Should i visit beijing or hong kong

Some of the world's and China's tallest buildings are now in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. From Hong Kong, using the bullet train, you can reach Guangzhou in less than an hour and Shenzhen about 25 minutes. Here are some side trip ideas:.

Yes, Hong Kong again. Unless you are particularly interested in climbing Huangshan, a 3-hour bullet train journey away from Shanghai plus additional travel time, then touring Hong Kong's local region is more varied and interesting.

The attractions in Guangzhou , Macau, and Shenzhen are better than those in Hangzhou and Suzhou overall. Hong Kong is better than Shanghai for dining too. Colonial history has given Hong Kong an advantage on the quality-international-cuisine front. It was officially a British colony until , and Hong Kong became internationalized. You can find world-class Italian, French, Japanese, and Indian food as well as various styles of Chinese gourmet cuisine.

The restaurants are rated very highly by ratings publications such as the Michelin's Guide. For example, all of Shanghai has 34 Michelin restaurants in It has one 3-star restaurant and 8 2-star restaurants. But just one building, the ICC Tower, has a 3-star Italian, a 2-star Cantonese, and a 2-star Japanese restaurant with Hong Kong's best views on the st and nd floors. Read more about these sky high restaurants on our Top 20 Hong Kong Restaurants guide.

Hong Kong's Michelin restaurants are not all expensive. Hong Kong is noted for having the among least expensive Michelin restaurants in the world too. The IFC Mall in the IFC Towers is the best luxury mall in China for tourists wanting to enjoy luxury shopping while enjoying fine views, fine dining, and convenient location. Unlike the Landmark Mall, it is a favorite of window shoppers and tourists. The waterfront view is among the best in Hong Kong.

It overlooks Victoria Harbor , and its rooftop cafes and bars are notable. It is a place to watch the daily Symphony of Lights. Convenient transport: It is a busy pedestrian thoroughfare for people passing between the Central ferries, the MTR subways below, and the rest of the area. People enjoy shopping on the way to the airport via the convenient, direct Airport Express subway below it.

Hong Kong is much better for shopping in general. For middle-budget and especially luxury shopping, tourists and international travellers find that Hong Kong is one of the best places in the world, and Shanghai with China's tariff walls and barriers against imports and luxury goods isn't as good a place for shopping except for maybe getting bargains on Chinese made products if you are not looking for quality or service.

However, for some products or kinds of products made is China such as souvenirs and antiques, Shanghai is better if you do you research and know what you are hunting for. But most tourists will be thinking, why come to China for international luxuries? Hong Kong offers more and at better prices and services. Mainlanders themselves go to Hong Kong and increasingly also to Japan for shopping.

Though Shanghai has bargain shopping areas, most tourists still prefer Hong Kong's bargain electronics and fashion areas such as Ladies Market. Though Guangzhou and Shenzhen are right next door where much of the world's consumer electronics and electronics accessories and components are made, Mainland shoppers from these areas often prefer Hong Kong for their shopping on Mainland products too.

It is partly because Hong Kong stores and services have a better reputation. Hong Kong has been long known for its bargain shopping, but it is also known for its huge world-class malls for both luxury and middle-budget items where people come from around the world to shop in.

The ritzy factor: Shoppers looking for the highest fashion and the most costly luxury can find it in Hong Kong. The millions of international and Mainland shoppers who come to Hong Kong bring lots of money for shopping, and they want the best and can get it in Hong Kong. The trust and service factors: Service is a key factor. If you want some kind of service or repair warranties or guarantees, or to be more sure of quality, then only the reputable Hong Kong stores provide this.

It is the combination of low taxes, no tariffs, and free trade that makes the area so attractive, as well as good service and honest business practices. Overall, eating out in Hong Kong will cost you 50 percent more than in Shanghai. People might be surprised that a cheap bowl of noodles costs about 3 USD in Hong Kong, but only 1 or 2 USD in Shanghai's cheapest restaurants that might be open to the air, have no aircon, and be a worse setting, so part of the additional costs in Hong Kong covers the better restaurant facilities.

Shopping: Hong Kong is the cheapest of any city in China when it comes to prices of brand name jeans, shoes and dresses; even a bottle of coke is going to cost less in Hong Kong. If your budget is limited, then Shanghai is still a better value probably if you don't plan to do much shopping and want to eat cheaply. You can stay for more days on the same amount of money. The winner is Hong Kong. Shanghai often has quality music festivals and is a stop-off point on world tours of the big acts all year round, but Hong Kong has the same.

Hong Kong has the better theme parks, but what really sets Hong Kong apart from most other big cities in Asia is the outdoors that young people love.

It has excellent beaches, mountains for hiking, and fairly pollution-free water though some areas near Shenzhen are somewhat polluted. If you can afford the higher costs in Hong Kong, the general international ambience and more friendly, generally safe, and respectful atmosphere of Hong Kong is something almost unique in the world.

It is more posh, and good facilities such as good quality park and beach facilities are taken for granted and free. See the Nature section below. Hong Kong is more fun!

Hong Kong has everything that Shanghai has for kids, but much more too. It has a range of opportunities for kids' fun and learning that they can't get in many places.

For example, Shanghai has a Disney theme park, but Hong Kong has one that might be better for children since it is smaller, less crowded, and English is spoken. Theme park staff are more friendly and like speaking English with kids. See more below in the Theme Park Comparison section.

Kids love the clean sandy beaches and parkland, the fine museums that are more oriented for kids and English speakers, and the exciting mix of cultures and people when they go to Tsim Sha Tsui and other places. The more advanced and educated atmosphere where cultures mix and get along is more fun and interesting for children, and the general use of English makes the environment easier for kids to enjoy.

Shanghai however presents children with China that more resembles the China that they read about in history books. So if you want to teach kids about China or ancient China, than Shanghai is better for that. Both cities have Disneylands. Both have natural settings, and the rides are a toss up. However, Hong Kong has an even more popular and larger park called Ocean Park with equivalent rides.

So this is sort of an open ended discussion hopefully --but I'm possibly considering a trip to China this fall after I visit Japan probably around September-October. Never really been to China except a brief stop in Hong Kong. China is such an immense country though, that I'm fairly indecisive about where to go I was going to just make a thread about Beijing vs. Shanghai vs. Hong Kong as the best places for a vacation, but I figured that even exploring those cities and surrounding regions for a week might seem limiting, since there's other areas like Yunnan or Guilin or Chengdu that might be places worth visiting.

Though we're not going to try to see too much in a week, maybe using one city as a base and then travelling to another area or town for a side trip. We like places that feel fairly authentic and not built for or just to cater to tourists. We're well travelled and fairly adventurous so we like trying weird local and regional food, checking out food markets, or exploring urban areas and nightlife We like a mix basically, though we're not impressed by overly touristy sites often--though historical locations and temples are interesting to us.

Easily accessible nature or hiking is a plus, though we're planning on a any long excursions into the mountains on this trip. As far as weather we're specifically interested in how the weather is in early to mid fall. I'm from the Pac NW so a little rain doesn't scare me--though I don't want to go somewhere where we are in the wrong season for local forms of extreme weather monsoons in South China for example.

Heat doesn't scare me though. So given what we're looking for--what suggestions for China--either one of the major cities and surrounding areas or another region--would you recommend? Originally Posted by Deezus. I too agree that the Beijing and Shanghai are the best places for first visitors in China. Another place that you might want to consider is Xi'an with its famous Muslim Quarter and the nearby Terra Cotta Warriors site.

There really is almost nothing of interest in Beijing, if you've been to Houston you've seen Beijing. Outside of the Forbidden Palace, Beijing has practically no traditional Chinese architecture or neighborhoods left. And because it is a desert the landscape is bare and dusty. Another representative of Beijing Culture in residential is the courtyard Siheyuan and Beijing hutong.

Courtyard is the name of ancient residential buildings in Beijing, and hutong is referred to alley or lane in residential areas. Beijing is a northern city, with northern eating habbits. Local people like to eat dumplings and noodles. The Noodles with Soybean Paste is one of the specialty of Beijing. Tourists must have a try when travel to Beijing. In Beijing streets, you could see lots of Beijing local food and snacks, like Dou zhi. Private Yuyuan Garden and various of water town are two big parts of Shanghai culture and also Jiangnan culture.

The famous Yuyuan Garden once was belonged to the rich built with Jiangnan style. Water town is made due to its landscape, especially in Jiangnan area.

Shikumen is old Shanghai residential buildings, and Longtang is referred to old alleys in shikumen buildings. As a modern city, Shanghai welcomes fashion from all over the world, which also makes it a shopping paradise, and are inclined to construct high-rise buildings and big shopping malls. In the Bund, tourists could see the prosperity of Shanghai from those giant-like buildings standing in Lujiazui.

People could buy fashionable and expansive things, and also cheap things in Shanghai, since shanghai has been one of the biggest export and import cities.

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Local transport Transport within China. Activities 13 activities included Optional activities can be added. View full itinerary. Day 2 — Yangshuo: Today is a free day! Day 3 — Yangshuo: Get ready for adventure! Day 4 — Yangshuo: Today is another free day! Day 5 — Chengdu: On to the next destination!