China is one of the 10 most visited countries in the world for its many tourist attractions, ranging from its traditional and modern cities to its ancient culture.
Let us know in this article the best 50 tourist places in China.
1. Macau
Macao is China’s “Las Vegas”, a tourist spot for gambling and betting fans; one of the richest cities in the world and with one of the highest living standards.
The Sands and the Venetian are some of its most famous casinos. In the city you can also visit the Macao Tower, a building 334 meters high.
2. The Forbidden City, Beijing
The Forbidden City is one of the tourist spots in China that was once a royal palace that housed 24 emperors. An almost sacred place not accessible to the public.
The palace is a sample of the extravagance with which constructions were carried out in ancient times. Each of the more than 8,000 rooms with gold-painted ceilings has a special and elegant design, with walls painted in red and yellow colors.
This palace complex is next to the Kremlin (Russia), the Banking House (United States), the Palace of Versailles (France) and Buckingham Palace (United Kingdom), one of the most important palaces in the world.
It was occupied for more than 500 years by the Ming and Qing dynasties, which ended in 1911 of the 20th century. Today it is a World Cultural Heritage declared by Unesco and the Chinese know it colloquially as “The Palace Museum”, one that keeps treasures and historical and cultural relics of the country.
3. Towers of the Fortress, Kaiping
The towers of the fortress in Kaiping, a city just over 100 kilometers southwest of Guangzhou, were built at the beginning of the 20th century to protect the population from robberies and wars, and at the same time as a manifestation of opulence.
There are a total of 1,800 towers in the middle of the city’s rice fields, which you can visit on a tour of its streets.
4. Shangri-La
This tourist spot is in China, not Tibet. A site of myths and stories towards the northeast of Yunnan province.
It used to be called Zhongdian, a name that changed to its current name in 2002. Getting there involves traveling overland from Lijiang or taking a plane flight.
It is a small and quiet place that can easily be explored on foot to see the Potatso National Park or the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery.
5. Li River, Guilin
The Li River is 83 kilometers long, long enough to admire the surrounding landscape such as beautiful hills, farming villages, cliff areas and bamboo forests.
National Geographic magazine has this huge body of water as one of its “Ten Most Important Aquatic Wonders of the World”; a river visited by personalities such as former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. and by the creator of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
6. The Great Wall of China, Beijing
It is the largest ancient architecture on the planet and with its little more than 21 kilometers in length, the longest wall in the world. It is a work so great that it is possible to see it from the moon.
This feat of architecture from the ancient world, one of the New Seven Wonders of the Modern World and a World Heritage Site, was built as a defensive wall against foreign offensives that wanted to invade Chinese territory.
Its builders undertook the work along kilometers of rugged territories, with steep mountainous areas and adverse climates.
The Great Wall stretches from the western border of China to its coast, with landscapes of incomparable beauty that serve as tourist attractions.
The best preserved areas are close to the city of Beijing.
7. Yellow Mountains
The Huang Mountains or Yellow Mountains are in the eastern part of China, between Shanghai and Hangzhou, whose peaks are the best known in the country.
These mountains provide tourists with five unforgettable spectacles such as sunrises, seas of clouds, strange rocks, hot springs, and pine trees with twisted and bent trunks.
The region serves as the seat for one of the top three national parks in China: Yellow Mountain National Park. The other two are Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Jiuzhaigou National Forest Park.
8. Shanghai
Shanghai is the economic “heart” of the People’s Republic of China and one of the cities with the largest population in the world with just over 24 million inhabitants.
Also called the “Asian Seattle” it has great and numerous attractions to visit, such as the Bund neighborhood, an area with colonial features that mixes the European style of the 19th century with the current modern buildings.
In Fuixing Park you can admire a gigantic area of trees, the largest in the entire area, and see the city’s financial tower, an example of large buildings and modern constructions.
Shanghai is reached by plane and if you are in the country, by the national train system.
9. Huangguoshu Waterfall
Waterfall 77.8 meters high and 101 meters long, which makes it the highest in the Asian continent and therefore one of the tourist places in China.
This natural monument also known as the “Yellow Fruit Tree Waterfall” can be visited any month of the year, but the best season for it is June, July and August, when it is contemplated in all its splendor with an impressive flow of water of 700 meters. cubic meters per second.
You can access this waterfall from Huangguoshu Airport, 6 kilometers away.
10. Terracotta Warriors
The Terracotta Warriors remained hidden for more than 2,000 years until 1974, when farmers digging up the earth stumbled upon them, an army of more than 8,000 stone statues of soldiers and horses.
The carved figures are of average size for the time and were built by the emperor, Qin Shin Huang, in the Qing dynasty, to ensure the eternal fidelity and commitment of his soldiers.
In addition to being declared the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Terracotta Warriors were also declared World Cultural Heritage in 1987 and are considered one of the most important archaeological sites on the planet.
The thousands of these figures are in the province of Shanxi, very close to Xi’an, which is reached by taking a bus.
11. Guanyin Statue
At 108 meters high, the Guanyin statue is the fourth largest statue in China; one of its tourist spots in the cultural district of Nanshan in Hainan, 40 kilometers away from the center of the town of Sanya.
The “Buddhist Goddess of Mercy” has three sides facing mainland China, Taiwan and the South China Sea.
The image was blessed in 2005 and is also considered one of the tallest statues on earth.
12. Saint Sophia Cathedral
Orthodox church in the city of Harbin, the largest in the east and southeast of the Asian continent.
The neo-Byzantine style temple was built with 721 square meters and 54 meters high, by Russians expelled from their country who settled in the region.
It was built at the beginning of the 20th century so that at the end of the war between Russia and Japan, the Orthodox community would have a place of worship and prayer.
The Communist Party used it for 20 years as a warehouse. Now it is a museum where the architecture, art and heritage of the city are exhibited.
13. Giant pandas, Chengdu
Panda bears are native to Chengdu, a Chinese tourist spot that has Dujiangyan Panda Valley, Bifengxia Panda Base, and the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center, the best place to see these attractive omnivorous mammals in China.
Chengdu Panda Center is north of the city, while the Bifengxia Base is a two-hour drive from Chengdu, where many of these animals live in their natural environment.
14. Potala Palace, Tibet
It is the official residence of the Dalai Lama, where the well-known white palace is also located, a place where the religious and political life of Buddhists takes place.
The Potala Palace is in the mountains of the Himalayas at more than 3,700 meters high and is the religious, spiritual and sacred center of the Chinese and the practices to honor the Buddha. The train service goes there.
The so-called “Palace of Eternal Wisdom” is in the autonomous region of Tibet and is one of the tourist places in China.
15. Yuyuan Garden
It is one of the most famous gardens in China built as a symbol of love on the part of Pan Yunduan, the governor of Sichuan, for his elderly parents. It is north of Shanghai, near the old wall.
One of its most photographed attractions is the large jade stone in the center of the garden, which exceeds more than 3 meters.
16. Brahma Palace
Brahma Palace was built 88 meters high at the foot of “Little Lingshan Mountain”, near Taihu Lake and Lingshan Giant Buddha.
This majestic work was built in 2008 for the Second World Forum of Buddhism. Inside, it has a luxurious theme park with gold decorations and a lot of glamour, all surrounded by mountains and rivers.
17.Wuyuan
A small town at the crossroads of Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in eastern China, with fields full of beautiful flowers and a relaxed lifestyle, making it a great attraction for tourists.
18. Xi’an City Wall
In addition to the Great Wall, China has the city wall of Xi’an, a wall built over 2,000 years ago as a symbol of power and to defend the country from foreign invasions.
The portions of this wall that can be admired today date from the year 1370, when the Ming dynasty reigned. At that time the wall was 13.7 kilometers long, 12 meters high and 15 to 18 meters wide.
On a bike ride in the surrounding area you will see unique views of the ancient capital of China.
19.Xian _
Ancestral city included in the ancient Silk Road (trade routes of the Chinese silk business since the 1st century BC) with records of the passage of the Qin dynasty.
It is a place with wide cultural value and great archaeological attraction for having the famous Terracotta Warriors and the Great Mosque, a building from the Tang dynasty that shows the influence and relevance of the Islamic region in this Chinese region.
Xi’an can be reached by plane from anywhere in the world or by train if you are already in the country.
20. Beijing
With more than 21 million 500 thousand inhabitants, the capital of China is one of the most populated cities in the world; a city of myths, legends and much folklore.
Beijing is also one of the most industrialized cities on the planet, specifically in 2018 it ranked 11th out of 300 cities by GDP.
The Great Wall, the Forbidden City and a wide range of restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues are in the capital, a city where memories of the glorious past of dynasties are in harmony with modernism and progress.
21. Mount Wuyi
This World Heritage Site is a tourist place in China from where the doctrines and precepts of Neo-Confucianism spread, a doctrine of wide influence in Asia from the 11th century.
The mount is 350 kilometers northwest of the city of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, and can be reached by flights from Shanghai, Xi’an, Beijing, or Guangzhou.
The bamboo drift raft ride on the Nine Bend River is one of the other attractions of the place.
22. West Lake, Hangzhou
The “West Lake”, also known as “heaven on earth”, has an unmatched landscape due to a very well-structured design that makes it one of the tourist places in China.
West Lake was conceived as a manifestation of the Chinese’s love for landscaped parks dedicated to recreation. On three of its sides it is surrounded by mountains, while on the fourth it shows the silhouette of the distant city.
A pagoda and an arched bridge in the purest Chinese style, together with large groves, islands of special greenery and colorful hills, complement this magnificent landscape.
23. Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves comprise more than 400 underground temples of murals and literary scrolls from ancient times, in Gansu province.
The temple walls are covered with hundreds of murals dedicated to Buddhism, believed to have been built by the Buddhist, Lo-tsun, after he had a vision of thousands of Buddhas shining like sparklers from a cliff.
24. Tiger Leaping Gorge
Chain of mountain gorges to the north of the city of Lijiang, in the province of Yunnan, a place where you can practice trekking and other adventure sports.
Its name comes from the legend of a tiger that jumped over the longest point of the canyon to escape a hunter. There you will find a route that can be traveled from the city of Quiaotou to the Daju region.
25. Yangshuo
Yangshuo city is between mountains and mist; an extraordinary region of beautiful natural landscapes with lots of bamboo and other exotic species.
It is a tourist place in China that is visited to admire the most original hills and rivers of the country, in an excursion made by the river in bamboo boats.
Yangshuo also has in the Kanataka district the Dodda Alada Mara, which is more than 1,400 years old, and the ancient Villa Longtan, whose construction during the Ming dynasty dates back 400 years.
26.Hongcun Ancient Village
A 900-year-old town characterized by classical buildings and its calm atmosphere, which makes it a place of inspiration for poets, painters and art students.
Hongcun Ancient Village is 70 kilometers from Huangshan City in Anhui Province, with streets made of quartzite rock. You can see the work of the farmers in the rice fields, as well as the reflection of the facades of the houses in the waters of the lake.
27.Suzhou
Suzhou is one of the most beautiful cities in China, winner in 2014 of an award that recognized its urbanism, one composed of traditional Chinese architecture.
It is in Jiangsu province with a population of over 10 million people, which have the silk museum and the Humble Administrator’s Garden, examples of the city’s history and tradition.
Walking the streets of Suzhou is like traveling to the period of the Tang or Qi dynasties, with which you know what urban planning was like in ancient China.
28.Hangzhou
This border city with Shanghai is one of the tourist places in China, capital of the province of Zhejiang, on the banks of the Qiantang River.
Hangzhou was home to one of the most important ports in the country during the various Chinese dynasties, as it is surrounded by lakes and temples.
Among its places of interest is Lake Xihu, one of the most beautiful with an extensive and varied flora and the military mausoleum of Yue Fei, a military man of great importance during the Song dynasty.
29. Yalong Bay
Beach in the province of Hainan of more than 7.5 kilometers in length on the south coast of Hainan, where surfing and other water sports are practiced.
30.Fenghuang
Another of the tourist places in China is Fenghuang, a city founded more than 1,300 years ago with 200 residential buildings, 20 streets and 10 alleys, all built during the Ming dynasty.
The city, whose houses are raised on stilts, is highly visited by fans of art and literature, who are going to pay homage to the Chinese writer, She Congwen, author of “Frontier City”.
Fenghuang means phoenix.
31. Mount Lu
This World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1996) is considered an emblem of Chinese spirituality and culture, to which more than 1,500 painters and poets from periods of both ancient China and modern China have come to find inspiration. .
One of these artists is Li Bai, a member of the Tang dynasty and Xu Zhimo, who traveled to this peaceful mountain in the 1920s, using it as a source of light to make his works.
32.Qinghai Lake
The Qinghai is the largest salt lake in China. It is 3,205 meters above sea level in the province of Qinghai, a height that does not prevent it from being one of the most touristic places in the country.
Once a year and during June and July, groups of people who have made the tour pedaling their bicycles arrive.
Every summer, the Qinghai Tour Lake National Cycling Race is held.
33. Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven is the largest temple of its kind in the entire country, which makes it one of the tourist spots in China. A place also considered the most mystical in the entire Asian nation.
The shrine is in the center of Tiantan Gongyuan Square, towards the southern region of Beijing.
The faithful come to the Templo de las Rogativas, inside the enclosure, to pray and ask for a good year for both themselves and their families.
34. Trestle Bridge, Qingdao
On the so-called Yellow Sea, the Trestle Bridge has been sitting since 1892, one of the tourist places in China with as many years as the city of Qingdao, where it is built.
The work was raised to honor Li Hongzhan, an important statesman of the Qing dynasty. Now it is an emblem of the city, 440 meters long.
At one of its ends, the Huilange pagoda was built, where exhibitions and cultural presentations are held throughout the year.
35. Hailuogou Glacier National Park
Magnificent park in the province of Sichuan with a glacier preceded by the legend of a Tibetan monk who transformed this wasteland while playing with his shell, attracting animals that began to live there.
The park is also known as “Conch Gully”, after the conch and the monk.
Although the glacier, which passes through mountains, forests, cliffs, rivers and peaks, can be visited at any time of the year, the best time of day to observe it is in the morning.
It has more than 10 hot springs running below, two of them open to the public; one is 2,600 meters high.
36. Nalati Grasslands
The name of these pastures was given by one of the troops of the warrior Genghis Khan, who, impressed by the color of the meadows, called them Nalati, which in the Mongolian language means: “place where the sun rises”.
In this prairie, still a witness to Kazak practices and customs, as well as traditional sports, they are dedicated to raising falcons for hunting with inhabitants residing in yurts.
The best season to visit the grasslands is between May and October.
37. Pudacuo National Park
About 20% of China’s plant and tree species, as well as a significant percentage of the country’s animals and birds, live in the wetlands that are part of the Pudacuo National Park, in Yunnan province.
This natural area of black-necked cranes and magnificent orchids complies with the guidelines of “The World Conservation Union”, a relevant world organization for environmental conservation.
38. Silk Market
Popular market in Beijing with more than 1,700 stalls for the sale of shoes and clothing, all imitation, but at good prices.
39. Longji Rice Terraces
The Longji Rice Terraces are 1,500 meters high in Guanxi Province, a place that dates back to the Yuan Dynasty.
Another site is the Jinkeng rice terraces, between the towns of Dhaza and Tiantou, perfect for taking pictures, making videos and spending time with healthy recreation.
40. Leshan Buddha
Immense statue of Buddha carved in stone between 713 and 1803 AD, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.
At 71 meters tall, this architectural gem in all of China is the world’s largest stone Buddha. It is in Leshan City, Sichuan Province.
It was a work undertaken during the Tang dynasty by the Buddhist monk, Haitong, to ask for and give thanks for the end of the natural disasters caused by the Dadu and Ming rivers.
41. Karakul Lake
Beautiful lake at 3,600 meters above sea level formed by glacier water that acts as a mirror for the mountains that surround it. From May to October are the best months to visit it.
Getting to Karakul is not easy. You must travel through the Karakoram highway, one of the highest and most dangerous roads in the world due to its frequent landslides.
42. Three Pagodas, Dali
Dali is an ancient town in the southwest of Yunnan province, where three Buddhist pagodas were built, the first one built in the 9th century to ask for the cessation of flooding; With its 69 meters high and 16 floors, it could be considered as a “skyscraper” for the Tang dynasty, its builders.
It continues to hold the position of the tallest pagoda in China, with each of its 16 levels adorned with Buddha statues.
The other two towers were built a century later and are 42 meters high each. Between the three they form an equilateral triangle.
43. Beijing Summer Palace
Palace built at the initiative of Emperor Qianlong in 1750. It is on the shores of Kunming Lake with a large corridor, a covered space of 750 meters and decorated with more than 14,000 paintings.
The Guanxu Emperor was imprisoned in the Yulan Pavilion for 10 years.
44.Yulong River
One of China’s most beautiful tourist spots of all. It is calm, relaxed and very peaceful.
Among its attractions are the Yulong Bridge, over 500 years old, built during the Ming dynasty; and the Xiangui Bridge, with 800 years of existence.
45.Hua Shan
Ideal mountain both for people who practice extreme sports such as mountaineering or parkour, as well as for taking pictures and recording videos.
46.Chengde Mountain Resort
Vacation and rest place during the Qing dynasty, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has beautiful and delicate gardens and a 70-meter pagoda.
Majestic land with large meadows, high mountains and quiet valleys, allow us to understand why it was chosen for vacations and rest.
47.Longtan Valley
Longtan Valley, 12 kilometers long, is considered the number one narrow gorges in China. It is defined by a strip of purple-red quartz sandstone.
The valley is irregular in shape, with lots of vegetation and large cliffs.
48. Shennongjia, Hubei
Nature reserve of 3,200 square kilometers with more than 5,000 species of plants and animals and home to the golden or flat monkeys, a rare species in China that is protected.
According to some legends, in this vast territory lives the “yeti”, a creature similar to “bigfoot”.
49. Chengdu
It was known during the Han and Menchang dynasties as the city of brocades or hibiscus; It is the capital of Sichuan province and one of the tourist places in China.
It is a metropolis of great natural attractions such as the Wolong National Park, with more than 4 thousand species under its protection and the Wuhou temple, built to honor Zhuege Liang, warrior of the Shu kingdom.
50.Hong Kong
Hong Kong leads the list of most popular cities in China and the world. Its more than 25 million foreign tourists a year outnumber popular metropolises like New York, London and Paris, according to Euromonitor’s Top 100 City Destinations 2019 report.
The city is so varied that one day you can visit ancient temples and the next, spectacular and modern skyscrapers, art galleries and fabulous nightlife and entertainment venues.
Hong Kong is also attractive for its perfect harmony between the ancient and ancient, with the modernity of today’s world.
