Destinations
We keep our map deliberately small. These are the cities and regions where we have guides we trust and routes we have walked ourselves.
North China
Imperial scale, neighbourhood scale
Beijing is easiest to enjoy when you separate the ceremonial city from the lived one. The palaces, altars and tombs sit along a single north-south line; the hutongs and morning markets sit in the gaps between them, and that is where most travellers remember the city.
Yangtze delta
Gardens built for one hour of light
Suzhou's gardens are not parks. They were private worlds built by officials and merchants, designed around a few borrowed views: a wall that becomes a mountain, a window that frames a single branch. Visiting them in the wrong order, or at midday, flattens the whole idea.
Sichuan
A city that schedules its day around eating
Chengdu rewards slowness more than any other Chinese city we work in. The tea houses are not attractions; they are where people spend a Tuesday. A morning at a bamboo chair with a gaiwan teaches you more about the place than a monument queue.
Shaanxi
Where the Silk Road still starts
Xi'an carries two histories at once: the Tang capital that traded with half the world, and the Ming walled city that still shapes the street plan. The Muslim Quarter, the calligraphy shops and the city wall at dusk connect them better than any single monument.