The Slow East Route — 16 Days

The 21-day itinerary mentions this route twice — once as "slow east", once in answer to what a second China trip should look like — and both times leaves it as a sentence. It deserves the space, because it is the best rail journey in China that is not the Silk Road, and because it does something the classic route cannot: it runs roughly forward in time.

The route#

Every night count above is the minimum our own destination pages give for that city, so the route can be stretched anywhere it interests you without breaking.

Why this order#

The classic Beijing–Xi'an–Chengdu–Shanghai route is a highlights reel in no particular sequence. This one is a chronology, and once you notice it the trip organises itself:

• Datong is Northern Wei, fifth century — the Yungang Grottoes, carved when the capital was here and Buddhism was newly arrived and still visibly foreign.
• Luoyang picks the same thread up two centuries later, when the Wei moved their capital and their carvers south, and then again under the Tang.
• Xi'an is the Tang at its height, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, with the Terracotta Army a thousand years older still sitting underneath the story.
• Pingyao is Ming and Qing commerce: a complete walled city that survived because it got poor.
• Nanjing is the Ming capital before Beijing was, and then the Republican capital, and then the site of the 1937 massacre — three layers a visitor can walk between in a day.
• Suzhou and Hangzhou are the Jiangnan south at its most cultivated: gardens built by retired scholars, and a lake that Chinese poetry has been describing for a thousand years.
• Shanghai is the twentieth century arriving, and then the twenty-first.

You end where China currently is, having started where it began. Doing it in reverse works logistically and destroys that.

The stops#

Beijing first, because arriving into it is easier than arriving out of it, and because the Wall and the Forbidden City set the vocabulary for everything after. Three nights, or four if you want a second Wall section — the Beijing guide sets out which one.

Datong and Pingyao are the heart of the route and the two stops nobody else on your flight is going to. Datong is short — the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery — and Pingyao wants two nights because the whole point is being inside the walls after the day visitors leave. Both are covered together, including the single ticket that covers most of Pingyao.

Xi'an needs no argument and has its own guide. Two nights is enough if you are disciplined about the Terracotta Army being a half-day rather than a day.

Luoyang is the hinge of the whole route, because the Longmen Grottoes — 龙门石窟 (Lóngmén Shíkū) — exist for the same reason Datong's do not continue: the Northern Wei moved their capital here in 493 and the carvers came too. Inscribed by UNESCO in 2000, running along both banks of the Yi River, a half-day walked end to end with a bridge crossing. The Luoyang guide covers the grottoes, the White Horse Temple and the metro that now reaches the high-speed station. Luoyang also pairs with Kaifeng and the Shaolin Temple if you want to make Henan a block rather than a stop, which is what the Kaifeng page argues for.

Nanjing is underrated and shares a page with Qingdao. One night is honest for this route; two if the Ming tomb and the museums matter to you.

Suzhou is one night and two gardens, not five — the Suzhou guide is emphatic about that, and it is right. Hangzhou gets two because West Lake wants a dawn and a dusk, and because the tea villages are half a day on their own.

Shanghai last, for the flight out and for the contrast.

Who this is not for#

A first China trip. Skip it and take the 14-day classic instead. This route trades three of the four headline sights for depth, which is a bad trade the first time.

Anyone short of time. Nine stops in sixteen days means moving every day or two, and the two-night stops are what makes it bearable. At twelve days it becomes a chore.

Travellers who want landscape. There is almost none here — it is a route of cities, carvings and walls. The southern landscape route is the one to take instead.

Booking and budget#

Two things are worth doing early. Rail legs open on a fixed window and popular ones sell out, so read how far ahead to book before you plan around a specific train. And the headline sights on this route — the Forbidden City above all — still require reservations even though most Chinese attractions no longer do, which the booking guide sets out city by city.

For what the whole thing costs, the trip cost and budget page has real prices, and the 21-day itinerary carries a worked budget for a trip of comparable length that is a reasonable starting point — this route is cheaper on transport, because there are no flights in it, and more expensive on entry tickets, because almost every stop is a ticketed site.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the best second trip to China?#

A slow eastern route from Beijing to Shanghai — Datong, Pingyao, Xi'an, Luoyang, Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou — which trades the classic four cities for grottoes, walled cities and classical gardens, is entirely doable by rail, and sees very few foreign visitors between Beijing and Shanghai.

How long does the slow east route take?#

Sixteen days and fifteen nights at a sensible pace, using the minimum stay each of our destination pages recommends. It compresses to about twelve, but at that speed you are changing city almost daily and the two-night stops that make it enjoyable disappear.

Can you do this route entirely by train?#

Yes. Every leg is on the high-speed network with no domestic flights and no long road transfers, which is unusual for a route covering this much of the country and is a large part of why it works.

Is Luoyang worth a stop?#

For the Longmen Grottoes, yes — inscribed by UNESCO in 2000, carved along both banks of the Yi River, with a seventeen-metre Tang Vairocana Buddha as the centrepiece. It is a half-day, which is why this route gives it one night rather than two.

When is the best time to do this route?#

April to May or September to November. It runs across northern and eastern China, so the summer is hot and humid in the Jiangnan half and the winter is severe in Shanxi, while the shoulder seasons are comfortable in both.

Do I need to book attractions on this route in advance?#

For the famous ones, yes. Most Chinese attractions dropped their reservation requirements in 2024 but the headline sights kept theirs, and this route passes several of them — the Forbidden City in particular has no ticket window at all.