Tak's Travel Tips & When to VisitChina.....
Best Time to Visit China
Short Answer: The best time to visit China would generally be April, May, October, November. Bypass first week of October and first week of May due to holidays.
Longer Answer: Generally, you can avoid China from January through February, this is especially true in the north. Not only do you miss the cold weather but you miss the massive peak holiday of Chinese New Years when everyone is on holiday. It changes each year but falls in January of February. If it falls on Feb 1 – you’d want to avoid the two weeks before and after that. The easy rule is just not to travel to China in January and February.
You can also avoid it the first week of October when China has another week of holidays and May 1st, when a shorter holiday is had.
Unless you are visiting higher elevations such as Tibet, or Mongolia or places that typically have cooler climtes (in which case the summer is nice), you probably want to avoid China in the summer (June through August) when students are traveling, prices are high, rains are frequent and temperatures are hot.
If you are looking for the lowest budget, you can go in December. While the north can be quite cold, there are warmer areas of China in the south. This is a low season. You can also visit Tibet in the winter where prices are lower and temperatures can get near 50F/10C.
So when is the best time to visit China generally? Spring & Autumn.
March through May and mid-October through November are good choices in general for China.
Beijing is a good choice in March, April, May, September, October and the first half of November. Beijing has the most rain in the summer. Rain increases from Spring into Summer. Thus, expect more rain in May than March. Expect less rain in October than September.
Shanghai is a good choice in late March, April, May, October, November and early December. There is generally less rain in the October through December window than the March to May window.
If you are in China in mid-February through mid-March, you can check out the rapeseed fields blooming in a place like Luoping.
For the best time to visit Hong Kong, click on the link (Hong Kong).
Miscellaneous Travel Tips for China
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