Country guide
China covers 9.6 million km², third largest of any country, and holds more than 1.4 billion people — about 17 per cent of everyone alive. It is divided into 33...
Photograph · Severin.stalder · CC BY-SA 3.0
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
China covers 9.6 million km², third largest of any country, and holds more than 1.4 billion people — about 17 per cent of everyone alive. It is divided into 33 province-level divisions, two of them special administrative regions.
Beijing is the capital; Shanghai is the most populous city by urban area. Between them the land runs from the Central Plain and the Yangtze and Yellow rivers out to desert, plateau, subtropical and temperate forest, and the Himalayas in the southwest. The first decision a visitor makes here is therefore not which sight to see but which climate to travel in.
Checked 2026-08-25
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · King of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Mustang Joe · CC0
Photograph · Charlie fong · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · ScareCriterion12 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Charlie fong · CC BY-SA 4.0
Seasonal closures come from recorded opening hours.
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
417 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
金蓮花廣場 A Praça Flor de Lótus
Lotus Square is an open civic plaza in Macau, known locally as 金蓮花廣場. Its centrepiece is the Golden Lotus, a large gilded bronze flower that represents Macau.
澳門藝術博物館 Museu de Arte de Macau
The Macao Museum of Art is the largest visual arts museum in Macau, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting artworks. It occupies a purpose-built facility in the Macau Cultural Centre complex near the Outer Harbour.
龙华寺
Longhua Temple, known in Chinese as 龙华寺, is a Buddhist temple and historic religious complex at 2853 Longhua Road in Shanghai’s Xuhui District.
天文公園 Astropark
Astropark, also known as 天文公園, is an astronomy-themed public park in Hong Kong devoted to stargazing and astronomical education.
尖沙咀海濱花園 Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade is a waterfront pedestrian walkway along the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.
梅赛德斯-奔驰文化中心
Mercedes-Benz Arena is a major indoor arena located in Shanghai, China. The venue serves as a prominent entertainment and sports complex on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River, within the Expo Park area developed for the Shanghai World Expo.
舊基督教墳場 Cemitério Protestante
The Protestant Cemetery is a historic burial ground within Macau’s Historic Centre, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
聖老楞佐堂 Igreja de S. Lourenço
St. Lawrence's Church is a historic Catholic church in Macau, one of the territory's oldest religious structures. The local name is 聖老楞佐教堂. It stands as a significant monument within the Historic Centre of Macau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
中国铁道博物馆（东郊展馆）
The China Railway Museum is a national museum in Beijing dedicated to the history of Chinese railways.
大芬油画村
Dafen Oil Painting Village is an art production and trading district in Shenzhen, China. A small village developed into a concentrated center for oil-painting reproduction and original art.
澳門漁人碼頭 Doca dos Pescadores de Macau
Macau Fisherman's Wharf is a waterfront leisure and entertainment complex on the Macau Peninsula, close to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal.
通訊博物館 Museu das Comunicações
Communications Museum introduces the history and development of communication technology in Macao. Its subject reaches from postal services and telecommunications to broadcasting and the systems that connect people across distance.
莲花山公园
Lianhuashan Park is a central green space in Shenzhen’s Futian District, known locally as 莲花山公园. Its lotus-flower-shaped hill rises among the city’s dense urban development.
園圃街雀鳥花園 Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is a traditional Chinese-style garden in Mong Kok, Kowloon, dedicated to songbird culture. Established in 1997, it occupies the site of a former landfill and provides a purpose-built environment where bird enthusiasts gather.
大三巴哪吒廟 Templo de Na Tcha, junto às Ruínas de S. Paulo
Na Tcha Temple, or 哪吒廟, is a small Chinese folk-religion temple dedicated to Na Tcha, a child deity associated with protection and exorcism. Its position beside the Ruins of St.
北京市规划展览馆
Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall is a central exhibition venue focused on the capital’s urban form, development and future plans. Near Qianmen, it places Beijing’s immense scale into a visual format that visitors can understand through maps, models and diagrams.
华清宫
Huaqing Palace is a historic hot spring complex at the northern foot of Mount Li, approximately 30 kilometres east of central Xi'an.
田子坊
Tianzifang is a distinctive lane neighbourhood in Shanghai’s Huangpu District, entered at Lane 210 on Taikang Road and known for its close-grained mix of pedestrian passages, creative businesses and older urban surroundings.
聖若瑟修院大樓及聖堂 Igreja e Seminário de São José
St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church is a historic religious complex in Macau’s Historic Centre and part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage setting. The seminary was founded in 1728 and the church was consecrated in 1758.
中国电影博物馆
China National Film Museum is a national institution devoted to the history, technology and culture of Chinese cinema.
澳門回歸賀禮陳列館 Museu das Ofertas sobre a Transferência de Soberania de Macau
Handover Gifts Museum of Macao presents commemorative gifts given to Macao by Chinese provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions after the 1999 handover. The museum turns a major political transition into a visual encounter with regional craft traditions.
上海宣传画艺术中心
The Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre is the English name used for Shanghai Yang Peiming Propaganda Poster Collection Art Museum (上海杨培明宣传画收藏艺术馆). Shanghai’s Changning District government identifies it as a private museum founded by Yang Peiming.
上海外滩美术馆
Rockbund Art Museum is a contemporary art institution located in Shanghai's historic Bund district.
石排灣郊野公園 Parque de Seac Pai Van
Seac Pai Van Park, or 石排灣郊野公園, is a country park on Coloane Island in Macau. It gives travellers a green hillside setting within a highly urban territory, combining wooded paths with a major panda-viewing facility.
深圳博物馆历史民俗馆
Shenzhen Museum is a municipal cultural institution in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, known locally as 深圳博物馆. It is a useful stop for travelers who want context for the city's transformation from a small fishing settlement into a major modern metropolis.
Twelve to eighteen days can link Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai by high-speed rail, with Shenzhen as a southern extension. Hong Kong and Macao need separate border planning and should not be treated as ordinary domestic stops on the same timetable.
Entry rules differ between mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao, even within one journey. Check the official immigration authority for every border segment and match the permission to the passport, purpose, and exact itinerary.
High-speed rail and domestic flights cover mainland distances, while metros handle most urban journeys. Hong Kong uses Octopus and separate border controls, and Macao has its own formalities, so prepare payment and identity requirements for each jurisdiction.
April to May and September to October are only broad mainland planning windows. Beijing, Shanghai, the south, Hong Kong, and Macao have different heat, rain, and holiday pressures; the least flexible regional leg should set the dates.
Mainland China uses renminbi (CNY), while Hong Kong and Macao use HKD and MOP. Payment systems and card acceptance differ across those jurisdictions, so prepare the appropriate local method before crossing each border.
On the mainland, save 110 for police and 120 for medical help; Hong Kong and Macao use separate emergency systems. Mainland electricity is recorded as 220 V with Type A, C, and I sockets, while tap-water guidance is not recorded.
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