Kina

Dali Old Town (大理古城, Dàlǐ Gǔchéng), the original backpacker hang-out in Yunnan, was once the place to chill, with its stunning location sandwiched between mountains and Erhai Lake. Loafing here for a couple of weeks was once an essential part of the Yunnan experience.

Despite being a popular destination with domestic travelers, Guizhou (贵州, Guìzhōu) remains largely unknown to travelers outside China – and what a travesty of justice. The province has two of the country's largest and most spectacular natural features – a waterfall and a cave – while outside the capital, Guiyang, it's pretty much green hills and valleys, flowing rivers and limestone formations to the horizon.

Coiling its way through 23 degrees of longitude, the Great Wall (长城, Chángchéng) stands as an awe-inspiring monument to the grandeur of China’s ancient history. With sections dating back 2000 years, the wall (or, more accurately, walls, because they belong to several different eras) wriggle haphazardly from their scattered Manchurian remains in Liaoning province to wind-scoured rubble in the Gobi desert and faint traces in the unforgiving sands of Xinjiang. Interspersed with natural defences (such as precipitous mountains), the Great Wall can be visited in 15 Chinese provinces, principalities and autonomous regions, but nowhere is better than Beijing for mounting your assault on this most iconic of bastions.

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.

While the full 40km or so of coastline dedicated to tourism is usually referred to as Sanya, the region is actually made up of three distinct zones. Sanya Bay is home to the bustling city center and a long stretch of beach and hotels aimed at locals and mainland holidaymakers. Busy, cheerful Dadonghai Bay, about 3km southeast, beyond the Luhuitou Peninsula (鹿回头岭, Lùhuítóu Lǐng), is where most foreign travelers stay. A further 15km east, at exclusive Yalong Bay, the beach is first-rate, as is the line of plush international resorts.

Vast, thinly populated and with an average altitude of over 14,764 ft (4500m), western Tibet (Ngari, མངའ་རིས་) is a rough and ready frontier occupying one of the remotest corners of Asia. For most travelers the main attractions of what is likely to be a two- or three-week overland trip are the almost legendary destinations of Mt Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. Indeed, many of the Tibetan and Indian pilgrims you meet on this road have been planning a visit all their lives.

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.

Here is proof, should you need it, that Qinghai has incredibly diverse landscapes: an alpine forest located 100km northeast of Xining with an elevation that spans 2200m to 4000m. Within are farming communities, ranging mountain goats, family restaurants, birch forests, waterfalls, lakes and plenty of hiking opportunities. The national park is popular with Xining folk seeking a weekend retreat, so go during the week for the optimum experience.

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.

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.