Destinations by Region

Most trains get you from A to B. The "Splendid Rivers & Mountains · Colorful Guizhou" scenic train from China Railway Chengdu Group is designed to do the opposite — it makes the ride itself the highlight of your trip. This summer, the operator has rolled out a fresh schedule that stitches together some of southwest China's most beautiful scenery across Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing.

Zhuhai is where Guangdong slows down: a seafront city of parks, islands and seafood, with Macao, China next door and the Greater Bay Area on the doorstep.

Meizhou is the Hakka heartland: fortified communal houses built around courtyards, ancestral halls, and a cuisine of salt-baked chicken and stuffed tofu. A first-visit guide.

Kunming is where Yunnan trips begin and end: mild year-round weather, flower and wild-mushroom markets, lakeside parks and the Stone Forest an hour away. A first-visit guide.

Ningbo has been a port for a thousand years, and it still tastes like one: seafood, old lanes, a merchant past and China's most celebrated private library. A first-visit guide.

Shaoxing pairs a famous rice wine with stone bridges, old lanes and the childhood home of one of China's most-read writers. A first-visit guide to a slow Zhejiang city.

Yangzhou made its fortune on salt and canals, and spent it on gardens. A first-visit guide to the Jiangsu city that most travelers skip — and should not.

Qufu holds the temple, mansion and cemetery of Confucius — the physical centre of a tradition that shaped Chinese education. A first-visit guide and what to look for.

Jinan is the city of springs: artesian water rising through the old town, feeding lakes and canals. A first-visit guide to Shandong's water city.

Kaifeng rebuilt itself after floods and conquests, and its Song-dynasty reputation still shapes the city. A first-visit plan for the old capital on the Henan plain.

Hangzhou is a city built around a lake and a set of hills, with tea villages, temples and a slow food culture within reach of the metro. How to spend three days well.

Nanjing is the capital that history kept rewriting: Ming walls, a republican-era boulevard, major museums and one of China's best eating cities. A three-day first-visit plan.

Putuoshan is one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains — and an island, with temple complexes, pilgrim paths and beaches between them. How to reach it, what to see in order and the overnight that changes the trip.

Two hours from Chengdu sit two UNESCO sites: an irrigation system that still waters the plains after 2,000 years, and a Taoist mountain of shaded stone paths. A day-trip plan that fits both without rushing.

Kashgar is where China stops looking like China: an old town of mud-brick lanes, workshops and tea houses on the old Silk Road, with a Sunday livestock market unlike anything else in the country. A first-visit plan for the far west.

Two hours from Beijing, the Qing emperors built an entire summer empire: a hill-and-lake resort the size of a small city, ringed by Tibetan-style temples. A day-trip plan for the resort, the temples and the escape itself.