a half day. We got there pretty much as soon as it opened (I think about 7:30am) and took the cable car up and then climbed to the left (West, I think). We got to the highest point that most people go and kept going and within about 10 minutes or so we were on unrestored wall, which was what I was really interested in seeing. It was tough hiking (very steep and lots of loose gravel/rocks) but it was extremely impressive. Haven't been to Simatai, as we didn't feel like we had time (4 nights there). On the way back to the city we stopped at a fish/salmon farm where we got to pick/catch our own fish and then eat it. It was crazy busy, but kind of fun - and you'll need someone who speaks some Mandarin or you'll be absolutely lost.

We also did the Forbidden City, the garden across the road from it, Summer Palace, and walked around near the Bird's Nest. I wasn't super impressed with the Summer Palace and probably wouldn't drag anyone back there again. We really liked the Shichahai Hutong/Lakes area and ate most of our meals there.

Did you pay the extra to go up through the buildings on the central Longevity Hill? The first time I went to the Summer Palace was for a dinner with work, and they were still working on the restoration of that area, so we didn't visit it. I thought the rest was a bit underwhelming. Then we went back the next year as part of a canal tour, and we paid the extra admission to visit that area and thought it was much more colorful and interesting than the rest had been.

[dana2006]

Jan 4, 2014 11:01:20 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Jan 4, 2014 10:18:39 GMT -5 @juliash said:

We also did the Forbidden City, the garden across the road from it, Summer Palace, and walked around near the Bird's Nest. I wasn't super impressed with the Summer Palace and probably wouldn't drag anyone back there again. We really liked the Shichahai Hutong/Lakes area and ate most of our meals there.

Did you pay the extra to go up through the buildings on the central Longevity Hill? The first time I went to the Summer Palace was for a dinner with work, and they were still working on the restoration of that area, so we didn't visit it. I thought the rest was a bit underwhelming. Then we went back the next year as part of a canal tour, and we paid the extra admission to visit that area and thought it was much more colorful and interesting than the rest had been.

I did this years ago and agree that while the rest of the Summer Palace was not that impressive, going through the central Longevity Hall was interesting. What really struck me was the jeweled casings for the Empress Dowager's crazy long nails.

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2014 11:01:20 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Jan 4, 2014 10:18:39 GMT -5 @juliash said:

I think it will be tight time wise, but doable. Xi'an can definitely be done in a day IMO. We did a morning flight, and had a car booked that picked us up and drove us to the warriors and then to another place before dropping us off at our hotel. The next day we walked around the Muslim quarter a little and did the drum tower and saw the Bell tower. Then we spent a lot of time walking on the wall. We all wished we would have skipped the second place the first day and just gone to the Muslim quarter and then taken a late flight out. The best parts of Xi'an the terra cotta warriors and the Muslim quarter. The city wall is interesting, but nothing compared to the great wall.

We had a great experience at Mutianyu that took about a half day. We got there pretty much as soon as it opened (I think about 7:30am) and took the cable car up and then climbed to the left (West, I think). We got to the highest point that most people go and kept going and within about 10 minutes or so we were on unrestored wall, which was what I was really interested in seeing. It was tough hiking (very steep and lots of loose gravel/rocks) but it was extremely impressive. Haven't been to Simatai, as we didn't feel like we had time (4 nights there). On the way back to the city we stopped at a fish/salmon farm where we got to pick/catch our own fish and then eat it. It was crazy busy, but kind of fun - and you'll need someone who speaks some Mandarin or you'll be absolutely lost.

We also did the Forbidden City, the garden across the road from it, Summer Palace, and walked around near the Bird's Nest. I wasn't super impressed with the Summer Palace and probably wouldn't drag anyone back there again. We really liked the Shichahai Hutong/Lakes area and ate most of our meals there.

Did you pay the extra to go up through the buildings on the central Longevity Hill? The first time I went to the Summer Palace was for a dinner with work, and they were still working on the restoration of that area, so we didn't visit it. I thought the rest was a bit underwhelming. Then we went back the next year as part of a canal tour, and we paid the extra admission to visit that area and thought it was much more colorful and interesting than the rest had been.

No, we didn't even know that was an option haha. We went into the temple that was up that way, and it was interesting, but no more so than any other temples. Good to know for the next time. If I were to go again, I'd probably just take someone right up to that. We walked all around the lake and went into some of the other areas at the lake level, it was a nice walk, but not worth the time. 

DH and I were just talking about how one of our complaints about visiting palaces in Asia is that you don't ever really get to go inside of any of them at all or without paying extra admission fees. 

[just]

I agree that you should travel when you can, and having a friend that can offer accommodation and tour-guiding, it would be criminal not to go. I've never regretted visiting a place where I have someone to show me around.

If you love it you can go back. If you don't, you can move it down the list.

PS Maybe I'm too reckless and don't care about my job, but I've never done recovery days. In fact, I used to go directly from the airport to my office after trans-atlantic flights to maximize vacation days.

[GilliC]

@juliash We couldn't go into any of the buildings, but they had displays of some of the lavish gifts in the windows. And I agree about the extra admission thing being annoying. I'm just glad that we could afford it as a no-brainier since we rarely knew what we were paying for. If I was visiting as a local, where 20 kuai is a bigger deal, it would be terribly uncomfortable! Every time I've been to the Forbidden City I paid the extra for the area by the Nine Dragon Screen. And I saw different things each time because they don't seem to open it all at once.

[sillygoosegirl]

Reviewing my blog, it looks like we did Xi'an and Beijing in only 8 days, one of which was a rest day. And we also visited Hua Shan as a day trip from Xi'an during those 8 days, which I would highly recommend... I liked it better than anything we saw in Beijing actually... I think it was my favorite thing in China after the Great Wall.

Of course, you'll have to travel from far away and will be jet lagged... but we were super exhausted by this point in our RTW trip, so maybe you'll be better off than we were in that regard.

My blog entries for China are here. middendorfrtw.blogspot.com/search/label/China

[Captain Serious]

It's never to short to go anywhere. See what you can, if you live it, you'll know what to do when/if you return. You'll also know if you can skip what you saw and just do new things there if you get the chance to go back. China's a big country; you won't get to see it all, but at least you get a taste of it.