City playbooks

Xi'an was Chang'an, the eastern end of the Silk Road and once the largest city on earth. Today its Ming city wall is still intact enough to cycle, the Muslim Quarter turns out roujiamo and biang-biang noodles late into the night, and the Terracotta Army waits a short drive away. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors turn a China trip into a history trip without the textbooks.

Capital of Hunan and home base of Hunan cuisine. Walk Orange Isle in the Xiang River, read at a 1,000-year-old academy under Yuelu Mountain, peel crayfish and skewers along Jiefangxi after dark, and work through one cup of Chayan Yuese tea after another. Summers are brutally hot, but the nightlife never sleeps.

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, made up of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories and more than 260 outlying islands. Once one of the world's busiest natural harbours, it still layers the old dream and the new face of the 'Pearl of the Orient' — skyscrapers on both shores of Victoria Harbour, the Peak Tram, the ding-ding tram and the Star Ferry. It is shorthand for shopping and food, but also the front line of island hiking, seafood runs and cha chaan teng culture — in a single day you can move from Central's glass towers to the sea breeze of Lamma Island. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors cross the harbour by Star Ferry, ride the tram through old streets, climb the Peak for the night view, then dive into the grit of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok and the city's tea restaurants.

Qingdao is China's beer city with a German-built old town: 1892 Zhanqiao Pier reaching into the bay, the Badaguan villas in twenty-plus national styles under plane trees, and Laoshan rising to 1,132.7 m — the highest peak on China's coastline. Tsingtao Beer has been brewed here since 1903, and the city drinks it the local way: fresh draft in a plastic bag, with stir-fried clams. Eight metro lines cover the city, Beijing is about three hours away by high-speed rail, and summer brings the International Beer Festival. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors walk the old town, hike Laoshan, eat seafood without getting overcharged, and drink correctly.

Guilin and Yangshuo explain why Chinese landscape painting looks the way it does: sheer karst peaks rising straight out of the Li River, bamboo rafts drifting past water buffalo, and flat roads running between rice paddies. Guilin is the small city with the famous night pagodas; Yangshuo, an hour downstream, is where travellers stay for the cycling, climbing and cormorant-fishing sunsets. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors plan the cruise, pick a village base and make the most of the karst country.

Chengdu runs at its own pace: giant pandas dozing at the research base, bamboo chairs dragged into teahouses before noon, and long menus of numbing, chilli-laced Sichuan dishes. Beyond the city lie the Leshan Giant Buddha and Mount Emei, both reachable in a day. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors eat well, slow down and handle the spice.

In just four decades, a quiet fishing village became a global tech and design hub. Shenzhen pairs a futuristic skyline with breezy coastal parks, creative neighborhoods, and some of China's most down-to-earth street food. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors see the city's highlights without the guesswork.

Beijing compresses 800 years of imperial history into one grid of avenues: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall within easy reach, plus hutong lanes where old courtyard life still hums. It is also the country's political and cultural engine, with art districts, roast duck and teahouses that reward lingering. This seven-day guide helps first-time foreign visitors cover the icons without missing the everyday city.