Hi everyone,
Visa permitting we will be arriving in China early May, this is the last leg on our 12 month round the world trip. Now we had originally planned on travelling by train from Hanoi to Shanghai stopping off at 3-4 cities on the way. Had a change of heart about this, we have seen so many big cities we are thinking perhaps staying in smaller towns along the southern coastline of China might be the better option. Unfortunately we don't know much about this area. Does anyone have experience of travelling along the coastline, is it a lovely area, are there good historical sites, places of interest, cities, towns that we might be interested to visit, any recommendations. Would not knowing Chinese be a major problem for us. Anyone have a suggested route or can offer advice would be very much appreciated. We are all in our 60s so can't go hiking for miles need transportation.
Many thanks
Jean

Not sure about the route you're taking from Hanoi, but you could probably stop off in Guilin/Yangshuo for a few days--it's really beautiful and relaxing. From there you can take a train/plane to Guangzhou and see some of the history there (no need to stay more than 2 days). Then you can go to Shanghai (about 20 hrs by train if I remember correctly). I'm not sure what stops are in between, but you can easily get to Suzhou and Hangzhou from Shanghai.

Thanks and I am not sure if you can get off from the int'l train from Hanoi to Shanghai - try to take that train to arrive in Kunming or any other big cities in China then take Chinese local train to those cities you want to visit.
I can name some attractive cities in Jiangxi province which are exactly on the way from Kunming to Shanghai - if you can get the tickets as sometimes it is a little bit difficult.

Thanks and wish you a nice trip there.

Richard Zhang in Toronto, Canada
<zhangjinglei2004@hotmail.com>

quote:

Hanoi to Shanghai

I think you should passby Guilin, it is nice small city and very close nice town Yangshuo

Thanks everyone for your input much appreciated. We have Guilin/Yangshou now on the list, Guangshou(huge city) Suzhou and Hangzhou were on our original list but we had a mind to find smaller towns. A small town in China seems to be around the 5 million mark perhaps we are being unrealistic in expecting to find towns of less than 1 million.
Regards
Jean

Xiamen and Gulangyu island should be on your list then. Have a look at Yongding as well.

On the way to Yangshuo, try to stop at KaiPing.

If you are into historical old towns, these coastal provinces have a lot to offer.
In Guang Xi province, Huang Yao, Xing An; A lot in Zhe Jiang, probably the most famous is Wu Zhen; and Zhou Zhuang, Tong Li, not far from Shanghai.