This report may run long, because I want to help out with general info, as well as some destination highlights.
TLDR: Independent travel in China is not for the unprepared. It's sometimes frustrating. But it's also among the most rewarding places to visit, and visually stunning.
So we are a couple in our 50s. I'm up for anything -climb a mountain and do a via ferrata? Let's go!! My partner unfortunately is a little bit mobility challenged, so that created both challenges, and a few opportunities. Definitely took her to the limit on this trip! And we both came away in awe. For her it was her first trip to the mainland. For me it was my 5th trip to China. It's been a few years since I've been to the mainland, and even in those few years, everything has changed. China changes FAST! Everything you thought you knew, forget it, if your information was even from 5 years ago!
You also can't see it all on one trip. There is no way. So this time I decided to start in Shanghai, but then move on to Guilin and Chongqing. But China isn't just about the cities. It would be a crying shame to just focus on Beijing/ Xi'an/ Shanghai and miss all the natural wonders China has to offer. There were times I thought "this would be a star attraction in a smaller country. But in China there might be a half dozen places like this in just this small province." And there's no way to see it all. Even in the days you allocate to a particular place, it won't be enough. But that's good. Knowing this, you'll have material for your next trip... and the ability to change plans on the fly if you need to (which came in handy!).
The prep work for this trip -absolutely insane. And an absolute must.
First of all, China has its own internet ecosystem. Embrace it and you'll do fine.
Cash is virtually never used, not even to buy a pomelo from a street vendor. Credit cards can *sometimes* be used -in hotels, tourist-oriented restaurants and such. Alipay and WeChat is the way. Learn them, link them to your credit card. Then link another credit card for backup. Test it out at home, not in China! work out the kinks, because there will be kinks.
The language barrier is among the most difficult for a Western traveler that I've encountered in almost 60 countries. The level of English proficiency even in a 5 star hotel in Shanghai is surprisingly so-so. Outside of that environment, it might be nil. Download a translator app that you can use online. Google translate actually worked well for this, with one big caveat.* Without it, you're toast. Not only does no one speak English, but you can't even read their place names. And they can't read what you write -like explaining the name of your hotel to a taxi driver if it's written in English letters.
Definitely get a VPN, otherwise many websites won't work on your laptop. Astrill seems to be the best for China right now, but I had annoying tech issues even with that. Phone -you'll be ok, but the caveat is that you need an e-sim, which takes the place of a VPN. But not all e-sims are alike. There are a couple of good ones, and I went with Nomad. Firstly, because it doesn't throttle you if you have to run your laptop on a mobile hotspot through your e-sim equipped phone. And it also allows you to switch carriers if one fails in remote areas. It worked brilliantly.
Google maps is useless, with or without an e-sim. Apple maps may work though. China uses AMap. Download it. But note, AMap has trouble with English. If you know exactly where you want to go, AMap is best to get you there. But good luck searching for a place. As a backup, maps.me is one of the best mapping functions around the world. Especially for smaller roads and trails. Sometimes better than AMap. But also, I've rarely had maps.me be wrong, but in China, it's occasionally wrong. So basically, always have a backup.
There is no Uber in China. Taxis are usually fair nowadays. Problem is explaining where to go. Didi is their Uber. But use the Didi mini-program on the Alipay app instead of standalone Didi, which can be glitchy for foreigners. In situations where Didi is not feasible, private drivers can be surprisingly affordable. China is also super safe in terms of crime, so leaving luggage in the car with a driver who's backed by an agency or even a taxi, is perfectly fine. But research what the price should be, and then shop around. This is the frustrating part. We used private drivers on 3 occasions, and each time we went with different sources to find a fair price -the hotel, an agency I sourced on Tripadvisor, and a private tour on Trip.com.
Speaking of Trip.com, that will largely be your one-stop shop for hotels, trains, even attraction bookings. Sometimes even internal flights, because it can be a royal pain booking a domestic flight in China. Forget Booking. Trip.com has better selection and pricing *almost* all the time.
For trains, their homegrown 12306 app probably has better availability, but good luck trying to get approved and navigate it as a foreigner. Trip.com is very user friendly, but sometimes you can't get the seats/train you want. My strategy was to book 15 days out, then look again and change the ticket for a small fee if availability changes -sometimes uncomfortably close to the travel date. Twice we were able to upgrade seats at the station itself, even though we booked through Trip.com. Through a translator app and paid with Alipay, natch.
Trains are amazing in China. Better than Europe. And if you're from the US, you'll come back crying -why can't we have nice things? Actually, there are a lot of nice things in China. The phones are nicer. The cars are nicer. I mean yes, obviously it's a country where rural development has lagged the cities, as is everywhere. And there are some old beaters on the roads. But these are largely being replaced by all electric cars being built now, and the new electric cars are *NICE*! More than once we've gotten into an ordinary Didi, and it's like... Wow! This is posh! But back on the subject of trains... do yourself a favor and book Business Class on China's high speed rail for at least one journey. Thank me later. Don't get me wrong, even second class is fine on China rail, first class is even comfier, but business class is a next level experience.
Speaking of splurging, for hotels, China is definitely the place to do it. And you kind of should, actually. Unless you like sleeping on a bed as hard as a wooden board. Because this is the way locals like it, even a nicer hotel geared toward locals is going to have rock hard beds. Fortunately, a 5 star like a Westin or a Marriott will cost you maybe a third of what it costs in the West. If you want a super nice hotel and you don't want to shell out quite that much, I have to give a special shout-out to the entire ATour chain. We stayed in 3 different ones, and you can't go wrong. For about 50-60 USD/night (outside of Shanghai), each one featured a fantastic buffet breakfast (albeit heavily geared toward Chinese), superb customer service that goes above and beyond, ultra-clean modern rooms sometimes with more bells and whistles than a 5 star, self-service laundry (but if you ask, they'll also often do your laundry themselves -for free!!), and best of all Western-style soft beds. Oh, and every night from 9:30-11PM, they have a free porridge-and-toppings and dumpling mini buffet that can serve as a late dinner in a pinch.
Food can be amazing, but be careful of reviews. Many are fake on Chinese sites, and information on Tripadvisor and places like that is scant, outdated, and gravitate toward touristy places. You'll miss out on some great food if you rely just on that. Finding chocolate can be a challenge though :(
One thing that surprised me is how clean China is. There are no cities that look like the zombie apocalypse hit, like in the US. There are no mountain trails where people dump garbage on the side, like in much of SEA.
It's also surprisingly... quiet. Even in Shanghai and Chongqing. If you expect loud and chaotic, those expectations are somewhat outdated. People are (generally) not honking their horns. And the electric cars and scooters are super quiet. Of course that brings a hidden danger -sometimes they come out of nowhere because you don't hear them. It's not that often, but that's what makes it deadly; you don't expect it. We nearly got hit several times.
The cities come alive at night, when the LEDs go on and people come out to experience all the magic you see in those videos. But "night" is a bit of a stretch. Those same lights go out at 10:30 or so, ostensibly to save energy, but it also lowkey encourages people to take things indoors. This isn't Bangkok or Sao Paulo. With some exceptions like Chongqing's hotpot places, 8PM is a very late dinner here. For cities of 20-30 million people, nightlife is surprisingly subdued.
OTOH... all that stuff you hear about people pushing and screaming... we didn't really encounter it. Not even like it was maybe 15 years ago, when I remember a crowd of people pushing their way into a bus, with a lady literally shoving crowd in with a stick. Also a lot less scammy than I remember back in the day. Like everywhere, buyer beware, but this is why the social credit system is generally supported by the Chinese even as it's misunderstood in the West. It's mainly for businesses, not individuals, and people say it keeps everyone honest.
The spitting and slurping though... I don't think that's changing anytime soon.
The other thing... almost no American tourists, especially outside Shanghai. A *ton* of Russians though, who are now discovering that there is a whole world out there outside of Europe. And Spanish, oddly enough. I heard Castellano spoken much more often than English. But not many Germans, who usually travel everywhere. I think it's a combination of preferences of the people for one sort of tourism or another, and how good of a relationship the country has with China. If there's a ton of anti-China propaganda, that'll put a damper on tourists from that country going there. Oh well... their loss! And in some places we went outside the big cities, there were few non-Chinese tourists period. So definitely familiarize yourself with those translator apps!
As far as the destinations themselves... I'll put that in the comments.
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EDIT: Added images