Kina

Combining fresh sea air and dashing good looks, Qīngdǎo (青岛) – the name means 'Green Island' – is a rare modern city that has managed to preserve some of its past while angling a dazzling modern face to the future. Its blend of concession-era and modern architecture puts China’s standard white-tile and blue-glass developments to shame. The winding cobbled streets, colonial German architecture and red-capped hillside villas are captivating and there's so much to enjoy in the city’s diverse food scene, headlined by the ubiquitous home town beer Tsingtao. Meanwhile, the seaside aspect keeps the town cooler than the inland swelter zones during summer, and slightly warmer in winter.

It's Hángzhōu, the handsome capital city, that lands Zhèjiāng (浙江) on many a traveller's itinerary. Home to picture-perfect landscapes of classical Chinese beauty (and just a short train ride from Shànghǎi), Hángzhōu is the obvious highlight. Yet the province offers so much more. There are water towns with spiderweb networks of canals and restored Ming and Qing dynasty merchants' homes (Wūzhèn and Nánxún), also in easy striking distance. Among the thousands of islands dotting a ragged and fragmented shoreline is the island of Pǔtuóshān, one of China's four most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. More intrepid travellers can head west, where ancient villages retain their traditional architecture and bucolic charms. Meanwhile travellers looking for the opposite of intrepid can hole up in one of the stylish resorts nestled among the hillside bamboo groves and tea fields of naturally cool Mògànshān.

The historical province of Tsang (གཙང) is either the first or last place that most travelers experience in Tibet, and the setting for two of Asia's great mountain drives: to far western Tibet and across the Himalaya to Nepal. The great overland trip across Tibet – from Lhasa along the Friendship Hwy to the Nepali border via Gyantse, Shigatse and Mt Everest Base Camp – goes straight through Tsang, linking most of Tibet's highlights on one irresistible route. Along the way is a scattering of atmospheric Tibetan monasteries and historic towns, an adventurous detour to the base of Mt Everest and multitudes of snowy peaks and moonlike landscapes to behold. Dozens of smaller monasteries just off the highway offer plenty of scope to get off the beaten track and experience an older Tibet.

Tibet’s second-largest city and the traditional capital of Tsang province, Shigatse (གཞི་ཀ་རྩེ་; 日喀则; Rìkāzé) is a modern, sprawling city, with wide boulevards humming with traffic. As you drive in across the plains, the sight of the Potala-lookalike Shigatse Dzong, high on a hilltop overlooking the town, will probably fire your imagination, but the fort is empty and most of what you see dates from a 2007 reconstruction. It is Tashilhunpo Monastery that is the real draw here. Since the Mongol sponsorship of the Gelugpa order in the 17th century, Tashilhunpo has been the seat of the Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.

In the southwestern corner of Guizhou, on the borders with Yunnan and Guanxi, lies the beautiful region of Xingyi (兴义, Xīngyì). The city itself is unremarkable – most people come to spend time among the magical karst mountain landscape of the Wanfenglin Scenic Area.

Many visitors only pass through handsome Nanjing (南京, Nánjīng; literally 'Southern Capital') when traveling from Shanghai to Beijing (or vice versa), but the capital of Jiangsu, lying on the lower stretches of the Yangzi River, boasts a rich and impressive historical heritage. It's also one of the best-looking cities in China.

Datong (大同, Dàtóng) today is fascinating, and charming to boot. Come nighttime, the old-town sensations – with red lanterns swinging in the breeze and wind chimes tinkling on the illuminated city walls – evoke Datong's past glories as an ancient capital. No matter that most of this has been recreated from scratch: an estimated ¥50 billion has been ploughed into a colossal renovation of the old quarter. The city wall has been rebuilt in its entirety, enclosing a retinue of renovated (or newly built) sights. But it's beyond the wall where Datong really comes into its own. The town is the gateway to the awe-inspiring Yungang Caves, one of China’s most outstanding Buddhist treasures, as well as a launchpad to the photogenic Hanging Monastery, the world’s oldest wooden pagoda, crumbling earthen sections of the Great Wall and onward trips to sacred Wutai Shan.

Mongolia. The name alone stirs up visions of nomadic herders, thundering horses and, of course, the warrior-emperor Genghis Khaan.

Pingyao (平遥, Píngyáo) is China’s best-preserved ancient walled town. If you have any China mileage under your belt you'll appreciate the town’s age-old charms. While some ‘ancient’ cities may rustle together an unconvincing display of old city walls, sporadic temples or the occasional ragged alley thrust beneath apartment blocks, Pingyao has managed to keep its beguiling narrative largely intact: red-lantern–hung lanes set against silhouettes of imposing town walls, ancient towers poking into the north China sky, and an entire brood of creaking temples. In recent years, shops on the main commercial streets have developed a penchant for disco lighting, light-box menus and noise-making costumed jesters. But outside these central areas, the ancient city is little changed.

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.