Need Help With Itinerary - We Need Your Experience

Following is our itinerary for our trip to China. Trying to figure out where we have too much time and where we don%26#39;t have enough time. We are doing the trip independently. We are in our 60%26#39;s and don%26#39;t want to be so rushed that we won%26#39;t enjoy the trip.

October 16 arrive Beijing at 10:00pm

17 1/2 day rest 1/2 day sightseeing

18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 sightseeing

Sights we want to see in Beijing Tian%26#39;anmen Square, Great Wall Mutiano, Ming Dynasty Tombs, Sacred Way, Imperial Palace,Hutong rickshaw ride,Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ancient street of Liulichang and visit 798 for Modern Art and of course do SHOPPING. Is it easy to get around using taxi%26#39;s???

Do we have too much time in Beijing???

Fly from Beijing to Xian the night of October 22.

October 23 and 24 sightseeing

Visit Terra Cotta Warriors, Old Ancient City Wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Mosque, Water show at Big Goose Square at night, Tomb of Liu Qi, ShuYuanMen - the art street,Shannix Museum and the Cave People and of course SHOPPING.

Don%26#39;t know much about the cave people. Can anyone give me more information on the sight????

Fly from Xian to Guilin the night of October 24.

October 25, 26 and 27 sightseeing. Two night Yanshuo and 1 night in Guilin.

Visit Yao Mountain, night cruise Guilin, Bamboo boat ride on Yulong River, Li River cruise from Xingping to Yandi,night markets Guilin and Yangshuo (if time permits), Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Hill, water and light show at night in Yangshuo, visit Crystal Palace and if time permits a cooking class in Yangshuo and visit a local farmer and do SHOPPING.

We need a good hotel in Yangshuo. Any suggestions?

Fly from Guilin the evening of October 27. Fly to Chongqing. This is where the problem is. We are taking the Yangtze cruise (husband really wants to do this) from Chongqing on the 28th of Oct. and the flight gets into chongqing at 8:00pm and the cruise leaves at 9:00pm so we feel we need to fly into Chongqing on the 27th.

If we want to go into Chonqing on the 28 th how do we get there other than fly?? How far is Chongqing from Guilin??? What is there to do if we arrive in Chongqing on the 27th and have the entire day of the 28th??

We also need help in booking the Victoria cruise. It seems that the different operators (tour companys) have different prices for the same cruise for a standard cabin. Anyone have any experience booking just the cruise with a reliable company???

Cruise the Yangtze from October 28 to October 31. Fly from Yichang and arrive in Shanghai at 6:30pm.

November 1 to November 5 (leave Shanghai at 5:30pm)

Museum of Contemporary Art, M50 Art Warehouse (thank you Ellyse), Jade Buddha Temple, Acrobotic Show, French Concession, Bund, Nanjing Road shopping, Shanghai Museum, shopping bazaar at Yu Gardens.

Does anyone know where to go to see how silk is made?? Also would love to go to a water village near Shanghai. Do we have enough time and which one do you recommend???

Does this Itinerary sound doable or are we undertaking too much????

Thank you for all your help.

Pam

Need Help With Itinerary - We Need Your Experience

You%26#39;ll probably be okay with your time in Beijing, but you could take one day to use in Yangshuo.

Its the middle of your trip that gets a bit rushed. Make sure you account for travel time between cities.

The Xi%26#39;an %26#39;cave people%26#39; must refer to the Banpo Neolithic village. They lived in huts, so weren%26#39;t really %26#39;cave people%26#39;.

Banpo isn%26#39;t everyone%26#39;s cup of tea, but I think it is nice to see a bit about China%26#39;s prehistory and think about how amazing it is that people lived there 4,000 years ago. The best feature is their pottery, which is pretty nice. You%26#39;ll see some of this at the Shaanxi museum as well.

Need Help With Itinerary - We Need Your Experience

Amount of time in Beijing is fine.

I would suggest that you get around Beijing by a combination of metro and taxis. Metro is inexpensive, fast (no traffic jams) and clearly signposted in both English and Chinese characters.

I think OP referred to the loess cave dwellings, not Banpo.

time.com/time/鈥ndex.html

http://www.taxitour.com/cave.htm

Recommendation for Yangshuo accommodation would be Li River Retreat (http://www.li-river-retreat.com).

I would do the 3 Gorges cruise then Shanghai, geographical reasons.

You don%26#39;t have any other choice other than flying, for Guilin -- Chongqing. Too far.

There%26#39;s a silk museum in Suzhou, about half an hour from Shanghai on the fastest D trains. That%26#39;s a good place to educate yourself about the process of silk manufacture.

For a water village, especially if you%26#39;re combining with Suzhou (silk museum), I would recommend Tongli (http://www.tongli.net).

Yes, sightseeing pace seems to be fine.