2-Week China Itinerary: Two 14-Day Routes via Yunnan, Guilin or Zhangjiajie

Two weeks in China works best as one week of the classic cities and one week of landscape. Spend the first week in Beijing and Xi'an; the third classic city is either Chengdu at the end of week one or Shanghai at the very end of the trip. Then pick one line for the second week: Yunnan (Kunming, Dali and Lijiang) if you want a slow week with easy train links, Guilin and Yangshuo if you want river scenery with little effort, or Zhangjiajie if you want sandstone mountains and are happy to walk a lot. Pick one, not two. Below are two full 14-day plans, with how each leg connects and how to pace the trip.

If you are still deciding how many days you need at all, start with our first-time China itinerary guide. If you only have ten days, the 10-day China trip plan adds one extra stop to the classic route instead of a whole second week.

Choosing week two: Yunnan, Guilin–Yangshuo or Zhangjiajie

The classic part is mostly the same on every plan: three or four days in Beijing and two in Xi'an, then either Chengdu to close week one or Shanghai to close the whole trip. Our Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai classic route walks through those legs station by station, so this page spends its time on week two.

Yunnan (Kunming, Dali, Lijiang) is the slow option. You spend your days in old towns, by Erhai Lake (洱海, Ěrhǎi) in Dali and under Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山, Yùlóng Xuěshān) near Lijiang. The trains link the three towns well, so there is little planning stress once you are there. It joins most naturally to Chengdu, because Chengdu East has direct high-speed trains to Kunming South. The catch is height: the Lijiang old-town area sits at about 2,400 metres, and altitude sickness mostly starts above 2,500 metres, which you pass if you ride up the snow mountain.

Guilin and Yangshuo is the easy option. The famous limestone hills along the Li River (漓江, Lí Jiāng) are the view you have probably seen on posters, and you see most of it from a boat, a bamboo raft or a bicycle. Days are gentle. The catch is getting there: the train from Xi'an or to Shanghai is long, so most people fly in or out.

Zhangjiajie is the active option. The sandstone pillars of Wulingyuan (武陵源, Wǔlíngyuán) are spectacular, but you reach the viewpoints on foot, by elevator, cable car and park bus, and the paths include a lot of stone steps. It is also the hardest of the three to reach by train from the classic cities.

Season matters too. In Lijiang the average January low is about 0 °C, while July days average about 23 °C, so Yunnan is pleasant in summer and cold at night in winter. The Li River has its low-water season from September to March, and when the water is very low the cruise route can be shortened or suspended. On Zhangjiajie's mountains it is about 5–10 °C cooler than in town, May is rainy, and snow falls on the peaks in winter. Spring and autumn suit all three.

The long-distance legs in both plans below come from one sample travel day (29 October 2026) on the official 12306 booking system. Times and fares vary by train and date, so use it to see which legs are easy by rail.

The southwest version: Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and Yunnan

This plan goes in one line from north to southwest with no backtracking, and every leg after Beijing is a train. You fly into Beijing and fly home from Kunming (or from Lijiang via a domestic connection).

How the legs connect

Beijing to Xi'an. On the sample day, 17 G trains ran from Beijing West to Xi'an North, the fastest in 4 hours 10 minutes and the middle half taking 4 hours 12 minutes to 5 hours 50 minutes. Second-class fares on the sampled trains ranged from 494 to 587 yuan, with the faster trains at the top of that range.

Xi'an to Chengdu. This is one of the easiest legs in China: 64 trains on the sample day from Xi'an North to Chengdu East, the fastest in 3 hours 5 minutes and most around 3 hours 40 to 3 hours 55 minutes. Second class was 285–300 yuan on the sampled trains.

Chengdu to Kunming. This is the long day. Chengdu East had 12 G trains to Kunming South on the sample day, leaving between 07:54 and 17:27, the fastest in 5 hours 51 minutes and the middle half taking 6 hours 15 minutes to 6 hours 50 minutes. Second class was 482–539 yuan. Take a morning train and plan nothing else that day. You can also fly; check times in a booking app, remembering the airport transfers at both ends.

Kunming to Dali. Kunming has two big stations, and the Chengdu East G trains arrive at Kunming South. You do not have to cross the city for Dali: on a Yunnan sample day (20 October 2026) 41 Dali trains left from Kunming South (2 hours 18 minutes to 2 hours 47 minutes), and the full set of about 56 a day called at Kunming Station in the city, the fastest in 1 hour 55 minutes. Second class on the sampled trains was about 109–145 yuan, depending on the train and station.

Dali to Lijiang. Nine trains ran on the sample day, the fastest in 1 hour 36 minutes and most of the C trains between 1 hour 36 minutes and 2 hours 30 minutes. A second-class seat was 80 yuan. Dali Station is in Xiaguan, a newer town some way from Dali Old Town; city buses 4 and 8 and a tourist express bus run from the station to the old town.

Lijiang back to Kunming. Direct trains from Lijiang to Kunming take from about 3 hours 23 minutes, with 12 on the sample day. Lijiang also has a busy airport with flights to more than 100 cities, so flying from Lijiang to a big hub like Shanghai or Beijing and then home is often simpler than going back to Kunming.

The Yunnan trains, including the extension from Lijiang to Shangri-La, are all in one table. If you enter on the 240-hour visa-free transit, note that Shangri-La (Diqing prefecture) is not one of the Yunnan areas that rule allows.

What to book ahead in Yunnan

• Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: the entry ticket and the scenic-area bus are both required, 100 yuan plus 20 yuan, and must be bought in advance. Tickets go on sale 7 days ahead through the official WeChat mini program, which is in Chinese; there are also ticket windows at the new visitor centre in Baisha, but at busy times visitors without tickets may be turned away, so ask your hotel to book for you if the mini program does not work for you. The glacier cable car is a separate ticket and climbs to 4,506 metres, so go slowly at the top and come down if you get a strong headache.
• Lijiang Old Town: the old-town maintenance fee is 50 yuan per person and is valid for 365 days.
• Erhai Lake: on the lakeside ecological corridor, unlicensed bike and e-bike rentals are banned and cars and e-bikes may not drive in at will. Rent from a proper shop in town and follow the signs about where bikes may go.

For the full town-by-town plan, including Shangri-La, read our Yunnan circuit by train. For tickets and the old towns in more detail, see the Dali and Lijiang guide.

The nature version: Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin–Yangshuo and Shanghai

This plan keeps the three classic cities and puts four days of river scenery in the middle. Fly into Beijing and home from Shanghai; two legs are best flown.

How the legs connect

Xi'an to Guilin. There are direct trains, but only 2 a day on the sample day, taking about 10 hours, with second class at 751–806 yuan. Most travellers fly this leg instead; compare flight times and prices in a booking app. If you would rather stay on the ground, swap Xi'an–Guilin for Xi'an–Chengdu–Guilin: Chengdu East to Guilin West ran 15 trains on the sample day, the fastest in 4 hours 58 minutes, at 441–482 yuan in second class. You gain pandas but lose a day elsewhere.

Guilin to Yangshuo. The Li River cruise is itself the transfer. The main cruise runs one way from piers south of Guilin to Yangshuo, about 4 hours, and there is no luggage storage on board. Tickets are real-name, so you need your ID details (for you, your passport) to buy them, and you should book at least one day ahead. For ticket questions, the scenic area's enquiry line is +86 773 899 6303. Leave your big bag at the Guilin hotel or arrange for it to reach your Yangshuo hotel, and cruise with a day pack. For the trip back, DiDi's "station bus" (站点巴士, zhàndiǎn bāshì) runs between Guilin and Yangshuo for 29.9 yuan. If low water has shortened or stopped the cruise, take that bus (or a hired car) to Yangshuo instead; in past closures the bamboo-style rafts kept running, so a raft on the Xingping stretch makes a good substitute.

Guilin to Shanghai. On the sample day only one direct train ran from Guilin Station to Shanghai Hongqiao (G264, 12:05, 7 hours 25 minutes) and one from Guilin North (9 hours 25 minutes), at 760.5 and 667 yuan in second class. Most travellers fly and keep the train as a backup.

Days in Yangshuo

Stay in Yangshuo, not Guilin, for the middle nights. It is closer to the rafts and cycling routes, and quieter in the evening, especially a little outside West Street; compare places on Booking.com. Yulong River (遇龙河, Yùlóng Hé) bamboo rafts can be booked online from 20:00 the evening before. The scenic road south of town called Ten-Mile Gallery is free and good on a bike. Xingping, a village upstream, is where the river view on the 20-yuan banknote comes from.

Back in Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill is free to enter. If you would rather see the Longji rice terraces, plan a full day; the pass covers several villages and is valid for 3 days. Our Guilin and Yangshuo guide has cruise classes, piers and terrace options.

The Zhangjiajie swap

To put mountains in place of the river, keep Days 1–5 and 12–14 and replace Days 6–11 like this:

• Day 6: fly Xi'an to Zhangjiajie. In the 2026 summer–autumn schedule, Zhangjiajie airport listed about 4 flights a day each from Shanghai and Xi'an. Check the current schedule for your date.
• Days 7–9: Wulingyuan. One park ticket costs 165 yuan and is valid for 4 consecutive days, with buses, cable cars and the elevator paid separately. Entry is by real-name booking for a set time slot and gate, so book before you arrive.
• Day 10: Tianmen Mountain, next to Zhangjiajie city.
• Day 11: to Shanghai. Zhangjiajie West had 3 direct G trains to Shanghai Hongqiao on the sample day, the fastest in 7 hours 18 minutes; expect about 786 yuan in second class (the sample fare from the Shanghai direction). Most people fly this leg too.

If you are coming by train from elsewhere in China, the quickest way in is through Changsha. On the sample day 31 trains ran from Changsha Station (not Changsha South) to Zhangjiajie West, the fastest in 1 hour 45 minutes; the 10 trains from Changsha South took 2 hours 52 minutes to 3 hours 39 minutes. Second class from Changsha Station was 135–166 yuan. From Zhangjiajie West station, city-to-scenic-area buses or a taxi take about 30–40 minutes to Wulingyuan; the buses can be booked online on the "湘悦行" (Xiāngyuèxíng) platform. For a day-by-day plan inside the park, use our 3-day Zhangjiajie itinerary, and for getting there and tickets, the Zhangjiajie travel guide.

How to pace two weeks

Two weeks is long enough to get tired. These habits help:

• A half day off every 4–5 days. In both plans above there is one built in (Chengdu Day 8, Yangshuo Day 9). Use it for laundry, sleep and repacking; skipping it makes the next long travel day much harder.
• Early trains for long legs. On a 6-hour leg like Chengdu–Kunming, a morning train gets you in with daylight to check in and eat.
• Pack for trains. The free allowance on Chinese trains is 20 kg per adult, and on bullet trains each piece should measure no more than 130 cm in length, width and height combined. See our luggage rules for trains and flights.
• Laundry. Plan a wash around Day 7 or 8. Many hotels and guesthouses have a laundry service or a guest washing machine; ask at check-in.
• Altitude in Yunnan. If you take the southwest plan, keep the first evening in Lijiang easy, drink water and save the snow mountain for the next day.

For the city days in week one, the WaysChina app works offline: it has metro maps and route finding for Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and Shanghai, and a trip planner that orders the sights you pick into a day.

Visa and booking for a 14-day trip

Do you need a visa?

If your passport is on China's unilateral visa-free list, you can enter for up to 30 days for tourism without a visa. The United States is not on that list, so US travellers need a tourist visa for this trip. The 30 days count from the day after you arrive, so a 14-day trip fits easily. For most countries on that list the policy runs until 31 December 2026; Russia's runs until 31 December 2027 and Brunei's has no end date. If your trip falls after that date, check the latest rules before you book flights.

The 240-hour visa-free transit is different. It is for travellers going on to a third country, allows at most 240 hours (10 days), and limits you to set areas: Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi, for example, only allow certain cities, not the whole province. A 14-day, multi-province trip does not fit inside it, so if transit is your only option, get a tourist visa instead. The National Immigration Administration's transit policy page lists the ports and areas. Our visa-free entry guide explains who qualifies, and do you need a visa for China lets you check by nationality.

Booking trains and flights

Train tickets go on sale 15 days before departure, counting the travel day. So book the first week's trains before you leave and the second week's on the road. You can buy with a foreign passport on the official 12306 site or app, or through an agent such as Trip.com. Our guide to booking China train tickets with a passport covers the setup.

If your train is sold out, use the 12306 waitlist (候补, hòubǔ). You can hold up to 6 waitlist orders, each covering up to 3 dates and up to 60 trains. You pay in advance, the system keeps trying around the clock until 20 minutes before departure, and the money comes back in full if no seat is found.

For domestic flights, foreign travellers use their passport as ID, and you must use the same passport to book, check in and go through security. As a rough rule, take the train for legs up to about five or six hours and fly the longer ones, as both plans above do. Our domestic flights guide covers baggage and delays.

Summary

Do the classic cities in week one and one scenic region in week two: Yunnan for a slow, train-friendly week after Chengdu, Guilin–Yangshuo for easy river scenery, Zhangjiajie for mountains and walking. Fly the long legs (Xi'an–Guilin, Guilin–Shanghai, Zhangjiajie–Shanghai) and take the train for the rest. Book sights that need advance booking, such as the Forbidden City and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain early, and leave a half day free every few days. Next step: pick the region, then check the visa rules for your passport.

Last updated: October 2026