7-Day China Itinerary: Three Ways to Spend One Week in China

With one week in China, two cities is the comfortable choice and three is the most you can fit. The popular three-city plan, Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai, works, but half of one day and most of another go to trains: Beijing to Xi'an takes a little over four hours on the fastest trains, and most trains from Xi'an to Shanghai take 7 to 8½ hours. Below are three versions of the week, each laid out day by day with where you sleep and how you get to the next city, plus what each one gives up. Pick one and use it as it is.

All three assume an open-jaw flight: you fly into one city and home from another, so you never travel back to where you started. Each plan has six nights in China and uses day 7 for the flight home; with a late-evening flight you also get most of day 7 for sightseeing. If you are still deciding how long to stay or whether your passport lets you visit without a visa, start with our first-time China itinerary guide.

One week in China: how many cities

Each change of city costs you about half a day. You pack, check out, ride the metro to the station, go through security, sit on the train, then find your next hotel. With seven days, one move leaves you about six days of sightseeing. Two moves leave you about five, and the second move on the Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai route is a long one.

Jet lag matters too. Most people coming from Europe or the Americas are tired on day 1 and often wake at 4 a.m. on day 2. A plan with no slack has no room for a slow morning, a rainy day or a ticket you could not book.

Here is how the three versions compare:

Our view: if this is your first trip and you only come once, version 1 is worth the train time, as long as you accept that every day is full. If you would rather enjoy what you see than collect places, version 2 is the better week. Version 3 suits a second trip, or a first trip that starts and ends in Shanghai.

Version 1: Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in 7 days

Fly into Beijing, take a high-speed train (高铁, gāotiě) to Xi'an on day 4, go on to Shanghai on day 6, and fly home from Shanghai.

Beijing to Xi'an (day 4)

Trains leave from Beijing West, which is on metro lines 7 and 9. On one sample travel day (29 October 2026) there were 17 high-speed trains from Beijing West to Xi'an North between 07:00 and 19:00, the fastest taking 4 hours 10 minutes and the middle half of trains between 4 hours 12 minutes and 5 hours 50 minutes. Second-class fares on that day ranged from 494 to 587 yuan depending on the train, and first class from 790 to 939 yuan. Take a train that leaves before 9:00 and you still get the afternoon on the City Wall. From Xi'an North, metro line 2 runs straight to the Bell Tower in the old city without a change.

There is also an overnight option. On the sample day the D39 sleeper train left Beijing West at 18:30 and reached Xi'an station at 06:24 the next morning (this is Xi'an's older main station near the city wall, not Xi'an North), and a second-class sleeper berth on it cost 300 yuan. That gives you the whole of day 4 in Beijing and saves one hotel night, if you sleep well on trains.

Xi'an to Shanghai (day 6)

This is the long leg. On the sample day there were 20 trains from Xi'an North to Shanghai Hongqiao, the first at 06:13 and the last at 15:56; the fastest took about 5 hours 50 minutes, but most took between 7 hours 10 minutes and 8 hours 26 minutes. Second-class fares ranged from 666 to 766.5 yuan. The few trains of about 6 hours (G96 and G92 on the sample day) are worth grabbing; otherwise consider flying. A flight is shorter in the air but adds the trip to and from both airports, so compare door-to-door times and current fares when you book.

Station-by-station detail for both legs, and how to board, are in our Beijing–Xi'an–Shanghai route guide.

What it gives up: half a day on the Beijing–Xi'an train and most of a day on the Xi'an–Shanghai one, no spare day for jet lag or bad weather, and only one night and about one day of sightseeing in Shanghai. You also change hotels twice. For more time per city, see the 3-day Beijing itinerary and the 2-day Xi'an itinerary, or stretch this route over the 10-day China trip plan.

Version 2: Beijing and Shanghai, with time to spare

Four nights in Beijing, two in Shanghai, one train in between. You skip Xi'an, and in return you get an extra day in Beijing, a day trip out of Shanghai, and only one hotel change.

The extra Beijing day is the main gain. It lets you put the Great Wall on the day with the best weather, and it gives you a backup day if the Forbidden City is fully booked for your first choice. For the Great Wall, Mutianyu is the section most first-time visitors pick; it sells tickets in your name, and you can book up to 30 days ahead with your passport. Badaling is easier by public transport: bus 877 runs from Deshengmen straight to the wall, usually in about 70 minutes. Our Beijing day trips guide covers both, plus Gubei Water Town and the Ming Tombs.

The train to Shanghai leaves from Beijing South, on metro lines 4 and 14. On the sample day there were 37 high-speed trains from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao between 06:18 and 19:24; the fastest, G25, took 4 hours 18 minutes, and the middle half took between 4 hours 37 minutes and 6 hours 8 minutes. Second-class fares that day ranged from 553 to 661 yuan and first class from 929 to 1,058 yuan, with the faster trains costing more. This line uses floating fares, so the same seat costs a different amount on different trains and dates, and the price 12306 shows when you book is the one that counts. At Shanghai Hongqiao you can take metro lines 2, 10 or 17 into the city.

For the Shanghai day trip, Suzhou is the easiest: trains from Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou station run all day and take 25 to 50 minutes, most about half an hour. Zhujiajiao is closer still, a free-entry canal town with its own stop, Zhujiajiao, on metro line 17. More options are in our Shanghai day trips guide, and the 3-day Shanghai itinerary fills the city days.

Staying put for four nights also means you can pick one hotel near a metro line and stop thinking about it. Central areas near Wangfujing or Dongcheng in Beijing, and near People's Square or the Bund in Shanghai, keep most sights within a few metro stops; you can compare hotels in those areas on Booking.com.

What it gives up: Xi'an and the Terracotta Army, which for many people is one of the three big sights of a first trip. You see two very different cities instead of three, and you have more time in each.

Version 3: Shanghai with Suzhou and Hangzhou, or Shanghai plus one western city

If you are flying into Shanghai anyway, you can keep the whole week in the south-east. Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou sit close together on fast, frequent rail lines, so moving between them costs much less time than the long legs of version 1.

Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou station takes 25 to 50 minutes, with about 50 trains a day on a September sample day. In Suzhou, metro line 6 stops at Zhuozhengyuan Suzhou Museum station, a short walk from the Humble Administrator's Garden. Suzhou station to Hangzhou East takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 50 minutes, and second class was around 115 to 130 yuan in a September sample. From Hangzhou East, metro line 1 reaches Longxiangqiao on the east shore of West Lake in six stops. Trains between Shanghai and Hangzhou are quick: from Shanghai Hongqiao to Hangzhou East the fastest take about 45 minutes and most take 50 to 60, with several trains an hour. See the Suzhou guide and the Hangzhou guide for what to see.

The famous water towns of Wuzhen and Xitang are harder: there is no convenient direct train between Suzhou and them, and the usual way from Suzhou is a direct bus or a change at Shanghai Hongqiao. If a water town is the point of your trip, use the Jiangnan water towns route instead of squeezing one in here.

The western option. If you want Shanghai plus one ancient or food city, spend three nights in Shanghai and three or four in Xi'an or Chengdu, and fly that leg. By train it is a long day: on the sample day the fastest train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Xi'an North took 5 hours 39 minutes, and in the other direction most trains took 7 to 8½ hours; the fastest from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu East took 10 hours 31 minutes. Most travellers fly. Check flight times and fares for your date, and check whether you can fly home directly from Xi'an or Chengdu, which saves the return to Shanghai. Our Chengdu guide helps you decide between the two.

What it gives up: Beijing, so no Great Wall and no Forbidden City. On a first trip that is a big gap; on a second trip, or for people who prefer gardens, food and city life to palaces, it is often the most enjoyable week of the three.

Booking trains, flights and sights

A one-week plan only works if the few bookings that sell out are done in the right order. Do them in this order.

1. Flights: open-jaw

Book a multi-city ticket: into Beijing and out of Shanghai for versions 1 and 2, in and out of Shanghai for version 3. Search "multi-city" on an airline or flight-search site and compare it with a return; it saves you the trip back to your starting city. Whether you need a visa depends on your passport and how long you stay; our guide do you need a visa for China covers the current rules.

2. Train tickets on 12306

China's rail tickets are sold in your name: you book with your passport and must show the same passport at the station. The official 12306 website and app accept a foreign passport as ID. Your identity must show as verified before you can buy online, and foreign passport holders can verify by uploading a photo of the passport in the app or at a station ticket window. Enter your name exactly in the order it appears on your passport, with a space between family name and given names.

Tickets go on sale 15 days ahead, counting the day of travel, so each train opens for sale 14 days before it runs and your trains open on different dates. Each station sets its own release time, so check the time 12306 shows for your departure station and set a reminder for each train. On version 1, the Xi'an–Shanghai train opens last, about 9 days before day 1; book it as soon as it opens. You can book on the official 12306 site, or through an English-language agent such as Trip.com if the 12306 app gives you trouble; the agent books the same trains, so check its service fee before you pay. Our step-by-step guide to booking train tickets in China walks through both.

At the station, passport holders use the staffed lane for the ID check and at the ticket gate, because the automatic gates do not read passports. Allow extra time for this, especially at Beijing South and Shanghai Hongqiao. Pack for the train, too: on high-speed trains each bag can measure no more than 130 cm in length, width and height added together.

3. Timed tickets for the big sights

• Forbidden City (故宫, Gùgōng): no tickets are sold on the day. Booking opens 7 days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time, and each passport can book one ticket per day. Foreign visitors can book with a passport on the Palace Museum's international ticketing platform, after signing up with an email verification code, and enter through the Meridian Gate with the same passport. Set a reminder for exactly 7 days before your Forbidden City day.
• Terracotta Army: all visitors, foreigners included, must book online in their own name through the museum's official website or its official WeChat accounts, using passport details, and show the passport at the gate. Tickets are for a time slot, and you should be waiting half an hour before it starts.
• Mutianyu Great Wall: book in your name up to 30 days ahead.
• Shaanxi History Museum (Xi'an): free, but the only official booking channel is the museum's WeChat account, and tickets are released 5 days ahead at 17:00. If you are on version 1 and want to go, set up WeChat before you leave.

FAQ

To sum up: two cities if you want a relaxed week, three if seeing Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in one trip matters more than rest. Pick your version, book an open-jaw flight, set reminders for the Forbidden City and Terracotta Army booking days, and buy each train ticket on the day its sales open.

Last updated: October 2026