English guide for foreign visitors
How Do I Plan a Two-Week China Itinerary and Check It for Conflicts?
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Step 1 of 6
Count your sleeping bases
Do this
List every place you will sleep and how many nights each gets. Count base changes (check-outs and check-ins), not city names on a map.
- Done when
- You can state how many times you will check out, carry luggage, and check in again, and every short stay has a clear reason.
If this fails
If a one-night stop only proves you were there, cut it or extend it before going further.
Step 2 of 6
Turn each leg into a full transfer
Do this
For every intercity train or flight, write the whole journey: hotel checkout and ride to the station or airport, entry and security and boarding, the transport itself, arrival and transfer to the new hotel, and the first real activity.
- Done when
- Each transfer day shows a realistic arrival-side buffer and the first activity is one you would still want after the full door-to-door journey.
If this fails
If the first activity no longer fits after the full transfer, move it to the next day or drop it.
Step 3 of 6
Protect arrival and departure days
Do this
Reserve one day each for arrival and departure rather than treating them as full sightseeing days, then subtract intercity movement from what remains.
- Done when
- You have a usable-days-per-city figure you can compare with your chosen pace target.
If this fails
If usable days per city fall well below your pace target, remove a base or add nights before booking anything.
Step 4 of 6
Place fixed bookings first
Do this
Put timed-entry museums, performances, trains, and flights onto the route before loose ideas such as wandering a neighbourhood or adding an attraction if there is time.
- Done when
- Every hard edge in the day is on the route, and flexible ideas sit only in the gaps that remain.
If this fails
If a fixed booking collides with a transfer or another fixed visit, move one of them now rather than hoping it works on the day.
Step 5 of 6
Check each booking window
Do this
For every train and dated attraction in the draft, open the official operator page and confirm the current booking window and release time for that specific service.
- Done when
- Each fixed item has a confirmed official booking window and release time recorded against its date.
If this fails
If a window is not yet confirmed for that specific service, mark it unresolved and re-check with the operator rather than assuming a generic rule.
Step 6 of 6
Run the itinerary review
Do this
Take your draft — bases, nights, full transfers, fixed bookings, and confirmed windows — into the itinerary review and work through the conflicts it surfaces.
- Done when
- Every conflict the review surfaces is either resolved in the draft or assigned to a specific official page to verify.
- Finished only when
- Your draft has a stated number of base changes, every intercity leg written as a full door-to-door transfer, fixed bookings placed before flexible ideas, and each fixed item's booking window confirmed on the official operator page or explicitly marked unresolved.
- A map with four city names but no count of check-outs and check-ins
- Transfer days that show only the train or flight time
- Flexible ideas placed before timed-entry or dated bookings
- A booking window assumed from a generic rule rather than confirmed for that specific service
If this fails
If the review shows the route is too rushed, return to the base count and transfer steps and cut before booking.
After this task
The review is a different job from building the draft: it tests the finished route for conflicts rather than producing it.