I’m wrapping up a month in China.

While here, I primarily visited the provinces of Beijing, Shanghai, Zhoushan, and Taizhou.

If I were planning a week-long trip to China, here’s where I’d go.

Shanghai

Day One: Walk around downtown. Visit Butterfull and Creamerous, egg tarts and coffee – albeit on the sweet side were fantastic. Get soup dumplings at Yang’s Dumplings and ice cream at Dal Cuore, which is admittedly overpriced; I paid $5.40 for a scoop, but their IPA flavor is a must-try. Then visit the Shanghai Museum; it’s free, but you’ll want to reserve tickets online beforehand. We got lucky and showed up the day of and were able to snag some. Then go to Chenghuang Temple area, a massive network filled with shops for dinner.

Day Two: Go to the French Quarter, Nanyuan Park, and Shanghai Tower (the second tallest tower in the world as of 2023), visit a kebab stand, and then spend the evening at the Bund.

Day Three: Get lost in downtown, there’s so much. todo and see but a little free spirited walking is how I like to spend at least a few hours in every city. . Leave for Beijing.

Everyone talks about Yu Gardens, but they were super crowded and small, especially compared to some of the parks there, so I wouldn’t recommend it. And the branded iconic friends cafe was super small, would only recommend if you’re a hard core fan of the TV show.

Beijing

Day Four: Visit Tiananmen Square; this is a must-see, although I didn’t stay there too long. Beforehand, reserve tickets to the Forbidden City & Palace Museum. Note: a lot of the stuff in Beijing isn’t open on Monday; Tiananmen Square is an exception to that, but since it’s right next to the Forbidden City, I’d try to do them on the same day. Visit Qianmen Street, which is an insanely bustling series of streets with tons of good food. Peking duck and Beijing beef noodles are what Beijing is known for, and Quanjude is one of the famous Peking duck places.

Day Five: Visit the Great Wall. I went to Badaling Point, taking a DiDi, China’s equivalent to Uber, and it was an hour and a half ride and cost me $35 each way. Still cheaper than most of the bus tours which was around 100 and I’d prefer to be solo. It was cool but extremely crowded; I’d try to go to another point of the Great Wall. In the evening visit the Summer Palace. This was my favorite park in all of China. This impressive park spans across many miles and is filled with temples that you can get right up to and a magical waterside historical village called Suzhou Street.

Bonus Day: There’s seriously so much to do in Beijing it’s hard to narrow it down to five days to do both massive cities. If you’re a big fan of art going to the 798 Art Zone is. anon negotiable. It’s a series of streets that are filled with galleries and museums, some of which are paid and some of which are free. You’ll even run across some artists in the middle of creating In the afternoon visit the National Museum of China and end the day at the beautiful Beihai park

I also visited Zhongshan Park & Imperial Ancestral Temple, which are rright behind Tian’anman square and I didn’t think they were very impressive. I also went to the Working People’s Culture Palace, Temple of Heaven, The Ruins of Yuanmingyuan Park, Technology and Science Museum, and National Museum of Art which weren’t anything to write home about imo.

If you have time or are looking for a more nature-focused experience in China, I’d recommend the following five-day trip.

Taizhou

Day One: Fly into Taizhou, a metropolitan province that’s located near some serious natural beauty. Visit The City Wall of the Ancient City of Taizhou and Ziyang Street, which has an excellent day and night market.

Day Two: Spend the entire day at Shenxianju. This was one of my top experiences in all of China. It’s about an hour and a half drive from downtown and is a few miles of stunning bridges and walkways at the top of mountains overlooking the valley below.

Day Three: Visit Wenling Changyu Stone Cave and then drive back to visit Jiufeng Park and Yongning Park.

West Lake is overhyped in my opinion. There are so many beautiful lakes in China that are as beautiful as this one. I scratched the surface in Taizhou; there’s so much one could do here.

Zhoushan

Day Four: Take the train to what I like to think of as China’s San Diego and stay in a country villa. Note: As of writing this Airbnb has decided not to support listings in China so you’ll want to use a China equivalent like Tujia, Xiaozhu, Meituan, and Ctrip. Visit Dongshawan public beach and relax in the blue water and clean beach.

Day Five: Visit Nandong Art Valley, which is a huge network of hiking trails laced with shops and even some historic relics like old trains! Head to Putuo Haidao Park – it’s a overlook area where people camp occasionally and hjave food trucks. It’s nothing short of magical. Search “Zhenlong Qingshizi Holiday Manor” to find it.

If time permits I would also recommend Putuo Haidao Park Visit Qiaopan Park, Baishan Scenic Area, Zhoushan Dinghai – Furongzhou Road – really cute downtown to walk around.