China travel

One never tires of seeing and revisiting Beijing, as the city keeps changing while preserving its past as a major imperial and cultural centre. Travel to Beijing is associated with visiting unique sites of historical heritage, as well as with tantalising culinary discoveries. We love sipping hot tea in a traditional house, sleeping at the foot of the Great Wall, losing ourselves in the narrow alleys of Old Beijing, strolling through former factories transformed into trendy galleries and boutiques. Departing from Beijing, there is no shortage of travel inspiration: Pingyao, Chengde, Datong – so many stops in a lesser-known China.

Travelling to Shanghai means discovering a cosmopolitan and vibrant megacity, often called the “New York” of Asia, as it has become essential for understanding China today. Its architecture, a blend of colonial, Art Deco and contemporary design, is a journey through the history of this port city: straddling the Opium Wars, foreign concessions and a frantic race towards modernity. We love strolling around the contemporary art galleries, watching the dance of boats in the evening against a backdrop of illuminated skyscrapers, getting lost in the former concession or among the stalls of the old town.

A journey to Tibet, the Roof of the World, is every great traveller’s dream: imagining skies of deep blue, mountain lakes of great beauty, untouched white peaks, a deeply rooted Buddhist culture, a proud people, monks in saffron or crimson robes, and always the multicoloured prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Travel to Sichuan is more discreet, yet it shares some cultural similarities with Tibet. We love its Buddhist peaks, which make a journey to Emeishan and Leshan an important pilgrimage for Chinese people, as well as its unique parks and nature reserves such as Huanglong with its terraced, multicoloured pools, and Jiuzhaigou with its turquoise lakes nestled among snow-capped mountains caped in forests. A natural paradise where the giant panda has made its home.

In the southwest of China, sharing borders with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, lies a land of gorges, lakes and forests stretching all the way to the foothills of the Himalayas: Yunnan Province. Little-known, green and white, and well-preserved, it is a place where cultures and ethnic groups merge. Hani, Yi, Bai, Naxi and Tibetans each preserve their differences and customs there. Their wealth, in short. A journey through Yunnan reveals a China imbued with a particular serenity, emanating from centuries-old temples and endless terraced rice fields, Buddhist caves, and villages with upturned roofs. Hiking, whether in the Wenhai Reserve or elsewhere, offers the chance to experience an unparalleled variety of flora, and to watch cranes flying over the calm waters of a lake. To the north are Shuhe and Shangri-La, the unique mystique of a legendary world lying at the gateway to Tibet.