Autumn in China: ginkgo, maples and the best six weeks of the year to be in Shanghai and Beijing

If a family asks us when to go and has the freedom to choose, we say the same thing every time: late October to early December. The summer humidity has gone, the plane trees and the ginkgo turn, the skies in Beijing are at their clearest, hairy crab is on every Shanghai table, and the crowds of the October holiday have gone home. This guide is the case for autumn, with where the colour is and when, and the one week to avoid.

The weather, week by week

• Early October: warm, often still humid in Shanghai, clear in Beijing; the first week is the National Day holiday, when every sight in China is full and prices double. Avoid it entirely.
• Mid to late October: the best stretch. Shanghai 18 to 24°C, Beijing 12 to 20°C, dry, bright; the first ginkgo turning in Beijing’s temple courtyards.
• November: Shanghai’s plane-tree streets turn gold then bare; Beijing’s ginkgo avenues peak in the first half, the Fragrant Hills in the first week; mornings crisp, afternoons mild.
• Early December: Shanghai still mild, Beijing cold and clear; the last leaves and the start of the empty-season bargains.

The best time to visit guide has the full calendar; autumn is its best chapter.

Shanghai: plane trees and ginkgo

The former French Concession’s streets are lined with London plane trees (the Shanghainese call them “French parasols”) that turn yellow and brown through November and carpet the pavements; a walk down Wukang Road, Hengshan Road or Fuxing Road in the second half of November is the Shanghai of the old photographs. The ginkgo avenues are smaller and brighter: the trees along Hongqiao Road, the Jiaotong University campus and the parks turn clear gold in mid-November. Fuxing Park and Zhongshan Park hold the colour; the second-visit guide has the lanes.

And the crab: hairy crab season runs from mid-October through December, with the females best in October and the males in November, as the food guide explains. An autumn trip without a crab lunch is incomplete.

Beijing: the courtyards, the hills and the palace

Beijing’s autumn is the famous one. The ginkgo turn in the first half of November: the avenue at Diaoyutai, the courtyards of the Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple (whose cypresses are green and whose ginkgo are gold), and the trees around Beihai’s lake. The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) go red with smoke trees from late October to mid-November, and all Beijing goes to see them on the weekends; a weekday morning with a car is the way, as the Beijing beyond the big three guide says. The Summer Palace at dawn in colour, the Temple of Heaven’s cypresses under a blue sky, and the Great Wall at Mutianyu with the hillsides turning are the autumn versions of the sights in the three-day plan; the Wall in late October is the single best day of the year to be on it.

Suzhou, Hangzhou and the hills

Suzhou’s gardens were designed for autumn: maples over the ponds in the Humble Administrator’s and the Lingering Garden in November, and the scent of osmanthus everywhere in October, in the air and in the sweets. Tiger Hill has a maple festival. The Suzhou guide is at its best in this season.

Hangzhou’s West Lake turns on the Su Causeway and the tea hills around Longjing go russet; the autumn tea picking is minor, but the villages are quiet and the farmhouse lunches are at their best, as the Hangzhou guide describes. Huangshan in late October and November has the clearest skies of the year and the highest odds of the sea of clouds, with the pines against red and gold; the Huangshan guide says to go with two days.

Elsewhere in autumn

Xi’an’s city wall and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda’s park in ginkgo gold in mid-November; Nanjing’s avenues of plane trees, the finest in the country, in late October (the Nanjing guide); Guilin’s rice terraces turning gold at Longji in October; Chengdu’s mild, misty autumn and its hotpot weather; and the Yunnan and Sichuan mountains, if you go that far, in their best colour. The far destinations guide notes autumn as the season for all three.

What to pack

Layers: a light jacket and a jumper for Shanghai, a proper coat and a scarf for Beijing from November, walking shoes for the leaf-covered paths, sunglasses for Beijing’s glare, and a hat for the Wall. Mornings are cold and afternoons mild everywhere; the car carries the layers. The packing guide has the full list by month.

The crowds, honestly

Mid-week in late October and November the big sights are as quiet as they get: the Forbidden City’s seven-day booking is easy, the Wall is empty beyond the second tower, and the Suzhou gardens at opening are yours. The exceptions are the Fragrant Hills on weekends, the first week of October everywhere, and the Shanghai Marathon and the big trade fairs, which fill hotels for a few days; a guide watches the calendar.

An autumn fortnight

This is the Shanghai to Beijing tour with the add-ons we recommend for the season, and the one we book our own families on. Tell us your dates on the contact page; if they fall in the first week of October, we will say so, kindly, and suggest the week after.