Top 10 Places to Visit in China - Travel Documentary

China is one of the most fascinating travel destinations in the world, and in this video I will share with you my personal top 10 best places to visit.

From the ruins of the Great Wall to vibrant megacities. From surreal mountain landscapes to charming riverside villages. Today’s China is a beautiful, complicated, and captivating place.

I spent more than 18 months in China, spread over the course of a decade and a half. In the last years, I started filming the places that I traveled to, using regular cameras and drones. All footage in this travel documentary is shot by myself between 2010 and 2019.

Here's a brief overview of the places in this video.

We start this journey in the stunning riverside village of Fenghuang in central China. The wooden stilt houses are a spectacular sight, and the backstreets are still filled with old world charm. We then continue to Harbin, best known for its Winter tourism. Millions of people usually flock here to visit the amazing Ice and Snow Festival, to admire beautiful sculptures and palaces.

Yangshuo is another spot not to miss, mostly for its mesmerizing mountain landscape of limestone peaks. It’s a great place to witness life in the countryside, and has a relaxed vibe. After Yangshuo we travel to Beijing, the nation’s capital city. The impressive Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven Park are two main highlights. And the nearby Great Wall of China is truly a sight to behold.

Zhangjiajie is the next destination on my list, and one of China’s most beautiful national parks. It formed the inspiration for the popular movie Avatar. You can get an aerial perspective from the many walkways, and don't miss out on the Glass Bridge here, if you dare at least. I continue my journey to Lhasa, the spiritual heartland of Tibet, and a place that left a deep impression on me. Take into a account that foreign travelers can only visit Tibet as part of a group tour.

Shanghai is a unique city with a jaw-dropping modern skyline, but also has some impressive historic architecture. It’s a busy place to visit, but also has many laidback neighborhoods and quiet streets. Yuanyang, on the other hand, is quintessential rural China, with an epic landscape of rice terraces. It’s a good place to meet some of the minorities living in the South of the country, and eat some local food.

I continue my travels in Qingdao, one of China’s most scenic coastal cities, located on the Yellow Sea. Many Chinese tourists come here to enjoy the beach and eat fresh seafood, but I was particularly impressed by the historic German buildings. I finish this journey in Hong Kong, easily one of my favorite cities in the world, and a perfect fusion between East and West.

For more recent films about China, click here:

Top 10 Places in Shanghai: https://youtu.be/E-t59SPeFaw

Qingdao from Above: https://youtu.be/GmEbUmgeZ1E

Hong Kong from Above: https://youtu.be/2K8MkF_sHIs

Shanghai from Above: https://youtu.be/WGUQwNr6jWs

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Thanks for watching this video and feel free to leave comments/suggestions below!

Copyright of all footage: Hoffer Media

Timecodes / video chapters:

0:00 Where to travel in China?
1:04 Fenghuang, riverside village
2:52 Harbin, China’s ‘Ice City’
5:29 Yangshuo, villages and landscapes
7:37 Beijing, culture and history
10:55 Zhangjiajie, national park
12:42 Lhasa, Tibet
16:15 Shanghai, modern metropolis
18:44 Yuanyang rice terraces
20:19 Qingdao, China’s ‘beach city’
22:39 Hong Kong, fusion between East and West
26:48 Final words

*** As mentioned, the footage in this video was made in the years before the global pandemic. I am currently not traveling, like most people in the world. ***