The Most Beautiful Cities in China

The most pop­u­lous nation in the world, the vast ter­ri­to­ry of Chi­na brings togeth­er var­i­ous peo­ples and places with­in its bor­ders — all with their own unique cul­tures, cus­toms and ways of life. As such, its cities per­fect­ly high­light this rich cul­tur­al diver­si­ty, and one could spend a life­time explor­ing all of the coun­try’s attrac­tions. With beau­ti­ful tem­ples, palaces and gar­dens in Chi­na’s finest cities, there are plen­ty of unique mon­u­ments to vis­it, not to men­tion two of the biggest tourist attrac­tions — the Great Wall of Chi­na and the Ter­ra­cot­ta Army. This arti­cle presents the most beau­ti­ful cities in Chi­na and their attrac­tions.

Chengde

This for­mer sum­mer home of the ear­ly Qing emper­ors, with pago­das, palaces and lakes, is still a great place to relax. Of par­tic­u­lar inter­est is the amaz­ing com­plex of the Eight Out­er Tem­ples, which is a must-see in Chengde. The moun­tain resort here is sim­ply divine, with incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture and man­i­cured gar­dens that only add to the beau­ty of the over­all scene.

Dali

A pop­u­lar place to vis­it, Dali City is a great walk­ing des­ti­na­tion sur­round­ed by the beau­ti­ful Cang­shan Moun­tains. The main attrac­tions here are the beau­ti­ful city gates, along with mag­nif­i­cent scenery and untouched nature. Many tourists go to the moun­tains to walk along their wind­ing paths, enjoy­ing the peace­ful atmos­phere and fresh air. A great walk on a trail called “Road to the Clouds” takes you up to 2500 meters.

Kashgar

Locat­ed on the old Silk Road, Kash­gar is locat­ed in the west­ern­most part of Chi­na. Vis­i­tors to this beau­ti­ful city need to cross a vast desert to get here. Its remote loca­tion makes Kash­gar an inter­est­ing place to vis­it. The city remains an impor­tant trad­ing post to this day, offer­ing an amaz­ing mix of cul­tures and peo­ples that have moved here over the cen­turies. The old city, with its Uyghur archi­tec­ture and live­ly bazaars, is espe­cial­ly worth vis­it­ing and offers a vari­ety of cuisines. The beau­ti­ful Mus­lim mosque Id-Kah is a vis­i­ble reminder of the past. Before leav­ing, be sure to vis­it the Sun­day mar­ket — here a huge num­ber of peo­ple from all over Cen­tral Asia come to trade. These days, the city has a live­ly and noisy atmos­phere.

Nanking

With its relaxed atmos­phere, clean streets and leafy avenues, Nan­jing is one of the most beau­ti­ful cities in Chi­na. Many vis­i­tors stop here on their way between Bei­jing and Shang­hai. Sit­u­at­ed on the famous Yangtze Riv­er, Nan­jing was once the cap­i­tal of Chi­na and although it is often over­looked, there are many good places to vis­it. A great way to see many of its sights in one go is to head to the Qin Huai Riv­er and sail past the mes­mer­iz­ing Con­fu­cius Tem­ple and the huge Chi­na Gate on a boat. With many tombs and mau­soleums in and around Nan­jing, many vis­i­tors spend most of their time explor­ing these spec­tac­u­lar sites. In addi­tion, you can expe­ri­ence the charm of Chi­na’s small towns in a sep­a­rate selec­tion.

Harbin

Known for its incred­i­ble ice fes­ti­val, the city of Harbin is locat­ed in the far north of Chi­na, so it can get very cold here. Due to its prox­im­i­ty to Rus­sia, there is a lot of Russ­ian influ­ence in terms of cul­ture and archi­tec­ture, and this makes Harbin a unique place to vis­it in Chi­na, where St. Sophia Cathe­dral stands out in par­tic­u­lar. For two months, from Decem­ber to Feb­ru­ary, you will def­i­nite­ly want to make your trip here dur­ing the ice fes­ti­val, as it is an impres­sive extrav­a­gan­za in which every­thing is carved out of ice and beau­ti­ful­ly illu­mi­nat­ed by lights.

Suzhou

Suzhou is locat­ed in east­ern Chi­na and its prox­im­i­ty to Shang­hai makes it a pop­u­lar day trip des­ti­na­tion. This beau­ti­ful Chi­nese city is famous for its beau­ti­ful gar­dens and tra­di­tion­al build­ings that line the canals. Locals and for­eign­ers alike flock to Suzhou as it is the most famous water city in Chi­na. It is pleas­ant to sail along its pic­turesque canals by boat, cross­ing small foot­bridges. Although it has under­gone sig­nif­i­cant mod­ern­iza­tion in recent decades, the city has retained its his­tor­i­cal charm. For­mer­ly the cap­i­tal of the King­dom of Wu, Suzhou was one of the largest cities in the world. Since the days of the Silk Road, the city has attract­ed mer­chants and arti­sans to its streets due to its leg­endary silk pro­duc­tion and loca­tion in the Yangtze Riv­er Delta.

Kunming

Locat­ed in the south of the coun­try, the “City of Eter­nal Spring” is a great place to go and explore the charms of the beau­ti­ful Yun­nan province. In Kun­ming itself, the impres­sive Yuan­tong Tem­ple dates back to the eighth cen­tu­ry and is famous for its stone carv­ings. Tan­hua Tem­ple is becom­ing more and more pop­u­lar because of the beau­ti­ful scenery it offers.

hangzhou

A very pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tion, Hangzhou is known for its stun­ning nat­ur­al beau­ty, with the idyl­lic West Lake and the roman­tic Bro­ken Bridge draw­ing crowds. A boat trip on its calm waters is a par­adise where you can stay on dif­fer­ent islands, each with its own per­son­al­i­ty. A num­ber of tem­ples and pago­das are scat­tered through­out the area, with the water shim­mer­ing behind them. There are many beau­ti­ful views await­ing you, and Lingyin Tem­ple is one of the most famous places in the coun­try. The most beau­ti­ful cities in Chi­na pale in com­par­i­son to Hangzhou.

Guilin

The oth­er­world­ly land­scapes that can be found in and around Guilin make the city an impres­sive place to vis­it. A boat trip along the Li Riv­er is a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence with impres­sive land­scapes on both sides. Shroud­ed in mist, they look mys­te­ri­ous right in the heart of breath­tak­ing Yang­shuo, where you will find caves and grot­toes in the thick­ets. Guilin is an incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful city in Chi­na, and many of its vis­i­tors head to the Sun Pago­da, which offers great views of the sur­round­ings.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou has been on the Silk Road for more than two thou­sand years, and boasts ancient his­tor­i­cal sites due to the diverse influ­ence of mer­chants on the city. The mix­ture of archi­tec­tur­al styles in Chi­na’s third largest city can be seen every­where. Guangzhou is a hec­tic and chaot­ic city, and its sheer size can be over­whelm­ing. Hid­den among the end­less con­crete jun­gle, how­ev­er, are some of the coun­try’s old­est tem­ples, such as the Liurong Tem­ple, as well as the beau­ti­ful Huaishen Mosque from 627 AD. With its mix­ture of cul­tures, Guangzhou is a crazy but inter­est­ing place to see cos­mopoli­tan Chi­na. Tak­ing a night boat ride past glit­ter­ing sky­scrap­ers will keep your trip to Chi­na in your mem­o­ry for a long time. There is also some­thing for gourmets in this beau­ti­ful city.

Lhasa

The cap­i­tal of Tibet, Lhasa, is an excit­ing city to vis­it. It is locat­ed in a beau­ti­ful moun­tain­ous area in the Himalayas. The Pota­la Palace is the main attrac­tion — the incred­i­ble build­ing looks absolute­ly stun­ning. The Jokhang Palace is also mem­o­rable and is home to Tibet’s most prized pos­ses­sion — an ancient and admirable Bud­dha stat­ue. Lhasa is very dif­fer­ent from the rest of Chi­na. Head here to expe­ri­ence the rich Tibetan cul­ture.

Xi’an

With many his­tor­i­cal sites through­out the city, it’s not easy to see every­thing in one day in Xi’an. The Ter­ra­cot­ta War­riors Army is Chi­na’s most famous land­mark after the Great Wall. In addi­tion to this, you should also vis­it the city’s ancient city walls that pro­tect­ed Xi’an and allowed it to devel­op into a rul­ing seat of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, sev­en­ty-three emper­ors ruled from here for over a thou­sand years, and Xi’an was the cap­i­tal of thir­teen dynas­ties. It is well known that Chi­nese civ­i­liza­tion spread from this influ­en­tial city, and while ram­pant mod­ern­iza­tion has changed the face of Xi’an, you can still find numer­ous sites that tes­ti­fy to its for­mer glo­ry.

Shanghai

As the largest city in Chi­na, Shang­hai is a thriv­ing place with many attrac­tions and activ­i­ties. The tow­er­ing sky­scrap­ers on the banks of the Huang­pu Riv­er make for an impres­sive sight, and it is some­what sur­pris­ing that there are many Art Deco build­ings among them. Most tourists head straight for the Bund, which sits along the river­bank and has an eclec­tic mix of colo­nial-era build­ings. Often referred to as a “muse­um of build­ings”, the Bund is a rel­ic of the for­eign impe­r­i­al pow­ers that once ruled the city. Due to Shang­hai’s rapid growth over the past cen­tu­ry, the city is an eclec­tic mix of dif­fer­ent archi­tec­tur­al styles and as a com­mer­cial hub, ide­al for shop­ping. For a glimpse of old Shang­hai, head to the Old City and the beau­ti­ful walls of Yuyuan Gar­dens.

Hong Kong

This city of sky­scrap­ers lies on Vic­to­ria Bay, and the beau­ti­ful back­drop of forest­ed moun­tains in the back­ground only adds to the dra­mat­ic scenery. The near­by Vic­to­ria Peak is a great place to see sparkling Hong Kong in all its glo­ry. Anoth­er fan­tas­tic way to see the panora­ma is to look at the sky­scrap­ers from the water side. Cos­mopoli­tan Hong Kong is a mix­ture of cul­tures and peo­ples, and this is part of what makes it so attrac­tive. The bustling mar­kets of Hong Kong are a shop­per’s par­adise! Neigh­bor­ing Lan­tau Island is a great place for nature lovers look­ing to get out of the city.

Beijing

More than twen­ty mil­lion peo­ple live in the cap­i­tal of the coun­try. Bei­jing is a bustling and sprawl­ing city with many attrac­tions for tourists to enjoy. As their first stop, many head to the huge Tianan­men Square, which bor­ders the For­bid­den City, which once housed the impe­r­i­al court. With over a hun­dred muse­ums through­out the city, as well as a num­ber of palaces, tem­ples and archae­o­log­i­cal sites inter­spersed with mod­ern build­ings, there is cer­tain­ly some­thing to see in Bei­jing. Be sure to hit the streets and try as much deli­cious food as you can! It takes just under an hour from Bei­jing to vis­it some of the most beau­ti­ful parts of the Great Wall of Chi­na. The most beau­ti­ful cities in Chi­na are wait­ing for you — pack your bags and bold­ly go on a trip.