Kina

Hekou (河口, Hékǒu) is a small town set along the Yuanjiang River across from Vietnam. Decent transport connections mean there are few reasons to linger, but it's a pleasant enough place to spend the night before or after using the only border crossing for travelers heading directly between Yunnan and Vietnam.

Yunnan (云南, Yúnnán) is the most diverse province in all China, both in its extraordinary mix of peoples and in the splendour of its landscapes. That combination of superlative sights and many different ethnic groups has made Yunnan the trendiest destination for China’s exploding domestic tourist industry.

The New Territories offer much cultural and natural interest. Ancient walled villages (Sha Tau Kok, Sheung Shui, Fanling, Yuen Long), wetlands teeming with birds and aquatic life (Yuen Long), temples (Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Fanling), a solid museum in Sha Tin, and generous expanses of unspoiled country are just some of its attractions. Notably, Sai Kung Peninsula has fabulous hiking trails, delicious seafood and attractive beaches. And, of course, there's the awe-inspiring Hong Kong Unesco Global Geopark.

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.

From the winding streets and isolated beaches of Cheung Chau and Peng Chau, to the monasteries and hiking trails of Lantau, and the seafood restaurants of Lamma, Hong Kong’s Outlying Islands offer a host of sights and activities.

Synonymous with the Silk Road, the slender province of Gansu (甘肃, Gānsù) flows east to west along the Hexi Corridor, the gap through which goods and ideas once streamed between China and Central Asia. The constant flow of commerce left Buddhist statues, beacon towers, forts, chunks of the Great Wall and ancient trading towns in its wake. Gansu offers an entrancingly rich cultural and geographic diversity. Historians immerse themselves in Silk Road lore, art aficionados swoon before the wealth of Buddhist paintings and sculptures, while adventurers hike through desert rockland, ascend sand dunes and tread along high-mountain paths well worn by Tibetan nomads. The ethnic diversity is equally astonishing: throughout the province, the local Hui Muslims act as though the Silk Road lives on; in Xiahe and Langmusi a pronounced Tibetan disposition holds sway, while other minority groups such as the Bao’an and Dongxiang join in the colourful minority patchwork.

Unfurling up to Russia in the north, Heilongjiang (黑龙江, Hēilóngjiāng), meaning 'Black Dragon River', is one of China's most beautifully rugged provinces. Forests, lakes and mountains, and the dormant volcanoes of Wudalian Chi beckon well beyond the capital Harbin (Hā’ěrbīn), an architecturally diverse city with a distinctly cosmopolitan feel.

Fujian (福建, Fújiàn) is an attractive coastal province with a long seafaring history. As a significant stop on the maritime Silk Road, its cities developed an easy cosmopolitan outlook and visitors are surprised by the traces of elsewhere in its architecture, food, language and people.

The centre of the Tibetan Buddhist world for over a millennium, Lhasa (ལྷ་ས་; 拉萨; Lāsà; literally the 'Place of the Gods') remains largely a city of wonders. Your first view of the red-and-white Potala Palace soaring above the Holy City raises goosebumps and the charming whitewashed old Tibetan quarter continues to preserve the essence of traditional Tibetan life. It is here in the Jokhang, an otherworldly mix of flickering butter lamps, wafting incense and prostrating pilgrims, and the encircling Barkhor pilgrim circuit, that most visitors first fall in love with Tibet.

Rising from the subtropical and temperate forests of northwest Hunan, Zhangjiajie (张家界; Zhāngjiājiè) has a concentration of quartzite-sandstone formations found nowhere else in the world. Some 243 peaks and more than 3000 pinnacles and spires dominate the scenery in this Unesco-protected park. If caught in the right light or when the early-morning mountain mist rolls in around them, the effect is otherworldly.