Begin with nights and priorities
Write down your arrival date, departure date and the number of nights between them. Then name two or three things you want from the trip: history, food, neighbourhoods, landscapes or time with family. Those choices give the route a purpose before it becomes a list of places.
If your dates are still open, share a month or a season and say what is flexible. You can begin a trip request without deciding on a destination or choosing a starting itinerary.
Give each base a purpose
For a first conversation, compare places by the kind of day you would like to have:
- Beijing for a city plan built around history, museums and a separate Great Wall outing.
- Shanghai for waterfront time, neighbourhoods and a city stay that can be extended.
- Chongqing for food, hillside streets and river views, with an optional regional extension.
- Sichuan for deciding between time in Chengdu and a separate nature chapter.
- Yunnan for choosing a manageable sequence of towns and landscapes.
For an example ten-night brief, two bases might give you more room to explore; three might offer more variety with an additional change of hotel. Neither is automatically better. Treat this as a discussion of pace, then compare the actual connections.
Count the time between places
A flight or train journey is only one part of a change of base. Include packing, checkout, travel to the station or airport, the journey itself and reaching the next hotel. Put your most important experience on a day when it has enough space.
Ask to compare a direct connection with an extra stop before adding another city. If a short connection makes the plan fragile, remove an activity or change the order.
Describe your ideal pace
Tell the adviser about walking limits, stairs, early starts, children's ages, luggage and meal preferences. Describe the hotel experience you want, rather than relying only on a star category. Ask for the proposed property, room, breakfast and access arrangements in writing.
Review the proposal
Review guide language, transport, accommodation, admissions, meals and any optional activities against the itinerary. Compare the total price together with payment and cancellation terms before deciding to book. A starting route is a planning aid; the agreed proposal describes your own trip.
Send a useful first brief
You can start with just your available nights, travel party and the experiences that interest you. Add destinations you are considering, or choose destination advice if you would like help narrowing them down. China Travel Routes offers high-end tailor-made travel across China; a trip adviser will reply by email within 12 hours.