Kina

Surrounded by the Yellow Sea, Dalian (大连, Dàlián) is one of China's most cosmopolitan cities. Its temperate climate, clean air and early-20th-century architecture alone attract the attention of international travelers from the region. But the second-tier city's tree-lined streets and impressive, swimmable seaside beaches, flanked by an undulating walkway, combine to create a seductive effect on China-hardened travelers and first-time visitors on three-day visa-free stopovers.

Shanghai: few cities in the world evoke so much history, excess, glamour, mystique and exotic promise in name alone.

China’s largest tropical island boasts all the balmy weather, coconut palms and gold-sand beaches you could ask for. Down at Sanya it’s see-and-be-seen on the boardwalks or escape altogether at some of Asia’s top luxury resorts. Thatched huts and banana pancakes haven’t popped up anywhere yet, but there’s a hint of hipness coming from the east-coast beachside towns, and the budding surf scene is helping to spread the gospel of chill out.

History and hedonism run side by side in Liáoníng (辽宁). Walled Ming dynasty cities rub up against booming beach resorts, while imperial palaces sit in the centre of bustling modern cities. Nothing quite captures the fun and distinction, however, as much as seaside Dàlián, with its golden coastline and summer beer festival, and former battlegrounds where Russian and Japanese armies wrestled for control of the region in the early 20th century. In Dāndōng, regional tensions of recent history are causing some spine-tingling at the border with North Korea. The Yālù River here brings you within glimpsing distance of the hermit kingdom from a boat deck or halfway across a bridge.

Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨沟风景名胜区, Jiǔzhàigōu Fēngjǐng Míngshèngqū), an enchanting Unesco World Heritage Site, is one of Sichuan’s and even China's star attractions. More than two million people visit annually – or rather, used to visit annually – to gawk at its famous bluer-than-blue lakes, rushing waterfalls and deep woodlands backlit by snowy mountain ranges.

How popular is this time-locked place? Lijiang’s (丽江, Lìjiāng) maze of cobbled streets, rickety (or rickety-looking, given gentrification) wooden buildings and gushing canals suck in over eight million people a year. So thick are the crowds in the narrow alleys that it can feel like they've all arrived at the same time.

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.

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.

Chengdu (成都, Chéngdū) is no great draw when it comes to major tourist sites, yet this is one of the few super-sized Chinese cities that most visitors do end up enjoying. There's a relaxing teahouse culture – favorite local institutions have been serving the same brews for generations; a lively nightlife that mixes craft beer bars and super-hip clubs with Sichuan opera shows; and delicious food that is famous for its heat, history and variety even in cuisine-rich China, and is very much a point of pride: Chengdu is, after all, Unesco's first-ever City of Gastronomy. Oh, and as if that's not enough, this is the place to come to see China's cutest residents – the giant pandas.

When its granite peaks and twisted pines are wreathed in spectral folds of mist the idyllic views of Huangshan (黄山, Huángshān; literally 'Yellow Mountain') easily nudge it into the select company of China’s top 10, nay, top five, sights. Legions of poets and painters have drawn inspiration from Huangshan’s iconic beauty. Yesterday’s artists seeking an escape from the hustle and bustle of the temporal world have been replaced by crowds of tourists, who bring the hustle and bustle with them: the mountain is inundated with tourist traffic at choke points, so the magic can rapidly evaporate, especially during holiday periods and weekends. But Huangshan still rewards visitors with moments of tranquillity, and the unearthly views are simply breathtaking.