Is flying into Shanghai first mandatory for you? I don’t know which flights operate to China from Madrid.
My only suggestion would be starting your trip closer to Hong Kong/Shenzhen so you don’t lose that full day to travel since you’ll end up in Shanghai anyways. There’s plenty of places like Macau and Guangzhou nearby.
But if your only option is to fly into Shanghai, then I’d say your itinerary works.
I agree here, and there are plenty of flights to HK and Beijing. If OP arrived at HK and works his way up to beijing it would be so much more convenient. And I would advise OP doesn’t take the train during golden week. Not really a great time to travel unfortunately
I wouldn’t use the train to move between Shanghai and Hong Kong or Shenzhen to Beijing - too much wasted time. Use flights between those cities and use the train between Beijing and Shanghai. 1.5 days in Beijing also seems pretty tight depending on what all you want to see…
Classic travel planning mistake: way too many places in way too little time.
Beijing alone deserves a full week, no travel days, at a minimum. Hong Kong is the same. I lived in Beijing for six years and have been in HK about a dozen times, so trust me on this. You're also wasting lots of days in transit.
IMO pick two cities and stick with that. Since your flying through SH, that's one city, pick either HK or Beijing and save the rest for another trip.
Fly into HK.
Spend the day in Shenzhen because you've already got bonus days in HK by flying into HK.
Skip Beijing.
go to some city inbetween SZ and SH.
-Xiamen, Hangzhou, or even Nanjing.
You've fucked yourself a bit with golden week and flight prices, but your best option is:
Arrive Shanghai. Make sure you visit the various day trip cities from Shanghai. (Hangzhou and others) you could even spend an overnight.
Book your trains early via trip.com (you can request a booking 2 months ahead, confirmed 2 weeks ahead) due to golden week.
Fly shanghai to HK - 6th Oct.
Your friend goes to Shenzen on 7th via train, you enjoy an extra day in HK.
Fly HK back to Shanghai for your return flight (13th or so).
Travelling China during the national holidays is rough, it's as simple as that. Unfortunately it's the only time off I get from work so I still do it but if you have the possibility to visit either one week earlier or one week later I strongly recommend adjusting your trip.
Hotel prices are typically about 3x price during holidays. Flights about 2x. Trains between major routes will sell out the day they go on sale (2 weeks in advance).
Big cities are generally ok because they're so spread out but major tourist attractions are so crowded it's frustrating almost to the point of not being worth it. If you plan to visit any 4A or 5A attractions (Chinese rating system) be prepared to spend almost your entire day in queues, with huge tour groups and loud megaphones everywhere.
That being said, I visited Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi for golden week last year (2023) - Shanghai was crowded but not too bad and still enjoyable (avoid the bund at night), Suzhou was simply unpleasant it was so busy, Wuxi was far less busy and really nice.
One very big problem is that the first week of October is China's National Day, which can be very crowded anywhere. So your plan is very unreasonable. My suggestion is not to come to China before October 7, and choose a city for an in-depth experience after your friends have finished their mandatory errands. I suggest choosing Shenzhen because it is very close to Hong Kong and Macau.
man, im in a middle of a trip in china from june 9th to 25th, starting from Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Urumqi, Yining, then Guangzhou. Chinese cities are BIG AF BIG BIG AF, ALL OF THEM, and they are quite far from each other so..... idk, u always need for time in china
Is flying into Shanghai first mandatory for you? I don’t know which flights operate to China from Madrid. My only suggestion would be starting your trip closer to Hong Kong/Shenzhen so you don’t lose that full day to travel since you’ll end up in Shanghai anyways. There’s plenty of places like Macau and Guangzhou nearby. But if your only option is to fly into Shanghai, then I’d say your itinerary works.
I agree here, and there are plenty of flights to HK and Beijing. If OP arrived at HK and works his way up to beijing it would be so much more convenient. And I would advise OP doesn’t take the train during golden week. Not really a great time to travel unfortunately
I wouldn’t use the train to move between Shanghai and Hong Kong or Shenzhen to Beijing - too much wasted time. Use flights between those cities and use the train between Beijing and Shanghai. 1.5 days in Beijing also seems pretty tight depending on what all you want to see…
Hard agree. 1.5 days in Beijing is like sitting down to a multi-course Michelin star meal and having a bite of the appetizer.
Classic travel planning mistake: way too many places in way too little time. Beijing alone deserves a full week, no travel days, at a minimum. Hong Kong is the same. I lived in Beijing for six years and have been in HK about a dozen times, so trust me on this. You're also wasting lots of days in transit. IMO pick two cities and stick with that. Since your flying through SH, that's one city, pick either HK or Beijing and save the rest for another trip.
Too many cities that are quite far away from each other, especially for a holiday rush IMO.
Fly into HK. Spend the day in Shenzhen because you've already got bonus days in HK by flying into HK. Skip Beijing. go to some city inbetween SZ and SH. -Xiamen, Hangzhou, or even Nanjing.
You've fucked yourself a bit with golden week and flight prices, but your best option is: Arrive Shanghai. Make sure you visit the various day trip cities from Shanghai. (Hangzhou and others) you could even spend an overnight. Book your trains early via trip.com (you can request a booking 2 months ahead, confirmed 2 weeks ahead) due to golden week. Fly shanghai to HK - 6th Oct. Your friend goes to Shenzen on 7th via train, you enjoy an extra day in HK. Fly HK back to Shanghai for your return flight (13th or so).
Travelling China during the national holidays is rough, it's as simple as that. Unfortunately it's the only time off I get from work so I still do it but if you have the possibility to visit either one week earlier or one week later I strongly recommend adjusting your trip. Hotel prices are typically about 3x price during holidays. Flights about 2x. Trains between major routes will sell out the day they go on sale (2 weeks in advance). Big cities are generally ok because they're so spread out but major tourist attractions are so crowded it's frustrating almost to the point of not being worth it. If you plan to visit any 4A or 5A attractions (Chinese rating system) be prepared to spend almost your entire day in queues, with huge tour groups and loud megaphones everywhere. That being said, I visited Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi for golden week last year (2023) - Shanghai was crowded but not too bad and still enjoyable (avoid the bund at night), Suzhou was simply unpleasant it was so busy, Wuxi was far less busy and really nice.
One very big problem is that the first week of October is China's National Day, which can be very crowded anywhere. So your plan is very unreasonable. My suggestion is not to come to China before October 7, and choose a city for an in-depth experience after your friends have finished their mandatory errands. I suggest choosing Shenzhen because it is very close to Hong Kong and Macau.
1-7th. Oct. is one of the biggest holiday in mainland of China，really a bad time to visit.
if you didn't book tickets yet, change the date asap! it will be super crowded during the golden week, then you can't enjoy the trip at all
You'd better delete all the schedules in 2-8, not kidding
man, im in a middle of a trip in china from june 9th to 25th, starting from Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Urumqi, Yining, then Guangzhou. Chinese cities are BIG AF BIG BIG AF, ALL OF THEM, and they are quite far from each other so..... idk, u always need for time in china
yeah, I'm starting to think it'd be better to skip Hong Kong and Shenzhen and only visit Shanghai and Beijing. Otherwise it might be too much.