China itinerary: 10–14 days in Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu and Shanghai

This is a route template for a first trip to China, not a fixed tour. It covers Beijing for imperial history and the Great Wall, Xi’an for the Terracotta Warriors, Chengdu for pandas and Sichuan food, and Shanghai for a modern city to finish.

Start by choosing a version, then adjust it using the sections below. Each move between cities is treated as a real part of the day, and each day has one main plan rather than a list of everything nearby.

Choose your version

With 14 days, all four cities fit with a free day or a day trip in most places. With 10 days, drop a city. The four-city version is possible, but three of its ten days are mostly spent travelling, and it leaves no spare time if a booking or the weather doesn’t work out.

Book flights into Beijing and out of your last city (an open-jaw ticket) if you can. Starting and ending in the same city adds another long travel day.

Which city to drop for 10 days

• Drop Shanghai (the easiest version) if you can fly home from Chengdu. Beijing, Xi’an and Chengdu are linked by high-speed rail, so there’s no domestic flight. You lose the modern-city finale, and international flights from Chengdu may be fewer or pricier than from Shanghai, so compare them before deciding.
• Drop Chengdu if pandas and Sichuan food aren’t priorities, or if you need to fly home from Shanghai. The catch is the Xi’an to Shanghai leg: the fastest trains take almost six hours, so many people fly.
• Drop Xi’an only if the Terracotta Warriors don’t interest you. Beijing to Chengdu is a long journey that usually means a flight, and this is the city that most clearly separates this route from a Beijing–Shanghai trip.

Keep Beijing in every version. It has the largest group of core sights here, and it’s the natural place to start.

The 14-day route, day by day

Core items carry the day. Optional ones are worth adding if you have energy. Cut first means it’s the first thing to drop when you need time back.

Beijing: days 1–4 (4 nights)

Day 1: arrive in Beijing

• Core: get to your hotel, then a short walk and an early dinner nearby.
• Transport: follow the Beijing Capital Airport arrival guide if you land at PEK. Daxing is a different airport.
• Sleep: Beijing.

Day 2: the Forbidden City

• Core: the Forbidden City. It needs most of a day, it’s normally closed on Mondays, and tickets must be booked ahead.
• Optional: a roast duck dinner.
• Sleep: Beijing.

Day 3: the Great Wall at Badaling

• Core: a day trip to Badaling by train. Book the train on 12306; wall admission is a separate ticket.
• Sleep: Beijing.

Day 4: the Temple of Heaven and a slower afternoon

• Core: the Temple of Heaven in the morning. Its historic sights are normally closed on Mondays.
• Optional: the Lama Temple or the Summer Palace in the afternoon. Pick one.
• Cut first: the afternoon visit. Pack for tomorrow’s train instead.
• Sleep: Beijing.

Xi’an: days 5–7 (3 nights)

Day 5: train to Xi’an

• Transport: high-speed train, mostly from Beijing West to Xi’an North. The fastest trains take a little over four hours; many take five to six.
• Optional: an evening walk near your hotel. Don’t plan anything you’ve booked for a set time.
• Sleep: Xi’an.

Day 6: the Terracotta Warriors

• Core: the Terracotta Warriors. The museum is outside the city, so the trip takes most of the day. Book museum admission separately from any transport or guide.
• Sleep: Xi’an.

Day 7: Xi’an city, or Huashan

• Optional: a city day with the old city wall and a food street, at your own pace. Or swap it for a Mount Huashan day trip if you’d prefer a mountain; that’s a long, tiring day before a travel day.
• Cut first: this whole day, if you need one back elsewhere.
• Sleep: Xi’an.

Chengdu: days 8–10 (3 nights)

Day 8: train to Chengdu

• Transport: high-speed train from Xi’an North to Chengdu East. The fastest trains take about three hours; many take nearly four. This is the easiest move on the route.
• Optional: an evening Sichuan opera if you arrive in good time.
• Sleep: Chengdu.

Day 9: pandas

• Core: the Chengdu Panda Base in a morning entry session. Book your session ahead.
• Optional: a quiet afternoon, or the opera if you skipped it last night.
• Sleep: Chengdu.

Day 10: a day trip, or a spare day

• Optional: Dujiangyan, or Mount Qingcheng if you’d prefer a walk. This day is also your backup if the panda session you wanted was full.
• Cut first: the day trip. A slower day of eating in Chengdu is a fine alternative.
• Sleep: Chengdu.

Shanghai: days 11–14 (3 nights)

Day 11: fly to Shanghai

• Transport: fly from Chengdu to Shanghai. The train takes ten hours or more. Check which airport you’re using at each end: Chengdu has Tianfu and Shuangliu, and Shanghai has Pudong and Hongqiao.
• Optional: an evening walk on the Bund.
• Sleep: Shanghai.

Day 12: the Bund, Pudong and the old city

• Core: the Bund waterfront, then cross to Pudong if you want to go up a tower.
• Optional: Yu Garden, and shengjianbao or xiaolongbao.
• Sleep: Shanghai.

Day 13: neighbourhoods and food

• Optional: Wukang Road and the former French Concession streets, Xintiandi, or a full day at Shanghai Disneyland instead.
• Cut first: Disneyland, unless it’s the reason you’re going to Shanghai.
• Sleep: Shanghai.

Day 14: depart

• Transport: leave for the airport with plenty of margin. Pudong is the main international airport; check your terminal and route in the Shanghai guide.

The 10-day routes

Easiest: Beijing, Xi’an and Chengdu

Compared with the 14-day route, this drops Shanghai, the Xi’an city day and one Chengdu night. Xi’an to Chengdu is short enough by train to keep the morning of day 7 for the city wall or a late breakfast.

Ending in Shanghai: Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai

Days 1–6 are the same. On day 7, travel from Xi’an to Shanghai. The fastest trains, from Xi’an North to Shanghai Hongqiao, take almost six hours; many take around eight. A flight is often the better use of the day, but compare the full door-to-door time. Spend days 8–9 in Shanghai and leave on day 10.

All four cities in 10 days

Beijing 3 nights, Xi’an 2, Chengdu 2, Shanghai 2. It works on paper, but here’s what it costs:

• Travel: three moves in ten days. Days 4, 6 and 8 are mostly spent getting to the next city, with a fourth hotel and an extra round of packing.
• Beijing: keep the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. The Temple of Heaven needs an early start on day 4 before the train, or it goes.
• Xi’an: the Terracotta Warriors only. No city day and no Huashan.
• Chengdu: pandas only. No Dujiangyan, and no backup day if your panda session sells out.
• Shanghai: one evening and one full day before you leave.

Choose this only if seeing each city briefly matters more to you than a steadier pace.

Getting between the cities

Train times come from China Railway’s 12306 timetable for 6 November 2026 departures, checked on 30 October 2026. Search your own date: timetables and fares change, and this guide doesn’t list specific trains or prices.

How long a travel day really takes

By train, add up: getting to a big station across the city, the security check and passport check at the entrance, finding your gate and boarding, the train, and the trip to your hotel at the other end. Beijing’s Foreign Affairs Office suggests arriving at least 30 minutes early for the security check; leave more at busy times. Stations stop ticket checks shortly before departure and post the cut-off time, so a late arrival can mean a missed train.

By plane, the flight is often the shortest part. Airports such as Chengdu Tianfu are well outside the city centre, and domestic check-in at Tianfu closes 40 minutes before departure (55 minutes at the transport-centre counters). Add security, the walk to the gate, the wait for luggage and the trip into Shanghai. A flight day uses most of the day.

Either way, don’t book a timed ticket for the evening you arrive.

Booking trains

Book on China Railway 12306 or its app with the passport you’re travelling on. Tickets are electronic and tied to that passport, so bring the original to the station. Some foreign passports can’t use the automatic gates; staff check them at a manual lane, which can have a queue. Check the departure station carefully: Beijing and Xi’an each have several.

Adjust it to suit you

Change one thing at a time, and keep at least one unhurried day in each city.

• History first: keep Beijing and Xi’an at full length. In 14 days, move a night from Shanghai to Xi’an for the city day and Huashan, or add the Summer Palace in Beijing. For 10 days, drop Shanghai or Chengdu rather than shortening Beijing.
• Food first: Chengdu and Shanghai matter most. For 10 days, consider dropping Xi’an (and flying from Beijing to Chengdu) to give Chengdu 3 nights and Shanghai 3. Use the Beijing and Shanghai food guides to choose dishes.
• Pandas: keep Chengdu with at least 2 full days, so you have a spare morning if a session is full or the pandas are out of view. The Panda Base and Dujiangyan Panda Valley are different places; check which one you’re booking.
• City life: give Shanghai 4 nights and drop Xi’an or Huashan. Spend the time walking neighbourhoods rather than adding sights.
• Fewer hotel changes: use three cities at most, and treat Badaling, Huashan and Dujiangyan as day trips from a base. In 14 days, Beijing 5, Xi’an 4 and Chengdu 4 means three hotels and two short train journeys.

Before you book

• Entry rules: a 14-day trip is longer than the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit allows. If your passport only qualifies for transit, a 10-day version could fit as long as it meets the transit route conditions. All four cities are in permitted areas. Check the visa and entry guide before buying flights.
• Mondays and holidays: the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven’s historic sights normally close on Mondays. Move the days around so neither falls on one. Expect heavy crowds and booked-out trains around public holidays.
• Phone and payments: you’ll use your phone for tickets, maps and payment every day. Sort out mobile data and apps and Alipay or WeChat Pay before you leave.
• Final check: run through the China travel checklist once your bookings are in place.

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