Travel is usually about “discovery”, but there’s also joy in introducing places you love to people you love. That was the idea behind the 15-night tour of China my husband and I took with our teenage daughters last Easter, says Helen Holmes in The Times – though, in fact, we found the country much changed since our last visit 18 years ago.
The biggest boon was its “gleaming” new network of high-speed railways, which cut once-epic journeys down to just a few hours. Be warned, though, the country’s increased prosperity has also created “hordes” of domestic tourists, which has contributed to over-tourism at some sites. It is a good idea, too, to research local payment apps which, once mastered, make life much simpler.
Buying train tickets is still complex, however, so we used an agency, China Highlights. Our trip was bookended by four-night stays in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and we spent time in two regions between the two. First came three nights in the “lush” southwestern province of Guangxi, with its “languorous” rivers, rice paddies and karst peaks – “the landscape of Chinese legend”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
In the historic town of Xingping (featured on the 20 yuan banknote), we stayed at the Giggling Tree, a guesthouse in a former farm where you can dine in the courtyard, “inhaling the fragrance of pomelo blossom” on the warm evening air. And we escaped the “selfie-seeking crowds” on a cycling trip along the “misty” Li River, returning downstream on bamboo rafts propelled by boatmen with poles.
We spent a further four nights in Hunan province, in central China, at the Forest Glass Inn, a stylishly converted Tujia minority compound in Zhangjiajie. The nearby Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, with its 3,000 “spiky” peaks topped with “improbable” mops of lush greenery, inspired the landscapes in the Avatar films. The park is simply “astonishing”, although exploring can be tiring owing to the “staggering” tourist crowds. Less stressful were our visits to the old towns of Fenghuang and Furong Zhen – both “delightful”.
