Kina

Guangxi's second-largest city, Guilin (桂林, Guìlín) has the hallmarks of most Chinese megalopolises, but it feels much more relaxed given its spectacular setting among the jagged-peak limestone karsts that surround it. It was China's first city to develop tourism after 1949, and for decades, children's textbooks proclaimed 'Guilin's landscape is the best under heaven' (桂林山水甲天下). It was the darling of Chinese politicians, the star city proudly presented to visiting dignitaries. Today Guilin's natural endowments still amaze, yet, thanks to imperfect urban planning, there is a pervasive feeling that the city is past its prime.

Shangri-la (香格里拉, Xiānggélǐlā), formerly known as Zhongdian (中甸, Zhōngdiàn) and sometimes 'Gyalthang' in Tibetan, is where you really start to breathe in the Tibetan world – if you can breathe at all, given the altitude.

One of China’s most enduringly popular holiday spots, Hángzhōu’s (杭州) dreamy West Lake panoramas and fabulously green hills can easily tempt you into long sojourns. Eulogised by poets and applauded by emperors, the lake has intoxicated the Chinese imagination for aeons. Kept spotlessly clean by armies of street sweepers and litter collectors, its scenic vistas draw you into a classical Chinese watercolor of willow-lined banks, mist-covered hills and the occasional shíkùmén (stone-gate house) and old lǐlòng (residential lane).

Kunming (昆明, Kūnmíng) has long been known as one of China’s most liveable cities. Known as the 'Spring City' for its equable climate, it remains a very pleasant place to kick back for a few days. For visitors who haven't succumbed to the laid-back attitude of the place, there are plenty of temples and national parks nearby to keep you busy during the day and a fair few craft breweries and cool bars to hold your attention at night.

Steeped in natural and supernatural allure, the Shāndōng (山东) peninsula on China’s northeastern coast is the stuff of legends. Its captivating landscape – a fertile flood plain fed by rivers and underground springs, capped by granite peaks and framed in wild coastline – can’t help but inspire wonder.

The most important city in western China and the economic engine of the upper Yangzi, Chongqing City (重庆; Chóngqìng) is a massive and enthralling urban sprawl. Chongqing makes up for a lack of top-notch sights with fantastic food and charismatic geography: its combination of steep hills at the confluence of the Yangzi and Jialing Rivers is a prelude to the even more dramatic scenery of the Three Gorges downstream.

Xiamen (厦门, Xiàmén), the island city formerly known in Western circles as Amoy, is emerging as southern China’s most sophisticated city. Chinese travelers have long understood the lure of its lengthy seaside promenade and European city architecture, but international ‘jetizens’ are now descending on the fun.

Guangxi (广西, Guǎngxī) conjures up visions of cycling and bamboo-rafting upon shimmering river waters beneath the sublime karst peaks of Yangshuo and hiking between villages in the lofty Longji Rice Terraces. That's not all though: you can take selfies in front of the dramatic Danxia landscape (a type of landform) at Tianmen Mountain and Bajiaozhai National Geopark, and get sprayed by the mighty waterfall of Detian or splashed by live seafood in Beihai's Vietnamese quarter.

Níngbō (宁波), an ancient harbour city, has been an important trading port for millennia, and today is one of China's busiest. One of the five ports opened during the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, it has a former foreign concession, Lǎo Wàitān (老外滩), now a vibrant, pedestrian-only entertainment district along the Yǒng River. For travellers, Níngbō is primarily a waypoint on the journey to Pǔtuóshān.

Mohan (磨憨, Móhān) is the first (or last) taste of China for travellers headed from/to Laos via the border crossing at Botan. It's a laid-back place set around two long main streets, with little in the way of sights.