A China honeymoon or anniversary trip: the romantic version of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Beijing

Couples ask us, slightly apologetically, whether China is a romantic place for a honeymoon or a big anniversary. It is, in a way that the Maldives is not: it is a trip with stories, with two of the best hotel views in the world, with gardens that were designed by poets for walking two abreast, with dinners that go on for hours, and with a Great Wall that two people can have to themselves at eight in the morning. This is the romantic version of the route, built around ten moments.

The ten moments

1. The Bund at night from a river-view room. The Peace Hotel’s original Art Deco suites or the Peninsula’s corner rooms look straight at Pudong lit up; the skyline lights go off at ten or eleven, so the first evening is in the room with the curtains open. The where to stay in Shanghai guide names the hotels.
2. A Suzhou garden at opening. The Master of the Nets or the Lingering Garden at 7.30 am on a weekday has a dozen people in it; by ten it has hundreds. A guide gets you there first, as the Suzhou guide says, and the garden was designed by a scholar for exactly two people walking.
3. West Lake at dawn, from a boat or the Su Causeway, with the tea pickers on the hills behind; a tea-village lunch after. The Hangzhou guide is the day; the lakeside hotels make it a night.
4. A water town after the day-trippers leave. Wuzhen’s West Scenic Zone with a room inside the town: lanterns on the canals, a boat at dusk, a quiet breakfast on the water; the water towns guide says which.
5. A courtyard hotel in the hutongs, with a room off a private courtyard and the city’s noise two lanes away, as the where to stay in Beijing guide describes.
6. The Wall at eight in the morning. Mutianyu before the coaches, or Jinshanling for a wilder day, with a picnic in a tower and nobody else in sight; the Beijing itinerary has the timing.
7. The dinners: a Peking duck carved at the table, a Bund-view restaurant, a hotpot night, hairy crab in autumn, and a private room (baofang) in a good restaurant, which is how Chinese couples dine; the regional food guide picks.
8. A tea house afternoon in Hangzhou or the Concession, with a tea master and nowhere to be; the tea guide explains the ceremony.
9. The lantern-lit lanes at night: Yu Garden’s old town after dark, Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, Pingjiang Road in Suzhou, Qinhuai in Nanjing by boat (the Nanjing guide).
10. Something made for two: a tailored qipao and jacket from a Shanghai tailor in three days, a calligraphy of your names, a jade seal carved with them; the experiences guide has the makers and the gifts guide the etiquette.

Pacing

The honeymoon mistake is the first-trip itinerary: five cities, every sight, early starts. A romantic route has three bases and late mornings: four nights in Shanghai with the day trips, two in a water town or Hangzhou, four in Beijing; one big sight a day, a long lunch, an afternoon free, a dinner that matters. The myths guide is honest that China is a lot; the answer is to see less of it, slowly.

Where to stay for the view

Shanghai: the Bund hotels for the skyline, or a Concession boutique for the lanes and the plane trees; Hangzhou: the lakeside hotels on the west shore, with the lake from the terrace; Suzhou or Wuzhen: a room inside the old town; Beijing: a courtyard hotel for the romance or a top-floor room in a Wangfujing tower for the Forbidden City roofs at dusk. Spring and autumn are the seasons (the spring guide, the autumn guide); a winter honeymoon gets the Wall in snow and the lowest hotel prices, as the winter guide notes.

Proposals and anniversaries

We have arranged proposals on the Wall at sunrise, in a Suzhou garden pavilion at opening, and on a West Lake boat; the guide carries the ring, the photographer is waiting, and the restaurant afterwards has the private room and the cake. Chinese restaurants and hotels love an anniversary and will produce flowers, a cake with the characters for double happiness and a toast without being asked twice. Tell us the date and what it is, and we build the day around it.

Practicalities for two

A honeymoon is a time to pay for the things that make the day smooth: the car between sights so there is no metro at rush hour, the guide for the big days and privacy for the rest, business class on the train for the quiet carriage. Photography is easy to arrange: Shanghai has a culture of pre-wedding photo shoots and the photographers are superb and inexpensive; a two-hour shoot on the Bund and in the lanes is a honeymoon souvenir that costs less than a Melbourne wedding album. Married couples sharing a room need nothing more than two passports at check-in; the visa guide covers the 30-day visa-free entry.

A ten-day route for two

This is the Shanghai to Beijing tour at honeymoon pace, with the hotels upgraded and the days thinned. Tell us on the contact page what the occasion is; it is the one line in the enquiry that changes the most.