Flights to China

We are a military family with two kids the same age as yours. We have traveled Europe extensively all on our own and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were initially going to take a tour for our upcoming trip in June/July but after reading through your site we are doing it on our own.

Your trip and advice is priceless and I just wanted to thank you for such a wealth of information.

Do you personally recommend flying into Shanghai or Beijing or no preference? We are flying from Los Angeles. Also, we have about 10 days or so. Do you recommend just Beijing or do you think it is worth trying to get a few more cities other than Beijing? How easy is travel within China?

Jill from L.A.

With 10-12 days I would definitely try to see a few cities.

Flying to Beijing and flying back to the U.S. from Shanghai (or viceversa) to avoid going back to the same place to catch the flight home. There should not be any big difference in the airfare.

With 12 days you could try: Beijing 4, Xian 2, Guilin/Yanghsuo 2-3, Shanghai 3. It is very easy to travel within China, you can check flights in advance at either elong.net or ctrip.com

Even though it is cheaper to book your flights while in China, I would recommend having them ready before you arrive because with only 12 days, you don't have much room to play with. You could also try the overnight train from Beijing/Xian, saves on one night hotel and the kids love the adventure.