10-Day China Itinerary: Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai plus Chengdu or Guilin

With 10 days in China, do the classic Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai triangle and add one more stop: Chengdu or Guilin with Yangshuo. Pick Chengdu if you want giant pandas, Sichuan food and an easy connection, because the high-speed train from Xi'an takes under four hours on most departures. Pick Guilin and Yangshuo if you want river and limestone-peak scenery, but plan to fly in, because on a sample day only two direct trains ran from Xi'an and both took about 10 hours. Below are both versions day by day, how the extra leg connects, sample train times and fares, and what to book before you go.

Both plans assume an open-jaw flight ticket: you fly into Beijing and fly home from Shanghai, so you never backtrack. If you only have a week, the 7-day China itinerary drops the fourth stop; if you are still deciding how many days to spend overall, start with the first-time China itinerary guide.

Chengdu or Guilin: which stop to add

Both are good choices. They suit different trips, and the extra leg is much easier for one than the other.

Choose Chengdu if…

• You want to see giant pandas. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地) is inside the city, reachable by metro and a short shuttle bus. Most visitors see it in a morning.
• Food is a big part of your trip. Sichuan cooking is the main event in Chengdu: hotpot, mapo tofu, noodles, and the numbing Sichuan peppercorn (花椒, huājiāo). Old-style teahouses in the parks are the other half of the city's pace. Our Chengdu food guide explains what to order and how spicy it gets.
• You want the travel to be simple. On a sample day (29 October 2026) there were 64 trains from Xi'an North to Chengdu East, the fastest taking 3 hours 5 minutes. You leave Xi'an after breakfast and have the afternoon in Chengdu.

The catch is the leg from Chengdu to Shanghai. Even the fastest train takes over 10 hours, so most travellers fly it.

Choose Guilin and Yangshuo if…

• You want landscape more than cities. The Li River (漓江, Lí Jiāng) runs between steep limestone peaks from Guilin down to Yangshuo, and the classic cruise on that stretch takes about four hours, one way. After three big cities, this is the quiet part of the trip.
• You like being outdoors. Around Yangshuo you can ride a bamboo raft on the Yulong River and cycle the Ten-Mile Gallery, a scenic stretch of road south of town that is free to ride and works well with a raft trip.
• You don't mind a flight or a long train day. Xi'an to Guilin had only two direct trains on the sample day, at 07:38 and 08:07, each about 10 hours. Guilin to Shanghai Hongqiao had only two direct high-speed trains too. Most people fly at least one of those legs.

Season and weather

Spring and autumn are the comfortable seasons for both stops; summer is hot and humid, and the best time to visit China guide compares the months city by city. The Li River has its own pattern: from September to March the water is low, and in very dry spells the maritime authority has shortened the cruise route or stopped the boats. Heavy summer rain can stop it too: on 19–20 June 2026 boats on the Yangshuo–Yangdi stretch were halted and all bamboo rafts suspended because of high water. In Chengdu, hot days mean pandas are often moved into shade or indoor enclosures, which is another reason to go early.

Our view: for a first trip with a fixed 10 days, Chengdu is the safer choice, because the extra leg is one easy train. Guilin is worth it if scenery matters more to you than food and you are fine with two flights. If you want both, you need more days: the 2-week China itinerary covers that.

The Chengdu version, day by day

Beijing 3 days, Xi'an 2, Chengdu 3, Shanghai 2. Two legs are by train and the last one is a flight.

Two bookings decide this whole week. The Forbidden City sells no tickets on the day: booking opens 7 days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time, and it is closed on Mondays except public holidays. Foreign visitors can book with a passport on the museum's international ticketing platform, bookingticket.dpm.org.cn, after signing up with an email verification code. The Terracotta Army also has to be booked online in advance, using your passport details, on the museum's official website or WeChat account. For more detail on each city, see the 3-day Beijing itinerary and the 2-day Xi'an itinerary.

Beijing to Xi'an (day 4)

Trains leave from Beijing West. On the sample day there were 17 high-speed trains to Xi'an North, the fastest at 4 hours 10 minutes. Station-by-station detail, fares and boarding steps for this leg are in our Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai route guide.

Xi'an to Chengdu (day 6)

This is the easy leg. Trains run from Xi'an North to Chengdu East from 05:13 to 19:58, and half of them take between 3 hours 39 minutes and 3 hours 54 minutes. On the sample day, second-class seats cost 285–300 yuan and first class 455–481 yuan, with little difference between G trains (the fastest high-speed class) and D trains (slightly slower bullet trains). A 9 or 10 o'clock train gets you to Chengdu around lunchtime. At Chengdu East, take metro Line 2 towards Xipu: Chunxi Road, the main shopping area, is 6 stops without changing.

Chengdu to Shanghai (day 9): fly

Fly this leg. The train exists, but on the sample day the fastest of 11 direct trains to Shanghai Hongqiao took 10 hours 6 minutes, and the typical train took 11½ to 14½ hours. Fares were not cheap either: G-train second class cost 1,005–1,244 yuan. The one train worth considering is the overnight sleeper: D981 left Chengdu East at 17:36 and arrived at Hongqiao at 08:04 the next morning, with a sleeper berth at 860 yuan on the sample day. It saves a hotel night, but you lose the last Chengdu evening. For flight times and prices, check the airlines or a booking site for your date; our domestic flights guide covers booking, baggage and airport security.

The Panda Base: what to book

• Book online. Tickets are real-name (the ticket is tied to your passport number, and you show the same passport at the gate), sold online up to 14 days ahead, and official channels include the base's WeChat account and authorised platforms such as Trip.com, and passport holders use a separate document lane at the gate. The base's English ticket page lists the current channels.
• Price: 55 yuan for an adult, and each ticket is valid for either the morning or the afternoon slot on your date.
• Hours: from March to October, morning-ticket entry is 7:30–12:00 and afternoon-ticket entry 12:00–17:00; from November to February it is 8:00–12:00 and 12:00–16:30. Book the morning slot and arrive at opening.
• Mondays: the busy Panda Villa No. 6 area closes every Monday except public holidays; the rest of the base stays open.
• Getting there: metro Line 3 to Panda Avenue station, exit A, then the 408 shuttle bus to the south gate.

The Chengdu travel guide covers where to stay and the other sights, and the 3-day Chengdu itinerary plans days 6 to 8 in metro order, including the Leshan day trip. To plan metro routes in all four cities offline and keep each day's stops in one place, use the metro maps and Trip Planner in the WaysChina app, or the Chengdu metro route planner.

The Guilin and Yangshuo version, day by day

Beijing 3 days, Xi'an 2, Guilin and Yangshuo 3, Shanghai 2. Days 1 to 5 are the same as the Chengdu version. We suggest sleeping all three nights in Yangshuo: the scenery is around the town, and you avoid packing up again.

Getting to Guilin (day 6)

Fly from Xi'an if you can, and check flight times for your date when you book. If you prefer the train, two direct services ran on the sample day: G2239 from Xi'an North at 07:38, arriving at Guilin West at 17:52, and G3739 at 08:07, arriving at Guilin North at 18:05. Second class cost 751 yuan on G2239 and 806 yuan on G3739. That is a whole day on the train, and both trains pass through Chengdu East on the way.

If you are combining Chengdu and Guilin on a longer trip, that leg is easier: on the sample day 15 trains ran from Chengdu East to Guilin West, the fastest in 4 hours 58 minutes, with second class at 441–482 yuan.

Guilin's stations, and getting to Yangshuo

Guilin has three main railway stations. Guilin station is in the city centre, Guilin West is about 10 km outside the city, and Guilin North is on the northern edge of the city. Yangshuo also has a high-speed station, but it is near Xingping, about 34 km from Yangshuo town, so don't book a ticket to "Yangshuo" thinking it drops you in town.

• From Guilin airport: direct buses run to Yangshuo, 16 a day at 50 yuan after a 2025 timetable change. There is a ticket window on the ground floor of Terminal 2.
• From Guilin's railway stations: DiDi's "station bus" (站点巴士) service runs between Guilin and Yangshuo for 29.9 yuan, starting mainly from Guilin North station and Yangshuo's West Street — check in the DiDi app whether a foreign account can book it. Another option is a shared minibus sold through a local operator's WeChat account, last reported at 45 yuan, so check the current price.
• By car: Guilin railway station to Yangshuo town is about 65 km, around an hour and a half by road.

The Li River: raft or cruise

There are two main ways to see the river. The plan above uses the bamboo raft from Yangdi to Xingping: about 14 km, 80–100 minutes, 225 yuan per person, with up to four people per raft. Yangdi is upstream and a long drive from Yangshuo town, so ask your hotel to arrange the transfer to Yangdi pier and confirm the pickup time the evening before. Xingping is also where the view on the back of the 20-yuan banknote comes from. This works well from a Yangshuo base.

The classic cruise starts from piers south of Guilin and ends in Yangshuo, so it suits travellers who sleep the first night in Guilin. A 3-star boat from Mopanshan pier costs 215 yuan, and a 4-star boat from Zhujiang pier costs 360 yuan with a buffet lunch. Tickets are real-name and the pier has only a few same-day tickets, so buy at least a day ahead, and in peak holidays book as soon as sales open, 10 days ahead. Cruise and raft tickets are sold mainly through Chinese-language WeChat channels, so if you cannot check that a passport works there, ask your hotel or a travel agency to book for you. There is no luggage storage on board, so cruise with a day bag and arrange your main luggage separately. If you choose the cruise, change the plan like this: sleep night 6 in Guilin, take the cruise to Yangshuo on day 7 with a day bag, and keep day 8 as it is.

Day 8 in Yangshuo

Yulong River rafts are priced per raft (mostly for two people) and by route, and online tickets for the next day go on sale at 20:00 the night before. Combine the raft with a bike ride along the Ten-Mile Gallery towards Moon Hill. In the evening, Impression Liu Sanjie is a large outdoor show on the river with the peaks as its backdrop. Stay near West Street for restaurants and nightlife, or along the Yulong River for quiet. You can compare places to stay in Yangshuo on Booking.com. The Guilin and Yangshuo travel guide has the cruise piers, return buses and the rice terraces in more detail.

Getting from Guilin to Shanghai (day 9)

Direct trains are rare. On the sample day there were two: G264 from Guilin station at 12:05 (7 hours 25 minutes) and G1506 from Guilin North at 13:31 (9 hours 25 minutes), both to Shanghai Hongqiao. Second class cost 760.5 yuan on G264 and 667 yuan on G1506. G264 gets you to Shanghai in the evening, so leave Yangshuo by about 9:30. A morning flight gives you an afternoon in Shanghai instead, which is why most travellers fly. Our 3-day Shanghai itinerary helps you choose what to keep in two days.

Transport and booking for the 10 days

The legs at a glance

Chengdu version: Beijing–Xi'an by train (about 4 to 6 hours), Xi'an–Chengdu by train (about 3½ to 4 hours), Chengdu–Shanghai by air. That adds up to roughly 8 to 10 hours on trains across the trip, plus one domestic flight.

Guilin version: Beijing–Xi'an by train, Xi'an–Guilin by air (or a 10-hour train), Guilin–Shanghai by air (or a 7½ to 9½-hour train). With two flights, this version costs you more transfer time on days 6 and 9.

A simple rule: if a train takes more than about six hours, or there are only one or two direct trains a day, fly. You lose less of the day and you have more departure times to choose from.

The table above is a sample day; times and fares change by date and train. The Beijing–Xi'an and Xi'an–Shanghai legs are tabled in the Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai route guide.

When you can book

• Trains: tickets go on sale 15 days before travel, counting the travel day. Sale times are set by each station, so there is no single national release time. You cannot book all your trains when you book your flights months ahead; book each leg once its window opens.
• Official channel: the 12306 English website accepts foreign passports. Your passport must show as verified before you can buy online, and you can verify it by uploading a photo or at a station ticket window. Online ticket sales run from 5:00 until 1:00 after midnight, with an earlier close on Tuesdays.
• Agency booking: if you would rather book in English and pay with a foreign card, Trip.com also sells China train tickets. Our guide to booking China train tickets compares the two routes.
• At the station: with a passport you go through the staffed lane at the ticket gates, not the automatic ones.

Entry rules

Passport holders from 50 countries can currently enter China visa-free for up to 30 days. For most of those countries the scheme runs until 31 December 2026, so if your trip falls in 2027, check the latest announcement before you go. The list does not include the United States, so check whether your passport is covered in do you need a visa for China. US citizens and some other nationalities can use 240-hour visa-free transit, which applies at 65 ports in 24 provinces, including both Beijing airports and both Chengdu airports. It only counts as transit if your departing flight goes to a third country or region, not back to the country you flew in from, so a normal return or open-jaw ticket home (into Beijing, home from Shanghai) needs a visa; check the conditions in the 240-hour transit guide. Also note that a full 10-day trip uses up all 240 hours, which leaves no margin.

Next steps: choose Chengdu or Guilin, book open-jaw flights into Beijing and out of Shanghai, book the Forbidden City 7 days out and the Panda Base or Li River ahead of time, and buy each train ticket once its sale window opens.

Last updated: November 2026