Destinations by Region

Forget tourist-trap China. These four wellness journeys — Yunnan volcanic hot springs, Hunan foot massage capital + Avatar peaks, Zhejiang imperial Tangquan + Zen water towns, Guangdong luxury bathhouse + food-as-medicine — take you past the curtain into the real, healing, living China.

Most trains get you from A to B. The "Splendid Rivers & Mountains · Colorful Guizhou" scenic train from China Railway Chengdu Group is designed to do the opposite — it makes the ride itself the highlight of your trip. This summer, the operator has rolled out a fresh schedule that stitches together some of southwest China's most beautiful scenery across Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing.

Zhuhai is where Guangdong slows down: a seafront city of parks, islands and seafood, with Macao, China next door and the Greater Bay Area on the doorstep.

Meizhou is the Hakka heartland: fortified communal houses built around courtyards, ancestral halls, and a cuisine of salt-baked chicken and stuffed tofu. A first-visit guide.

Kunming is where Yunnan trips begin and end: mild year-round weather, flower and wild-mushroom markets, lakeside parks and the Stone Forest an hour away. A first-visit guide.

Ningbo has been a port for a thousand years, and it still tastes like one: seafood, old lanes, a merchant past and China's most celebrated private library. A first-visit guide.

Shaoxing pairs a famous rice wine with stone bridges, old lanes and the childhood home of one of China's most-read writers. A first-visit guide to a slow Zhejiang city.

Yangzhou made its fortune on salt and canals, and spent it on gardens. A first-visit guide to the Jiangsu city that most travelers skip — and should not.

Qufu holds the temple, mansion and cemetery of Confucius — the physical centre of a tradition that shaped Chinese education. A first-visit guide and what to look for.

Jinan is the city of springs: artesian water rising through the old town, feeding lakes and canals. A first-visit guide to Shandong's water city.

Kaifeng rebuilt itself after floods and conquests, and its Song-dynasty reputation still shapes the city. A first-visit plan for the old capital on the Henan plain.

Hangzhou is a city built around a lake and a set of hills, with tea villages, temples and a slow food culture within reach of the metro. How to spend three days well.

Nanjing is the capital that history kept rewriting: Ming walls, a republican-era boulevard, major museums and one of China's best eating cities. A three-day first-visit plan.

Putuoshan is one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains — and an island, with temple complexes, pilgrim paths and beaches between them. How to reach it, what to see in order and the overnight that changes the trip.